Story highlights Scientist Tu Youyou combed ancient Chinese texts for a malaria cure

Her research has earned her the highest accolade in medicine -- the Nobel Prize

(CNN) In the turmoil of China's Cultural Revolution, scientist Tu Youyou joined a covert mission to find a cure for malaria.

"Project 523," was set up in 1967 by Chairman Mao Zedong, who wanted to help Communist troops fighting in the mosquito-ridden jungles of Vietnam, where they were losing more soldiers to malaria than bullets.

"We needed a totally new structured antimalarial to deal with the drug resistance. I accepted the task," Tu recalled in 2011

She scoured ancient texts and folk manuals and traveled to remote parts of the country for clues, ultimately collecting 2,000 potential remedies. She whittled these down to 380 and tested each one on mice.

One of the compounds tested reduced the number of malaria parasites in the rodents' blood. Derived from sweet wormwood, its use as a treatment for malaria was first recorded in 1600 years ago in China, when a manual recommended drinking juice extracted from the plant.

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