Center of Excellence for Molecular Cells of the Chinese Academy of Sciences: "Breaking" for Excellence

Experimental Building
Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences During this time, the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Molecular Cell Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Center of Excellence for Molecular Cells) has been in good news: April 26, Chen Lingling Research Group on The study of the important function of ring RNA in natural immunity has just been published in the journal Cell, and on May 2, Xu Guoliang's research team's paper on new DNA modifications appeared in the journal Nature;
began in July 2015, the Annual Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published by the Center for Molecular Cell Excellence, jumped from about 33 to 50. With the sharp rise of basic research results, the research group is increasingly closely related to practical applications such as clinical and health industries. At the same time, the International Science Program "Genome Labeling Program" and the national major scientific and technological infrastructure "Cell Science and Application Facility" have also been in the early planning and promotion.
At the beginning of this century, in order to "hold the power of scientific research in the field of life into a fist" and attack the frontiers of the world's life sciences, eight institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai abolished the establishment of legal persons and integrated them into the Shanghai Institute of Life Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. After more than ten years of development, the Shanghai Institute of Life Sciences is like a huge spring dragonfly, in which the scientific research force, once again reached a critical point of thinning out.
Taking advantage of the spring breeze of the classification reform of the Institute of The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology of the Shanghai Institute of Life Sciences of the Former Chinese Academy of Sciences has integrated the relevant national scientific research forces around the core of molecular cell science research, established a new scientific research platform, and built the Center of Excellence and Innovation in Molecular Cell Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
we aim at the forefront of the world's life sciences, targeting the country's population and health of major strategic needs." Li Lin, chief scientist of the Center of Excellence and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said, "The goal of the Center of Excellence for Molecular Cells is to build a scientific institution with international influence, with a decade to take on the status of an international leader." TheCell Centre of Excellence is both a legal entity and a relatively flexible scientific alliance. "As the first director of the Centre of Excellence, Academician Li Lin's words speak to the difference between the Centre of Excellence.
the beginning of this century, the rapid development of life science, synthetic chemistry and information science has brought profound influence to the development of human society. After more than ten years of reform and opening-up, Shanghai, as a major city of China's life sciences, urgently needs to break the shackles of the institutional mechanism and combine domestic scientific research forces with the latest scientific and technological progress in the world. To this end, the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, eight life science research institutes, the withdrawal of legal persons, the integration of the Shanghai Institute of Life Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Shanghai Academy of Health Sciences), while according to the frontiers of life sciences, the national population and health strategic needs, the establishment of a number of new research institutions.
in this institutional reform, the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences merged to become the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology of the Shanghai Institute of Life Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology). "This merger is in line with the life sciences trends of the time." Li Lin said that the introduction of overseas talent, the establishment of world-class standards of laboratories, the development of advanced experimental technology platform ... In the ten years since the merger, the Institute has made great progress in the field of molecular cell science.
By about 2013, the Shanghai Academy of Health Sciences, which had promoted the integration and development of disciplines, had gradually become a constraint on the further development of various disciplines - because of its membership in the same legal entity, experts in different fields, but had to avoid each other in the project review;
, an important force in basic research in China's life sciences, began to look for opportunities to "break through" in order to obtain a broader space for development.
" at that time, the scientist's bow has been pulled full: to apply for scientific research funds, but also to do scientific research, but also to do management ... Is there a mechanism that allows them to focus more on major breakthroughs that challenge the world's frontiers? Liu Xiaolong, director of the Center of Molecular Cell Excellence and then vice president of the Shanghai Academy of Health Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Biotechnology and Cells, said.
In 2014, in order to implement the "four firsts" requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the Chinese Academy of Sciences took the reform of the Institute classification as its focus and breakthrough, launched the "First Action" plan, focusing on breaking down institutional barriers and maximizing the potential for scientific and technological innovation.
" molecular cell science should apply for the construction of a center of excellence! Liu Xiaolong was elected as the new director of bio-chemicals and cells. The first thing the new leadership team will do immediately is prepare to apply for the Centre of Excellence.
Perhaps the idea has long been in the minds of researchers, so it took only a month for the construction plan to be presented to Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences: focusing on the frontiers of life sciences such as "cell fate decision and molecular regulation" for the major needs of the country's population health. Major issues, through innovative basic research, and strive to explain the nature of cell life and the law of activity to achieve landmark results, and strive to open up a new direction of molecular cell science research, leading the development of molecular cell science, life science research field has become a world-class research center and innovative talent highland.
" program for the Center of Excellence designed a 'five horizontal and four vertical' scientific research pattern. "Li Lin interprets -
horizontally with the coordinates of discipline characteristics, the deployment of cell activity and structure and its regulation, signal transduction and network regulation, genomic stability and supergenetic regulation, RNA transcription processing and functional regulation four research directions, as well as a technical direction - cutting-edge new concept theory and new technology methods.
Longitudinal is to solve major scientific problems as the grasping hand, focusing on cells with silk division and subtracting division, immunobiology, tumor biology and other issues, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Class B strategic pilot science and technology special "cell fate plasticity of the molecular basis and regulation" match.
" this way, a variety of scientific research resources can be arranged in different ways, promote the exchange of academic ideas, collision, promote cooperation between scientists in different fields, cross-cutting, which is also the significance of the establishment of the Center of Excellence. Li Lin said.
" Molecular Cell Center of Excellence has two meanings, one is the body, the other is the soul. Li Lin said, "body" refers to the scientific research institutions to obtain legal personality entities, and "soul" refers to it in the field of science to build a scientific highland, relying on the "body", to play the overall advantages of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the formation of an international leading position of scientific research team.
2015, when the center first selected the backbone of scientific research, it attracted nearly 100 scientific research teams from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to declare. After strict selection by a jury composed of overseas experts, only about half of the research groups of the Shanghai Academy of Biochemistry and Cells entered the Center of Excellence, while about 30 research teams from 12 units, including the Shanghai Academy of Biological Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Research, the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, the Animal Research Institute, the Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, the China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai University of Science and Technology, Fudan University, and so on, joined the Center of Excellence. July 23, 2015, the Office of the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences agreed in principle to the implementation plan for the construction of the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Molecular Cell Science, which was officially launched.
December 22, 2017, the center passed the construction period acceptance, into the official operating phase.
these two important dates are deeply imprinted in Liu Xiaolong's mind. In order to design a management system that conforms to the laws of basic research for the Center of Excellence, the Institute's leaders have held numerous talks with scientists, discussed them continuously, and consulted with the world's top scientists and laboratories.
scientific research is a special kind of labor. In particular, basic research, engaged in creative work from nothing, usually used performance appraisal system, which is not fully applicable. "Scientists have their own pursuits and are obsessed with the research they do." Liu Xiaolong said that by the "crazy" hobby brought about by the work input, there is no need to "calculate work points" to urge and motivate, "we want to design a system, should be different from the usual performance appraisal system, to maximize the lifting of the shackles on talent and cutting-edge research, so that they can let go of development."
Based on such considerations, the Center designed such a system: into the Center of Excellence's task force, the first three years do not make an assessment, to be three years to complete an assessment, if the assessment passed, then after five years of assessment.
is such an assessment cycle too long? Will the research team at the Centre of Excellence slack off? 'This usually doesn't happen, ' Mr. Li said. 'After three years, a certain elimination rate is maintained every year when selecting teams. ' For example, 10 of the first teams selected in 2015 left the Centre of Excellence last year.
" Center of Excellence does not support lazy people, the center's team must always pursue excellence! Li Lin said that this is the original purpose of the rule. He believes that a good system will certainly allow the best people to reach their full potential.
Chen Lingling's words confirm Li Lin's point of view. Since returning home in 2011, she has made ground-breaking systematic work in the field of non-coding RNA, where she now has a fairly loud reputation in international academia. When she applied to join the Centre of Excellence in 2015, she felt that the pressure of the assessment itself was not great, and that more pressure came from herself.
" Several well-known international conferences in the field of non-coding RNA research invite me to give a report every year, and since last year I have been invited to serve as President of the General Assembly of major international conferences. Chen Lingling said that in order to maintain a leading position, we must continue to work hard to move forward.
last year's assessment, Chen Lingling "upgraded" from the backbone of scientific research to the core backbone, and the stable funding she receives each year will also be enhanced.
" in fact, after entering the Centre of Excellence, many young talents are growing very fast. From 2015 to 2018, 16 new "Jie Qing" were added to the center's research team, accounting for 8% of the total number of people in the country's life sciences and medical foundations over the past four years, Liu said.
Weiguo, who returned to work in 2012, was named "Je Qing" after joining the Centre of Excellence. Having been a postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Institution and the Harvard School of Public Health, he has his own judgment on the research environment: although basic bone research in the country is just beginning, he can't find as many small peers as he does in the United States, but he can meet experts in other fields of life sciences.
" Centre of Excellence encourages cross-cutting, and I've worked with a number of good scientists to start publishing some good work. "He felt that the academic atmosphere created by the center played an important role in his evaluation of "Je Qing".
, who has just joined the Center of Excellence for more than a year, is a young professor in the School of Life Sciences at China University of Science and Technology. After completing his postdoctoral degree at Tsinghua University, he came to the Chinese University of Science and Technology to start his own laboratory and conduct independent research, and admitted that being able to join the Center of Excellence helped him get off to a good start.
, I received systematic training in the field of frozen electron mirrors, but when studying proteins specifically, it was easy to 'drill the tip of the horn', " he says. Through the Center of Excellence platform, I can communicate with many molecular biology, cell biology teachers, get a lot of help. Sun Linfeng said.
is the most anticipated research environment for outstanding scientists. Hu Guangjing, Director of the Research Department of the Molecular Cell Centre of Excellence, said that for a scientific research institution, to serve good scientists, in the management of the establishment of a system, in particular, to balance all kinds of regulations, managers need to pay more.
April 2016, the Center organized a "Secretary Training Exchange" for laboratory "housekeepers" selected for the research team to upgrade their service research team. In this quarterly exchange, the functional departments will be the latest policy initiatives, practical processes, detailed to them.
addition, the Centre of Excellence has established a Director's Fund to lay out major original results, major strategic technologies and products, and major demonstration transformation projects to encourage scientists to explore boldly. For example, the discovery of islet adult stem cells and in-body reconstruction of islets are the first projects supported by the Director's Fund.
, the $2 million fund is mainly used to fund the preparation of biological samples in cooperation with the research team and the hospital. Liu Xiaolong introduced that this is difficult to solve the problem of other channels of funding, "In the past, basic research in life sciences used mice, worms, fruit flies to do experiments, focusing on understanding the phenomenon of life." But now that the Centre of Excellence focuses on the strategic needs of the nation's population and health, we should be bolder in combining basic research with human physiology and pathology." three years of dynamic adjustment, the Molecular Cell Center of Excellence now has 70 scientific backbones from 13 scientific research institutions and universities nationwide, with an average age of 45. Since the start of preparations in 2015, the Center of Excellence has received more than 50 million yuan in various types of support funds from the Chinese Academy of Sciences during the construction period.
" Molecular Cell Center of Excellence has played a very good role in stabilizing talent. Liu Xiaolong said that in the process of reform, it is inevitable that there will be a large flow of talent, and the flexible way of talent organization of the center of excellence, so that the organization of scientific research team to avoid personnel relations changes and other contradictions, to give talents greater autonomy to choose.
" access to the Centre of Excellence is an acknowledge and motivating recognition for young people who are just returning home and are just starting out. Zhai Weiguo said that spiritual motivation, a sense of belonging, for young people like him is very meaningful.
system stimulates the potential for innovation, the Molecular Cell Center of Excellence has been in operation for less than two years since its inception, and the output capacity of innovation has leapt to a new level.
the past three years, the Center of Excellence has published more than 400 papers in leading academic journals in the world, including more than 340 research papers as the first and/or communication units. Among them, "Nature" 6, "Cell" 4, "Science" 3.
In the 2016 "Top 10 Advances in Chinese Science", the center "revealed the mechanism of metaphysical genetic regulation of key signaling pathfours in embryonic development", "proposed a new method of tumor immunotherapy based on cholesterol metabolic regulation" and "discovered that sperm RNA can be used as a memory vector to obtain cross-generational inheritance of sexual features".
"Molecular Structure and Its Biological Significance of DNA Methylation"