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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION |
China Leads Human Liver Proteome Project
The Third Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) Annual World Congress opened on October 25, 2004 at the Beijing International Convention Center. Jointly sponsored by HUPO, China HUPO, the National Biomedical Analysis Center, and the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Committee, the Congress has attracted the participation of more than 2000 proteome scientists from across the world. The Congress, under the theme “proteomics: decoding the genome”, reported the latest progresses achieved in the field, sharing academic views, and depicting the blueprint for human proteomics, after the completion of the preceding human genome project.
According to a brief, Chinese scientists are assigned with 30% of the workload in the human liver proteome project. With the period of 2003-2005 as its starting phase, the human liver proteome project will come into a full-fledged implementation phase from 2006 to 2010, during which planned tasks, including expression charts, decoration charts, positioning charts, chain charts, structure charts, sample bank, antibody bank and database, shall be completed. The Chinese government pays great attention to proteome studies. In 1998, the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation initiated a major project to study proteins, and their dynamic structural changes and biofunctions. As the implementers of the project, the Institute of Biochemistry, a part of the Chinese Academy og Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, and the Hunan Normal University have jointly sponsored three nationwide workshops on proteomics, where the strategies were proposed to study functional proteomes.
Starting from 2001, the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences and the Fudan University kicked off a number of research projects under the financing of the National 973 Program, including the one studying the proteomes that may cause major human diseases. These projects have made remarkable progresses in explaining major diseases and life science issues that affect people’s health. So far more than 60 research institutes from 16 countries have joined the human liver proteome project, making it the largest project headed by China in its history of international cooperation, and the first proteome project focusing on human tissues and organs in the world.
Sleeping Dinosaur Found in China
Chinese and US scientists reported in the Nature magazine published on October 14, 2004, their new prize unearthed at the Beipiao City, Liaoning Province: a fossilized dinosaur in sleeping posture, a first-ever look at how the prehistoric creatures slept..
XU Xing, a research fellow of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, a part of the Chinese Academy of Science, and his colleague Mark Norell, of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, believe that the perfectly preserved remains belong to a 140 million-year-old new species of dinosaur. The dinosaur was found curled up with its head tucked under the forearm similar to how modern birds sleep. XU and his collaborator wrote: "this is the first report of sleeping behavior in dinosaurs," and dubbed it Mei Long, meaning "a soundly sleeping dragon" in Chinese.
The dinosaur was about 53 cm long, or about the size of a large bird. Its sleeping posture indicates the characteristics probably originated in dinosaur ancestors of modern birds, according to the scientists. Several features also indicate that two animals may originate from the same ancestor, and their flying capability can be an evolutionary result of becoming lighter in weight. Scientists believe that the newly discovered dinosaur is a warm blood animal for its avian origins.
China-Brazil’s Next Earth Satellite
China-Brazil earth resources satellites 01 and 02 had in the past few years sent back a large quantity of useful data to ground clients, and are thought of highly by both nations, said SUN Laiyan, Chinese Space Administrator at a retrospect forum on China-Brazil earth resources satellites held on October 15, 2004. To ensure clients’ consecutive applications, both China and Brazil are planning to develop an enhancement: 02B earth resources satellite. The new satellite expects to be launched in 2006. According to SUN, other two high performance earth resources satellites, named 03 and 04, to be launched in 2008, have entered the full fledged development.
China and Brazil have maintained a 17-year long friendly cooperation in earth resources satellite development. The two nations recently inked a memorandum of understanding on the cooperation in developing application systems for the joint venture satellites. A special committee is also established to coordinate the future cooperation between the two nations in satellite applications and other space technologies.
New Positioning Technique for New Satellite
On October 25, 2004, the Xi’an Satellite Control Center, using two new control techniques, successfully anchored the Fengyun 2c weather satellite. The new techniques not only save the payload fuels, but also effectively prolong the work life of the new satellite.
Fengyun 2c was blast off on October 19, 2004 from the Xi’chang Satellite Launch Center. When it entering the orbit, the Xi’an Satellite Control Center performed rounds of orbiting capture, using accurate orbiting techniques, including optimized control strategies for non-arch point orbit changing and orbiting capture, and combined satellite control technique for pathway manipulation and shifting. The enhanced control decision making speed and calculation accuracy has shortened the positioning process. The new satellite was successfully anchored on October 24, 2004. In the morning of October 25, the satellite begun orbiting testing, under the round-the-clock tracking and instructing of the Xi’an Satellite Control Center. Fengyun 2c will send its first cloud charts to the ground receivers within a week, as prescheduled.
Systematic Study of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Along with the establishment of the Institute of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and associated activities, China’s research on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has entered a new phase characterizing systematic, quantitative, comprehensive and integrated studies.
In 2003, the Institute of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau sponsored a number of international workshops, established cooperative ties with renowned international institutes, including the Ohio State University, Max-Planck- Gesellschaft, the German Research Council (DFG), the French Research Center, and Tokyo University, and recruited a reputed scientist to serve as the institute’ deputy director in charge of academic affairs.
The Institute, in collaboration with similar research institutes outside the UN system, established joint field monitoring platforms for comprehensive, integrated, consecutive, long term and systematic observations. Based on the existing observation stations in geophysics, geology, high resolution recoding, contemporary earth surface process and plateau atmosphere, 5 benchmark observation stations are added in the north, south, middle, east and west sections of the Plateau’s interiors. The five baseline stations represent different climate environment, respectively covering the hilly forest and pasture belt, hilly bushes and pasture belt, cold pasture belt, cold desert belt, and hilly forest belt. Scientists will, through field observations, lab analysis and data collection, reveal the natural development course of the region.
Two New Human Alleles Found in Zhejiang
The Zhejiang Blood Center has since 2002 found 2 strange blood specimens from some 2000 donated blood supplies containing blood making stem cells. The further genetic sequencing of the two strange blood specimens in June 2004 reveals that each of them contains an unknown HLA gene. The center then sent the new findings to the WHO’s HLA gene bank. WHO, after a time consuming verification, confirms the two new genes.
According to a briefing, the newly discovered alleles have not only become the new members of the human gene bank, but also provided most suitable suppliers for organ or bone marrow transplanting, reducing the danger of active repulsion. The new findings, at the same time, may help reduce the immune blood transfusion reaction commonly seen in the patient who receives blood transfusion for several times. The findings can also be used as a reference for forensic medical examination or diagnosis of miscarriages without clear causes.
China’s 21st Antarctic Expedition
On October 25, 2004, China’s Antarctic expedition team lifted the anchor of Snow Dragon expedition boat, heading for its 21st exploration to the southern pole. The expedition will strive to reach the Dome A, the top of the ice cover in the polar continent, in an effort to select the site for China’s third scientific expedition station in the region.
The expedition team will establish a navigation marking system along the route running from the Zhongshan Station to the Dome A, intending to build a complete sectional snow-ice-climate watch system covering the area. The missions will help cumulate experience in providing logistic support and working out an optimized operational mode for the inland stations, paving the way for routine operations of the field snow-ice-climate watching system. In addition, the expedition team will select two candidate sites for both the new base station and relay station in the area from the Zhongshan Station to the Dome A. The team, through systematic investigations, will collect related scientific data, including accurate geographic positions, annual mean temperature, formal characteristics of ice surface, under-ice terrain, ice layer structures, ice cover movement speed, meteorological conditions, density sections of snow layers, 10-meter bore temperature, ice cover surface cumulating speed, and ice core based climate and environment evolution sequencing.
In addition to the ice cover investigation, the expedition will launch other activities, including summer investigations at the Great Wall Station and the Zhongshan Station, winter expedition, and the Antarctic Ocean investigations. Investigation topics cover offshore marine ecology and biodiversity, joint GPS based observations in 2005 at the Great Wall Station, ecological environment observation, dynamic Tucker Glacier watch, earth magnetism observation, meteorological satellite and ozone observation, GPS tracking station, tidal wave data collection, the Antarctic Ocean scientific investigation, and bioresources investigations. The expedition will also bring logistic supplies and maintenance to the Great Wall Station and the Zhongshan Station.
Solar Observations Made Progresses
October 21st, 2004 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Huairou Solar Observatory in Beijing. Scientists from China, Japan and the US gathered together to celebrate the event. As one of the ground observation stations in the international solar magnetic field watch network, the Huairou Observatory has supplied reliable evidences for China’s space environment watch and solar activity prediction, becoming one of the key links in the nation’s space environment watch system.
The Observatory mainly observes solar magnetic and velocity fields and solar explosions, the hot topics prevailing in solar physics. Equipped with fine observation conditions and the world’s first class multi-channel solar telescope, the Observatory, based on huge amount of first hand observational data, has achieved numerous important findings of international influence in solar magnetic and velocity fields.
In 1987, the Huairou Solar Observatory and the Big Bear Solar Observatory, a part of the California Institute of Technology, jointly launched a solar observation project, and harvested important findings on the magnetic field evolutions of solar active and quite zones. The observing station, in collaboration with solar physicists from Japan, France, and Russia, has made important progresses in observation and theoretical studies of fine structures of solar magnetic fields, spatial distributions of magnetic fields, non-potential magnetic field release, and helicity.
2008: “China Eye” Works in Space
AI Guoxiang, the head of the China National Observatory and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters on October 22, 2004 that China would blast off in 2008 a solar telescope, the largest of its kind in the world. With a caliber 1-meter across, the thermal optic telescope will be a payload aboard an astronomic probe satellite to be lifted by rocket into a geosynchronous orbit 735 km away from earth. The colossal telescope is designed to observe solar magnetic fields, solar and atmospheric microstructures, solar flare energy cumulating and release, and solar-earth space environment.
The China Institute of Space Technology, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, started the development of the space solar telescope in 1992. Its five major components, including mainframe optic telescope, super ultraviolet telescope, helium and white telescope, broad band spectrograph, and radio frequency spectrograph, approach the completion of development. The telescope has a 3-year life span, capable to watch a 70-km wide spherical area on the solar surface. The observational data to be sent back to earth by the telescope for solar study will be 2 dimensional.
Popular Science Web Show
October 25, 2004 makes the 5th anniversary of the website “China Popular Science Show ”. The popular science website （http://www.kepu.net.cn）, physically located at the Computer Network Information Center affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, opened on October 25, 1999. The website is the forefather in the country using visual museum technology to diffuse scientific knowledge. The online museum stages its show with the rich scientific resources possessed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The website, using high speed multimedia technologies, has established 60 visual museum in the Chinese language and 10 in English, with a 300 GB data flow. The five-year long development has made the website the largest of its kind in the country, covering major fields, including astronomy, geography, biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, S&T and history. The web museum attracts public attention with its systematic science contents and vivid displays, becoming an applaudable online front for popular science.
With its unique resources, the website, in collaboration with its counterparts in other countries, including San Francisco Exploring Museum, Korean Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) and Japan’s UniphotoPress, advocate international sharing of popular science resources, and opening China’s popular science window to the world. The website also, partnering with the renowned US sesame studio, jointly produced the Chinese version of a 210-series web program called “ I love science”, adding with the contents gathered from the China Popular Science website’s museum. The new show was staged on from October 25, 2004.
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