Top 10 Progress in China's Life Sciences in 2022 released

On January 19, the Consortium of Life science Societies of the China Association for Science and Technology announced the top ten advances in China's life sciences in 2022. Ten research advances in the field of life sciences, including the research on "immune escape mechanism of novel coronavirus mutant strains" carried out by the Cao Yunlong Institute of Peking University, were included in the list.

According to reports, the ten advances include 7 knowledge innovation and 3 technological innovation project results, which are recommended by the member societies of the organization, selected by senior experts in the fields of basic life science, biotechnology and clinical medicine, and finally determined after the review of the Presidium of the Life Science Association of the China Association for Science and Technology.

According to the data provided by the China Association for Science and Technology, most of the results of the ten progressing projects have been published in the three top international journals CNS (Cell, Nature, Science), reflecting the outstanding originality of China's life science research results.

In addition, many of the results are multi-level and multi-angle disassembly and exploration of the same scientific problem in the way of paper serialization, showing the system and depth of life science research.

For example, the study on the immune escape mechanism of COVID-19 mutant strains analyzed the structural and infectious characteristics of multiple mutant strains for the first time, and detailed the full epitope distribution and escape map of COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies, which were divided into five papers. Based on autonomous DNA nanosphere sequencing technology, the team led by Wang Jian and Xu Xun of the BSU Institute of Life Sciences has completed a high-precision panoramic space-time gene expression map of life completed by several research teams in the United Nations, and has published five papers in the form of special topics and cover articles in journals such as Cell and Science.

The achievements in the ten major developments highlight the responsibility and mission of scientific research to shoulder "facing people's life and health". Among them, the study of "ischemic cerebrovascular disease precision treatment program" has created a precedent in the international field of cerebrovascular disease precision treatment; The study of "molecular mechanism of initiation of autophagy in multicellular organisms" is of great significance for exploring the occurrence and development of neurodegenerative diseases.

The relevant person in charge said that the current selection activities have been carried out for eight consecutive years. After the selection results are announced, the selected project experts will be invited to write and publish popular science books, and the new mysteries of life science will be revealed to the public through popular science reports. The ten major advances will also provide new ideas for the development of new life science technologies, new medical breakthroughs and the development of bioeconomy.

China's top 10 Progress in life Sciences in 2022

1. Immune escape mechanism of novel coronavirus mutant strains

The Omicron strain of the new coronavirus continues to mutate, causing multiple rounds of outbreaks around the world. Resolving the humoral immune escape mechanism of COVID-19 mutants is of great guiding significance for the development of COVID-19 vaccines and epidemic prevention and control.

Xiaoliang Xie and Yunlong Cao from Peking University, together with Xiangxi Wang from the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Youchun Wang from the Chinese Institute of Food and Drug Control, were the first to report the humoral immune escape characteristics and molecular mechanisms of COVID-19 omicrone and its subtype variants. For the first time, the structural and infective characteristics of several mutant strains were analyzed, and the full epitope distribution and escape map of COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies were described in detail. It was revealed that the mutation carried by Omicron BA.1 can specifically escape the neutralizing antibodies induced by the original strain infection and vaccination, while the mutation carried by Omicron BA.4/BA.5 can specifically escape the neutralizing antibodies induced by BA.1 infection, proving that herd immunity through Omicron infection can not be achieved to block the transmission of COVID-19. These studies have enhanced the scientific understanding of COVID-19 prevention and control in the world, and provided important data reference and theoretical support for the research and development direction of broad-spectrum COVID-19 vaccines and antibody drugs.

2. New pathways of cholesterol efflux and new strategies for lipid reduction

There are 330 million patients with cardiovascular disease in China, and excessive cholesterol in the blood is the main risk factor. Although existing lipid-lowering drugs can reduce lipids to different degrees, they have certain side effects and limitations. The molecular structure of cholesterol determines that it is difficult to be degraded in the body, so the discovery of the method of expelling cholesterol to the body is of great significance for the development of new lipid-lowering drugs.