The 2023 SCBA Washington DC Chapter held its annual scientific symposium at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland on October 7, 2023. The symposium attracted over 100 attendees from the universities and institutions in the Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland areas, including the NIH, Children’s National Hospital, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Virginia, University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University. The symposium provided an excite venue for scientific interactions among both Chinese and non-Chinese bioscientists in the great Washington DC areas.

The symposium started with the opening remarks from Dr. Mitchell Ho (NIH) with a main theme of “Diseases and Translational Research”. Three Scientific Sessions cover “Neuroscience and Neurological Diseases”, “Cancer Biology and Therapeutics”, and “Immunological, Infectious and Metabolic Diseases”. Session I, chaired by Drs Wei Li (NIH) and Yihong Ye (NIH) covers a variety of neurological diseases, including mechanistic investigation of itch and pain by Dr. Xinzhong Dong [(Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)], Rett syndrome by Dr. Hui Lu (George Washington University), RNA metabolism in neurological diseases by Dr. Shuying Sun (JHU), and immune regulation in neuroendocrine homeostasis by Chuan Wu (NIH). Session II, chaired by Drs. Ying Zhang (NIH) and Lishan Su (University of Maryland), presents cancer-related research from RUNX1-associated myeloid leukemia in the Familial Platelet Disorder by Dr. Paul Liu (NIH), cancer cell plasticity and drug resistance by Dr. Chunling Yi (Georgetown), and drug repurposing screen and AI-based modelling and virtual screen by Dr. Wei Zheng (NIH). This session also includes two short presentations selected by over 40 Abstracts, Drs. Dan Li (NIH) and Yinghua Li (Children’s National Hospital). Session III, chaired by Dr. Wei Yang (NIH), features three presentations on SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and therapy by Dr. Jack Liang (NIH), lymphocyte regulomes in neurodegeneration by Dr. Han-Yu Shih (NIH), and metabolic role of ER-associated degradation by Dr. Ling Qi, Chair of Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics at the University of Virginia. Dr. Chengfei Jiang (NIH) presented a short talk on single-cell transcriptomics of liver diseases. The symposium was culminated by the keynote presentation by Dr. Liqun Luo, an HHMI investigator and a member of National Academy of Sciences from Stanford University, who delivered an exciting lecture on fundamental biology of drives and their competition.

This symposium has two panel discussions focusing on career development in biopharmaceutical industry by Drs. Angela Zeng (AstraZeneca) and Daozhan Yu (AAVnerGene), and in NIH extramural programs and the Brain Initiative by Yong Yao (NIH) and Zhong Chen (NIH). A poster session was held from which six presenters were selected to receive the Best Poster Award. The awardees are Drs. Daniel Treisman, Liu Liu, Jing Zeng, Jinchutha Duangdara, Yaojie Fu and Binbin Ma.

Dr. Yuan Zhu from the Children’s National Hospital and Dr. Wei Li from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NEI) co-organized this one-day symposium. Dr. Yufei Jiang, the secretary of the SCBA Washington DC Chapter, managed meeting logistics. Volunteers from the NIH-CSSA also helped with the meeting. Dr. Yihong Ye of the NIH served as the meeting photographer. Importantly, this symposium received generous sponsorship support from AAVnerGene, GenScript, Life Scientists’ Service Center, Quintara Biosciences and TianGen.

2023 Symposium Program

More Photos (credit by Yihong Ye) »