The Ninth National Symposium on Cryo-EM and Structural Biology was held in Harbin, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, from July 10 to 14, attracting over 400 scholars and researchers from across China.

This biennial national event, hosted by the Cryo-electron Microscopy Academic Subgroup of the Biophysical Society of China (BSC) and organized by the Center for Life Sciences at Harbin Institute of Technology, serves as a major platform for academic exchange in the rapidly advancing field of cryo-EM.

Themed “Cryo-EM and Biomedicine”, the symposium this year featured 46 academic presentations, including six keynote lectures, 32 thematic talks and eight reports by young scholars. Discussions focused on four key areas: cryo-EM and drug design, in situ structural biology and complex compounds, cryo-EM and artificial intelligence, as well as cryo-EM technologies and methodologies.

Wang Hongwei, vice-president of the BSC, chair of the society’s Cryo-EM Academic Subgroup and professor at Tsinghua University, delivers an opening speech. [Photo/WeChat account: BSC]

Wang Hongwei, vice-president of the BSC, chair of the society’s Cryo-EM Academic Subgroup and professor at Tsinghua University, delivered an opening speech at the symposium. He highlighted the remarkable growth of the event, which started with a small group of attendees and has now grown to attract hundreds. Wang commended the significant development of cryo-EM in China and the country’s rising influence on the global scientific stage.

Prominent experts deliver keynote lectures. [Photo/WeChat account: BSC]

The symposium officially opened with a keynote lecture by Cheng Yifan, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco. His talk, titled “Dynamic Allostery: Making Sensing of Disappearing Density”, set the tone for the academic program.

Rao Zihe, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), delved into pathogens and universal health; Sui Senfang, also a CAS academician, shared insights on in situ structure biology studies on the photosynthetic system of alga; Li Xueming, an associate professor at Tsinghua University, discussed the precise measurement of helical parameters in protein fibers and in situ helical structure analysis; Professor Chai Jijie from Westlake University shared research on the signaling mechanism of NLR immune receptors; and Researcher Xu Huaqiang from the CAS Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica explored innovative drug design for metabolic diseases based on first principles. 

The academic sessions were marked by a dynamic exchange of ideas among experts, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and technical professionals.

Participants engage in lively discussions during the academic exchange sessions. [Photo/WeChat account: BSC] 

The symposium also featured a poster session, encouraging multi-level engagement and dialogue. This combination of oral presentations and visual displays provided a rich environment for academic communication and helped foster cross-disciplinary collaborations.