On December 16-17, 2024, the 2024 Academic Exchange Conference of the Major
Research Program "Cracking the Sugar Code of Life" was held in Zhuhai.
Academician Yu Jihong, President of Beijing Normal University, and Fu Xuefeng,
Deputy Director of the Cross Science Department of the Natural Science
Foundation of China, attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Lv Qunyan,
member of the management working group and Deputy Director of the International
Scientific Research Funding Department, attended the meeting and directed the
expert group leader and academician Yu Biao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry to preside over the opening
ceremony.
Principal Yu Jihong pointed out in his speech that the functional analysis
of sugar chains, as the "third life chain" outside of nucleic acid chains and
protein peptide chains, is an important scientific issue in the post genomic
era. We hope to promote interdisciplinary collaboration through the
implementation of this major research plan, analyze the biological connotations
of the sugar code, and produce breakthrough innovative results in the field of
sugar research.
Deputy Director Fu Xuefeng stated that the implementation of this major
research plan is expected to promote significant breakthroughs in the precise
diagnosis, drug development, and clinical treatment of major diseases in China.
I hope the attending experts can use this exchange to speak freely and provide
constructive opinions on the future development of sugar research; I hope to
guide the expert group and management team to take this opportunity to carefully
analyze the opportunities and challenges they are facing, and better plan their
future vision goals.
The conference invited five experts, including Academician Shao Feng from
Beijing Institute of Life Sciences and Professor Chen Xing from Beijing Normal
University, to give keynote speeches. The leaders of the 5 key support projects
and 35 cultivation projects funded in 2024 reported on their research plans,
difficulties and challenges, and contributions to this major research program.
The guidance expert group provided comments on the conference report and put
forward practical and feasible opinions and suggestions for subsequent research
work. During the meeting, the guidance expert group and management working group
held a working meeting to discuss the revised draft of the 2025 project
guidelines, annual work plan, and other matters.
Academician Yan Ning from Tsinghua University and other project leaders,
some project applicants, experts and scholars in related fields, and relevant
staff from the National Natural Science Foundation of China attended the
meeting.