China in Africa

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, R&D spending rose 11.6 percent year-on-year to 1.75 trillion yuan (about 280 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017. The spending accounted for 2.12 percent of China’s gross domestic product. Chinese enterprises spent more than 1.37 trillion yuan on R&D last year, up 13.1 percent from 2016, while R&D spending at government institutions and colleges increased 7 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.
Some 92 billion yuan, or 5.3 percent of the total spending, was put into fundamental research in 2017, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier. China had 5.35 million people working in R&D at the end of 2015, the world’s largest pool of R&D personnel.

CAS news release, February 14, 2018

The group at CAS Guangzhou Institute of Biology improved the efficiency of stem cell induction, initiated new perspectives for reprogramming iPS stem cells and made systematic studies on the mechanism of transdifferentiation. They also found that vitamin C improves the efficiency of stem cell induction. Jointly with the Hefei High-tech Construction Investment Group Co., they established a venture company, Hefei Zhongke Stem Cell Regenerative Medicine Co..

China Bio news release, February 13, 2018

Jointly with other groups, the team of WANG Jinyoung investigated the in vivo reprogramming of functional T cells, as a new method to generate a large number of naive T cells which, after antigen stimulation, can generate long-term acquired immune memory. Screening of 15 candidate transcription factors led to the identification of Hoxb5 factor, which reprograms B cells to T cells in the body. This reprogramming process produces bone-like early T lymphoid progenitor cells (BM-ETP) two weeks after injection into the bone marrow, and regenerative early T lymphoid progenitor cells (Thy-ETP) appear in the thymus in the third week. From the fourth week after transplantation, the thymus begins to export a large number of functional T cells. This method reconstructs 50-80% of the immune output of the thymus. A two-year follow-up study on mice that had been reprogrammed to re-establish the T-immune system in vivo found no evidence of tumorigenic safety risks.

China Bio news release, February 13, 2018

Increased body fat in humans is closely associated with obesity and diabetes. In swine production, increased body fat is inversely proportional to production efficiency and meat quality. Therefore, a better understanding of fat development is important for both humans and animals. Branched-chain amino acids containing leucine (Leu), isoleucine (Ile), and valine (Val), can act directly on adipocytes to affect fat metabolism, favoring fat reduction. Researchers from the China Agricultural University and the CAS Institute of Subtropical Agriculture (ISA) identified that the optimal ratio of dietary branched-chain amino acids. Dietary supplementation with this ratio reduced the weight of total fat mass, increased adiponectin concentration, and modulated adipose tissue functions including fatty acid synthesis, transport, and oxidation, as well as lipolysis.

CAS news release, February 13, 2018

The group around LIU Yajun at the CAS Institute of Bioenergy and Bioproess Technology achieved directed engineering of cellulosome for in situ purification of the catalytic domain of Cel48S, an exoglucanase, in one step with high purity and full activity. Substantial biochemical and structural analyses based on native protein were performed subsequently to reveal the true features of this key cellulosomal enzyme.

CAS news release, February 12, 2018

A team led by WANG Feng of CAS Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics developed a carbon modified Ni-based catalyst to achieve selective hydrogenolysis of lignin to phenolic compounds, and 22 wt % yields of aromatics were achieved from hydrogenolysis of oxidized birch lignin.

China Bio news release, February 9, 2018

The center, built and managed by China, monitors major earthquake subduction zones — where the Earth plates converge — in the South China, Sulu and Sulawesi seas and provides 24-hour uninterrupted warning services. Until now, services relied on American and Japanese warning centers. The center is capable of warning the public of a tsunami eight to ten minutes after an earthquake.

CAS news release, February 9, 2018

The company, which has just started clinical phase III in the USA on glargine, in 2015 ranked 3d in the Chinese insulin market, with 11.2%, behind 53.1% of Nordisk and 26.7% of Sanofi, but has overtaken Eli Lilly (9%). Prices offered by Gan Li are about 20 % under those of competitors.

China Bio news release, February 7, 2018

CAAS has approved a novel type of rapeseed oil „Zhong Yusha 1“, obtained from radiation-induced mutagenesis of an African variety of rapeseed. Characteristics are high yield, high oil content and good quality. The tuber seed oil content is 31.3%, which is the oilseed rape with the highest oil content in the Yangtze River Basin. The oleic acid content is 68.2 %, linoleic acid 11.0%, quality comparable with olive oil. Dry weight yields of 568kg/mu and oil yield per mu of over 170kg have led to name this crop king of oil crops””

China Bio news release, February 7, 2018

The network is composed of 21 radio telescopes from China, Japan and South Korea. Some new telescopes are under construction (e.g., a 110 meter telescope in Xinjiang, China) or planned (Thailand VLBI network, the expansion of KVN), continuously enlarging the EAVN family and increasing its performance significantly.
EAVN’s full operation will yield a high angular resolution similar to a telescope with an effective diameter of thousands of kilometers.

CAS news release, February 5, 2018

Known as Zhangheng 1 in Chinese, the satellite will help scientists monitor the electromagnetic field, ionospheric plasma and high-energy particles for an expected mission life of five years. It s named after Zhang Heng, a renowned scholar of the East Han Dynasty (25-220), who pioneered earthquake studies by inventing the first ever seismoscope in the year 132. Among the eight instruments on board the satellite is the High-Energy Particle Package (HEPP), which was developed by the Institute of High Energy Physics of CAS. HEPP is composed of three instruments designed to measure high energy particles (a solar X-ray detector, a high-energy detector and a low-energy detector). Its main function is to measure the flux, energy spectrum and direction of energetic electrons in the range 0.1-50 MeV and high energy protons at 2-200 MeV, at the position of the orbiting satellite, and monitor real-time changes in the solar X-ray spectrum.

CAS news release, February 5, 2018

Breviscapine has the function of dilating cerebrovascular and can be used for the treatment of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases such as cerebral thrombosis and paralysis of sequelae caused by cerebral embolism and cerebral hemorrhage. Due to the remarkable clinical application, Breviscapine was listed as an essential Chinese medicine for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in the emergency department of Chinese Medicine Hospital in 1995. Breviscapine injection with higher purity and safety was approved by CFDA in 2005. At present the market value of such drugs has been close to 50 billion yuan. By use of synthetic biology and bioinformatics, the key genes (P450 enzyme EbF6H and glycosyltransferase EbF7GAT) in the Breviscapine synthesis pathway were successfully exressed and production optimized through metabolic engineering and fermentation optimization processes in yeast, leading to a Breviscapine content of 100 milligrams/L.

CAS news release, February 2, 2018

Sino-German (Shenyang) High-end Equipment Manufacturing Industry Park Management Committee, Sino-German (Shenyang) International Industry Investment and Development Co., Ltd. and Shenyang Sansheng Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement. The three parties will build a North China Biomedicine Valley for integrated biopharmaceuticals, precision treatment, pharmaceutical raw materials and high-end bio-engineering equipment as a new industrial cluster.

China Bio news release, February 2, 2018

The group of RUAN Changshun, PAN Haobo and LU William from CAS Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) has developed a novel two-channel 3D-bioprinting method to fabricate osteoblast-loaded nanocomposite hydrogel constructs. The encapsulated osteoblasts showed high viability (>95%) just after bioprinting, and the constructs exhibited excellent ectopic osteogenesis in vivo.

CAS news release, January 31, 2018

In October 2017, the CAS Institute of Microbiology, jointly with the Microbial Resource Collection Center of 12 countries around the world, announced the co-sponsorship of a collaborative global and indigenous microbial genome sequencing program. The program will include sequencing of more than 1000 microbiome samples. Also in October 2017, the Microbial Group Innovation Entrepreneurs Association initiated the launch of the Chinese Gut Metagenomics Program”. Most Chinese companies of this Association, which are detailed in the report, are concentrated on gut microbiome detection and health management. In addition, some try to develop a microbiome testing market, including cloud-based analysis. In December 2017, CAS launched a “Microbiological Group Plan of the CAS” which integrates 14 institutes affiliated to the CAS and Beijing Union Medical College Hospital to do joint research on “Common Technologies for Microbial Groups of Human and Environmental Health.” “

China Bio news release, January 31, 2018