I. Profile
The Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Pharmacology for Tumor Metabolism (hereinafter referred to as the "Laboratory") was approved as a key laboratory of Yantai City by the Yantai Science and Technology Bureau on December 13, 2018. Through the introduction of high-level talents, the hiring of visiting professors and part-time professors, and the cultivation of graduate students, the Laboratory has formed a high-level and well-structured scientific research team with teachers as the main body. Based on tumor cell energy metabolism the team carries out studies on the active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine on tumor cell energy metabolism reprogramming, NAD+ salvage signaling pathway related aerobic glycolysis, research on the anti-tumor molecular mechanism by traditional Chinese medicine compounds based on redox balance, and anti-tumor molecular mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine compounds with non-coding RNA as the target.
II. The Team
The team currently has 16 high-level and high-quality scientific research members, including 15 members with doctoral degrees. Among them, 3 are with senior titles, 6 associate senior titles, 6 intermediate titles, and 1 research assistant. The team members are graduates from Hong Kong Baptist University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou University, Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan University, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Pharmaceutical University, Xiamen University and other well-known universities at home and abroad. Among the core members, 1 person was selected as the New Century Excellent Talents Program by the Ministry of Education, 1 person was selected as an academic leader, and 1 person was selected as Shandong Provincial Higher Education Institution Talent Team Cultivation Program, 1 as an academic leader was selected by the Shandong Provincial Colleges and Universities Youth Innovation Talent Induction Program, and 1 was selected for the Double-Hundred Plan of Yantai City. In addition, there are 22 graduate students studying for a master's degree. Team members have strong scientific research capabilities, harmonious relationships between members, and strong collaboration capabilities. From an overall point of view, the overall educational level of the team members is relatively high, the title and academic relationship structure is reasonable, the three generations of the old, the middle and the young are connected, and the reserve force is strong.
Professor Li Defang, Director of the Laboratory, is a former research assistant professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, winner of Provincial Excellent Youth in Shandong Province, Academic Leader of Superior Discipline Talent Team in Shandong Province, Innovative Talent of Yantai City Double-Hundred Plan, Urgently Needed Talent introduced by the Yellow River Delta Region, winner of the 15th ”Ten Outstanding Youth in Yantai”, and winner of the 13th Binzhou City Youth Science and Technology Award. He is also the Standing Director of the Osteoporosis Professional Committee of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine, the Director of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Network Pharmacology Professional Committee, the Director of Shandong Pharmacological Society, and member of Shandong Pharmacological Society Chinese Medicine Pharmacology Professional Committee. He has presided over 9 projects including the general projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China, the youth projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China’s Excellent Young Talents Joint Fund Project, with a total funding of 15 million yuan. He has won the “Young Scholar Award” of the American Bone Minerals Annual Conference, 1 second prize of the Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, 1 first prize and 1 second prize of the Provincial Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award, and participated in the application of 12 patents, among which 4 have been authorized. A total of more than 100 academic papers have been published, of which 66 papers have been included in SCI. These papers have been published in internationally renowned journals such as Nature Communications (IF=12.124), Biomaterials (IF=10.273), Aging cell (IF=7.346), etc., with the total impact factor being 300.
III. Academic Achievements
In the past three years, the team has been approved for 5 National Natural Science Foundation projects, 5 Shandong Natural Science Foundation projects and 6 department-level scientific research projects, with a total funding of more than 20 million yuan. Now it has carried out a number of cooperative research and academic exchanges with China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University, Xinjiang Shihezi University, China Pharmaceutical University, Yantai Juxian Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Shandong Lvye Pharma and other entities, and published 60scientific research papers, including 37 SCI papers, applied for more than 10 national invention patents with 4 having been authorized, and won 1 first prize and 1 second prize of Excellent Scientific Research Achievement Award for universities in Shandong.
IV. Infrastructure
The Laboratory covers an area of 300 square meters, and the total value of instruments and equipment is more than 10 million yuan. Now it has high-content imaging system, inverted fluorescence microscope, multi-functional microplate reader, real-time quantitative fluorescence PCR instrument, high performance liquid chromatograph, rotary evaporator, cryostat, rotary tissue dehydrator, tissue embedding machine, antigen retrieval instruments, electrophoresis, ultraviolet spectrophotometer, nucleic acid and protein analyzers, high-speed refrigerated centrifuges, ultrapure water analyzers, biological safety cabinets, cell incubators, and a series of instruments and equipment. It is now equipped with relevant experimental conditions to carry out molecular pharmacology, cell pharmacology, histopathology and others.
