On Nov 21, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering released the results of their 2025 academician elections. Georg Hoffmann, Advisory Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) and Member of the (German) National Academy of Science and Engineering, was elected as a Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Professor Hoffmann has dedicated his career to advancing research on rare diseases and genetic metabolic, endocrine, and neurological disorders in children. He and his team were the first worldwide to identify and systematically characterize 27 childhood genetic metabolic disorders, expanding the molecular understanding of rare pediatric diseases and driving earlier diagnosis and treatment. In 2002, he established a foundation to support humanitarian and psychosocial programs for children and adolescents with chronic illnesses.

In clinical translation, Hoffmann has developed several key diagnostic technologies that remain influential globally. In 1989, he introduced the batch-processing GC-MS method, which later became an IFCC-recommended gold standard; parts of this method, including DEAE column chromatography, became standard tools for prenatal diagnosis and are now widely used in more than 2,000 laboratories worldwide.

He also developed and optimized tandem mass spectrometry screening for newborns, a technology now implemented in China, Dubai, Greece and other countries and regions.

Through Hoffmann’s leadership, the Department of Pediatrics at Tongji Hospital became one of the first regional leading hospitals to join China’s rare disease collaboration network and established both the Hubei Clinical Research Center and the key laboratory for pediatric genetic metabolic diseases.

He is currently working with the Tongji team on gene therapy delivered through intracerebral injection for rare diseases. His newly designed low-immunogenicity vectors are expected to pave the way for future treatments of central nervous system disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: Tongji Hospital of HUST