The Fourth National Conference on Human Phenomics & The Meeting to Promote the Massive Health Industry in Hunan Province was held in the Xiangjiang New Area of Changsha, in Central China's Hunan province, from Sept 17 to 19.

The Fourth National Conference on Human Phenomics is held in Changsha, Central China's Hunan province, from Sept 17 to 19.[Photo/WeChat account: BSC] 

The event was hosted by the Biophysical Society of China (BSC), the Organization and Personnel Division of the China Association for Science and Technology, and the International Human Phenome Institute (Shanghai). The Phenomics Academic Subgroup at the BSC was among the organizers of the conference.

The opening ceremony was attended by officials from the Hunan provincial government, Changsha city government, the Xiangjiang New Area management committee, academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and representatives from universities and enterprises.

The National Engineering Research Center for Individualized Diagnosis and Treatment is launched at the opening ceremony of the Fourth National Conference on Human Phenomics. [Photo/WeChat account: BSC]

The ceremony marked the launch of the National Engineering Research Center for Individualized Diagnosis and Treatment. The center will highlight accuracy, efficiency and intelligence in diagnosis and treatment, facilitate the integration of medicine and industry, tackle key medical problems, and build a national technological innovation platform and a highland for engineering talent training.

The ceremony also published The Report on Human Phenomics Progress 2021 and The Expert Consensus on Skin and Appendage Phenotype Measurement.

Tian Mei, secretary-general of the International Human Phenome Consortium and professor at Fudan University, releases The Report on Human Phenomics Progress 2021 at the opening ceremony. [Photo/WeChat account: BSC]

Su Juan, professor at the Xiangya Hospital of the Central South University, releases The Expert Consensus on Skin and Appendage Phenotype Measurement at the opening ceremony. [Photo/WeChat account: BSC]

Following the ceremony, a total of 15 experts gave lectures at the Human Phenomics Summit and shared their frontier innovative achievements and latest research progress.

Jin Li, a CAS academician, Zhou Honghao, a CAE academician, Ji Weizhi, a CAS academician, Wu Tangchun, a CAE academician, Li Yixue, a research fellow at the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health of the CAS, and Wang Guoyu, a professor at Fudan University, delivered keynote speeches on the progress of the Human Phenome Project, 40 years’ development of pharmacogenetics, pharmacogenomics and individualized (precision) medicine, regulation of the early embryonic development in primates, etiological study and dynamic analysis of diseases, the new paradigm of data intensive scientific research in life sciences, and biomedical ethics in an era of big data.

Zhao Guoping and Xu Tao, two CAS academicians, and Zeng Musheng, a professor at the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, delivered lectures on the role biomedical big data plays in phenomics studies and its medical applications, cohort studies and human phenomics, and the carcinogenic mechanism and intervention of EBV.

CAE academicians Lin Dongxin and Wang Hongyang, CAS academician Yang Zhenglin, CAE academician JiaWeiping, and CAS academician Huang Hefeng, talked about cancer prevention and treatment, the transformation of the scientific research paradigm for complex diseases, the pathogenic mechanism of retinopathy, the precise diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and reproductive risks, and clinical strategies against gene chimerism, via video link.

Symposiums on phenomics were held on Sept 18, focusing on the four topics of “phenomics and the discovery and validation of new drug targets”, “phenomics and accurate diagnosis”, “the management and sharing of phenomics data” and “phenomics and health management”.

Organizers said the Fourth National Conference on Human Phenomics will push forward the international major science program of the human phenome, provide scientific and technological support for the transformation of China's life science paradigm and the upgrading of its biomedical industry, safeguard people's health, and facilitate the Healthy China Initiative (2019-30).