Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology is the first department established by the College of Basic Medical Sciences. It is established based on the development of life sciences and the overall layout of discipline construction. The department is committed to conduct cutting-edge research that addresses critical clinical needs and to educate and train the next generation of biomedicine science leaders. Research in our department focus on fundamental and applied questions related to tumor biology, epigenetic regulation, cardiovascular disease, mitochondria biology and neurological diseases. We also engage in highly collaborative clinical research with affiliated hospitals of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.
Since 2009, we have undertaken 281 projects of various types with a total funding of over 100 million, and published SCI research papers or invited reviews 230 papers, and won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the second prize of the Ministry of Education's College Natural Science Award and so on. The department is also an important subject of basic medical education. It undertakes the teaching of biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology courses for undergraduates, postgraduates and various continuing education.
Currently, the department has 12 principal investigators, 62 faculty members distributed in each research group, and 2 course groups including 20 professors, 12 associate professors, 16 doctoral supervisors, 11 master instructors, and 8 postdoctoral fellows. Furthermore, there are 91 students, including 63 doctoral students and 28 master students. The postgraduate training system has become a model for the college, and it also provides a guarantee for the virtuous circle of scientific research in the department.
We plan to recruit outstanding young investigators who aim to explore frontier research on metabolism regulation in a broad sense. And we are thriving to foster an outstanding research environment that is enriched with integrative intellectual expertise and modern technology. We are also pride to create a friendly, supportive, and interactive atmosphere to train our highly motivated students and postdoctoral trainees.
Department of Pathophysiology
Development History
The Department of Pathophysiology was established by Associate Professor Zhang Dexin in Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (formerly Shanghai Second Medical University) in 1956. Between 1977 and 1989, Professor Wang Zhenyi, President of the University, (foreign academician of the French Academy of Sciences in 1992, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1994，and winner of the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award in 2010), served as the chair of the department, dedicated to the study of atherosclerosis and hemostasis and thrombosis, and achieved a series of extraordinary results, which has won the second prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award, the third prize of Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Progress Award, the Shanghai Health System “Silver Snake Award” and etc. The discipline was also among the first to be the core subject of Shanghai city universities in 1984.
Ever since the 1990s, Professor Xu Yelu and Professor Zhang Qiliang served successively as chairs of the department, which became a doctoral discipline in 2000. In 2002, Prof. Chen Guoqiang, the winner of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and one of Shanghai's Top Ten Outstanding Young People, took the lead and initiated the discipline construction focusing on connotation construction and innovative talent cultivation. Adhering to the scientific innovation spirit of “courageous to think, speak and operate with perseverance and dedication”, the research direction was focused on leukemia cell differentiation and apoptosis, chemical biology, proteomics, leukemia etiology. The department has won many honors under his leadership. The pathology discipline became the key discipline of 211 projects and one of the national key disciplines. The research team won the "National Working Leading Organization", "Shanghai Education System Distinguished Group", "Shanghai Outstanding Team", "Shanghai Model Team" and other titles. In 2018, Dr. Zhong Qing served as the chair of the Department of Pathophysiology.
Team of Expertise
The chair of the department is dedicated to the overall operation of the laboratory, implementing democratic management, research team leader responsibility system, formulating the discipline development plan, and setting the work objectives and incentive mechanism in terms of personnel training, scientific research input & output. Meanwhile, outstanding young scholars are encouraged to cooperate with internationally renowned scholars to carry out high-level cooperative research, and on the other side, the department is open to cooperation. Currently, the department is composed of 55 in-service staffs, more than 70% of whom have doctoral degrees and overseas working experience, 19 of full investigators and 10 associate investigators, 1 academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 3 National High-level Talent Plan, 5 National High-level Youth Talent Plan, 3 National Distinguished Young Scholars winners, 3 Outstanding Youth Fund winners of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2 High-Level Talent Programs of Shanghai.
Research Overview
The Department of Pathophysiology is involved in biomedical research areas that span a broad range of tumor cell fate determination, including mechanisms of initiation and development of solid tumors and hematopoietic tumors, hematopoietic and leukemia stem cells, tumor molecular markers research and targeted therapy, disease proteomics, structural biology and bioinformatics, and basic research on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, etc. The department carries out basic and translational medical research in pathogenesis and therapeutics with the multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary principle. The department has undertaken more than 200 projects including the 12th Five-Year Support Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the "973" Plan and the "863" Plan, the National Natural Science Foundation's Major Integration, Key Project, General Projects and Shanghai Research Projects. Nearly 300 SCI papers were published on the internationally high-profile academic journals such as Nature, Cell Metabolism, Cancer Cell, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Communication, PNAS, Blood, etc. In addition, the department has won the second prize of the National Natural Science Award, the first prize of China Medical Science and Technology, the Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award, Shanghai Natural Science First Prize and other awards. Six patents have been authorized. The Department of Pathophysiology has trained more than 120 masters and doctoral students, one of whom won 100 National Excellent Doctoral Thesis, 7 won the Shanghai Graduate Outstanding Achievement Award, and 1 won the Wurui Scholarship.
Department of pathology
The Department of Pathology of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine combined with the College of Basic Medical Sciences and Ruijin Hospital, has gradually integrated the Department of Pathology of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and the Department of Pathology of 13 affiliated hospitals. There are 18 senior titles, 23 intermediate titles and 19 primary titles in the core units of the Department of Pathology. Professor Wang Chaofu, the current department head, has several deputy directors in charge. The Department won the honor of civilization team of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from 2019 to 2020.
Education and Teaching: The department offers pathology and forensic medicine for undergraduates with an annual teaching of about 1300 class hours, and undertakes PBL, RBL, CBL, scientific research rotation training for college students and other related teaching activities.
Scientific Research: The department possesses strong scientific research ability and foundation. At present, there are 2 doctoral supervisors and 6 master supervisors. In 2021, the department won a number of municipal scientific research projects, including the fund project of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission by Professor Wang Chaofu and the Pujiang talent plan project of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission by researcher Wang Xu. In 2021, the department published more than 30 articles on SCI and core journals as the first or corresponding author, with a total impact factor of more than 240 points.
Clinical Pathology: In 2021, there were more than 120000 cases of histopathology, 10000 cases of intraoperative frozen consultation, 100000 cases of cell pathology, 20000 cases of immunohistochemistry, 15000 cases of molecular pathology, and 3834 cases of difficult diagnoses throughout the country. At present, the department is cooperating with Huawei and Shangtang Technology to carry out research on intelligent pathology and intelligent pathology. In 2021, 46 advanced students from all over the country have been received, and the annual professional level test of residents has been among the best in China and the first in Shanghai for four consecutive years.
Pathological Autopsy: The department is one of the autopsy institutions designated by the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, which undertakes autopsy of medical disputes, with an average annual rate of about 20 cases. Pathological autopsy analysis provides strong support, helps deal with medical disputes and provides a lot of materials for teaching. At the same time, VR technology is introduced into pathological autopsy experimental teaching to enrich teaching content and improve teaching innovation ability.
Department of Anatomy and Physiology
The Department of Anatomy and Physiology was established in July 2017, reorganized from partial disciplines of the former Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology and the former Physiology Teaching and Research Office. Prof. Tian-Le Xu is the head of the department and the head of the discipline. The department now has 10 faculty members leading independent research groups. Among them, two are winners of the National High-level Talent Plan, one is the winner of “Distinguished Young Scholars” sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, one is the member of Hundred people plan sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences, two are members of the National High-level Youth Talent Plan, and one is the winner of “Excellent Young Scholars” sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The Department of Anatomy and Physiology sets three course groups, Anatomy, Physiology and Neurobiology, and conducts teaching of 21 main courses, including Systematic Anatomy, Regional Anatomy, Physiology, Neurobiology, and Neuroscience Journal Club for undergraduate and graduate students of medical school. In scientific research, the department aims to understand mechanisms of sensation, perception, cognition, neurological and mental diseases at molecular, cellular, and circuitry levels, with the focus on brain cognition, brain diseases and brain regulation. In the past five years, the discipline has led more than 50 national funds from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (the Brain Science and Brain-inspired Artificial Intelligence and 973 National Key Basic Research Program) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Major Program, Key Program, Integration Program, Training Program, Key Program of International Cooperation and Exchange, General Program, and Youth Science Program) with total research funding nearly up to 100 million CNY. Over 60 papers supported by those fundings have been published in international prestigious journals such as Science, Neuron, National Science Review, Molecular Psychiatry, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Nature Communications, Science Advances, PNAS, Cell Reports, eLife, Journal of Cell Biology, and Journal of Neuroscience. In 2022, the research field of neuroscience and behavior at SJTU enters the top 1% of ESI worldwide.
Being part of the Strategic Plan of Brain Science Development at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine entitled with “A crossing and integration brain science platform based on the population cohort and guided by the study of brain diseases”, the Department of Anatomy and Physiology has initiated and sponsored the Center for Brain Science, which mainly relies on the key Innovation Team of “Principle Analysis of Brain Cognition” supported by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. The center is aimed at actively docking with the Brain Science and Brain-inspired Artificial Intelligence, and dedicated to understanding and resolving the brain function, deciphering the mechanisms underlying pathogenesis of brain diseases, discovering novel drug targets, and growing into one of the cradles for drug development and novel neural modulation ways targeting cognitive-related brain diseases. The center focuses on “Principle Analysis of Brain Cognition and Mechanistic Study of Cognitive Impairment” as the overall research direction, which can be further categorized into three key scientific questions: 1) development of neural circuit and behavior, 2) principles and regulation of learning and memory, 3) drug target discovery for brain diseases. The center was established by integrating the research teams on brain science at Shanghai Jiao Tong University College of Basic Medical Sciences and grounded as the development of basic neurobiology platform. The center has successfully collaborated with the affiliated Shanghai Children’s Medical Center to found “Center for Children’s Brain Science”, providing an important support and driving force for Shanghai city to grow into the technological innovation center with global impact.
To provide technical support for the Center for Brain Science, the Department of Anatomy and Physiology has been actively running the brain research core facility with the goal to accelerate cutting-edge research into anatomical, functional, and physiological studies in neuroscience. The facility is composed of 4 main centers: 1) center for brain anatomy and connectome that includes in vitro and in vivo imaging workstations, 2) center for brain physiology and function that includes a large variety of instruments for electrophysiological recording, calcium imaging, and optogenetic stimulation, 3) center for behavior and phenotype analysis that includes behavioral paradigms covering sensation, motion, instinctive behaviors, learning, memory, emotion, and social behaviors as well as surgical suites for virus injection and cannula/optical fiber implantation, 4) center for brain diseases and precision treatment that includes equipment for preparation, detection, and preservation of clinical samples as well as systems for transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalogram recording in collaboration with affiliated hospitals such as Shanghai Mental Health Center.
Shanghai Institute of Immunology & Department of Immunology and Microbiology
Shanghai Institute of Immunology (SII), established in 1979 by the Shanghai Municipal Government and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (formerly Shanghai Second Medical College), is the first immunology research institute in China dedicated to basic and clinical research on immune system and immune-related diseases. The founding Director was Dr. He Yu, a first-class Professor and a pioneer for modern immunology research in China. Dr. Yu was also the key founder and first president of the Shanghai Immunology Society, which is also the first professional academic society for immunology community in China. Under the leadership of Dr. Yu, SII also launched the first specialized immunology journal in China, the Shanghai Journal of Immunology. The first WHO Collaborating Center for Immunogenetics in China was also established here at SII, which was led successively by Drs He Yu, Renbiao Chen, and Guangyen Chou. Immunologists at SII were the first to use antisera to study and identify HLA polymorphism in China, an important milestone in immunogenetics study in China. Its work won top “Science and Technology Achievement Award” from the National Health Commission. In 2003, SII established the E-Immunology Institute, the first Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning under the leadership of then SII Director, Dr. Jingwu Zang. The E-Immunology Institute was a highly successful model recognized by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. In 2005, SII also won the "Key Discipline" title given by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, and was awarded the "Innovative Team” for immunology research by the Ministry of Education China in 2006.
In 2012, Professor Bing Su, the National High-level Talent Distinguished Expert and KC Wong Endowed Chair Professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, joined SII as the 8th Director from Yale University. With the strong support from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, SII has become a Special Academic Zone in 2015, which is successfully renewed in 2021. In 2013, a brand-new Department of Immunology and Microbiology (DIM) was established in the College of Basic Medical Sciences at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine with Professor Bing Su as its founding Chair. Since then, the Department and SII has been fully integrated as one unit with the support from both Shanghai Municipal Government and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.
At the moment, SII/DIM has 109 faculty and staff members including twenty-six Ph.D. supervisors and eight MS supervisors in SII/DIM. We also have twenty-five talented postdoctoral fellows and 140 graduate students. SII & DIM now have twenty-two independent research groups lead by twenty-two highly energetic and enthusiastic Principal Investigator (PI), focusing on different aspects of immunology including cancer immunity, infection immunity, transplantation immunity, regional immunity, autoimmunity, drug-resistant bacteria control, pathogen. Many of our PI are recipients of prestigious awards such as the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars, National High-Level Young Talents, Shanghai Subject Chief Scientists, and Shanghai High-Level Talents, etc. We also have two key course teams for Immunology and Pathogenesis Course, respectively, responsible for teaching theoretical and laboratory courses of immunology and microbiology for undergraduate and graduate students at our medical school. In terms of graduate student training, the supervisory committee of SII has established the management and training system for graduate student rotation, Research in Progress seminar held weekly in English and the "Yu He Graduate Student Scholarship". By cooperating with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a Joint Ph.D. Degree Program was launched in 2018 to explore a new model of international training for graduate students. In addition, SII/DIM is currently equipped with cutting-edge core facilities, including Flow Cytometry Core, Imaging Core, Immunohistochemistry Core, Biomarker Research & Development Core, Sequencing Core, and Mouse Common Strain Collection Core. Our Cores are managed and supervised by our Principal Investigator.
SII/DIM actively interact and collaborate nationally and internationally with renowned universities and research institutes from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, as well as within China including Hong Kong and Taiwan. World and national renowned scientists have been invited to visit the institute and give seminars to our faculty and students. We established the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine-Yale University Institute of Immune Metabolism (SYIIM), a joint center for immune regulation with the Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML). In recent years, our teams have won many Major/Key Program grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology and National Natural Science Foundation of China, and have published breakthrough original research papers in top journals including Nature, Cell, Nature Immunology, Cell Metabolism, Immunity, Molecular Cell, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications, etc., and many are considered "0 to 1 breakthrough" for SII and our Medical School. SII is also the home of "Shanghai International Joint Research Center for Translational Medicine", supported by the prestigious “International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of the Ministry of Science and Technology”. We are glad to report that our Center was awarded "Super achievement" in Year 2021 national assessment.
Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology
The Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology is one of the earliest doctoral degree awarding points in China, and also the first batch of China clinical pharmacology research bases. Established by and under the guidance of a group of highly respected senior researchers such as Professor Jin Zhengjun, the scale of Discipline of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology has gradually expended and the academic level is continuously improved. It is listed in the China National “211 Project” and “985 Project” and Shanghai Key Subject of “Double First Class”and "Local High-Level Construction Project". The ESI of "Pharmacology and Toxicology" ranks the top 1‰in the world.
The Department adheres to the strategy of Talent First with Fostering Talents from Inside as well as Introducing Talents from Outside. A large number of outstanding young teachers and scientific researching academics stand out, forming a harmonious, energetic and cohesive innovation team. During the development process, the department continuously attracts and fosters excellent talents, creating innovative talented people in the atmosphere of paying equal attention to scientific research and teaching, and gradually forms a cultural of “Aggregation, Adaptability, Openness, and Win-Win”. The department has established close academic and personnel exchanging and cooperation relationships with University of Toronto, University of Minnesota, Monash University, Paris Descartes University, Paris Diderot University – Paris 7 and Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, etc., and is constantly improving the academic competitiveness and internationalization level.
The department currently has a total of 35 personnel, including 27 senior titles, including 10 PI researchers. There are 1 member from the China State Council Discipline Review Group, 2 members from National High-level Talent Plan, 3 members from National High-level Youth Talent Plan, 2 Outstanding Young Fund winners of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2 Shanghai Outstanding Academic Leaders, 2 Shanghai High-level Talent Program, 2 Shanghai High-level Youth Talent Program, 3 members from Shanghai Science and Technology Development Funds, 3 members from Shanghai Pujiang Talent Plan, 3 members from Shanghai Dawn Program, 1 nomination of Shanghai Health System Silver Snake Award and 1 prize-winner of Shanghai Labor Medal, etc.
The subject aims at the frontier fields of biomedicine and national scientific and technological strategy needs to carry out pharmacology, chemical biology, nano drug delivery and translational medical research, mainly including the discovery of new targets for neurodegenerative diseases, tumors and cardio-cerebrovascular diseases and the development of innovative drugs, drug power research on pharmacology and drug metabolomics, chemical biology research based on disease functional genomics information and clinical transformation of new drugs and innovative biotechnology for the prevention and treatment of major chronic diseases. In the past five years, the department has presided over 3 National Programs on Key Basic Research Projects (973 Program), 5 major projects of the National “Major New Drug Creation Projects”, 4 international science and technology cooperation special projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology of P.R.C., 56 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 13 major/key Shanghai science and technology projects. It has published more than 200 papers in internationally high-profile journals such as Nature Medinice, Nature Communication, Cell Metabolism, PNAS, Advanced Science, ACS nano, Nano Letters, Mol Pharmacol, etc. Among them, the latest research achievements in 2021 have been published in Science Translational Medicine, Cell Death & Differentiation, Advanced Science and Nano-Micro Letters and other international high-level journals. 10 invention patents have been applied for and 6 of them have been authorized. There are two incubation and transformation programs, one Alzheimer's disease intervention and new therapy program undergoing I/IIa clinical trials, two innovative preparation technology platforms selected into the innovation achievement incubation programs, and one original anti-tumor new drug program cooperated with Fudan University. The scientific research achievements won the First Prize of Science and Technology Progress of Ministry of Education, the First Prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award, the Second Prize of Natural Science of Ministry of Education, the Second Prize of Shanghai Medical Science and Technology Award, and the Second Prize of Chinese Medical Science and Technology. It has two researching new drugs with independent intellectual property rights of the national "New Major Drug Creation".
The Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology supports Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Translational Medicine, Phase I Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory of the National Drug Clinical Trial Institute, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacokinetics Laboratory of the New Neuropsychiatric Drug GCP Platform of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Shanghai University System Pharmacology Key Laboratory etc. The department has multiple experimental platforms, including molecular imaging platforms, composed of confocal microscopes, fluorescent microscopes, etc., to meet the needs of analyzing cellular images at various levels; pharmacokinetic and metabolomics platforms, consisting of multiple ultra-high performance liquid phases Chromatography tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry and high-resolution mass spectrometry can be used to complete clinical pharmacokinetics, metabolomics, lipidomics and other analytical experiments; animal behavioral experiment platform is composed of water maze, open field and other behavioral instruments, and the analysis software and other components can complete the experiments of animal learning and memory, emotion and sports behavior analysis; the small animal imaging platform is composed of a fully automatic brain stereo positioning system and small animal PET / CT, etc., which provides a guarantee for the use of animal models for research; drug target discovery and new drug screening platform, by BIACORE molecular interaction, ITC isothermal titration The instrument, Flexstation III calcium flow analyzer, PHERAstar, FDSS high-speed imaging analyzer, etc., provide sufficient conditions for the development and verification of new targets and high-throughput screening and activity determination at the molecular and cellular levels; Chemoinformatics and Bioinformatics Platform is composed of a central randomization system, an electronic data collection and query management system, and a statistical analysis system，it realizes more efficient and convenient resource sharing of data, calculations, and graphics, and facilitates the process of information processing; nanobiology platform consists of nanometer biology related equipment such as particle size analyzer and ultracentrifuge system, which provides the conditions for carrying out nanobiology research. The above experimental platforms are managed and operated by professional technicians to ensure the smooth development of scientific research.
Introduction to the Department of Pharmaceutical and Artificial Intelligence Sciences
The Department of Pharmaceutical and Artificial Intelligence Sciences (referred to as the " Pharmaceutical Sciences-AI Department") at School of Medicine Shanghai Jiao Tong University serves as a key base for precision medicine research, education, and external collaboration. Established on the foundation of the former Center for Medicinal Chemistry and Bioinformatics, the department is led by Director Zhang Jian, a Distinguished Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), member of the Academic Degree Evaluation Committee of the State Council, recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, honoree of the National "Ten Thousand Talents Program" for Young Top-Notch Talent and the Ministry of Education's Young Yangtze River Scholar, Chief Scientist of the National Key R&D Program in BT-IT, and member of the National Natural Science Foundation of China's Innovative Research Group. His research focuses on precision target identification and first-in-class drug lead discovery, with over 100 SCI-indexed papers published as corresponding author in prestigious journals such as Nature Chemical Biology, Chemical Reviews, and Chemical Society Reviews, achieving a series of internationally influential breakthroughs.
Through a dual strategy of talent recruitment and cultivation, the Pharmaceutical Sciences -AI Department has assembled an outstanding faculty and developed a robust talent-training system and platform. It currently hosts five principal investigators (PIs) specializing in AI-drug discovery cross-disciplinary research, including one National Distinguished Young Scholar, one National "Ten Thousand Talents Program" awardee, two Chief Scientists of National Key R&D Programs, and six recipients of Shanghai-level talent titles. Centered on advancing precision medicine and pharmaceutical innovation for clinical applications, the department has undertaken over 30 big data and AI-related projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Its students have won top honors including the Special Prize in the "Challenge Cup" National Finals, the Ministry of Education's Outstanding Award for Training Top-Tier Basic Discipline Students, and the championship in the Global AI Drug Development Algorithm Competition, cultivating a cohort of interdisciplinary talents in translational and smart medicine.
In education, the teaching team offers courses for undergraduate, graduate, and international students, including Advances in Basic Medical Chemistry, Medical Organic Chemistry, analytic chemistry, introduction of pharmacy, AI for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bioinformatics, Medical Image Processing and Analysis, Biomedical Data Mining, and Fundamentals of Computer Applications, delivering nearly 1,600 lecture hours annually. Over the past decade, faculty have edited, co-edited, or contributed to 20 textbooks, with two courses recognized as Shanghai Model English-Taught Courses and one as a Shanghai Municipal First-Class Undergraduate Course. The department has secured 18 curriculum development grants at municipal, Chinese Medical Association, and university levels, published 18 high-quality teaching papers in journals such as Journal of Chemical Education and Chemical Education, and won multiple teaching awards nationally and institutionally. As an innovation base for SJTU medical undergraduates, it has guided students to over 20 awards and grants, including top prizes in the National Life Science Competition for College Students and Shanghai "Challenge Cup," and mentored Research-Based Learning (RBL) and Undergraduate Innovation Program participants in publishing SCI papers.
In research, faculty specialize in AI, drug design, bioinformatics, chemical biology, and medical biomaterials. Addressing critical challenges in novel target identification and first-in-class drug lead discovery—key bottlenecks in innovative drug development—the team has developed AI-driven drug design methodologies leveraging big data. Their work enables direct identification of novel tumor targets from clinical samples and overcomes target-site limitations to discover original lead compounds, yielding groundbreaking results with global impact. To date, they have published corresponding-author papers in Cell, Nature, and Nature Chemical Biology, secured 10 patents as primary inventors (with six licensed to enterprises), advanced two drug candidates to preclinical evaluation, and received honors including the Ministry of Education Natural Science Award (First Class), Shanghai Natural Science Award (First Class), ACS Excellent Research Advisor Award, Chinese Pharmaceutical Association Biopharmaceutical Innovation Award, and Wu Jieping-Paul Janssen Medical Pharmacy Award. Multiple faculties are consistently listed in Stanford University's "World's Top 2% Scientists."
In academic exchange, the department pioneers internationally influential allosteric drug design technology while fostering a global biopharma innovation ecosystem. Collaborations include the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (CAS), Shanghai Bioinformation Technology Research Center, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (CAS), Experimental Immunology Branch at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, and Xinhua Hospital, driving significant research progress. The team also leads domestic and international medical big data and AI translation projects, training precision and translational medicine data specialists to bridge biopharma and the AI era.
The department's Party branch comprises 17 members, including a three-member committee. Party members teach 70% of core courses, with five earning university-level teaching awards. The branch employs a "three-dimensional" organizational model—enhancing engagement through red-education site visits and thematic seminars—and strengthens partnerships via joint activities with outstanding intra- and extra-university branches, integrating Party-building with professional development. Its signature "Party-Led Science Outreach" initiative features a dual-cycle service system. As Shanghai's first designated youth innovation lab, it offers the "Journey of Wonder Drugs" series for nearly 1,000 students from 60+ local schools, focusing on AI and big data. Community outreach includes "Safe Medication" lectures, transforming expertise into public benefit. Repeatedly hosting successful science summer camps, the branch provides forward-looking training for future biopharma talent.
Department of Histoembryology, Genetics and Developmental Biology
Established in the June of 2017, the Department of Histoembryology, Genetics and Developmental Biology (DHGDB) combines following original departments in the College of Basic Medical Sciences: Histoembryology, Molecular Developmental Biology Laboratory, Developmental Biology Laboratory and the Teaching and Research Office of the Medical Genetics. Dr. Yujie Tang is the director of the department. Dr. Mingliang Zhang is the party branch secretary and executive deputy director. Dr. Lei Huang and Dr. Jingwen Wu are the deputy directors.
Following the latest international medical research trends, as one of the major research directions in Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and relying on Shanghai Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, DHGDB has drawn strengths in a series of cutting-edge basic and translational research areas, including life science, basic medical research, chemical biology, material science, and focuses the scientific research on reproductive medicine, developmental and stem cell biology, genetics and pediatric cancer, exploring the mechanisms underlying gametogenesis, embryonic development, and genetic disorders and pediatric cancer. Supported by state-of-art core facilities / platforms of cellular reprogramming, gene editing, single-cell genomics, and 3D / live cell technology. Our scientists have made every effort to work against the devastating illness, perform the disease modeling, and develop the novel drugs. Our mission is to decode biomedical knowledge and bring the patient perspective to our work.
DHGDB has attracted and retained distinguished scholars who are committed to teaching and academic pursuits, with 37 faculty and staff members at present, including 8 full professors, 10 associated professors, and 59.5% percent of them are Ph.D or M.D. By the end of 2021, we have one project leaders of the Key Research and Development Projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, three winners of National High-level Talent Plan, one winner of National High-level Youth Talent Plan, one Distinguished Young Scholar funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, two Shanghai Outstanding Academic Leaders, two Shanghai Leading Talents, two Shanghai "Dawn Scholars", one Shanghai Rising-Star Program, four Shanghai "Pujiang Talents", six Shanghai Program for High-Level Talents Introduction. So far, DHGDB with a total of ￥30 million in scientific research funds, has published numerous research articles in internationally highly respected journals, including Nature，Cancer Cell , Cell Stem Cell, JCI, Blood, Cell Res., Dev Cell, and PNAS.
The department will continue to make contributions to the development of the College of Basic Medical Sciences, interdisciplinary communication and integration, to the reform of teaching methods and contents, which will build a solid foundation for cultivating outstanding medical talents. Meanwhile, we are open to scholars at home and abroad, recruiting qualified talents, who are interested in the research in the fields of reproductive medicine, genetics, developmental and stem cell biology, genetic disorders and pediatric cancer.