Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences: "Biological Molecules" of Leaping

On February 27 this year, the Center for Basic Research Management of the Ministry of Science and Technology announced the "Top Ten Advances in Chinese Science in 2018" and the research results of Li Dong, a researcher at the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Biophysics), were selected as "creating nano- and millisecond-scale imaging techniques that can detect structural interactions within cells".
This new technology has developed the visual interaction and movement of cytocytocytes and cytostebrae dynamics within living cells, helping to better understand molecular events under living cell conditions and providing a window into key biological processes from a mechanism. According to Wang Xiaofan, a foreign academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Duke University in the United States, the technology will bring cell biology into a new era and even have a major impact on the life sciences.
In fact, in the field of life sciences in China, there have been many important outputs of such weight in recent years, many of which point to the same place - the Center for Excellence and Innovation in The Integration of Biological Large Molecule Science and Education of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Center of Excellence for Biological Large Molecules).
The 30nm chromosome left-hand double helix
the story began in 2013.On July 17,
, General Secretary
came to the Chinese Academy of Sciences to study the work, put forward to
the "four firsts" requirements, that is, "to take the lead in achieving scientific and technological leapfrog development, the first to build a national highland of innovative talents, the first to build a national high-level scientific and technological think tank, the first to build a world-class scientific research institutions."
that summer, whether in the
organs or in various research institutes, everyone was discussing the same question: as the
of China's science and technology national team, how can we bring Chinese science to the forefront of the world?Dean Bai Chunli has pointed out that from the
's own situation, initially has the basis and advantages to achieve the "four firsts", but in the scientific research layout and scientific research capabilities, innovative personnel team building, scientific and technological think tank construction, institutional mechanisms, and so on, compared with the national strategic needs and the world's advanced level, there is still a big gap, "to achieve the 'four firsts' goal, comprehensive reform is the inevitable way."
" as to how to deepen reform, under the top-level design of
, there is a general consensus that we must integrate the strength of the house. Xu Ruiming, director of the Institute of Biophysics, said.
in the field of life science in China, biophysics can be described as strong. For example, Chinese Academy of Sciences academician Yu Chenglu (deceased), Chinese Academy of Sciences academician, Third World Academy of Sciences academician Liang Dongshi, Chinese Academy of Sciences academician Yang Fuyu are academic leaders in the field of protein science where biophysics is located;
" can be said that in this field, the Institute of Biophysics is the country's top rank-and-see. Xu Ruiming said that since the establishment of the Institute, the Institute of Biophysics has been positioned in basic research, aiming at the world's cutting-edge science for technological research. For example, the Institute of Biophysics has made many contributions to the development of 'two bombs and one star', and in the 1960s and 1970s was involved in major scientific research projects such as the crystal structure analysis of insulin. Over the years, the Institute has brought together a team of scientists who are very good at basic research. Therefore, the construction of innovation centres of excellence is most appropriate in the reform of the Institute's classification. Soon
, a test paper was presented to the Institute of Biophysics - how to lead Chinese science to the forefront of the world in the field of life sciences.
this exam paper is not a good answer. How does the Innovation Center for Excellence reflect Excellence? What is there now in the domestic and international life sciences and what is there to be in the future? What are the cutting-edge scientific issues to focus on? What institutional mechanisms are in place to ensure the cohesion and sustainability of innovation at the Centre of Excellence? A series of problems need to be solved urgently.life science is a very broad field, all-encompassing will certainly distract the energy of researchers and research funds. Therefore, in a series of issues, it is imperative to determine the direction of research.
in the field of life sciences, the subject characteristics of different periods are different. For example, the previous structural biology, its own structural analysis method is a very difficult subject, because there was no supercomputer at that time, there is no simultaneous radiation light source. As these hardware conditions mature, we will focus more on biology. Xu Ruiming said, "Previously, the Institute of Biophysics has gathered an excellent team in the decoding of genetic information, and has also deployed forward-looking topics in membrane protein." It can be said that we have a deep foundation in protein research.
After many research and discussions by the then director of the Institute of Biophysics, Xu Tao, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Rao Zi and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shi Yunyu, a professor at the Chinese University of Science and Technology, and other leaders of a number of domestic bio-molecular research teams, the contours of the research direction are gradually clear: combining the previous research foundation and advantages, while focusing on cutting-edge scientific issues.
the research direction is clear, that is, to focus on the biological molecular function and the relationship between the structure and cell life process of the core scientific question, in order to draft the answer to the examination paper.
After careful preparation, led by the Institute of Biophysics, the Center of Biological Majority Excellence, established by the Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Shanghai Institute of Medicine), the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Zoology), and the Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Genetic Development), was formally established in January 2015, with Xu Tao as its director under the leadership of the Board of Governors.After the establishment of
, the Center of Excellence for Biomoleles has made major breakthroughs in the three major areas of chromatin and genetic information decoding, membrane protein structure function and biofilm integration, new techniques and new methods for the study of biometric complexes, and has focused on cultivating molecular mechanisms for disease occurrence and defense, neurotranstructs for memory and choice, molecular mechanisms for infection and immunity, functions and applications of non-coding RNA, and innovation and transformation of biometric drugs.
In scientific research, they take the
Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Special (Class B) "Structure, Function and Regulation of Biostructive Molecular Complex" as the core scientific research task, to become recognized as the world's first-class bio-molecular research center as the development goal, in science and education integration, to build the School of Life Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the core task, to become an internationally recognized high ground for the training of life sciences talents as the development goal.
behind these tasks and objectives is a concrete initiative and a practical action. a breakthrough at one point is not enough if we are to become recognized as one of the world's leading research centers for biomass.
, China's scientific research system is basically to take the form of PI (project leader), each team has its own research direction, we fight each other, exchange with each other, cross relatively few. Specific to the field of life sciences, research often only a few bright spots, and did not bloom every place, compared with the international comparison is still relatively backward.
"What is excellence?" It is not only at home, but also in the international community, when others mention the center of excellence of bio-major molecules, we know that it is very good, our team did a good job. Zhu Bing, deputy director of the Institute of Biophysics, said that through the construction of the Center for Excellence in Innovation, we are encouraged to strengthen cooperation around a number of major scientific issues, to play the strengths of different scientific research teams and multidisciplinary cross-cutting advantages, some are good at cell biology, some are good at structural biology, some pay more attention to technical methods, as far as possible to focus on the scattered forces, "to complement each other, only in this way, can we really do 1>2."
fact, cross-discipline has always been the establishment of biophysics. At the beginning of the establishment of the Institute of Biophysics by the academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the institute brought together talents from different professions such as mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology. Today, the concept of cross-cutting disciplines has been extended to the construction of the Center of Excellence for Biomass Molecules.
" Bio-Molecular Center of Excellence was established, we issued to the whole hospital "
Bio-Molecular Science and Education Integration Center of Excellence core backbone member selection notice", around the research direction, the selection of special core backbone, special backbone talent and young backbone of the three categories of talent, requiring it to invest not less than 9 months per year to carry out the research direction of the bio-majority center of excellence. Xu Ruiming introduced more than 50 scientists, including scientists from the Institute of Biophysics, china University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Medicine, Animal Institute, Institute of Genetic Development, including more than 50 people to join them.
here, around the core scientific issue of the relationship between bio-molecular function and structure and cellular life processes, teams from different research directions combine with each other on a voluntary basis, and the effect is gradually reflected. Liu Zhenfeng, a researcher at the Institute of Biophysics, is deeply touched by this.
2011, Liu Zhenfeng returned to the Institute of Biophysics full-time, mainly through structural biology methods to study photochemical use. Later, its research team, in cooperation with Zhang New Deal Group and Chang Wenrui/Li Mei Task Force, carried out research on the structure of Plant Light System II. and published the research results in Nature in May 2016 in the form of a long research paper, "Spinach Light System II.- Light Capture Complex II. Super Complex 3.2A Resolution Structure".
The results analyze the high-resolution frozen electro-mirror structure of spinach optical system II. - The super-composite of optical capture antenna for the first time in the world, reveal the mutual assembly mechanism and energy transfer path between the optical capture antenna and the optical system II.
have many international competitors in this study, such as research teams in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Japan and other countries, " he said. But it wasn't until a year after we published the results that a Dutch team published them in the journal Nature, but at a much lower resolution than we did. We did 3.2A, they only did 5A. Liu Zhenfeng said.
He said, "Each of our three task groups has a part of the people involved in the joint research, I am the general coordinator, Zhang New Deal researchers are mainly responsible for frozen electroscope data processing and structural analysis of the entire process, Chang Wenrui academician and Li Mei researcher in the sample analysis has done a lot of work." Without such a mechanism, it would be difficult for a single task force to achieve this result, and cooperation with each other would have increased efficiency. Of , in addition to the voluntary combination of researchers to carry out research work, we also strive to create a good atmosphere for everyone to encourage and guide this cooperation. Xu Ruiming said, "In addition to signing a three-way agreement with other units of the Center of Excellence to join the biometrics, to achieve integration assessment, a more important task is to build a
protein scientific research platform to support everyone's scientific research work." Protein Science Research Platform, founded by biophysical institutes, started construction in 2004, the first and second phases have invested 370 million yuan, basically built based on advanced scientific research equipment, technical services as the goal, with technological innovation as the characteristics of the highest level of the domestic protein science research open sharing platform. Once the Center for Biometric Excellence was established, the Institute of Biophysics incorporated the platform and commissioned all instruments to be managed by the platform's dedicated staff.
" We put the instruments together, by more than 60 full-time staff management, scientific research personnel do not need to purchase their own time, can be used directly to the platform, and there are professionals to serve everyone. 'It's a platform that's open to the whole country, so to speak, it supports protein research
the whole country, ' Mr. Xu said.
" with the support of this platform, it is equivalent to giving scientists wings, because this common tool, let them do a lot of previously wanted to do and can not do research. Zhu Bing added.
As of June this year, the
Protein Science Research Platform has four professional and technical laboratories, including structural and functional analysis technology laboratory, proteomics technology laboratory, bioimaging center, animal experimental center, and special laboratory of instrument and equipment innovation research and development and technology service center, and has established a team of technical support personnel to meet the cutting-edge development of disciplines and the needs of life science equipment. X-ray diffraction crystal structure data collection system, 300 kV low temperature transmission electron microscope, 600MHz low temperature probe nuclear magnetic spectrometer, single-double photon laser convection microscope, mass spectrometry analyzer and other large-scale equipment, as well as in line with national standards of immunodeficiency experimental animal center and other large-scale facilities.
according to statistics, as of June this year, the platform has a total of 350 instruments and equipment (sets);
" is worth mentioning that this platform not only won the first place in the 2015 expert review organized by the
Conditions Assurance and Finance Bureau, but also in the first evaluation of more than 400 similar instrument centers in colleges and research institutions nationwide organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2018. We are encouraged by this. Xu Hang, Director of the Science and Technology Branch of the Institute of Biophysics, said, "Today,
protein scientific research platform has become a benchmark platform for
of the world. " researchers show the research results model protein scientific research platform technicians are operating MRI equipment for more than
years, the introduction of relevant mechanisms and the promotion of platform construction, so that the bio-molecular center of excellence of this answer more and more substantial - in October 2017 successfully passed the acceptance, into the official operating stage, the output of major results also gradually appeared.
it's worth noting that, in addition to being selected as one of the top 10 advances in Chinese science in 2018, "Nano and millisecond scale imaging techniques that detect in-cell structural interactions" were published in Nature in 2016. Spinach light system II. - Light capture complex II. Super complex 3.2A resolution structure" these two important achievements, but also to solve the major scientific problems in the field of molecular biology, "30 nanometer chromatin fiber structure and its dynamic regulation."
this is a major problem that has remained unresolved for decades.
discovered in 1953 by Watson and Crick at the Carvendith Laboratory at the University of Cambridge