On February 29th, under the guidance and support of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), the Chinese Association for Life Sciences (CALS) released the "Top Ten Advances in Chinese Life Sciences in 2023".
CALS is the first association formed by CAST, consisting of 23 national level societies in the field of life sciences. It covers major areas of life sciences, from basic research to translational applications, and is one of the most influential academic promotion and advisory organizations in the field of life sciences in China.
In 2023, CALS will classify, recommend, and select project achievements for knowledge and technological innovation. The selection process involves recommendations from member societies and evaluation by senior experts in the fields of basic life sciences, biotechnology, and clinical medicine. The final selection of the "Top Ten Advances in Chinese Life Sciences in 2023" is reviewed and confirmed by the CALS Executive Committee.
The selected projects for this year have notable originality and significant societal impact. For example, the research on "Regulation of Nucleoporin Complex Maturation for Activation of the Zygotic Genome" solves a significant scientific problem in the field of developmental biology. The study on the "Molecular Mechanism of Pollen Tube Guidance in Plant Distant Hybridization" lays a solid foundation for future achievements in plant distant hybridization and the creation of new plant germplasm resources. The research on the "Intestinal Microbiota-Derived Host Isomerases as Novel Targets for Metabolic Diseases Regulation" achieves precise control of intestinal microbiota and opens up new pathways for disease prevention, diagnosis, and intervention. The study on the "Construction of Human Organ Chips and Multimodal Precision Measurement Methods" has a wide range of applications in drug development and screening, personalized medicine, environmental assessment, and aerospace medicine, among other fields.
All selected research projects for this year are focused on cutting-edge life sciences and the health and well-being of the people, addressing key issues in the field.
The selected research projects for this year are as follows:
1. Development of a Universal Grafting Strategy for Neuropeptide Fluorescent Probe Toolkit.
2. Regulation of Nucleoporin Complex Maturation for Activation of the Zygotic Genome.
3. Programmed Mechanisms and Reset Strategies for Aging.
4. Targeted Regulation of Neural Circuits to Reverse Parkinsonism Phenotypes.
5. Decoding the Genetic Code of Primates to Solve the Mystery of Life Evolution (Collaboration between Wu Dongdong's team from the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Zhang Guojie's team from Zhejiang University, Yu Li's team from Yunnan University, and Qi Xiaoguang and Li Baoguo's team from Northwestern University).
6. Unveiling the Black Box of Early Embryonic Development in Primates (Collaboration between Wang Hongmei, Guo Fan, and Li Wei's team from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Tan Tao and Ji Weizhi's team from Kunming University of Science and Technology).
7. Precision Medicine for Metabolic Diseases based on Intestinal Microbiota-Derived Host Isomerases.
8. New Strategies for the "Reduced-Toxicity Enhanced-Effectiveness" Treatment of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.9. Molecular mechanisms of the "pollen tube guidance effect" during distant hybridization in plants.
"Lock-and-key" model of pistil-pollen recognition and the molecular mechanism of pollen tube guidance in the model plant Arabidopsis.
10. Construction of human organ chips and multimodal precision measurement methods.
An artificial blood vessel chip capable of simulating human vascular function in vitro.