I. Profile
The Reproductive Immunity Research Team Laboratory of Taishan Scholars was established at the end of 2017 on the basis of the Key Reproductive Immunity Laboratory of the Department of Health of Shandong Province and relying on the provincial key discipline during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, namely, immunology . The main research field of the Laboratory is reproductive immunity and infection immunity, and the research direction is the molecular mechanism of adverse pregnancy outcome caused by toxoplasma infection during pregnancy, which has opened up a new field of toxoplasma infection in the research of reproductive immunity.
II. The Team
Professor Hu Xuemei, the head of the Laboratory, is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, a doctoral advisor, a special government allowances receiver from the State Council, a Young and Middle-aged Expert with Outstanding Contributions in Shandong Province, the Head of the Key Discipline of Immunology of Shandong, Yantai City’s Double-Hundred Plan High-End Innovative Talents at the Second Level, head of the Key Laboratory of Reproductive Immunity of Shandong Provincial Department of Health, Vice Chairman of the Microbiology and Immunity Branch of Shandong Medical Association, Executive Director of Shandong Immunology Society and Shandong Zoological Society, Director of Shandong Microbiology Society and Biotechnology Society, Evaluation Expert of National Natural Science Foundation of China, Editorial Board Member of International Journal of Immunology, International Journal of Medical Parasitic Diseases, and Journal of Tropical Medicine, and reviewer of Front Microbiol, Am J Reprod Immunol, OMICS and other journals. There are currently 20 members in the laboratory, including 5 with senior academic titles, 7 with intermediate titles, 1 with junior title, 11 with doctorate degrees,1 doctoral student and 6 master students. In the past two years, 5 high-level doctoral talents have been attracted from well-known universities and scientific research institutes, and a research team with high academic levels and mainly young and middle-aged teachers has been formed. The Laboratory has trained 30 graduate students, and most of the master graduates go to hospitals and scientific research institutions to take part in work or go to prestigious universities to continue their studies for doctoral degree.
III.Infrastructure
The Laboratory currently has a molecular biology research platform, cell culture room, animal breeding room, etc., covering an area of about 200 square meters. Laboratory equipment is relatively complete and large-scale equipment includes immunomagnetic bead cell sorter, gelatin imaging and chemiluminescence imaging analysis system, automatic tissue processor, high-speed refrigerated centrifuge, biological safety cabinet, gradient PCR machine and ultra-low temperature refrigerator, etc. The total asset value is 2.9 million yuan, which basically meets the needs of team members for routine experiments. The team has 16 types of knockout mice, and a total of more than 1,500 experimental mice of various types, which provide strong support for the completion of the team's research project and future project application.
IV.Academic Achievements
The Laboratory is mainly dedicated to the research on the molecular mechanism of toxoplasma gondii infection during pregnancy leading to adverse pregnancy outcomes, and has obtained desirable research results with the funding of various topics at all levels. Under the leadership of Professor Hu Xuemei, the team has won 9 National Natural Science Foundation projects, 14 provincial and ministerial-level projects, and 8 department-level projects. More than 60 papers have been published in important academic journals at home and abroad, of which more than 30 are included by SCI. The team won the Second Prize of Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, the First and Second Prizes of Excellent Achievement Award of the Provincial Department of Education, the Third Prize of Provincial Medical Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Award, the First Prize of Binzhou Science and Technology Progress Award, and the Second Prize of Yantai Science and Technology Progress Award, and 15 Third-Class Awards of Shandong Medical Association Science and Technology Progress Award. The Laboratory attaches great importance to international cooperation and actively participates in academic exchanges at home and abroad. From August to November 2018, Professor Hu Xuemei went to Harvard University, New York University, Temple University, and St. John's University for academic exchanges and established substantial cooperative relationship with related laboratories.It has successively invited experts from famous universities at home and abroad such as St. John’s University, Capital Medical University, Anhui Medical University to our University for academic exchanges, and also has sent experts upon invitation to Anhui Medical University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nanjing University, Southern Medical University for academic exchanges. It has expanded academic horizons and established good cooperative relations with related laboratories of many universities. The research results obtained by the team have been academically exchanged at many conferences at home and abroad. Among them, Professor Hu Xuemei made two academic reports at the 17th International Conference on Immunology in Beijing in 2019, and obtained wide attention and high evaluation from peer experts in the field of international reproductive immunity.
