新华社伦敦12月18日电（记者刘石磊）英国《自然》杂志网站18日公布了该刊评出的2013年度全球科学界十大人物，中国禽流感专家陈化兰等人因在各自领域作出突出贡献而当选。

这十位年度人物由《自然》杂志编辑选出，每位人物都配有专门的介绍和获选理由。中国国家禽流感参考实验室主任陈化兰名列其中，获选理由是“帮助中国平息H7N9禽流感疫情”，《自然》将她称为“战斗在前线的‘流感侦探’”。同样获选的美国麻省理工学院华人科学家张峰（音译）则被称为“DNA编辑专家”，他和他的团队今年利用细菌对抗病毒的原理开发出一种新的基因片段调整技术。

其他获选的年度人物还包括寻找地球“姐妹星”的瑞士天文学家迈克尔·迈耶，研究今年俄罗斯陨石坠落事件的“陨石猎人”维克托·格罗霍夫斯基，主张基因研究信息公开的“基因专利反对者”、美国科学政策专家塔尼娅·西蒙切利等。

陈化兰简介：

陈化兰，甘肃靖远县人。1987年至1994年在甘肃农业大学攻读本科和硕士学位。现任中国农科院哈尔滨兽医研究所国家禽流感参考实验室暨农业部动物流感重点开放实验室主任，研究员，博士生导师。H5N1 和H5N2型禽流感疫苗的研制者，荣获中国青年女科学家奖、中国青年五四奖章、黑龙江省“五一”劳动奖章、中国农业科学院一级岗位“杰出人才”、第十届全国青联委员。2013年入选中国科学院院士增选有效候选人生命科学和医学学部88人名单。

（原文标题：中国禽流感专家陈化兰当选年度十大科学人物）

《自然》杂志相关报道链接：http://www.nature.com/news/365-days-nature-s-10-1.14367

HUALAN CHEN: Front-line flu sleuth

A virologist helped China to quell an outbreak of H7N9 avian flu in humans.

By Declan Butler

Harbin Veterinary Res. Inst.

In the early weeks of April, the world’s virologists and public-health officials had their eyes fixed on China. An emerging avian influenza virus — H7N9 — was jumping to humans from infected poultry, causing severe disease and deaths, with new cases appearing in Shanghai and neighbouring provinces. Hualan Chen, head of China’s National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory in Harbin, found herself and her lab on the front line of efforts to contain the outbreaks. The scientists pushed all other research aside to focus on H7N9 and to find its route of transmission to humans from birds or other animals. They were so busy, Chen says, that “several lost four to five kilograms during the [first] six weeks”.

Less than 48 hours after H7N9 cases were first confirmed (S. JianZhonget al. Chin. Sci. Bull.58,1857–1863; 2013), Chen’s team, along with researchers at the Shanghai Animal Disease Control Center, collected about 1,000 samples from soil, water, poultry farms and live poultry markets in Shanghai and the neighbouring province of Anhui, where the first cases had occurred. Twenty came up positive for H7N9, all from live markets in Shanghai. Authorities quickly closed live markets in the cities where most cases had been reported, and the rate of new infections immediately plummeted. China’s rapid and transparent response has been widely applauded.

The low rate of new cases has continued, with only a handful reported from May through to the end of November, giving Chen and other researchers time to learn more about the virus. They know that H7N9 jumps more easily to humans from birds than does another deadly avian flu virus, H5N1. So far, H7N9 has shown no sign that it can pass from person to person, but Chen believes that it may have this potential.

Chen was so focused on dealing with the H7N9 outbreak that she paid little attention to a brouhaha that erupted in May over the publication of a study that she and Chinese colleagues had done describing the creation of hybrids of avian H5N1 and 2009 pandemic H1N1 flu that could spread easily between guinea pigs (Y. Zhanget al. Science340,1459–1463; 2013). The work was reminiscent of controversial research published last year that involved the creation of forms of avian H5N1 that were transmissible between ferrets, prompting a moratorium on similar work that was ultimately lifted in January 2013 (seeNature493,460; 2013). Critics argued that Chen’s research, like the previous H5N1 studies, had few practical benefits and that the engineered hybrids might spark a pandemic should they escape from the lab.

Chen asserts that these experiments help to illustrate the threats posed by new flu strains; the H5N1 and H1N1 strains she used coexist in many countries, and she thinks that the reassortment carried out in the lab is likely to occur in nature. Similar experiments are needed for H7N9, she adds.

The lull in new H7N9 cases during the summer and autumn may be the result of the initial market closures, or the fact that avian flus typically spread less frequently during warmer months. Winter has now returned to China, and Chen’s lab is on the look out for any resurgence. “Influenza virus surveillance is the top priority in our lab,” she says.