Tu Youyou

Tu Youyou is a Chinese pharmaceutical chemist whose research led to the discovery of artemisinin, an antimalarial drug that transformed malaria treatment.

Project 523: A Chinese government research program launched in 1967 to find treatments for drug-resistant malaria. Tu joined this program, which organized the search that led to artemisinin.
Artemisinin: A sesquiterpene lactone containing an unusual endoperoxide bridge, used to treat malaria. Tu’s team isolated this compound as the active antimalarial ingredient in sweet wormwood.
Artemether: A semisynthetic derivative of artemisinin used in combination treatments for malaria. It is one of the artemisinin derivatives used in modern antimalarial combinations.
Zhang Jianfang: A Chinese pharmacologist associated with the early development of artemisinin research. He worked with Tu’s team during the search for antimalarial compounds.
Artemisia annua: A medicinal plant, also called sweet wormwood, that produces artemisinin. Tu’s team selected this plant after reviewing traditional remedies.
Endoperoxide: A chemical group containing an oxygen–oxygen bond within a molecule. Artemisinin’s endoperoxide bond is central to its parasite-killing activity.
Dihydroartemisinin: An active artemisinin derivative used as an antimalarial drug and as a precursor to other derivatives. It is the active metabolite of several artemisinin derivatives.
Youyou Tu Nobel lecture: Tu Youyou’s 2015 Nobel lecture recounting the research that led to artemisinin. Tu’s account describes the project’s methods, setbacks, and historical sources.
Ge Hong: A Chinese scholar and physician of the fourth century who wrote the handbook Emergency Prescriptions to Keep Up One’s Sleeve. His text described a preparation of sweet wormwood that informed Tu’s extraction method.
Plasmodium falciparum: A protozoan parasite that causes the deadliest form of human malaria. Artemisinin rapidly reduces this parasite’s burden in infected patients.

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Chinese Academy of SciencesRelated: Her research career at an academy-affiliated institute exemplifies the academy’s contribution to biomedical discovery.