Author：General Office
Date：17 October 2012
On Oct 12th, the unveiling ceremony of Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies (SIAIS) was held at Shanghai Pudong Science and Technology Park of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Dr. Mianheng Jiang, President of CAS Shanghai Branch, Mr. Lin Xu, Party Secretary of Shanghai Pudong New Area, Dr. Xiaoming Shen, Vice Mayor of Shanghai Municipal Government as well as Prof. Richard A. Lerner unveiled the plate of SIAIS.
Dr. Mianheng Jiang presented Prof. Richard A. Lerner an Appointment Letter of SIAIS Founding Director.
Prof. Richard A. Lerner expressed in his acknowledgement that the reasons for choosing Shanghai and ShanghaiTech University were the huge opportunities in China’s bio-pharmaceutical market, the innovation-oriented policies issued by Shanghai Municipal government as well as the insightful plan and the encouraging atmosphere of the University. Prof. Lerner indicated that he would lead an international team to build SIAIS as a world-renowned immunochemical institute with significant propriety intellectual property rights that can be leveraged into a variety of new diagnostic and therapeutic antibodies for unmet clinical needs.
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Founded by ShanghaiTech University (ShanghaiTech) and Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI) of CAS, SIAIS focuses on antibody drug research and development as well as training of scientific talents. SIAIS is dedicated to improving human health through multidisciplinary scientific/academic excellence and innovative new drug discovery and development.
Based on the unmet need of new antibody drugs for the treatment of severe maladies, SIAIS will carry out the development of an antigenic map of human cell surface, construction of high efficiency human antibody libraries, screening of clinical effective drug targets, identification of therapeutic antibodies and optimization of new platform technologies.
Besides, SIAIS is to set up a fund for young talents, selecting eminent scientists and students to US famous universities and institutes for further study or for joint education program.
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SIAIS adopts executive responsibility system under the leadership of an advisory board. Prof. Richard A. Lerner, founding director of SIAIS, is the former director of The Scripps Research Institute, an internationally recognized institute focused on bioscience and technology. Prof. Lerner is also a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. By now, at the invitation of Prof. Lerner, a number of U.S. leading scientists have joined the SIAIS.
Dr. Jiang stressed in his speech the increasing role of technology in economic and social development and the needs of innovation-driven restructuring. Also, Dr. Jiang underlined the importance of establishing SIAIS as a response to national needs, scientific exploration and public benefits. He fully believed that SIAIS would make concrete contributions to human health by taking advantage of its geological location, easily accessible advanced research platform of CAS and developed bio-pharmaceutical innovation network in Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park, Shanghai.
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Dr. Shen pointed out that bio-pharmaceutical industry had a direct bearing on national economy and people’s livelihood. “Immunochemistry, standing at the forefront of modern protein engineering, serves as a significant field in drug development. Establishing Advanced Immunochemical Studies satisfies the need for Shanghai to realize innovation-driven development and adjustment on economic structure. Moreover, the establishment of SIAIS is a major step for ShanghaiTech in achieving its mission to be a dynamic hub where research, education, and innovation meet to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to learning and to solving problems facing society.” Dr. Shen spoke highly of SIAIS and was convinced that the Institute would make great contributions to local bio-pharmaceutical industry.
The unveiling ceremony of SIAIS was presided over by Prof. Jie Yin, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. Prof. Biao Jiang, Vice President of Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI), made a brief introduction and Prof. Songlin Feng, President of SARI, delivered a speech.
Leaders of related departments of the Shanghai Municipal government as well as Heads of CAS attended the ceremony.
In the afternoon, more than 300 students and PIs attended SIAIS academic lectures.
