New synthetic biology research center opens

East China Normal University launched a biomedical research center for mammalian and medical synthetic biology in April.

The center will play a key role in strengthening biomedical education and research at the university, says Qian Xuhong, head of the university and director of the center.

Ye Haifeng, executive director of the center and researcher at the university's school of life sciences, says the center will focus on developing techniques for intelligent diagnosis and treatment of diseases through synthetic biological approaches, covering artificial intelligence cells, gene and cell therapy and tumor intelligent immunotherapy.

"It's expected that techniques the center develops will be further applied to translation research in five years," says Ye.

Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary subject that combines engineering principles with biology, enabling scientists to construct new biological entities such as enzymes, or to redesign existing biological systems.

It can be applied to medicine, material science and environmental science.

Chinese cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, have established synthetic biology research centers.

"The country has made great progress in the research of synthetic biology but more effort should be devoted to the further industrialization of the field," says Ye.

caochen@chinadaily.com.cn