New Shanghai facilities focus on health R&D

Shanghai has established two major facilities to accelerate improvement of the city's strategic scientific and technological capabilities and to prepare reserves of talent for future public health contingencies.

The inauguration ceremony of the facilities－the Shanghai Institute of Major Infectious Diseases and Biosafety, and the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response－was held late last month at Fudan University, where both facilities are based.

The establishment of the facilities was the latest step taken by the municipality－which aims to become one of the world's safest cities in terms of public health by 2025－to beef up its capabilities to respond to major epidemics and public health emergencies.

Striving to become an influential research and development center and an epidemic prevention and control technology guidance center, as well as a world-class research institution, the biosafety institute will build a full-chain technology sharing platform to provide talent reserves, technical support and policy recommendations for the construction of a public health safety system for Shanghai and China, according to the university.

Fudan said the institute will initially focus on seven key areas－early identification and warning of major and emerging infectious diseases, rapid identification of viruses, large-scale detection of viruses, clinical diagnosis and treatment of emerging infectious diseases, multicenter clinical epidemiology, vaccine research and development and drug R&D.

The institute will then put research results into action, conduct clinical trials, offer treatment, prepare further research with big-data technology and implement strategies for prevention and control, according to Wu Fan, director of the institute and vice-dean of Fudan University Shanghai Medical College.

Driven by clinical needs, the key laboratory will focus on technology related to emergency responses and the clinical transformation of innovative results.

Led by Zhang Wenhong, leader of the Shanghai team of experts in the clinical treatment of novel coronavirus cases, the lab hopes to develop into a leading international center for virus detection, identification and treatment, a clinical research and innovation transformation platform and a channel for international cooperation and talent, Fudan said.

"The university is resolved to accelerate the gathering of world-class scientific research forces with the highest international academic standards at the new facilities," said Jiao Yang, Party secretary of Fudan.

Wu Qing, vice-mayor of Shanghai, said that strategic planning and a forward-looking vision will be keywords for the facilities.

"They must aim at becoming scientific research platforms with due discourse power internationally by producing forward-looking, original and innovative results with global influence," he said.

The establishment of the facilities was also a response to 20 public health measures Shanghai unveiled in April to build a wall against emerging and sudden infectious diseases.

The measures included constructing a headquarters for public health emergencies and taking advantage of smart technologies in information collection and communication, as well as medical resource coordination.