Window-to-China
Overview of last view News
Important bio-relevant changes in China 2015
According to a lead article,
1. the sales of prescription drugs over the internet will strongly increase, due to deregulation by the CFDA,
2. drug prizes will be gradually liberalized,
3. a new environmental protection law with toughter penalties has been enacted as of Jan. 1, 2015,
4. import taxes on many products have been lowered
5. medical devices will be regulated according to 3 risk categories,
6. private health insurances will step forward,
7. an overhauled budget law has come into action
8. central corporate management will be paid by a basic salary plus a performance pay,
9. lawful real estate property will be more secure, and
10. 338 cities and over 1400 monitoring sites will publish real-time air quality monitoring data (PM10, PM2.5 and six other indicators)
China Bio newsrelease, Jan. 6, 2015
Group at Macau University School of Medicine treats MS with stem cells
Renhe XU reports that embryonic stemm cells obtained from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells improved the symptoms of this autoimmune diseases among patients
China Bio news release, Jan. 5, 2015
Group at CAS Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics develops improved method for chiral amino acids
The procedure involves asymmetric allylation with commercially available chiral ligands in a one-pot acid catalysis. The procedure works without pre-activation and leads to wate ras the only by-product.
ianggao XI et al., Organic Letters (2014, 16, pp 5350-5353)
Third Military Medical University reports successful stem-cell therapy for endometrial damage
Endometrial damage is one of the main reasons for infertility. DAI Jianwu, director at the Third Military Medical University, has used stem cells to repair the endometrium in 9 cases, and three patients have successfully given birth.Stem cells are xtracted from the patient’s own bone marrow stem cells and adhered to a 4 cm wide, 6 cm long collagen film, then transplanted into the patient’s damaged parts of the inner wall of the uterus. Operation time is 1 hr.
China Bio news release, Jan. 5, 2015
National Germplasm Repository in Sichuan progresses
As a resource for Chinese herbal medicine, the Sichuan Germplasm Bank is a national key project. It is planned to store up to 200.000 germplasm items, and supporting laboratory area will be 1245 m2, plus 1640 m2 for short-term storage etc.
China Bio news release, Jan. 5, 2015
Death causes of Chinese are changing
According to a survey in “Lancet”, life expectancy of Chinese has increased by an average of 8.6 years since 1990 and is 73,6 years for males and 80 years for females (2013). For the population aged 15 – 49, road injury and stroke are the leading causes of death (26,7 million in 2013). For Chinese 70 years and older, stroke (close to 2 million in 2013) is the main cause. Chronic kidney disease, dementia and lung cancer increased by 147 %, 121 % and 103 %, respectively, since 1990, whereas death by premature birth or pneumonia decreased sharply (-87 and – 56 %).
China Bio news release, Jan. 5, 2015
Han Yu Biotechnology Co. starts stem cell R&D center in Tianjin Wuqing Business district
The focus will be on anti-aging research. The location in the science park will obtain 600 million Yuan of investment and be well equipped.
China Bio news release, Jan. 5, 2015
Researchers at CAS Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Beijing, clarify mechanism of biomineralization in magnetotactic bacteria (MTB)
Sstudying a strain of candidatus Magnetobacterium casensis isolated from the Beijing Miyun Reservoir, the group of PAN Yongxin and coworkers sequenced the 3,42 Mb genome and revealed main physiological metabolic characteristics, such as iron metabolism, carbon dioxide fixation, denitrification and sulfur metabolism. In addition, comparative genomics allowed to identify the complete gene regulation of synthetic magnetic bodies, including unique MTB magnetic Island gene bodies.
CAS news release, Jan. 5, 2015
CAS Institute of Zoology, Kunming, provides „dog and wolf genomes database“
The database is cured by Yaping ZHANG and accessible hrough the internet under http://dogsd.big.ac.cn
CAS news release, Jan. 4, 2015
Hisun Co. announces 50.000 t PLA plant in Taizhou
Hisun Biomaterials Co., a subsidiary of Hisun, will build this plant, Asia’s largest, with a total investment of 950 million Yuan, and expects average annual sales of 1,65 billion Yuan.
China Bio news release, Jan. 4, 2015
Tree Shrew Database: „China’s Next Top Model“
CAS Kunming Institute of Zoology is developing this animal as a model for human diseases, due to the tree shrew’s cheaper cost, smaller size, faster reproduction and high brain-to-body mass ratio. To date, the tree shrew model has been used in research on hepatitis, myopia, aging, and depression. Last year, researchers at the Kunming institute published the first high-quality tree shrew reference genome. This year, YAO Yonggang’s team has launched the world’s first Tree Shrew Database to provide access to the most current tree shrew data.
CAS news release, Jan. 4, 2015
NPC committee drafts revised food safety law
The proposed new rules concern storage, transportation and labeling of GM-food. Provision, production and management of genetically modified foods should be identified. Failing to identify products, production tools, equipment and other items will be fined five times higher than now, and in serious cases manufacturing license will be revoked.
China Bio news release, Dec. 31, 2014
China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association establishes Biomass and Bioengineering Committee in Beijing
Executive VP is LI Shousheng who is also executive VP of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association. Major positions in the committee are held by influential academicians such as TAN Tianwei, OUYANG Pingkai, CHEN Jian, CAO Xianghong and WANG Xieqing. Head of the Advisory Group is CAO Zhuan.
China Bio news release, Dec. 31, 2014
BGI builds information platform on genetic testing in China
BGI, one of the largest service providers on genome sequencing and analysis, claims to have done genetic testing on 82 million people already through its worldwide organization. China has 17 million newborns each year, the official rate of birth defects is 5.6%. With the further liberalization of the two-child policy, one million children may be born each year with birth defects, a large proportion of which carries defects caused by genetic factors. As a consequence, BGI has built a learning and communication platform for genetic diseases, containing the latest research results on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of about 30 types of genetic diseases.
China Bio news release, Dec. 31, 2014
CAS Shanghai Institute Pasteur develops influenza vaccine manufactured in Vero cells
The PR8 virus was adapted to Vero cells by continuous passaging, resulting in a Vero-adapted, high-yield PR8-4mut virus as a promising candidate for an influenza-vaccine donor virus
CAS news release, Dec. 31, 2014
Henan Province constructs National Bio-Environmental Research Center
In the first 2 years phase, the center will be built on about 1 – 2 km2, with an investment of 1,5 billion Yuan (200 mill. €). Main partner is Tsinghua University, Beijing, and the focus will be on biological wastewater treatment, followed on technologies for air pollution control
China Bio news release, Dec. 30, 2014
NOx reduction by Chlorella algae
Researchers at the CAS Institute of Hydrobiology, Wuhan, have demonstrated that Chlorella sp. C2 can utilize nitrite and NOx as a nitrogen source, concomitant
with the ability to accumulate lipids. The study was done at Sinopec’s Shijiazhuang refinery.
China Bio news release, Dec. 29, 2014
China’s New Year migration: 3,6 billion passenger miles in 10 days
On New Year 2014, the Chinese search engine Baidu created a „heat map“ of these trips provided by the smartphones of their 200 million subscribers.
The densest knods on this map are Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong/Shenzen.
CAS news release, Dec. 29, 2014
Qingdao Unique Productgs Develop Co. presents 3D printer for biological materials
The Qingdao company, specialized in Nylon products, claims that in a sterile environment their 3D printer provides a survival rate of cells of 92 %. Print size is 300 × 250 × 150mm, print thickness 0.1mm-0.2mm.
China Bio news release, Dec. 29, 2014
CAS South China Botanical Garden develops improved preservation method for Lichi
Lichi are the most important export fruit of China, but 20 % is lost by decay after harvesting. The group of Hongxia QU at South China Botanical Garden found that epigallocatechin gallate, EGCG, extracted from green tea, is a powerfull stabilizer and antioxidant which, after soaking the dry fruit in a 0.05 – 2 % solution, improves stability and reduces browing.
China Bio news release, Dec. 26, 2014