Experts and scholars pose for a group photo during the event. [Photo/BioArt]

The 2020 Frontier Forum on Phase Transition and Phase Separation of Biological Macromolecules was held from Oct 30 to Nov 2 in Jixi, a county in east China’s Anhui province. Similar to the first forum, held in 2019, it was another productive closed-door meeting which greatly promoted cooperation and communication among scientists in the field in China.

The three-day forum was hosted by the Academic Subgroup of Phase Transition and Phase Separation of Biological Macromolecules of the Biophysical Society of China (BSC), BioArt, a platform to promote the latest research achievements in life science and medicine, and the Protein & Cell journal.

It was designed to facilitate in-depth exchanges and cooperation in the field of biological macromolecule phase separation in China, to discuss international academic trends in the sector, and to encourage more domestic researchers to devote themselves to new areas of research as part of efforts to increase theoretical and technological innovation.

Twenty-eight experts from major universities and research institutes in China were invited to attend the forum and give reports.

Prof Shi Yunyu, an academician at the University of Science and Technology of China; Prof Zhang Mingjie, an academician at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and dean of the School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology; and Prof Zhang Hong of the Institute of Biophysics with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who is also chairman of the BSC Academic Subgroup of Phase Transition and Phase Separation of Biological Macromolecules, presented lectures as invited speakers.

Participants take a tea break to share academic perspectives and discuss hot topics in the sector. [Photo/BioArt]

Activities including free talks and panel discussions were held during the event, and experts offered their views on the latest developments both at home and abroad. They also corrected erroneous understandings of some technical methods, urged their fellows in relevant fields to be more objective when faced with unsatisfactory experimental results, and called for exploration and innovation in theory and technology.

Prof Zhang Hong gives a closing keynote speech during the forum, presenting a number of seemingly counterintuitive results as well as new developments in technical approaches. [Photo/BioArt]