Introduction
Guangdong Key Laboratory for Viral Hepatitis Research was approved and initiated in 2005 and completed in September, 2012. Ever since the beginning of its construction in 2005, the Lab, in dealing with the high incidence of Chronic Hepatitis B and Chronic Viral Hepatitis C in Guangdong Province and even in China, has made great achievements in antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis B as well as in relevant researches on immunology, virology, liver fibrosis, liver cancer, and animal model of chronic hepatitis C. In 2008, the Laboratory was granted an “Eleventh Five-Year” National Major Project for Science and Technology Development, “Optimization of Chronic Hepatitis B Therapy, and its Influencing Factors” (2008ZX10002-004), with a research fund of 46,220,000 RMB. This Project was completed in 2008, and automatically qualified for a “Twelfth Five-Year” National Major Project for Science and Technology Development due to its significant achievements. In 2009, one of the Project’s achievements, “Study on Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Genotype and Its Drug Resistance,” was awarded Guangdong Provincial First-grade Scientific and Technological Progress Prize. This finding, together with many others, provides important points of reference for treating chronic hepatitis B, and working on anti-viral therapy most suited to China’s actual conditions.
Research Fields
◆ Optimal treatment of chronic hepatitis B
◆ Molecular virology of hepatitis B virus
◆ Cellular immunology of chronic hepatitis B
◆ Chronic hepatitis B fibrosis mechanism and testing methods
◆ Molecular mechanism of liver cancer correlated with chronic hepatitis B
◆ Animal model of chronic hepatitis C
Research Features
◆ Equal stress is placed on clinical research and basic research, with clinical research supporting basic research.
◆ Focus is on optimal treatment of chronic hepatitis B and molecular virological research of hepatitis B virus.
Research Team
◆ Permanent staff consists of 11 with senior professional title, 5 with associate senior professional title, 3 with intermediate professional title, 4 with junior professional title, and 3 full-time research workers.
◆ Non-permanent staff include 3 guest professors, 2 visiting scholars, and 4 post-doctoral students.
◆ Since 2012 the Lab has enrolled 21 Ph.D. students and 35 Master’s students, and now it has 22 Ph.D. students and 39 Master’s students in total.
Scientific Research
◆ Research Projects
Since 2011 the Lab has undertaken 19 research projects for viral hepatitis, with a research fund totaling 10,484,690,000RMB. The projects include one “Twelfth Five-Year” National Major Project for Science and Technology Development, nine General Projects and Young Scientist Project of Natural Science Foundation of China, one “863 Project”(sub-project), one “Super-973 Project” (sub-project), two“Twelfth Five-Year” National Major Project for Science and Technology Development, two projects of “Special Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education”(SRFDP), three university-level projects of “Talent Development Program” and “Talent Recruitment Program.”
◆ Research Achievements
Since 2011 the Lab has published 47 research papers in SCI journals with a total impact factor of 166.53 (based on the IF of the publishing year). It is important to emphasize that 3 papers were published in one of the top medical journals in the world—2 published in Hepatology in 2013, and 1 in Journal of Hepatology in 2012.
Academic Exchange
◆ Open Program
Since the Lab was granted the support fund specially for Guangdong Provincial key Laboratory in 2014, it has established a series of open programs, and worked out a set of procedure for the planning and management of open program fund which is to be implemented when fund is ready for use.
◆Academic Exchange and Cooperation
The present staff of the Lab mostly have international education experience in the U.S., Britain, Germany, Japan, etc.
Since 2011 the Lab has attended the annual international meetings of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, European Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Asian and Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver, etc. for 63 person-times. It has sponsored 4 staff and graduate students to go abroad for further study or cooperative research. Besides, the Lab invites world-renowned experts on a regular basis to give special lectures or engage in other academic exchange activities. Among these experts are Professor Antonio Bertoletti, director of Infection and Immunology Center of Singapore Institute of Clinical Medicine, and Professor Chen Liyuan from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who besides giving special lectures gave precious suggestions concerning the research orientation of the Lab. Besides, the Lab has established long-term cooperative relationship of scientific research with Michigan University, University of Duisburg-Essen, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, etc. and published in world-famous medical journals numerous papers of joint authorship.
◆ Academic Conference
The Lab has hosted one international academic conference, five regional bilateral conferences and two national academic conferences, including the Fourth Special Conference on Viral Hepatitis B of the Asian and Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver held in 2014, namely, the “Thirteenth Meeting of the Chinese Society of Laboratory Medicine on Infectious Diseases.” These high level international conferences have greatly improved the Lab’s influence worldwide.
