Chengdu high-tech zone plays key role in scientific research, innovation

With input from numerous universities and research institutions and a well-established industrial system, Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone in Chengdu of Sichuan province is advancing its two laboratories in an effort to develop original scientific results and promote innovation.

The two laboratories — the Tianfu Jincheng Laboratory and Tianfu Jiangxi Laboratory — which have been established to seize the commanding heights of innovation worldwide and serve the nation's strategic needs, were unveiled in the high-tech zone in November 2022.

New progress

In Chengdu Xinchuan Innovation Science and Technology Park, south of the high-tech zone, Tianfu Jincheng Laboratory focuses on original target discovery and new drug development, innovative medical device research and development, and precision medicine. In empowering the interdisciplinary and cross-fusion innovation of "medicine plus industry", it is exploring 10 major industrial tracks: stem cell therapy, digital diagnosis and treatment, synthetic biology, brain science, vaccines, blood products, high-end preparations, high-end biomaterials, dental medicine and medical aesthetics.

On Oct 18, the inaugural meeting of the academic committee of Tianfu Jincheng Laboratory was held. Wei Yuquan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, former vice-president of Sichuan University, was appointed as chairman. Zhang Xingdong of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and 28 other academicians and experts sit as members.

"The academic committee will contribute wisdom to determining the laboratory's strategic direction and key tasks, the layout of scientific and technological resources and the establishment of talent introduction and training models," said Li Weimin, director of West China Hospital of Sichuan University and director of Tianfu Jincheng Laboratory.

As one of the four key laboratories under Sichuan's Tianfu Laboratories plan, Tianfu Jincheng Laboratory is a joint project of the Chengdu high-tech zone and institutions such as Sichuan University.

Focusing on major chronic diseases and taking clinical value as its guide, the lab tackles bottleneck technologies and strives to establish a global-leading mechanism of whole lifecycle drug and medical devices while achieving breakthroughs in the conversion and industrialization of scientific results.

Earlier this month, the team led by researchers Shao Zhenhua and Yan Wei from the State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy at Sichuan University and the Tianfu Jincheng Laboratory cooperated with their counterparts Sun Jinpeng and Yu Xiao from Shandong University and had a paper published by Nature, which was the second one that the Jincheng laboratory had published by the world's leading multidisciplinary science journal this year.

The latest published paper presents the first characterization of the pharmacology and molecular mechanisms of the clinically significant psychiatric drug target trace amine-associated receptor 1, aka TAAR1. According to the paper, researchers have identified the plasticity of the drug recognition pockets in the TAAR1 receptor. Based on the new mechanism, they screened and obtained new ligands targeting TAAR1, providing an important theoretical basis for drug development targeting TAAR1.

Since its inception, the Tianfu Jincheng Laboratory has highlighted different types of drug development, drug formulation and pharmaceutical evaluation, piloting, testing and other closed-loop pathways. It has built a nationwide new drug development system covering the entire research and development field with strong technical capabilities, excellent services and internationalization, and initiated 17 functional platforms to achieve the integration of system, technology, model and management featuring "idea and concept, full-cycle drug development platforms and comprehensive demonstration of innovative breakthroughs".

Within five years, the laboratory is expected to overcome a series of bottleneck technologies, generate a set of original scientific and technological achievements, cultivate a group of technical and managerial talents, and establish an integrated, cutting-edge, leading platform-oriented drug R&D system that is domestically advanced and world-class in terms of the entire drug development cycle. This platform will enable China to achieve technological leadership, safety, self-reliance and controllability in the fields of life safety and new drug discovery.

Top sci-tech platform

At the forefront of electromagnetic space and ubiquitous interconnection, Tianfu Jiangxi Laboratory is another key initiative under the Tianfu Laboratories plan.

Located in the Future Science and Technology City in Chengdu, it focuses on research areas including electromagnetic space utilization and control, information-functional materials and components, electromagnetic sensing and ubiquitous interconnectivity, advanced computing and neuromorphic intelligence. It has built advanced research centers in fields such as advanced computing, the quantum internet, distributed energy integration, microwave and photon integration and constantly strengthens original scientific and technological research from scratch and key technology research to enhance innovation sourcing capabilities. It is also actively exploring the path of technology transfer, accelerating the on-site transformation and incubation of scientific and technological achievements, and promoting the deep integration of the innovation chain and the industry chain.

The laboratory's goal is to build a complete technical chain of "theory, material, device, system and application" to carry out original, leading and forward-looking sci-tech research. At present, it has established teams in the frontier research centers of advanced computing, the quantum internet, distributed energy integration, and microwave and photon integration, which lay the foundation for building an efficient scientific and technological innovation system that breaks down interdisciplinary barriers and stimulates cross-domain innovation.

On Nov 9, the team of the microwave and photon integration frontier research center officially settled in the Tianfu Jiangxi Laboratory. This is the fourth frontier research center team to settle in the Jiangxi laboratory this year.

The center has welcomed the interdisciplinary materials and devices team from the Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and Wang Zhiming, dean of the institute, is serving as director.

The center will gather a group of academicians and scientists to conduct research and accelerate the industrial transformation of achievements that cater to the major demands of the next generation of mobile communications, the internet of things and AI with the goal of solving bottlenecks in intellectual property rights and key material components, among others.

wangjinhui@chinadaily.com.cn