In August 2008, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the awardees of the 2008 CAS Scholarships. Eleven ION students were recipients of these Scholarships.
Dr. Shu-Min Duan was invited to attend the 2008 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Research Conference on "Glia in Health and Disease" held in USA on July 17th to 21st and chaired the session entitled "Astrocyte Function at Synapses".
Dr. Xu Zhang was invited to attend the 3rd Asian Pain Symposium held in Fokuoka, Japan on July 18th to 19th and chaired the Symposium "Molecular mechanisms of pain transmission in the spinal cord". Dr. Zhang also gave an invited talk entitled "Mechanisms for inhibitory regulation of sensory afferent synaptic transmission in the dorsal spinal cord".
Dr. Yi-Zheng Wang was invited to attend the 4th Sino-German Stem Cell Meeting held in Dresden, Germany on July 3rd to 6th. During the meeting, Dr. Wang gave an invited talk entitled "Dual signals might affect metastatic activity in human hepatic cancer."
Drs. Xu Zhang, Shu-Min Duan and Xiang Yu were invited to attend the Gordon Research Conference on "Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology" held in Hongkong University of Science and Technology on June 8th to 13th.
On June 9th, 2008, Prof. Yoo Hun Suh, Director of the Steering Center for Construction of the Korea Brain Institute (KBI), visited ION. Drs. Ai-Ke Guo and Yi-Zheng Wang hosted his visit, giving a brief description of current research at ION and answering his questions. Prof. Yoo Hun Suh hopes that the successful experiences of ION can contribute towards establishing the Korea Brain Institute.
Dr. Yi-Zheng Wang was invited to attend 7th International Cell Death Society Symposium on "Targeting cell death pathways for human diseases" held in Shanghai June 6th to 9th. During the symposium, Dr. Wang gave an invited talk entitled "TRPC channels and neuronal survival".
On May 30, 2008, Nature Neuroscience published an online paper from ION entitled "Critical role of TRPC6 channels in the formation of excitatory synapses". This work was carried out by graduate students Jian Zhou and Wanlu Du, under the supervision of Dr. Yizheng Wang. The transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) channels are Ca2+ permeable nonselective cation channels with different biological functions, but their roles in brain are largely unknown.
On May 27th, 2008, Mr. Nobuaki Teraoka, the director of the RIKEN's China Office and Mr. Tsuruo Yasushi, the deputy director of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)'s Beijing Office, visited ION.
During May 23-26, The Third Academic Review of ION PIs, the Fourth International Advisory Board Meeting, SIAS Symposium on "Frontier of Neuroscience" and the 9th SIAS Round-Table Discussion was held in Shanghai.
On May 21 2008, Journal of Neuroscience published an online paper from ION entitled "Increased dopamine level enhances male-male courtship in Drosophila". This work was done by graduate students Tong Liu and colleagues, under the supervision of Dr. Aike Guo, and in collaboration with Dr. Jean-Fran？ois Ferveur in France.
On May 11th - 13th, 2008, an ION group, including Drs. Shu-Min Duan, Jia-Wei Zhou, Zhi-Qi Xiong and You-Sheng Shu , Ms. Yan Wang, Mr. Yi-Xi Gu, Mr. Hao Wu and Mrs. Ai-Qin Wang, visited Zunyi Medical College (ZYMC) in Guizhou Province.
In the morning of May 5th, 2008, the mid-term review committee of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Innovation Center visited the State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience (SKLN). The committee members included Qing-Tai Chen, Li-Lan Zhu, Qi-Heng Hu. Following the progress report from Dr. Shu-Min Duan, Director of SKLN, committee members visited SKLN laboratories and facilities and gave important suggestions towards the CAS Innovation Center's development.
On April 24th - 25th, 2008, an ION delegation, including Prof. Mu-Ming Poo, Ms. Yan Wang, Drs. Shu-Min Duan, Zhi-Qi Xiong, Yu-Qiang Ding, Xiang Yu and Jiu-Lin Du, visited Zhejiang University School of Medicine. This visit was hosted by Prof. Jian-Hong Luo, Deputy Dean of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. After visiting the school, Drs. Shu-Min Duan, Zhi-Qi Xiong, Yu-Qiang Ding, Xiang Yu and Jiu-Lin Du gave seminars about their recent research work. Prof. Mu-Ming Poo gave a talk entitled “The A, B, C of scientific research”.
On March 23rd, 2008, the 9th Fudan-Tan Jiazheng-Jiu Yuan Scholarship review meeting was held in Hongzhou. The review committee awarded 72 students from 151 applicants the Jiu Yuan scholarship, including 1 top award, 10 first-class awards, 20 second-class awards and 41 third-class awards. 14 ION students received this award.
