Nobel Laureate and Canadian Academic join Suzhou City University

On Sept 30, 2021, Michael Levitt (Nobel Chemistry Laureate, fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, fellow of the Royal Society, and Professor of Structural Biology at Stanford University), and Mohamad Sawan (fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Canada Research Chair in Smart Medical Devices, and Professor of Electrical Engineering at Polytechnique Montreal) joined Suzhou City University (hereinafter referred to as “SCU”) and jointly participated in an unveiling ceremony to launch the SCU Life Sciences Research Institute. Invited to and addressing the ceremony were Cao Houling, Deputy Mayor of Suzhou, and Gu Xiaodong, Wuzhong District Director.

Prof. Levitt, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013 for his contribution to the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems and to the establishment of multiscale computational simulations, is a renowned biophysicist and one of the first computational biologists to conduct molecular simulations of DNA and proteins.

Prof. Sawan is one of the international representatives in biocircuits and systems and a pioneer in the application of microelectronics in biomedical science. His research interests include the design and testing of analog and mixed-signal circuits and systems, and signal processing, modeling, and integration. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and is an owner of more than 10 patents.

“In the context of the times, higher education institutions are entrusted with a dual mission to carry out scientific research and promote international exchanges and cooperation. Accordingly, we will make active attempts and explorations in light of the realities we face,” said Zhao Zhihong, president of SCU. He said that the establishment of the Institute is an attempt to explore a way for universities of applied sciences to carry out international cooperation in scientific research and deal with challenges facing human life science and technology. He also regarded it as a pertinent reply to the question of how such universities can better serve the local economy and society and cater to the needs of sci-tech development. With the two academics joining the university, and the local government’s concern and support, SCU is confident of a steady, solid and promising future.

The biopharmaceutical industry, one of seven strategic emerging industries in China, is the top industry in Suzhou. As defined in the 14th Five-Year Plan of Suzhou, vigorous efforts shall be devoted to cultivating 10 advanced manufacturing clusters, including those for biomedicine and high-end medical equipment, so that the city can be built into a “Chinese medicine valley” of domestic and international competitiveness. In achieving this goal, sci-tech innovation plays a pivotal part. In response to an appeal from the country and to serve the local economic development, SCU gives priority to setting up and developing life science disciplines, introduces international leading scholars in life science-related fields, and pools competitive resources in constructing the Institute.

Rui Guoqiang, Party Secretary of SCU, pointed out that the recently concluded 13th Suzhou Municipal Congress of the Communist Party of China explicitly put forward that Suzhou’s goal in the next five years is to be shaped as an innovative city through a global vision, and that greater efforts will be made to introduce high-end professionals and boost the flexible introduction of top professionals and the construction of top-level think tanks. SCU, a municipal university, was prompted to study and implement the spirit of the Congress, and took the initiative to adapt to the new situation of economic development in Suzhou and the new demands of regional economic and social development. The university has been actively introducing high-level personnel, devoting major efforts to fostering emerging disciplines and focused efforts to building discipline clusters covering biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and electronic information, and striving to form a favorable layout of discipline clusters in alignment with local industrial chain clusters.

Currently, SCU is taking active action in connecting with national strategies and the developmental needs of the city. SCU has set up the Suzhou Development Research Institute, and the construction of an urban renewal research institute and Wenzheng Think Tank is under way. SCU will adhere to the principle of preserving the unity of scale, structure, quality, and benefit, and strive to build itself into a distinguished university of applied sciences with “local, application-oriented, open, and characteristic” features, in order to make due contributions toward making Suzhou into an influential modern socialist city that exhibits a blueprint of “power, prosperity, attraction, and height”.