China in Africa

The program was started at Peking University in 2013 and since has cured ofer 5,800 Chinese leukemia patients, based on haploid allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This original treatment program will now be transplanted to Shenzhen University, Department of Hematology, to also benefit Shenzhen leukemia patients.

China Bio news release, May 2, 2017

EpimAb Biotherapeutics, a Shanghai startup, announced that it had completed the Series A funding of 25 million dollars. The funds will be used to further develop Fabs-In-Tandem Immunoglobulin (FIT-Ig), a proprietary bispecific antibody, and to expand the pipeline of bispecific antibodies for cancer immunotherapy etc. The company plans to submit an application to start the first clinical trial on FIT-Ig candidate for cancer immunotherapy during 2018.

Nikkei Biotech news release, April 27, 2017

According to WAN Gang, Minister of Science and Technology, in future a committee of senior experts will be formed to carry out appraisals before each major scientific project is launched. In addition, professional agents will be hired to manage each project, instead of government and supervisors of science and technology managing the programs themselves.

CAS news release, April 27, 2017

The product consists of several bio-active chemicals, such as polyphenols and soluble sugars isolated from the Pistacia chinensis leaves, together with some amino acid and microelements, which significantly induces the anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin biosynthesis in the leaf and thus makes the leaf color turned into red in a few days after treatment. The product could be applied to the Chinese tallow (Sapium sebiferum), which is an important andscape plant in China, thanks to its beautiful leaf color change in autumn. Red painter” could present the red color in spring and summer, which greatly would increased its value as landscape plant.”

CAS news release, April 26, 2017

Instead of generating energy from the breakdown of lithium nitride (2Li3N) into lithium and nitrogen gas, the battery prototype runs on atmospheric nitrogen in ambient conditions and reacts with lithium to form lithium nitride. According to Xinbo ZHANG, one of the researchers, its energy output is brief but comparable to that of other lithium-metal batteries. This nitrogen fixation battery system not only provides fundamental and technological progress on an energy storage system but also creates an advanced N2/Li3N (nitrogen gas/lithium nitride) cycle for a reversible nitrogen fixation process.

CAS news release, April 24, 2017

According to MOST, China will increase its annual per capita spending on research and development (R&D) to 500,000 yuan by 2020 from 370,000 yuan in 2014,
According to the 13th five-year plan for national science and technology talent development (2016-2020), China had 5.35 million people working in R&D by the end of 2015, the world’s largest pool of R&D talent. More than 1.1 million overseas Chinese skilled workers returned to China from 2011 to 2015, three times the number of the previous three decades combined. However, the country still lacks researchers in cutting-edge, high-end fields and insufficient expenditure on R&D talent.

CAS news release, April 25, 2017

The Cambricon research project is led by two brothers, CHEN Yunji (陈云霁) and CHEN Tianshi (陈天石), two young full professors at the CAS Institute of Computing Technology. Unlike existing neural networks which require thousands of GPU-based accelerators, Cambricon processors are designed to operate more efficiently and run on much less power. The latest Cambricon-1A chip can handle 16 billion virtual neurons per second and has a peak capacity of two trillion synapses per second. This performance is double that of a conventional GPU but has a power consumption that is lower by one order of magnitude.

CAS news release, April 24, 2017

The experiments on China’s space station Tianzhou-1 will study the basic development and maturation of germ cells in a micro-gravity environment, and the developmental potential of human embryonic stem cells, thus taking a first step in investigations concerning human reproduction in space. Scientists on the ground will remotely control the research equipment to change the cell-culture medium to induce the human embryonic stem cells to differentiate into germ cells. Images of the cells under the microscope will be transmitted to earth.

CAS news release, April 24, 2017

The cargo ship is 10.6 meters long and has a maximum diameter of 3.35 meters. Its maximum takeoff weight is 13.5 tonnes, enabling it to carry over 6 tonnes of supplies. Tianzhou-1 will dock with Tiangong-2 space station three times. After the first docking, aerospace engineers will test the controlling ability of the cargo spacecraft over the two spacecraft. The second docking will be conducted from a different direction, which aims to test the ability of the cargo ship to dock with the space station from different directions. In the last docking, Tianzhou-1 will use fast-docking technology. Previously, it took China about two days to dock, while fast docking will take about six hours. Refueling is conducted during docking.

CAS news release, April 21, 2017

The group of YANG Sheng at CAS SIBS has  developed a series of genome editing tools for Yarrowia lipolytica and generated an efficient biosynthetic pathway using strong promoters and multiple gene copies for each of the 12 steps involved in ß-carotene biosynthesis. Using fed-batch fermentation with an optimized medium, the engineered Y. lipolytica  cells could produce 4 g/L β-carotene, which is stored in lipid droplets within the cells.

CAS news release, April 20, 2017

The occurrence of many tumors is caused by abnormal activation of growth-related kinases. Inhibitors of these mutant kinases are effective in inhibiting the growth of cancer cells. The institute’s cell bank contains nearly 70 kinds of cancer kinase target, with cell types of more than 150 species, covering almost all the current knowledge of tumor-related kinases and kinase mutant cells. The cell bank will help domestic drug manufacturers in anti-tumor drug research and development.

CAS news release, April 19, 2017

In the low cost tin-graphite dual ion battery, expanded graphite is used as anode, and potassium hexafluorophosphate as electrolyte. The potassium ions in the electrolyte move to the surface tin foil cathode to form a potassium-tin alloy, and the hexafluorophosphate is intercalated into the graphite at the anode. When K+ is discharged, the hexafluorophosphate anion is desorbed back into the electrolyte. The new type of potassium-based dual-ion battery achieves 50mA g-1 constant current charge and an energy density of 155Wh/kg, equivalent to a traditional lithium-ion battery. After 300 cycles, it maintained 93% capacity.

CAS news release, April 10, 2017

The group of Tiefeng LI, an associate professor at Zhejiang University, has
Manufactured a 9.3-centimeter-long fish which weighs 90 grams and has an electric controller at the core, fins made of silicone, and a silicone body and tail. All components are transparent except for a small battery pack and two electromagnets.
The soft and transparent body will make it easy for the robot to sneak through narrow reefs without being damaged or detected by other sea creatures. Instead of being powered by traditional rigid motors, the fish is built with stimuli-responsive polymers that can bend or stretch under a cyclic voltage provided by the embedded lithium battery.

CAS news release, April 12, 2017

The cut-paper-based self-charging power unit (PC-SCPU) is capable of simultaneously harvesting and storing energy from body movement by combining a paper-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) on a teflon substrate (FEP) and a supercapacitor (SC). With paper as substrate, an ultralight rhombic-shaped TENG was achieved with highly specific mass/volume charge output of 82 nC g–1/75 nC cm–3) 15fold more than traditional acrylic-based TENGs. A supercapacitor of ∼1 mF was charged to ∼1 V within in minutes.

CAS news release, April 12, 2017

Vitamin K2 plays a vital role in reducing the risk of osteoporosis, treating hemorrhagic diseases and promoting the production of prothrombin. The group around Zhiming ZHENG found gene cassettes from Streptomyces niveus suitable for the prenylation reaction which occurs during vitamin K2 biosynthesis. After expresseing them in Pichia pastoris and after optimizing reaction conditions, yields of 90 mg/L of vitamin K2 was achieved.

CAS news release, April 12, 2017