The Faculty of Life Science and Technology originated from the undergraduate major of "Biological Engineering" approved in 1997 and the undergraduate major of "Pharmaceutical Engineering" approved in 2000. In 2004, it was approved to set up three master's programs in Botany, Microbiology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology as second-level disciplines, and began to recruit doctoral students in Environmental Biology for the first-level doctoral program in Environmental Science and Engineering. In 2006, it was approved to grant the Master of Engineering in "Biological Engineering" and to set up a second-level discipline in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. In 2008, it was approved to set up a first-level master program in Biology. In 2010, it was approved to grant the Master of Engineering in "Pharmaceutical Engineering". In 2011, its application for "Environmental Biology" and "Environmental Medical Engineering" was approved for setting up in second-level disciplines. In 2017, it applied for the first-level doctoral program in Biology, and in the same year, the provincial postdoctoral mobile station in Biology was approved for construction. In 2019, it was approved to set up the national postdoctoral center in "Biology". At present, the Faculty has formed a talent training system from undergraduate to master's degree, doctor's degree and postdoctoral degree. The disciplines cover biology, pharmacy, science of bioengineering and pharmaceutical engineering, medicine and engineering, and form a good cross-integration with biochemistry and environmental engineering. With the aim of cultivating high-end biological and pharmaceutical talents urgently needed for the development of Yunnan's big health bio-industry, and reflecting the unique engineering background of KUST, the Faculty has for many years carried out researches on key technical problems in the development of Yunnan and western regions, and delivered a large number of outstanding talents for related industries.
Discipline orientation
Leveraging the unique biological resources in Yunnan, it mainly conducts research on primate translational medicine, molecular diagnosis, development and utilization of biological resources, applied microorganisms, biotransformation and refining, cell signal transduction, plant nutrition and genetic engineering, neuromolecular biology, aging and tumor molecular genetics, and bioinformatics. Backed by Yunnan to serve the whole country and leveraging the university's advantages as an engineering-oriented higher education institution, the major makes full use of the advantages of animal, plant and microbial resources in Yunnan Province, carries out basic and applied basic research, serves personnel training, scientific and technological innovation and industrial development in Yunnan Province, and becomes an important force supporting the development of Yunnan biomedical health industry.
Advantages and features
Yunnan is one of the provinces with the richest biodiversity resources in China. It is a highly enriched area of global biological species and a world-class gene pool. It is rich in wild related species and ethnic genetic resources, and has a solid material foundation for promoting economic development with biological resources and great potential for development and utilization. With the goal of building a world-class primate translational medicine center, the Faculty focuses on primate models and pathogenesis of major human diseases, stem cells and regenerative medicine, primate genetics and genomics and primate neurobiology. With the combination of industry, education and research, the Faculty strives to cultivate and build the commanding heights of scientific and technological innovation with Yunnan characteristics and advantages, and promote biomedical technology research and industrial application with non-human primates as the technical platform in Yunnan Province.
Objective
Leveraging the unique biological resources, industrial development planning, economic and social development status and the actual development of schools in Yunnan, as well as the demand for talents in the development of biological industry and sustainable development and utilization of biological resources, the Faculty is determined that the talent training objectives are: to train senior scientific and technical talents with basic research and technological innovation capabilities, graduates with good humanistic cultivation and scientific literacy, social responsibility, legal concept and innovative consciousness, master the theories and methods of life science research, and have the ability to carry out basic and applied basic research related to the development and utilization of biological resources innovatively, so as to serve the needs of biological industry development and regional economic construction.
Discipline orientations
There are ten second-level disciplines in botany, zoology, physiology, microbiology, neurobiology, genetics, developmental biology, cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, and biophysics. They mainly include the following 6 disciplines: translational medicine in primates, molecular diagnosis and molecular virology, development and utilization of biological resources, cell signal transduction, applied microbiology, and biotransformation.
Primate Translational Medicine
The leader is Ji Weizhi, a distinguished professor of KUST. The research team boasts the world's leading technology in targeted gene modification, and stem cell maintenance and directed differentiation in primates. In 2014 and 2015, their research findings of the latest international technologies in the two fields were published in Cell and Cell Stem Cell., Their paper on targeted gene modification was named one of the ten most influential articles in 2014 and one of the top ten scientific and technological progresses in 2014 and 2015. Their stem cell findings provide a reliable basis for the in-depth study of stem cell pluripotency and the regeneration of tissues and organs. It has been proved that primate embryonic stem cells have totipotency and can produce chimera, laying a theoretical foundation for their clinical application.
Research focus: Application and optimization of gene modification in primates; construction of primate models with critical human diseases by gene modification techniques; primate stem cell pluripotency and tissue engineering; gene modification and alternative therapies for stem cells; and studies on the safety and efficacy of stem cell therapies.
Epidemiology and molecular diagnosis of infectious diseases
The molecular epidemiology and molecular diagnosis of critical infectious diseases in Yunnan Province have been investigated in the existing studies on their molecular etiology. The aim is to develop molecular diagnosis techniques and products, and thereby provide research basis and technical support for early diagnosis, genetic consultation, individualized medical treatment and individualized prevention. So far, the molecular epidemiological characteristics of multiple infectious pathogens in Yunnan Province have been clarified, and new genotypes, subtypes and recombinations of viruses unique in Yunnan Province have been discovered and named, while the direct cause for the introduction of viruses to Yunnan Province from Southeast Asia has been made clear.
Research contents: Research on molecular epidemiology of critical infectious diseases, new treatment technologies for viral hepatitis, research on virus micro-evolution and host and environmental factors of infectious diseases; Research and product development of laboratory diagnostic reference materials of infectious diseases, techniques for rapid detection of drug-resistant bacteria and molecular typing of infectious disease pathogens.
Exploitation and utilization of biological resources
(1) To investigate the functional genome, active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine, molecular breeding, molecular pharmacology and metabonomics of famous-region medicinal materials in Yunnan, such as pseudo-ginseng, Dendrobium, Gastrodia elata Blume, Erigeron breviscapus and Paris polyphylla, and to establish quality standards for famous-region medicinal materials and develop new drugs. No efforts will be spared to build the sub-division with a domestic advanced research platform for research, development, protection and utilization of Chinese medicine resources, and an initial research and development system of Chinese medicine resources based on Yunnan Province and covering Southeast Asia, making it a basic theoretical research base, a technology commercialization base, a base for training talents on Chinese medicine materials and a base for foreign cooperation and exchange. (2) To study the efficient and integrated utilization of low rank coal (lignite and peat) resources in Yunnan, including the preparation and purification, refining, chemical composition, biological activity, quality control and product R&D of humic acid and montan wax products; (3) To study the development and utilization of woody grain and oil represented by walnut, as well as medicinal, edible and flower plants represented by cactus, pseudo-ginseng and lily.
Cell signal transduction
(1) To systematically identify the binding protein of RAF kinase by functional proteomics, so as to discover a new target for diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer and identify its molecular pathogenesis; (2) To screen Chinese medicines with sedation and dormifacient effects by G-protein-coupled receptor molecular probes in an all-round way, with the baseline fluctuation of receptor fluorescence resonance energy transfer as an index, which lays a foundation for developing new dormifacient drugs with completely independent intellectual property rights.
Applied microorganism
It aims to study the collection and application of germplasm resources, biodiversity and its characteristics of extreme environmental microorganisms, including distribution, population diversity, genome characteristics analysis and cloning and expression of phage functional genes of psychrophilic and thermophilic microorganisms; and to explore the adaptive mechanism of psychrophilic and thermophilic microorganisms and their application in biotechnology. Additional research efforts will be made to optimize the genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics of probiotics as well as and their probiotic characteristics so as to develop probiotic health foods and drugs.
Biotransformation
It is primarily engaged in research on microbial metabolic engineering, microbial degradation of biomass such as lignocellulose and alginic acid, mechanism of enzymes, and metabolism of degradation products in cells and metabolic regulation mechanism, construction of engineering bacteria, efficient decomposition of biomass, and transformation of useful products such as energy and physiologically active substances.
