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Academician Andrew H. J. Wang, former Vice President of Academia Sinica and former Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute of Biological Chemistry, has been named a Founding Honorary Member of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) Research Academy.
The FEBS Research Academy was established to bring together distinguished scientists in the molecular life sciences and related fields to promote research excellence, nurture future researchers, and help address societal challenges. The inaugural Academy comprises 96 Founding Members, including 27 Nobel Prize laureates. Wang's appointment not only recognizes his outstanding scientific achievements but also highlights the international recognition of his research contributions and Taiwan's scientific excellence.

Founded in 1964, FEBS is one of Europe's leading organizations in the molecular life sciences. Through its scientific journals, annual congresses, fellowships, and research support programs, it has long promoted scientific exchange and research excellence. A ceremony marking the official launch of the FEBS Research Academy will be held during the 51st FEBS Congress in Riga, Latvia, in July 2027.

An internationally renowned structural biologist, Academician Andrew H. J. Wang received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1974. He spent more than a decade conducting research in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before returning to his alma mater as a faculty member in 1988. After a distinguished career in research, teaching, and administration in the United States, Wang returned to Taiwan in 2000 to serve as Director of the Institute of Biological Chemistry at Academia Sinica. In the same year, he was elected an Academician of Academia Sinica. He later served as Vice President of Academia Sinica from 2006 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2016, as well as President of the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biologists from 2011 to 2013.

Throughout his career, Wang has received numerous international honors. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1998 and a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences in 2005, and received Taiwan's Presidential Science Prize in 2017.

Wang has devoted his career to advancing the structural biology of nucleic acids and proteins. During his tenure at MIT, he was the first to determine the structure of Z-DNA, the left-handed double-helical form of DNA, opening a new field of research. He also determined the world's first structure of an anticancer drug–DNA complex, providing an important foundation for the development of next-generation anticancer drugs.

In the years that followed, Wang elucidated the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, providing important insights into combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He also developed methods to promote the ordered assembly of proteins, overcoming a longstanding bottleneck in research into protein crystallization and enabling structural studies of previously intractable proteins.

More recently, Wang has focused on applying discoveries in structural biology to drug development, including improving antibody therapeutics and designing small-molecule drugs targeting key enzymes associated with Alzheimer's disease, continuing to advance the translation of basic research into biomedical applications.