On the afternoon of May 7, 2021, the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences invited Dr. Li Xianghua, Assistant Professor of the ZJU-UoE Institute, International Campus, Zhejiang University, to offer an academic lecture named “Genotype-Phenotype Mapping, Towards Personalized Medicine”. The lecture is one of the “Alumni Forum” activities of the School this year. Professor Wang Yi, Deputy Dean of the School, presided at the lecture. Ma Jie, Dean of the School, Cao Xia, Deputy Dean of the School, postgraduates and undergraduates, as well as faculty of the School attended the lecture online and offline.
As an undergraduate majoring in bioengineering (medicine) in 2009 of the School, Dr. Li has successively received her doctor’s degree from the MRC Human Genetics Unit at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, and engaged in post-doctoral research at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Spain, dedicating to accurately predicting changes in biological characteristics caused by gene mutations with systems biology research methods. While she was studying and working abroad, Dr. Li won the full doctoral scholarship, the British Medical Research Council award, the Spanish Ramon Areces Foundation postdoctoral award, and many other awards. Also, as the first author or corresponding author, she has published several high-level articles in Nature Communication, Genome Biology and Evolution, Nucleic Acids Research, etc.
Dr. Li gave a vivid presentation on how to use systems biology methods to predict the complex relationship between genotype and phenotype. The correlation between genotype and phenotype is a core issue in genetics and even in the whole biomedical field. Predicting how gene mutations change phenotype is related to the realization of genotype-based precise personalized medicine and the safe application of gene editing technology to the medical field.
At the lecture, Dr. Li helped to deepen the understanding of the correlation between genotype and phenotype through positive interaction with the teachers and students. After the activity, she also had an in-depth discussion with some students and teachers on talent training modes and some problems and puzzles in scientific research. Through this activity, the teachers and students realized the mysterious diversity of gene and phenotypic analysis, stimulated their curiosity and exploration desire in this research field, and broadened their international vision. The lecture played a positive role in promoting scientific research and talent training in the School.
