勇于冒险 甘于艰苦 乐于和谐

Chris Edwards | 12/17/2019 12 On December 15, the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) Academician Cheng Jing came to Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) to give an insightful lecture on “Technological Innovation, Transformation, and Application.” Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) Head Chair Professor Jiang Xingyu chaired the meeting. Professor Cheng Jing is a Tsinghua University School of Medicine (Department of Biomedical Engineering) Chair Professor and the director of the National Engineering Research Center of Beijing Biochip Technology. He is also a member of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences. Professor Cheng’s research is mainly focused on basic and clinical medical-related biotechnology. He has studied areas such as diagnostic and prognostic molecular typing chip technology systems that have led to biochips required for gene, protein and cell analysis. Some of his biochips have been certified by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) and entered clinical trials. Professor Cheng has published 145 SCI-standard papers in journals like Nature Biotechnology and 8 monographs. He has received more than 260 domestic and foreign patents (at the time of publishing) and has also won the second prize in the State Science and Technology Prizes on two separate occasions.     Professor Cheng discussed the integration of a healthy nation with biomedical engineering. He pointed out that the new biochip, using the principles of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) visual inspection is a good example. An analysis of a patient’s eye can assist doctors in better-diagnosing problems, and thereby reducing errors. New surgeries are replacing traditional techniques, and micro-non-invasive operations have led to “no disinfection, no anesthesia and no wound” procedures.     He also highlighted the importance of proactive health prevention and chronic disease control within the ambit of Healthy China, as well as looking after the elderly in their homes. Biomedicine developments have improved our quality of life, and this should be treasured.   Professor Cheng took many questions from the enthusiastic students and faculty at the end of his presentation.  

On December 9, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) hosted the first meeting of the “Synthetic Biology” key project of the National Key R&D Program. It is a project being undertaken by SUSTech that seeks to use synthetic DNA for data storage. SUSTech Acting Vice President Zhang Dongxiao, Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) Head Professor Jiang Xingyu, Hunan University Professor Tan Weihong, and Shanghai Jiaotong UniversityProfessor Fan Chunhai attended the meeting. They were joined by members of the Shenzhen Municipal Science, Technology and Innovation Commission, as well as key members of this project. Several expert groups also sent representatives to the meeting, along with members of the project team. BME Head Professor Jiang Xingyu introduced all the attendees to the meeting. He was followed by SUSTech Acting Vice President Zhang Dongxiao, who spoke on behalf of SUSTech. Expert group researcher Dai Junbiao highlighted the importance of this project for the nation and hoped that everyone would work together in laying the foundation for the future development of DNA storage. Hunan University Academician Tan Weihong chaired the meeting. BME Department Head Professor Jiang Xingyu, as project leader and chief scientist, gave a detailed briefing for the project, along with the sub-project leaders. The project advisory team provided a lot of advice for the teams.

Chris Edwards | 09/20/2019 94 The first cohort of fifty Xplorer Prize winners was awarded after four months of rigorous analysis. Two of those fifty Xplorer Prize winners were Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Professor Jiang Xingyu (Department of Biomedical Engineering) and Associate Professor Liu Weishu (Materials Science and Engineering). Both young scientists stood out from over one thousand applicants for their cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, in energy & environmental protection respectively. They were the only winners in Shenzhen. Dr. Jiang Xingyu is the Chair Professor and Head of the Biomedical Engineering Department of SUSTech. He received his Bachelor of Chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1999 and his Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry of Harvard University in 2004. In 2005, he began to work in the National Center for Nanoscience and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Jiang Xingyu received funding from the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund in 2010, the Top Youth in 2013, the Special Allowance of the State Council in 2014, the Innovative Talents Promotion Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Chief Scientist in the Key Special Project of the National Key Research and Development Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2019. He has published more than 200 papers, and his research directions include microfluidic chips and nano-biomedicine. He was deputy editor of Nanoscale (impact factor 7.3).   The Xplorer Prize is a non-governmental and public interest award for young scientists and technicians aged 45 and below who are working full-time on the Chinese mainland. The Xplorer Prize was created by Ma Huateng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tencentand founder of the Tencent Foundation, and Professor Rao Yi of Peking University in cooperation with well-known scientists such as SUSTech President Chen Shiyi. The Tencent Foundation provided the initial funding for the award. Xplorer Prize announcement address: https://xplorerprize.org/gonggao.html

Last week, Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) welcomed Professor of Peking University Jianzhong Xi to campus. He had been invited to give the 141st lecture in the SUSTech Lecture Series, in which he gave a fascinating lecture entitled, “Mini-Tumour Chip as a Robust Tool for Precision Cancer Therapy.” Professor Jiang Xingyu, Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering hosted the lecture. Professor Jianzhong Xi In his lecture, Prof. Xi talked about a novel personalized drug testing platform named patient-derived tumor-like cell clusters (PTCs) chip or mini-tumour chip. He made comparision of mini-tumour chip with 3D cultures and organoids.

Chris Edwards | 07/31/2019 Last week, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Timothy M Swager came to Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) to give the 232nd lecture in the SUSTech Lecture Series. Professor Swager is a member of both the US National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His lecture, entitled “Liquid Colloids for the Detection of Enzymes and Pathogens,” was hosted by Professor Jiang Xingyu, Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Timothy M. Swager is an internationally renowned colloidal & polymer chemist and a pioneer in chemical sensors. He is the John D. MacArthur Chair Professor of Chemistry and the Director of the Deshpande Center of Technological Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has published more than 450 high-quality papers and more than 90 patents so far. His honors include the Linus Pauling Medal, the Lemelson-MIT Prize for Invention and Innovation, the American Chemical Society Prize for Creative Invention and the Carl S. Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award (ACS). In his lecture, Timothy M. Swager talked about the synthesis and application of dynamic droplets. He compared the dynamic droplet to the blinking of the smart eye. The synthesis of the droplet can be used as a sensor to detect bacteria and viruses. The team also applied it to the detection of bacteria on the surface of smart phones. Timothy M. Swager also highlighted how complex liquid emulsions (droplets) can be reconfigured chemically or biochemically. The purpose of these configurations, he said, is to generate new transduction mechanisms to develop chemical and biological sensors. He pointed out that complex droplets behave like optical lens systems, in that small changes in surface tension can change focal length, or induce systems to switch between states. He believed that induced optical changes can be triggered by chemical, photochemical or biochemical stimuli to produce a new generation of sensors.

Chris Edwards | 07/31/2019   Last weekend, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) welcomed Professor of Pharmacology and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Moshe Szyf to campus. He had been invited to give the 231st lecture in the SUSTech Lecture Series, in which he gave a fascinating lecture entitled, “The Signature of Liver Cancer in Immune Cells DNA Methylation.” Professor Jiang Xingyu, Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering hosted the lecture. Professor Moshe Szyf received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University and did his postdoctoral fellowship in genetics at Harvard University. He holds a James McGill Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and is the GlaxoSmithKline-Canadian Institute of Health Chair Professor of Pharmacology at McGill University in Canada. Professor Moshe Szyf is a member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the co-founding director of the Sackler Institute of Epigenetics and Psychophysiology at McGill University and a researcher at the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research Experience-based Brain and Biological Development Program. In 1994, as a co-founder of the epigenetic Sackler project, Professor Moshe Szyf first proposed the significance of medical transformation in DNA methylation.   He founded Methylgene Inc., the first enterprise in the world to develop epigenetic drugs, in Montreal, Canada. He is the founding editor of the world’s first epigenetics journal, Epigenetics. So far, Professor Moshe Szyf has published more than 280 research papers on the biological role of DNA methylation in a wide range of areas. In his lecture, Professor Moshe Szyf introduced the role of epigenetics in the development of tumors, the influence of a child’s living environment on their genomes, and advances in epigenetic research. He pointed out that DNA methylation diagnosis is done by early detection. By comparing the differences of genome-wide methylation sites in healthy people, different diseases and patients at different stages of disease, early diagnosis of disease and prediction of stage diagnosis and treatment can be achieved. Professor Moshe Szyf also elaborated the principles of molecular changes in DNA of host immune cells in HCC. The DNA methylation diagnostic technologies introduced by Moshe Szyf are of great significance to understand the mechanisms of disease and their treatment. The Q&A session at the end of the lecture was very lively, with many attending students and faculty members asking intelligent questions of Professor Moshe Szyf.

Georgia Institute of technology Professor Xia Younan was a recent visitor to Southern University of Science and Technology. Prof. Xia Younan gave the 206th lecture in the SUSTech Lecture Series, with an illuminating lecture entitled “Putting Nanomaterials to Work for Biomedical Research.” Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering Jiang Xingyu presided over the lecture. Xia Younan is an outstanding scholar in the field of nanomedicine, Brock Family Chair and Georgia Rearch Alliance, Department of Bioengineering and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). His main research interests are nanostructured materials and their applications in biomedical research. In the lecture, Xia Younan first introduced the research direction of his research group, which mainly includes nanocrystalline synthesis, Structure-Performance relationship, catalysis, nanomedicine, and regenerative medicine. In recent years, he has focused on the application of nanomaterials in biomedicine. In his lecture, he shared many excellent and representative work cases. For example, mixing simple and cheap fatty acids can lower the phase transition temperature (40 degrees Celsius), which is conducive to drug release in vivo. Xia Younan also introduced a micro-drop reactor designed by his team for the automation and large-scale production of precious metal nanocrystals. The system can be automated through online separation and purification functions, providing a simple and reliable way for the industrial production of precious metal nanocrystals. After the lecture, Xia Younan answered the questions raised by the teachers and students.

December 12th, our department hosted the SUSTech Macromolecular Biomaterials Summit. SUSTech President Chen Shiyi, Academician Tang Benzhong of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor Liu Bin, Fellow of Academy of Engineering Singapore joined more than 30 experts and scholars in macromolecular biomaterials at the summit. Department Head Jiang Xingyu chaired the summit. Chen Shiyi welcomed everyone and thanked them for supporting the development of SUSTech. In his speech, Tang Benzhong said that Shenzhen is the capital of innovation and hoped that exchanges between experts and scholars would lead to sparks of innovative ideas. The two-day conference consisted of four parts. Topical issues included tissue engineering, controlled drug release, regenerative medicine, biomedical imaging, gene therapy, and nanobiotechnology. Experts at the summit focused on the exploration of polymeric biomaterials and their applications in biomedical engineering. They discussed the latest research results, with a view to promoting the innovation and application of new generation of polymeric materials in translational research. After the forum, experts and scholars attended the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Center and explored the SUSTech campus. Source: Department of Biomedical Engineering Translated and Adapted: Chris Edwards Proofread: Xia Yingying

Our Department and  Department of Chemistry co-worked to hold the Biomedical-Chemometrics Frontier Symposium. The Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry were the co-sponsors of this forward-looking symposium. Academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Third World Academy of Sciences were joined by more than 30 experts from China and abroad, in fields such as biomedical engineering, chemical measurement, and analysis. The symposium sought to discuss and promote the development of the interdisciplinary research between these two fields in Shenzhen and China. SUSTech Vice President Lu Chun attended the symposium and Dean of the College of Sciences Yang Xueming was the chairperson. Lu Chun welcomed everyone to the symposium. He hoped that a variety of academic ideas would collide, resulting in more innovations in scientific research and related applications. Lu Chun also presented Zhang Yukui, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with a letter of appointment as an adjunct professor.     The two-day symposium discussed four major topics: bio-mass spectrometry, microfluidic chips, nanotechnology, and biomedicine. Department Head Jiang Xingyu from Biomedical Engineering and Chair Professor Zheng Zhiping from Chemistry were some of the SUSTech faculty members that attended the symposium.      

The morning of September 21 saw academician Yan Xiyun of the Chinese Academy of Sciences give an enthralling lecture on the “Nanozyme: New Strategy for Cancer Therapy” for our students and faculty members. The lecture was hosted by chair professor Xingyu Jiang, the head of our department. Professor Yan Xiyun was made an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015 and is currently a researcher at the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She has published more than 150 research papers, and her research results in nano-enzyme applications won second prize of the National Natural Science Award. In the lecture, Yan Xiyun first introduced the discovery process of nano-enzymes. She described it as a “cross-border” and “by chance” process. Inorganic nano-materials are multi-functional molecules, with enzyme activity and nano-effect, that is, the smaller the diameter, the higher the activity, and the activity is similar to the natural enzymes. She specifically mentioned that Fe3O4 is a class of mimetic peroxidase. This phenomenon was discovered in 1993, but in 2007 Yan Xiyun first published an article from the enzymatic point of view and established a systematic method. The use of the Fe3O4 nano-enzyme test strip to detect Ebola virus solves the problem of limited local conditions and is a hundred times more sensitive than the traditional method. Ferritin-loaded drugs can target tumor cells and cross the blood-brain barrier. For the first time, Yan Xiyun’s research group defined the nanozyme activity unit and established standardization. The nanozyme activity unit is the amount of enzyme required to catalyze the conversion of 1 μmol of the substrate to product per minute under optimal reaction conditions. After the lecture, the teachers and students asked many questions, which Yan Xiyun answered professionally in the lively atmosphere.

From September 20th to 22nd, the 2018 Joint Conference of Biomedical Engineering Societies of China (CBME2018) was held at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. More than 1000 experts, scholars, and young researchers gathered to discuss the interdisciplinary and integrative innovations of this academic discipline. The conference was hosted by the China Biomedical Engineering Society. Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) joined the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen University, the Key Laboratory of Health Informatics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Key Laboratory of Human-Computer Intelligence Collaborative Systems of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as sponsors for the conference. Hu Shengshou, chairman of the China Biomedical Engineering Society, welcomed everyone to the conference in an opening speech. He pointed out that the Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering, as a national first-level and professional society, played a key role in academic innovation and medical transformation. He hoped that the conference would become a communication platform to promote the construction of biomedical engineering disciplines, promote biomedical engineering research and high-end industrial applications. Shenzhen Municipal Government Deputy Mayor Ai Xuefeng attended the meeting and addressed the conference. He expressed his warm congratulations on the successful convening of this conference. He said that Shenzhen, as a major medical device and biomedical industry in the country, attaches great importance to the role of source and technological innovation, talent development, and scientific and technological infrastructure. He welcomed the strengthening of cooperation between the China Society of Biomedical Engineering and Shenzhen to promote the sustainable, rapid and healthy development of biomedical engineering research and the industrialization of its high-tech achievements. CBME is held every two years. This is the first time it has been held in Shenzhen. CBME2018 will host innovative technologies and applications across a variety of areas such as medical and health data, medical imaging and artificial intelligence, bioelectronics and sensors, microfluidics and clinical testing, biomedical optics, medical neurology and rehabilitation engineering, biomaterials and tissue engineering, nanomedicine, biomedical ultrasound diagnosis, and treatment. More than ten academic forums, including medical ultrasound treatment, cardiovascular disease diagnosis, and treatment methods, have organized nearly 200 oral reports and nearly 300 academic exchange posters. Among them, the cutting-edge sub-forum of clinical application of gene sequencing was held at the conference hall of SUSTech.   CBME2018 was chaired by academicians Cao Xuetao and Hu Shengshou of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director of the Department of Biomedical Engineering of SUSTech Jiang Xingyu, Shenzhen Advanced Institute researcher Zheng Hairong, Shenzhen University’s Chen Siping, and Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences researcher Li Guanglin. Teachers of the Department of Biomedical Engineering of SUSTech such as Jiang Xingyu, Wu Changfeng, and Chen Fangyi, served as chairmen of several sub-forums or were invited to participate in the forum report.   Academician Hu Shengshou of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, academicians Yan Xiyun and Chen Runsheng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences all gave major presentations. They were joined by professor Teng Yijun of Southeast University, professor Li Luming of Tsinghua University, researcher Zhang Xianen of the Institute of Biophysics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor Peng Hanchuan of the Allen Institute of Brain Science, and researcher Zheng Hairong of the Shenzhen Advanced Institute. The topics covered a diverse range of issues including cardiovascular medical devices, nanomedicine, mass spectrometry, interventional device innovation, biosensing, neuromodulation, brain science big data, and medical magnetic resonance imaging.   In response to the multi-disciplinary cross-disciplinary and bio-medical engineering collaborative innovation of biomedical engineering, the conference set up a sub-forum of biomedical engineering education. Representatives from Southeast University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and SUSTech were invited to discuss the education in this field to try and find a solution. The conference also specially set up the “Mr. Jiang Dazong” Youth Thesis Competition and the Biomedical Engineering Journal Development Forum.

Recently, Biomedical Engineering Professor Wu Changfeng’s research group has made new progress on biomedical sensors by developing an ultrasensitive Pdot transducer for real-time, wireless in vivo glucose monitoring via a smartphone. The results were published in the American Chemical Society’s journal ACS Nano (Impact Factor 13.942). Sun Kai, a Ph.D. candidate from Jilin University was the first author. Professor Wu Changfeng As one of the world’s biggest health concerns, diabetes can cause numerous complications in heart, kidney, retina, and neural system. Since 11% of the Chinese population are diabetic, and 36% are prediabetic, Professor Wu took part in an interview to elaborate on the research’s significance for diabetes patients and the massive prediabetic population in the country. “Continuous detection of blood glucose level is essential to manage diabetes progression and treatment, which involves a glucometer and finger-pricking for many diabetics. The measures can cause discomfort or pain, and they cannot monitor the continuous changes in blood glucose level.” said Professor Wu: “For severe diabetic patients, they need subcutaneous electrochemical sensors to keep track of real-time fluctuations in their blood glucose level. Though electrochemical sensors can provide valuable, comprehensive data, they have several drawbacks including in vivo sensor degradation within a week (which requires replacement and reimplantation), the poor response at low glucose concentrations, the pain of insertion, and risk of infection from the electrodes.” Optical methods for glucose sensing have the potential to overcome the limitations of electrochemical sensors. However, these schemes have not had the clinical success of electrochemical methods for point-of-care testing because of the limited performance of optical sensors and the bulky instruments they require. Professor Wu’s research team saw the advances in nanotechnology that could offer solutions to overcome the problems with current optical glucose monitoring devices. As promising fluorescent materials, semiconductor polymer dots (Pdots) have attracted considerable attention for their applications in biological imaging and biosensors because of their high brightness, excellent stability, and biocompatibility. Wu Changfeng et al. have recently developed an optically bright Pdot oxygen transducer that consists of an oxygen-consuming enzyme for sensitive detection of small-molecule substrates. The transducer−enzyme assembly after subcutaneous implantation provides a strong luminescence signal that is transdermally detectable and continuously responsive to blood glucose fluctuations. The team eventually designed an ultrasensitive Pdot transducer for wireless glucose monitoring via a smartphone. By using the longer lifetime palladium porphyrin complexes, the Pdot transducer exhibited a significantly higher sensitivity in both in vitro and in vivo glucose detection. With the ultrasensitive transducer, it was possible to differentiate clearly between euglycemia and hyperglycemia using luminescence images taken with a smartphone camera. Wu et al. further developed an image-processing algorithm to decompose the fluorescence image via the RGB model. Based on the algorithm, a software application was developed and installed on a smartphone. They demonstrated a wireless, real-time, dynamic glucose monitoring of blood glucose level using the implanted transducer and the smartphone. The miniaturization of the optical monitoring platform can promote the innovative development of optical monitoring approaches in diabetic healthcare. Furthermore, by taking advantage of the mobile platform, the blood glucose data can be stored and uploaded to a database for personal healthcare, and this can aid the understanding and prediction of public health status through big data analysis. Wu’s Research Group on Campus “It’s taken us six years to achieve a breakthrough in the project, which means the article’s first author Sun Kai finished his one and only time-consuming project right before graduation.” said Professor Wu. “Despite its creativity and innovation, our project has only completed the first phase. We have only applied our in vivo glucose monitoring to lab rats, and we hope our project will enter the clinical trials soon by improving sensors and other materials. We still have a long way to go.” When asked about the background of his research, Professor Wu Changfeng added: “Despite coming from different universities in China and United States, most teammates are my long-time friends and colleagues. I would like to specifically thank Sun Kai, who was my student when I was working at Jilin University. Moreover, one of the teammates Daniel Chiu (Professor of Washington University) helped me with the idea of in vivo smartphone glucose monitoring via an ultrasensitive Pdot transducer. Given the technological development at the time, the project was put on hold. But when I came back to China, the technological advancement and friendly environment for research prompted me to pick up the research again and achieve a breakthrough.” Wu et al.’s project was also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Shenzhen Scientific and Technological Innovation Committee.   Links to the Wu et al.’s research papers: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.6b02386 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.8b02188