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Policy

Shanghai Chapter Shines

by A. Maureen Rouhi
November 24, 2014 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 92, Issue 47

GATHERING IN JIANGYIN
Participating in the ACS-CIBR symposium as speakers, organizers, and guests are (front row, left to right) James Chou, Harvard Medical School; Wuyi Meng, CIBR; Shaomeng Wang, University of Michigan; Peng Wang, Yabao Pharmaceutical Group; E. J. Corey; Li-He Zhang, Peking University; William J. Greenlee, MedChem Discovery Consulting; Iwao Ojima, Stony Brook University; Nicole Sampson, Stony Brook University; Peter J. Tonge, Stony Brook University; and John J. Piwinski, JJPiwinski Pharma Consulting. Back row, left to right: Zhijie Chang, Tsinghua University; Hong Shen, Roche Innovation Center Shanghai; Jiaquan Wu, CIBR; Liang Zhu, CIBR; Haijun Zhang, Biortus; Jingye Zhou; Duan Liu, Wuxi AppTec; Lan He, National Institutes for Food & Drug Control; Yali Chen, CIBR;  and Steven Hill, ACS Office of International Activities.
Credit: Courtesy of Jingye Zhou
Speakers, organizers, and guests at the ACS-CIBR symposium included Corey (front row, fifth from left) and Zhou (back row, sixth from left).Participating in the ACS-CIBR symposium as speakers, organizers, and guests are (front row, left to right) James J. Chou, Harvard Medical School; Wuyi Meng, CIBR; Shaomeng Wang, University of Michigan; Peng Wang, Yabao Pharmaceutical Group; Corey; Li-He Zhang, Peking University; William J. Greenlee, MedChem Discovery Consulting; Iwao Ojima, Nicole S. Sampson, and Peter J. Tonge, all with Stony Brook University, SUNY; and John J. Piwinski, JJPiwinski Pharma Consulting. Back row, left to right: Zhijie Chang, Tsinghua University; Hong Shen, Roche Innovation Center Shanghai; Jiaquan Wu and Liang Zhu of CIBR; Haijun Zhang, Biortus; Zhou; Duan Liu, WuXi AppTec; Lan He, National Institutes for Food & Drug Control; Yali Chen, CIBR; and Steven Hill, ACS Office of International Activities.

The ACS International Chemical Sciences Chapter in Shanghai put on a winner with the 1st International Symposium of Chemistry & Life Sciences, held on Oct. 16–17 in Jiangyin, in Jiangsu province, China. With about 125 attendees, the meeting highlighted the challenges and opportunities in drug discovery for cancer and infectious diseases. An international slate of speakers, led by Nobel Laureate and Harvard University emeritus chemistry professor E. J. Corey, described trends and new approaches to discovering drugs for cancer and infectious diseases.

“Infectious diseases and cancer are two major disease classes in China,” said Jingye Zhou, a principal scientist at the Lilly China R&D Center and the chair of the ACS Shanghai chapter. “The symposium shone some light on the R&D work that could help patients in China and worldwide.”

The chapter partnered with the E. J. Corey Institute of Biomedical Research (CIBR), in Jiangyin, in organizing the meeting. CIBR is a nonprofit research organization nominally founded by Corey and a group of Chinese returnees and funded by the Jiangyin local government and Jiangsu province. Its mission is to make a difference in the treatment and diagnosis of disease, specifically ­tuberculosis.

In presenting a “superoverview” of cancer, Corey described the disease as caused by cascading dysregulation when things go wrong in the highly ordered, very low entropy system that is the human body. “Cancer is an inevitable condition because of the imperfections of the body transiting from one state to another,” he said. “If we all were to live to a very old age and had otherwise perfect health, we would die of cancer.” The ultimate advance—the real prize—he said, is rapid methods for early diagnosis.

The symposium was “excellent” and “very interesting,” Corey told C&EN. “The folks in Jiangyin are delighted to have a connection with ACS. They see ACS as a premier organization that gives them a link to the outside world.”

“Many scientists in China are unable to attend ACS national meetings due to logistic hurdles,” Zhou told C&EN. “By creating a local ACS-organized symposium, we brought top-notch scientific exchange to a broad community in China. The symposium also enabled local ACS members to network with each other and with international speakers.”

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