Establishment of UK-China
Research Academy of Bioactive Molecules and
Materials
Bioactive molecules are molecules with
therapeutic functions to be able to interact
with biological system to have the effects on
treating and curing diseases. Bioactive
molecules can be biological, natural small
molecules such as EPA, DHA, DHEA, or large
molecules such as peptides, polysaccharides,
DNA, growth factors, genetically engineered
biological substances or chemically designed and
synthesized organic substances. Bioactive
materials on other hands are 3-D structured with
therapeutic functions to be able to respond with
biological system such as body fluid, cells and
organs to be effective to repair and support
impaired tissue or organs. The most commonly
known bioactive materials are bone grafting
materials, materials containing bioactive
molecules and drug/device combination. Sometime
materials with nano-structures or at nano-scale
demonstrate un-expected bioactivities. This is a
field full of opportunities demanding
multi-disciplinary collaboration among
researchers from biology, clinic, medicine,
medical, chemistry, materials and engineering
and especially international collaboration.
UK-China Research Academy of Bioactive Molecules
and Materials (UK-China RABMM), was established
in Feb 2008 by a unique non-competitive
networking of three UK units and three China
units that have long history in research and
development of bioactive molecules and materials
in biomedical engineering and environment
protection. The core groups are University of
Strathclyde, University of Cambridge, Cambridge
BioAdditives, Lanzhou University, Wuhan
University and Beijing University. One of the
objectives for RABMM is to promote the UK-China
collaboration among members of RABMM in order to
have a complemented joint research programme
setup for effective research and future
commercialisation. At present, Academician of
CSA, Prof Zhuo Renxi from Wuhan University is
the Honorary Chairman of China-UK RABMM，Vice-Principal
of Lanzhou University, Prof Jing Tao is the
Chairman of China-UK RABMM, Prof Tu Yongxiang of
State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic
Chemistry and Prof Zhang Xianzhen of Key
Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers (KLBMP) of the
Ministry of Education, Wuhan University act as
the vice-chairman. Prof Li Yanfeng of College of
Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou
University is the Director of China-UK RABMM. In
UK side, Prof William Bonfield (CBE, FRS, FRE)
of University of Cambridge is the Honorary
Chairman, Prof Terry Gourlay of Bioengineering
Unit, University of Strathclyde is the Chairman
of UK-China RABMM. Prof Jim Courtney of
University of Strathclyde and Dr Serena Best of
University of Cambridge are vice-chairman. Prof
Xiaobin Zhao of visiting professors of both
University of Strathclyde and Lanzhou University
is the Director of UK-China RABMM. To highlight
the importance of UK-China Science and
technology collaboration, Dr Wang Baoqing, the
Ministry Counsellor of Science & Technology of
China Embassy in UK wrote the Chinese name for
the Academy.
At present, the key works are focused on the
collaborative research on therapeutic enzymes
via immobilisation and stabilisation engineering
as medical device for anti-aging and
commercialisation. Another area is to develop a
drug delivery system or device combining
molecularly designed organic substances for
anti-inflammation, anti-infection and anti-HIV
as bioactive materials. Design and develop
bioactive materials for tissue repair and tissue
engineering is another important field RABMM is
working on collaboratively.
(Website:
www.ukchina-rabmm.org) |