On April 28, the 19th China Young Women Scientists Award Ceremony, co-sponsored by the All-China Women's Federation, the China Association for Science and Technology, and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, was held in Beijing. After the review committee, Professor Duan Qiaohong from the College of Horticultural Science and Engineering of Shandong Agricultural University won the 19th China Young Female Scientist Award, and only 20 outstanding scientists in the country won this honor.
Professor Duan Qiaohong has been engaged in plant sexual reproduction research for more than 20 years, and returned to China from the University of Massachusetts in the United States in 2017 to join Shandong Agricultural University and set up a vegetable reproductive mechanism and breeding application team. Since 2020, the scientific research team led by Duan Qiaohong has successively elucidated the "molecular mechanism of plants maintaining 'monogamy'", analyzed the "regulatory mechanism of cruciferous plants to prevent 'consanguineous marriage'" and "the regulatory mechanism of cruciferous plants that are incompatible with distant hybrids". The breeding technology developed by the team to break the incompatibility of self-incompatibility and the breeding technology to break the isolation of distant hybrid reproduction are the common key core technologies of cruciferous vegetable breeding, which greatly improve the efficiency of parental breeding and promote the development and utilization of vegetable germplasm resources.
In recent years, Professor Duan Qiaohong has presided over the general projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the major basic projects of the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (original category), and the key projects of the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province. He has published 2 articles in the top international scientific and technological journal "Nature", published many articles in international heavyweight academic journals such as Current Biology, Nature Communications, PNAS, etc., and concurrently serves as an editorial board member of international mainstream academic journals in this field, such as Plant Physiology and Horticulture Research, and has authorized 2 national patents. It has been awarded the honorary titles of Shandong Province 38 Red Flag Bearer, Qilu Most Beautiful Science and Technology Worker, Qilu Women's Top Ten Science and Technology Innovation Stars, and Shandong Provincial Education System Female Workers Meritorious Service Model.
Established in 2004, the China Young Women Scientists Award is jointly organized by the All-China Women's Federation, the China Association for Science and Technology, and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.