Fifty-two city-based projects - in subjects from environmental protection to cosmetic surgery - have won national science and technology awards.

They account for 15 percent of the country's overall awarded projects - the biggest proportion since 1978, city officials said.

Officials of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission said projects of importance to city residents, such as energy-efficiency and health, had become a growing focus of the winning projects.

Most of the projects are related to basic laboratory research while some have already been put into practical use.

The areas include public health, environmental protection, drug selection, infrastructure construction and industrial production technology.

The awards are classified in three categories: natural science, technological invention and science and technological progress.

The national science awards have first and second prizes with cash awards of 200,000 yuan (US$273,973) or 100,000 yuan for the winning projects.

Of the city's 52 winning projects, nine won the National Natural Science Award, four the National Technology Invention Award and 39 the National Science and Technology Progress Award.

A bridge first

China's first sea bridge and the city's intelligent traffic signs are the city's only two infrastructure projects to win the National Science and Technology Award.

The Donghai Bridge, which opened in late 2005, is the country's first and longest sea bridge and its construction overcame tremendous engineering difficulties. It won first prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award.

The 32.5-kilometer span links the eastern tip of Nanhui District with the Yangshan Deep-Water Port, far into the East China Sea.

The city's intelligent traffic indication system won second prize.

The system, developed by the Shanghai Electrical Apparatus Research Institute in 2003, consists of dozens of traffic information display boards to guide drivers away from congestion.

Cancer care

Researchers at the Shanghai No. 9 Hospital have developed two key innovations in surgery for patients with oral cancer.

In China, there are about 50,000 cases of oral cancer every year and traditional therapies don't give effective results, doctors said.

Researchers at the hospital have spent the past 30 years developing an oral operation method that makes the survival rate reach over 20 percent. They have also created a series of oral repair techniques including repair of oral nerves and teeth implantation.

The work won second prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Award.

Waste not

A local invention, which reduces toxic emissions from steelmaking, won second prize in the National Technology Invention Award.

Engineers at the Shanghai Baoshan Iron and Steel Company invented a new process to turn the waste slag from steelmaking into artificial marble and bricks.

Disease key

Doctors from Changhai Hospital won a second prize in this year's National Science Progress Award for identifying two proteins as the key causes of gastric diseases.

The discovery enabled an antibody to be made which will be used to treat a series of digestive problems, including ulcers, gastritis and even stomach cancer.

Faster drugs

Local medical scientists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences invented an efficient drug screening technology that speeds up the development of new drugs.

It won second prize in the National Natural Science Award.

The technology has been used in the treatment of diseases such as diabetes, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Alzheimer's and dementias.

(Shanghai Daily January 9, 2008)