Empowering the future: National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases Successfully hosted 2023 Youth Academic Exchange Meeting

On December 23, 2023, the National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases successfully hosted a groundbreaking 2023 Youth Academic Exchange Meeting in Beijing, marking a significant milstone since its recent reorganization. This annual event, designed as a forum for young scientists and graduate students to engage in scholarly discourse, Included Principal Investigators, young scientific workers, and postgraduates who actively participated. Director Li Zhenjun, from China CDC Science and Technology Department, presided over the opening ceremony.

 

Following anonymous voting, Zheng Yangyang from Professor Wang Lei's group at Nankai University, clinched the firstprize with a report on "Meningitis Pathogen Bacteria Crossing the Blood-Brain Barrier via Transferrin Receptor-Mediated Transcytosis." Second prizes were awarded to Yu Qilin of Nankai University for "Antifungal Vaccine Based on Biomimetic Self-Assembly Strategy," and Wang Xinli from Kong Yaxian's group at Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University for "The Impact of CD70-Mediated Pro-Inflammatory The Differentiation on HIV/AIDS Disease Progression and Poor Immune Reconstitution".

 

Several reports from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention received third prizes at the conference: Teng Zhongqiu's "Discovery and Re-emergence of Rickettsial Pathogens: Epidemiology and Pathogenic Features" from Qin Tian’s group, Zong Kexin's "Innate, Humoral, and Cellular Immune Characteristics in Non-Severe SARS-CoV-2 Infected Children" from Han Jun’s gourp, Zhang Can's "Study on Multi-Disease Mortality Risk of Sandstorm Events in China" from Li Tiantian’s group, and Zhu Wenfei's "Research on the Novel H3N8 Avian Influenza Virus Pathogen" from Wang Dayan’s group.

 

Beyond recognizing the achievemetns of young researchers, the conference honored Principal Investigators of the winning groups with "Outstanding Mentor Awards". The meeting also featured a special keynote speech by Professor Wang Jianwei from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College on "Research on Antiviral Strategies Based on Virus-Host Interaction."

 

Following the presentations, Director Xu Jianguo of the National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases concluded with remarks. He praised the contributions of young scientists, highlighting their potential as pivotal forces in infectious disease origin tracing and intelligent decision-making. Xu outlined future disciplinary strategies and expressed gratitude for the center's support, noting the meeting's role in enhancing collaboration and innovative capacity within the lab.