The University of Macau (UM) and the Institute of Oncology and Basic Medicine (IOBM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have signed a collaboration agreement to establish a joint cancer research centre, according to a UM statement yesterday.
According to the statement, the agreement aims to give full play to the advantages of the collaboration between UM and IOBM in terms of scientists and technologists, medical resources, and innovative research, and to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Macau, the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and elsewhere in the nation.
“Both parties will work together on key scientific and technical issues in cancer prevention and treatment as well as cancer drug research and development.
“Innovative basic and clinical research will be carried out to develop the centre into an internationally renowned oncology research and talent training base,” the statement said.
The agreement was signed by UM Rector Song Yonghua and IOBM Director Tan Weihong. During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the two institutions finalised the details of the agreement remotely via phone call, video conference, email, and express courier, realising a cross-border ‘zero distance’ mode of collaboration, the statement pointed out.
Located in Hangzhou, IOBM is CAS’s first research institute of oncology and basic medicine, the statement pointed out, adding that it is also the first national research institute of life and health sciences in Zhejiang province.
“Revolving around the [central government’s] ‘Healthy China’ strategy and innovation-driven development strategy, the institute aims to meet the strategic needs of the country.
“It will carry out research in key areas such as cancer prevention and treatment, drug research and development, and translational medicine, and will actively promote basic and applied cancer research and industrial applications of research results,” the statement said.
The statement quoted Tan as saying that both institutes will make full use of IOBM’s innovation platform, the strengths of the affiliated cancer hospital of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in clinical medicine, the opportunities brought by the Zhejiang provincial government’s efforts to develop the province into an innovation powerhouse in life and health sciences and medical science in the Yangtze River Delta, as well as UM’s world-class research resources.
According to the statement, both parties will collaborate in the following areas: tackling cutting-edge research issues, creating clinically oriented oncology-related disciplines, and carrying out forward-looking, strategic, and global applied research. Both parties will, according to the statement, strive to become initiators and accelerators of major medical projects in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, the Yangtze River Delta, and elsewhere in the nation as soon as possible, and will make every effort to establish a base for collaboration in medical and health sciences that demonstrates the advantages of the “One Country, Two Systems” policy.
The statement underlined that the University of Macau is supported by its Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS). Since its establishment in 2013, the faculty has been focusing on precision medicine for cancer treatment, and has designed a series of strategic blueprints for various research fields, including the molecular biology of cancer, cancer genetics, bioinformatics, cancer drug development, and cancer treatment, with impressive research results.
According to Chuxia Deng, chair professor and dean of the faculty, with the gradual ageing of the Macau population, cancer is now the leading cause of death in Macau, and this trend will continue.
“Therefore, it is imperative to strengthen cancer research in Macau,” the statement said, adding that “this agreement will greatly promote collaboration between UM and IOBM, make full use of the advantages of the two sides, and form a new pattern of coordinated development of medical health and scientific research in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, and the Yangtze River Delta.
According to the statement, the joint cancer research centre will carry out cutting-edge, clinically orientated cancer research to tackle key scientific and technical issues in cancer prevention and treatment as well as cancer drug research and development. It will carry out innovative basic and clinical research to develop into an internationally renowned oncology research and talent training base. The centre will establish a system for education, research, and application for early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, in order to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Macau, the Greater Bay Area, the Yangtze River Delta, and other parts of the country.
The statement underlined that both parties will combine their advantages in their respective research fields and focus on malignant tumours with high incidence rates in Macau, southern China, and the Yangtze River Delta. They will use a variety of omics* techniques and tumour organoid culture methods to systematically conduct drug sensitivity tests and heavy ion treatment and research, the statement said.
In collaborative research on malignant tumours, both parties will focus on finding cancer drivers, markers, and characteristics, and will carry out effective drug development and clinical treatment. The centre will also actively promote industrial applications of key research results with a view to generating social and economic benefits, the statement said.*According to Wikipedia, the neologism “omics” informally refers to a field of study in biology ending in -omics, such as genomics, proteomics or metabolomics.
