On April 17, Pedro Bouchon, Vice President of the Catholic University of Chile, visited the School of Life Sciences (SLS) of Tsinghua University. Dong Liu (Vice Dean of SLS) and Xin Liang(Head of International Affairs of SLS) attended the meeting. Both parties had in-depth discussions on strengthening research cooperation and establishing international curriculum system. Yufei Meng and Qiaolin Ma from the Latin American Centre of Tsinghua University also attended the meeting.
Dong Liu warmly welcomed Pedro Bouchon's visit and gave a detailed introduction about the School of Life Sciences, as well as its remarkable achievements in discipline construction, scientific research, and talent cultivation. He emphasized that both sides have natural commonalities in basic scientific research, expressing his desire to further explore potential opportunities for in-depth collaboration between the two institutions.
Pedro Bouchon highlighted that the UC is currently encouraging a culture of innovation in the field of basic sciences, with a particular focus on life sciences and medicine. Furthermore, the university is actively pursuing initiatives in areas such as technology transfer, results transformation, and industrial development. Additionally, he expressed his belief in the potential for collaboration within the international curriculum system between the two institutions. He also expressed support for the possibility of establishing "field practice courses" to facilitate increased opportunities for knowledge exchange and practical visits among faculty and students from both schools, with the aim of leveraging their diverse natural resource advantages.
During the meeting, Xu Yan, a postdoctoral at Guoqiang Chen's laboratory, presented the research findings and patented technologies, while elaborating on the modification and engineering application of halophilic microorganisms. Gong Chen, lecturer from SLS,provided an overview of the field practice course and proposed a preliminary plan for the international version of this course.
Following the meeting, Junxia Zhao from the Technology Center of Protein Research, Tsinghua University kindly accompanied Pedro Bouchon on a visit to both the exhibition hall and cryo-EM facility at the Protein Center. They engaged in constructive discussions regarding center operations and equipment management.
