The research article entitled “Rice CYP703A3, a cytochrome P450 hydroxylase, is essential for development of anther cuticle and pollen exine”, published in JIPB, 2014, won the “Excellent Research Article Award”, from China Association for Science and Technology (CAST). The article (Xijia Yang, Di Wu, Jianxin Shi, Yi He, Franck Pinot,  Bernard Grausem, Changsong Yin, Lu Zhu, Mingjiao Chen, Zhijing Luo, Wanqi Liang, and Dabing Zhang, 2014, JIPB 56: 979–994,  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jipb.12212 ), from Prof. Dabing Zhang’s lab at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China,  reported a cytochrome P450 fatty acid hydroxylase CYP703A3 which plays a conserved and diversified biochemical pathway for in-chain hydroxylation of lauric acid required for the development of male organ in rice. This award is dedicated to articles published in all China-based academic journals,  aiming to encourage scientists to publish their articles in China-based scientific journals. CAST launched this national prize in 2016. 

In 2018, in total 95 articles, covering all disciplines in science and technology, have been awarded with this prestigious prize. Congratulations to Prof. Dabing Zhang and his team members!