Tang Nan: In the busy harvest a number of original results

Tang Nan, a senior researcher at the Beijing Institute of Life Sciences, has two areas of research:
is to explore the mechanisms of lung regeneration. Through the self-established pulmonary regenerative mouse model, combined with mouse genetics, mouse living dynamic imaging system, three-dimensional culture technique of alveo stem cells and single-cell sequencing, the mechanism of alvemic stem cell proliferation and differentiation in the process of lung injury repair was studied.
is to explore the pathogenesis and biological targets of common lung diseases such as lung cancer, idepathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Through self-established mouse models of lung diseases, combined with normal and patient lung tissue samples, the laboratory uses sequencing, cell, molecular, bio-chemical technology, etc., to find relevant mutations, pathogenesis and therapeutic targets, and develop related drugs.the importance of the lungs as a gas-exchange organ can be seen in the well-known saying "one breath for man". Unfortunately, due to the difficulty of research, low support funds, few researchers and other reasons, research at home and abroad are backward in this regard, many of the most basic scientific issues are not clear. Due to weak basic research, lung cancer, slow-blocking lung, idio-pulmonary fibrosis and other serious threats to human health diseases, there has been no effective drugs and treatment methods.
know that there are tigers in the mountains, preferring the tiger mountain line. After returning home in 2012, Tang Nan, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Life Sciences, led students to start from the start and explore the scientific field of lung regeneration mechanisms and the treatment of common lung diseases. At present, her laboratory has not only achieved many original results in the field of basic research, but also made encouraging progress in the treatment of incurable diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis."This process is really very difficult, can only bite the teeth to insist on doing down, bit by bit forward breakthrough
scientists have long found that gas exchange is mainly through the vesal bubbles, which are made up of single-layer type 1 and type 2 cells. But for a long time, the scientific community was unclear about the molecular mechanisms of alvelopment and how alve bubbles regenerate.
the lab was built in 2012, Tang Nan took the students, modeling the lungs of mice, to start with the regeneration of the vesulums.
"I didn't know about the vesal bubbles before, and when I started doing it, I found that many of the most basic things were out of order, as if I had reached an untapped wasteland. Tong Nan gave an example: "Just started doing a mouse lung removal, thinking that as long as you do it fast enough, you can cut off the mouse's lungs without a ventilator." As a result, we gave the mice a chest open and died before realizing that the ventilator had to be bought. You can see how 'outsider' we were at the time! The
difficulty was solved, and more difficulties waited behind.
type of cells distributed on the surface of the anticul bubble, which is a vital gas-to-blood exchange barrier. To study its function, it must first be completely separated from the vesicle skin. However, type 1 cells than ordinary cells 500 times bigger, big, thin and brittle, do cell separation when accidentally broken, cells immediately died, the back of the study can not continue ... Similar difficulties were enumeration during the trial.
Whenever students find Tang Nan depressed after the failure of the experiment, she always cheerfully encourages them: no matter, this method is not possible, indicating that one possibility is ruled out, we try other ways ...
" Miss Tang is always so optimistic that it is rare for her to be depressed. "Doctoral student Wu Huixuan told reporters, "In fact, we have been lying hard all these years, a lot of times tried seven or eight methods to get the desired results." Without Mr. Tang's encouragement, we might have given up early. "
" many of the most basic methods need to explore ourselves, so each step is very slow, each subject takes several years. Tang Nan admitted that the process is really very difficult, can only bite their teeth to insist on doing down, bit by bit forward breakthrough."down-to-earth, serious, every can think of details to find a way to explain clearly
in the field of basic research, academic papers are the most important carrier to display the results of research. As the director of the laboratory, Tang Nan can be described as a "mountain of pressure" - the colleagues are very good, they can not fall behind;
but in the issue of papers, Tang Nan's attitude is almost harsh. "We do research to solve scientific problems, and we must not publish articles for the sake of writing. No matter what others do, we should draw a line for ourselves to ensure the quality of research and the standard of the paper. "Her requirements for herself and her students are: down-to-earth, serious, every detail you can think of to find a way to explain clearly.
"In Mr. Tang's place, you can't be sloppy at all. "Doctoral student Li Wei told reporters that every week when the group meeting, if a classmate put a detail slightly past, she immediately stopped, and put forward: you must make this place clear; This is very good scientific training, because the key points are often in those vague places. "
" I see Mr. Tang writing articles when the pressure is also very great, often is a paragraph of text to think for a long time, and then carefully discuss with us how to write. Wu Huixuan told reporters, "Key paragraphs, to be discussed for several days." "
" to maintain awe of science, is the most important principle that Mr. Tang taught me over the years. "Ph.D. student Wang Wei said, in the process of doing experiments, there are times when you feel can, but she felt that it is not enough, often to take a step, and then take three steps back. In order to better understand a phenomenon, Mr. Tang will let students work hard to do more basic things, although many experiments will not necessarily be put into the paper, the paper will not necessarily be published. "It's really torturing, but it's only going to accelerate if the foundations in front are put in place." Wang said.
's true. Every paper published by Tang Nan's lab, it receives calls, emails, or technical details from domestic and foreign research institutions and clinicians, or invites them to give reports. A number of well-known international pharmaceutical companies have also offered to cooperate. They open up a new direction, often followed by international peers."It takes a little time every day to think about how my subject can contribute to the treatment of lung disease
basic research and disease treatment, and there is a huge gap between that. Is it demarcation or cross-domain? Tang Nan chose the latter.
"I always say to the students: You come here to do research, not only to solve scientific problems, but also to take time every day to think: I do the subject can promote the treatment of lung disease? "Not only are they thinking, but I'm thinking about it every day. She
that medical transformation is not an easy task, in addition to their own research to do solid, but also inseparable from close cooperation with clinicians, so Tang Nan took the initiative to find a doctor docking. In March 2016, she met Wang Chen, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering,
, who was
China-Japan Friendship Hospital, and talked about her ideas. Later, at the National Respiratory Conference, I met many experts in related fields.
since then, working with doctors has become the norm in Tangnan's lab. Once traces of lung disease were found in the experiment, she volunteered to consult a doctor. The doctor will discuss with her what difficult problems the doctor has encountered clinically... The ever-closer cooperation bears unexpected fruit.
idyropathic pulmonary fibrosis (IF) is a common, incurable lung disease with a five-year survival rate that is only higher than pancreatic and lung cancers and is known as "cancer that is not a cancer." According to the World Federation of IPS, there are 1.22 million new IF cases worldwide each year. Due to the lack of animal disease models, the cause of the disease and molecular mechanisms have been unclear, doctors often helpless in the face of patients for help.
2015, Wu Huixuan first observed pulmonary fibrosis lesions in mice after the knock-off of the adult cell cycle regulatory protein Cdc42.
is acutely aware that this is very similar to the IPF. Over the next few years, they built the world's first model of specific pulmonary fibrosis in mice.
with the help of several medical experts, Tang Nan Laboratory, together with the relevant teams of Beisheng Institute and Tsinghua University, expounded the mechanism of occurrence and development of pulmonary fibrosis from the dual levels of cell behavior and molecular mechanism. In December 2019, after the paper was published in the journal Cell, it caused great concern among international peers that the study "found the key to developing new drugs to treat IMPH". Tang Nan is also working with the Yan Jianhua team at Beisheng Institute to develop drugs to treat IPF for molecular targets found in the experiment, and is expected to apply for clinical trials next year.
to the office at around 7 o'clock every morning, leaving at
p.m., holidays are basically spent in the lab... Now, eight years back home, Tang Nan is still the same as the original, busy and happy. "Our research now extends from the very beginning to
, each with good prospects. I've always felt lucky to have a very good research environment, students, partners. We will continue to work hard to make better research results. "