Overview of The College of Life Sciences and Health
The College of Life Sciences and Health is a research-oriented college established by the Biomedical Research Institute in 2017 after five years of continuous development. The college adheres to the construction concept of "people-oriented, academic, international perspective, and pursuit of excellence", and has achieved leapfrog development in disciplinary construction, scientific research, and education and teaching. The college has established a Bachelor's degree program in Biotechnology, a first level master's degree authorization point in biology and a master's degree authorization point in biological and pharmaceutical engineering. The college also independently sets up a second level doctoral degree program in biopharmaceutical engineering. Currently departments of Biology and Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Research Institute, Optic Neuroscience and Stem Cell Engineering Research Institute, Antibody Engineering Center, and Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Gene Therapy and Tumor Immunology (under preparation) are affiliated to the college. We engage in research and teaching in the fields of gene transcription regulation and epigenetic modifications of major diseases, tumor pathogenesis and cell targeted therapy, stem cell and regenerative medicine, gene molecular diagnosis, biopharmaceutical and clinical efficacy, among which targeted therapy for hematological malignancies is in a leading position at the international level.
There are 47 faculty members engaged, including 5 doctoral supervisors, 6 professors, and 11 associate professors. All the full-time teachers own a Ph.D. degree. Among them, there is one national engineer, 12 candidates for the Hubei Provincial Talent Plan, 2 foreign distinguished professors. One of the professors has been rated expert with outstanding contributions to the country and enjoys special government subsidies, one rated as a middle-aged and young expert with outstanding contributions in Hubei Province, and one awarded the "May Day Labor Medal" in Hubei Province. More than 10 faculties have held important academic positions in relevant provincial and municipal societies and associations. Carl H. June, an academician of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an academician of the American Academy of Sciences, and a tenured professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is hired as the honorary dean and distinguished professor of the college.
The college adheres to educational innovation and focuses on cultivating high-quality innovative talents with both moral and talent abilities. By actively guiding students to participate in various extracurricular scientific and technological activities, it has cultivated students' practical and innovative abilities and achieved abundant results. Over the past three years, more than 80% of undergraduates have achieved excellent awards in "Internet+", the "Challenge Cup", National Undergraduate Life Science Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, National Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Innovation Design Competition, American Undergraduate Mathematical Modeling Competition and other competitions, and won more than 50 national first prizes and provincial awards. The college has established cooperative relationships with world-renowned universities and research institutions such as Duke University, Anderson Cancer Center in the United States, Cambridge University and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, Wuhan University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. We have invited distinguished scholars from both domestic and abroad to give lectures, continuously improving the core competitiveness of the biology discipline in international academic exchanges.
Professors Zhang Tongcun and Gu Chaojiang obtained the world's first invention patent of "using CAR-T cells to treat AIDS", developing CAR-T products for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and have been successful in 2 clinical trials. The "New Method to Restore Vision in Congenital Blind Mice" technology invented by Professor Yao Kai was selected as one of the top ten scientific and technological progress news in the world in 2018, and was published in the journal Nature. This is the first time that our university's research results have been published in the international top journal. Zhang Tongcun Lab's new technology for treating solid tumors has won the "2020 Disruptive Innovation List"; The CD19/CD22CAR-T sequential therapy ranked first in China's important medical progress in 2020.
The college adheres to the motto of Wuhan University of Science and Technology of "being virtuous and erudite, advocating practicality and not being superficial", with talent cultivation as the fundamental task, team building as the core, and subject construction as the leading force. It adheres to the path of connotation development and coordinated development in education and research, and strives to always stay at the forefront of the field of life sciences.
