China in Africa

According to People’s Daily, China’s first driverless subway line, the Yanfang line in southwest Beijing, is expected to start operations at the end of 2017. Operations on the line will be fully automatic, including train departures, door opening and closing, and cleaning. The trains will only use domestic technology. Beijing subway lines 3, 12, 17, 19 and the new airport line are all under planning and will also operate with completely automated, driverless trains. It is expected that the total length of fully-automated subway lines in Beijing will reach 300 km by 2020.

CAS news release, August 30, 2016

The Long March-5 has a payload capacity of 25 tonnes in low Earth orbit and 14 tonnes in geostationary orbit. The liquid-fuel rocket uses liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen and lox kerosene as fuel and will improve China’s space entering capabilities by 2.5 times. The rocket is planned to carry the Chang’e-5 lunar probe in 2017 and will be used to launch China’s space station modules and Mars probes.

CAS news release, August 29, 2016

The group of WU Zhengyan has developed a KMnO4 /graphite composite catalyst using high energy electron beam irradiation which reduced MnO4- to MnO2 in graphite nanospheres. The resulting MnO2/C composite possessed high catalytic degradation efficiency for glyphosate under sunlight due to its high porosity, large specific surface area, and its large number of active sites which greatly enhanced the utilization of UV light. Through catalytic degradation under sunlight, 92.05% of the initial glyphosate was degraded to PO43-, H2O and CO2. The process might reduce water contamination by glyphosate through rain washoff.

CAS news release, August 29, 2016

The company has mastered the whole industrial chain of preparing human insulin in pathogen-free transgenic pigs and achieving large-scale extraction of the porcine islets. Clinical studies on diabetic patients will be completed in January 2017. The company works also on xenotransplantation of porcine islets, and it is expected that 5 patients will undergo surgery in September at Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University (Professor WANG Wei). The company estimates that about 4 million diabetes-1 patients among 100 million Chinese diabetics might become potential customers of their product.

China Bio news release, August 26, 2016

Lincosamides are clinically important glycoside antibiotics for the treatment of infections from Gram-positive pathogens. The group of Wen LIU has clarified the mechanism by which lincomycin A can be transformed into a number of active derivatives which, by the use of synthetic biology, might lead to improved manufacturing processes.

CAS news release, August 26, 2016

The Society, established in 2008 and by now comprising 13 countries and regions including Taiwan, Japan and Korea, has elected Mr Fu GAO (“George Fu Gao”). Mr Gao is Director of the CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology
at the CAS Institute of Microbiology, and President of Chinese Society for Virology.

CAS news release, August 25, 2016

The Henan Center follows the National Gene Bank in Shenzhen and the National Ocean Gene Bank in Qingdao. It will focus on crop germplasm. Shenzhen’s BGI plays a key role in all three gene banks.

China Bio news release, August 24, 2016

The procedure is based on micro air bubbles generated by graphite electrodes through electrolysis of water. Diameter of the highly uniform air bubbles is just 1-3 μm, leading to recovery of, e. g., Chlorella up to 95% by flotation. For 1 kg of harvested algae (dry weight), electrolytic flotation consumed only 0.03kWh. At present, QIBEBT’s continuous electrolysis flotation recovery apparatus achieves a throughput of 2000L/h.

CAS QIBEBT news release, August 24, 2016

The group of Jian XU and colleagues at the Single Cell Center of QIBEBT has established a CRISPR/Cas9-based precise genome editing approach for the oleaginous microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica, using the deletion of nitrate reductase (NR; g7988) as example. Mutants where screened by the institute’s Raman-based FACS sorter.

CAS news release, August 23, 2016

Under the lead of the CAS Institute of Botany in Chengdu, a network of 10 specialized monitoring centers was installed. Starting from a variety of monitoring methods and standards, it is planned to eventually establish national standards for the assessment and control of biodiversity.

China Bio news release, August 22, 2016

The group of Chen TAO grafted phenylboronic acid alginate (Alg-PBA), acrylamide (AAm) and polyvinylalcohol (PVA), forming a network of PAAm which was dynamically adjusted by borate ester bonds, forming a second network (Alg-PBA-PVA). When the Alg-PBA-PVA hydrogel is damaged by an external force, energy is dissipated and the mechanical properties adjust. By modifying the number of PAAm cross-links, a series of hydrogels with good mechanical and self-healing properties can be prepared.

CAS news release, August 19, 2016

The center will be co-financed by the Chengdu Municipal Government and will help the sustainable development of West-China’s manufacturing industry, urbanization and industrial economy. The new center will help to develop modern genome engineering, biotech drugs, high value fine chemicals, bio-based plastics, high-end health products, for the conversion of bio-industry core technology to the whole chain of industrial biotechnology products. As an operating entity, Chengdu Ketai Wo Biological Technology Ltd. ” will be headquartered in Chengdu’s Tianfu District at the Chengdu Science City construction site.”

CAS news release, August 19, 2016

According to official statistics, China has 110 million diabetic patients, and direct medical expenses from diabetes are said to account for 13 % of the total medical expenses. 3d generation recombinant insulin glargine is the treatment of choice for diabetes-I patients. According to a representative of the Chinese Diabetes Society, clinical trials with glargine from Gan & Lee Biotechnology Co., Beijing, have shown that their product is bioequivalent to imported glargine and on the way to the Chinese market.

China Bio news release, August 18, 2016

After three months of in-orbit testing, the satellite is designed to start hack-proof” quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground. Quantum communication is ultra-secure as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated. Accordingly, it is impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack information it transmits. If the new satellite operates well, China will follow up with projects Micius-2 and Micius-3. By the end of the year, China will complete and put into operation the world’s first secure quantum communication network, the Beijing-Shanghai network. The 2,000 km network will be used for secure data transmission in the fields of the military, finance and government affairs. So far, several banks in China have been the first users of quantum encryption. However, scientist say that it will take another a decade or more for quantum communication to reach individuals.”

CAS news release, August 16, 2016

A joint team of CAS Institute of Applied Physics in Shanghai and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Beijing used graft polymerisation of vinylimidazol to a cotton fabric to obtain a textile which showed strong antimicrobial activity. The effect is considered due to interactions among the positively charged imidazole ring and the negatively charged bacterial cell membranes which leads to electrostatic attraction and insertion of the hydrophobic substituents into the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane, leading to rupture and bacterial cell death. The effect was validated with S. aureus, Acinetobacter and C. albicans and kept on after washing the textile 150 times.

CAS news release, August 16, 2016