You are welcome to attend the Lecture. Please find the details below: 

Date: May 3, 2024 (Friday)
Time: 4:30 - 6:30pm (Registration starts at 4:00pm)
Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, 1/F, HKUMed Academic Building, 3 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Mode: Face to face
CME Points for RCMPs: 2 points
Fee: Free of Charge
Registration: Here
Enquires: Tel: 81000538; Email: scmevent@hku.hk

 

Speaker:
Professor Xu Anlong
Professor and Former President
Beijing University of Chinese Medicine

 

Moderator:
Professor Feng Yibin
Director, School of Chinese Medicine, HKU

 

Abstract:
The immune system is crucial for defending against pathogens, including viruses and bacteria, and is linked to nearly 90% of human diseases due to its dysfunctions. The diversity of immune regulation, including both adaptive and innate responses, is vital for maintaining homeostasis and resisting pathogenic infections. Our team has traced the origin of adaptive immune system and explored the mechanisms of antibody recombination. Furthermore, genomic analysis of the amphioxus immune gene repertoire has revealed remarkable innate complexity and diversity, uncovering what we term the "Immunological Big-Bang" in innate responses. Moreover, our research has illuminated the signal transduction and post-transcriptional regulation mechanisms in host antiviral innate immunity, particularly focusing on alternative polyadenylation and N6- methyladenosine (m6A). These findings provided us with better understanding of antiviral immunity of herbal medicine. Our researches have been published in esteemed journals, including Cell, Nature, and Nature Cell Biology, and others.

 

About the Speaker:

Anlong Xu is currently a Professor in molecular biology and immunology and former President of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM) since 2013. Before joining BUCM, Professor Xu was appointed Vice President for research and development at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in 2008 after serving as Dean of the College of Life Sciences for 9 years. Professor Xu’s main research focuses on functional genomics for understanding the origin and evolution of vertebrate immune system as well as discovering new drugs based on basic researches. He has published more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed international journals as the corresponding author, such as Nature, Cell, Nat Cell Biol, Gut, J Hepatol, Cell Res, Natl Sci Rev, Kidney Intl, PNAS. Professor Xu has been authorized more than 60 national invention patents. He has won three first prizes of Guangdong Science and Technology Award/Natural Science Award (2005, 2008 and 2018), one second prize of the National Natural Science Award (2012), one first prize of Science and Technology Award of Chinese Pharmaceutical Association (2017). Professor Xu was awarded the "National Outstanding Youth Fund" in 1997, the government special allowance issued by the State Council in 2000, the 6th "China Youth Science and Technology Innovation Award" in 2003, recognized as one of the "Ten major scientific and technological progress of China's colleges and Universities" in 2010, and selected as a "Innovation teams in key areas of the Innovation Talent Promotion Plan" by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2013. In 2014, he was selected as one of the first batch of technological innovation leaders in the "National High-Level Personnel of Special Support Program". In 2016, he was selected as one of "The Top Ten Medical News Figures in China" and awarded the "Ten Major Advances in the Field of Life Sciences in China". In 2021, he won the 14th "Tan Jiazhen Life Science Achievement Award".