Recently, the kick-off meeting and implementation plan demonstration meeting of the National Key Research and Development Program Key Special Project for Engineering Science & Interdisciplinary Integration, Research on Ultrasound Genetic Engineering Targeted Neuromodulation Technology, led by Researcher Liu Chengbo from the State Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging Science and Technology Systems, was successfully held in Shenzhen.
The project advisory expert group consists of multiple academicians and distinguished professors from Hainan University, Nanjing University, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Institute of Technology, Shenzhen University, Sun Yat-sen University, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University and Xi’an Jiaotong University.
More than 50 academic backbones from Peking University, Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Shenzhen University attended the kick-off meeting.
Academician Zheng Hairong, Director of the State Key Laboratory, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the project team. He first expressed his gratitude to all experts for their attendance, guidance and strong support. He pointed out that ultrasound genetic engineering is a transformative technology meeting the future demands of brain-computer interfaces and neuromodulation. It is of great significance for revealing the functions of brain neural circuits and advancing the treatment of brain diseases, and requires interdisciplinary collaborative efforts to drive the development of this field. He hoped that the team would gather superior domestic resources, conduct joint research to tackle the bottleneck problem of low specificity in ultrasound neuromodulation, develop transformative, specific and high-precision non-invasive physical neuromodulation approaches, gain competitive advantages and seize strategic opportunities for China in global competition in this field.
Researcher Yu Xuefeng, Director of the Scientific Research Department, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, addressed the meeting on behalf of the project leading institution. He thanked the project management authority and all experts for their support and assistance to the development of SIAT. He stated that SIAT would provide all necessary conditions to support the project team in conducting research work, strictly comply with the management requirements of the National Key Research and Development Program, fulfill the supervision responsibilities of the leading institution, and ensure the high-quality implementation of the project.
Project Principal Investigator Researcher Liu Chengbo gave an overall report to the expert group covering research background and objectives, task decomposition and research team, assessment indicators and annual plans, project management and risk control, as well as existing research foundations and preliminary progress.Four task leaders and core researchers respectively reported on the tasks and objectives, key difficulties and challenges, research contents, research foundations, annual plans and budget arrangements of each task, and elaborated on the implementation plan in detail.
The participating experts conducted thorough inquiries and in-depth discussions on the project implementation plan. They unanimously agreed that the project focuses on the cutting-edge field of ultrasound neuromodulation, featuring strong innovation and translational application potential. The project task arrangement is rational, the research team has solid foundations, and the technical route is well-defined.
From the perspectives of theoretical innovation, breakthroughs in key technologies and optimization of implementation pathways, the expert panel put forward valuable and constructive suggestions. They expected the project team to tackle core scientific and technological challenges and accelerate innovations and breakthroughs in core technologies.
Professor Li Xiaoqiong delivered a concluding speech on behalf of the expert panel. He emphasized that the project should further strengthen integration with practical application scenarios, take the intervention and regulation of Parkinson’s disease as the starting point, and formulate a more detailed implementation guarantee plan. In view of the complex correlation between behavioral patterns and neural activities in primates, it is necessary to establish stable and reliable physical models based on fundamental scientific issues, so as to realize cross-scale research from microscopic neuromodulation to macroscopic behavioral characterization.
The expert panel encouraged the project team to shoulder its mission bravely, surmount difficulties, complete research tasks with high quality, advance the frontiers of neuroscience and basic medicine, and serve major national strategic needs.
The successful convening of this project kick-off meeting further clarified the research objectives of the project and tasks, strengthened collaboration among all participating institutions, and laid a solid foundation for the orderly and efficient advancement of the special research program.
