On 18 April, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory convened the 4th session of the 1st Academic Committee. 13 senior experts in life sciences participated in the meeting through online / on-site to listen to the Five-Year Plan of Shenzhen Bay Laboratory and to provide advice on the direction of academic development and research layout of the Laboratory. Li Xiaoli, Director of Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, Wu Yun-Dong, Executive Vice Director of the Laboratory, Hu Xiaojun, Secretary of the Party Committee, Wu Hong, Vice Director of the Laboratory, Tu Huan, Vice Director of the Laboratory, and Wu Feng, Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committee of the Laboratory, attended the meeting. Academician Zhang Mingjie, Chair of the Academic Committee, presided over the meeting.
Li Xiaoli expressed her hope that the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory would focus on national strategies and conduct relevant research on the “Four Orientations” to serve the development of talents and industries in Shenzhen. The development plan should converge with the 14th Five-Year Plan of Shenzhen, conform to the overall development goals of Shenzhen, adhere to the task-oriented layout and research. The development direction should aim to make significant achievements in the next five years.
Academician Wu Yun-Dong reported on the “Five-Year Plan of Shenzhen Bay Laboratory”. It included the mission of the laboratory, construction planning, construction progress and the layout of major tasks, with special emphasis on the layout of the five-year major tasks of the laboratory, requiring the formation of technological leadership in the prevention and treatment of major diseases, driving high growth in the biomedical industry, and being fully prepared for public health emergencies, mainly proposing the layout of the major tasks of the Laboratory in the prevention and treatment of three major diseases, including respiratory and infectious diseases, oncological diseases and neurological diseases. The Laboratory aimed to develop new mechanisms and discover new targets and structures in the field of Basic Scientific Research; to develop new technologies and protocols in diagnosis; and to develop new drugs and devices in disease treatment.
At the meeting, members expressed their affirmation of the development and achievements of Shenzhen Bay Laboratory in the past three years, and also discussed the content of the Five-Year Plan in depth, and suggested solutions in terms of the positioning of the Laboratory, the layout of major tasks, the construction of talent teams, cooperation and transformation, etc., and jointly sketched the blueprint for the development of the Laboratory. It was hoped that the characteristics and advantages of the Laboratory could be highlighted and the Shenzhen model could be developed to serve the biomedical industry in Shenzhen and even the whole country.
Finally, Academician Wu Yun-Dong concluded the meeting by expressing his gratitude to the members for their valuable comments, based on which the Laboratory would further revise and improve the Five-Year Plan, hoping that within five years a number of core key technologies would be achieved, major original results would be made in Basic Scientific Research, a number of enterprises with significant innovation capabilities would be nurtured, and the Laboratory would serve as a major source of new methods for the diagnosis and treatment of relevant diseases, thereby facilitating the implementation of a more complete biotechnology innovation system in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and making a significant contribution to the substantial upgrading of the biomedical industry in Shenzhen.
