The million dollar brain center

By Wang Zhefeng Source:Global Times Published: 2014-5-29 22:03:01

The automated protein production system at the National Center for Protein Science Shanghai (NCPSS) Photo: Wang Zhefeng/GT



 

Already more than 700 million yuan ($112 million) has been poured into the National Center for Protein Science Shanghai (NCPSS) in the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park and some of the world's leading experts in life science have been assembled there.

For most ordinary people protein means little more than having an egg for breakfast or enjoying a steak or a glass of milk, but protein is one of the key components of life, a basic element and executor of biological activity.

For these dedicated scientists at the newly established center, protein also holds the secrets to new medicines, even cures for cancer or diseases that are considered lethal today.

The center is China's first comprehensive national-level life science research facility and is one of the 32 major science and technology centers in the country. During the 1950s, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the country's elite scientific body, began establishing a number of large facilities. While most were dedicated to physical sciences or space technology, since 2000, biologists like Rao Zihe, a senior CAS member, molecular biophysicist and structural biologist, had been asking that centers involved in biological research also be established. But centers of this size and expertise take a long time to come about.

Gradual involvement

Lei Ming is the director of the NCPSS and acknowledges that when older scientists began pushing for the establishment of the center he was still working on his post-doctorate research. "After the project was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in November 2008, I gradually became involved," Lei said.

In 2009 Li Lin, now the president of the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, went to the US to advocate the protein project and met Lei. "I wanted to do something new and the project suited me," Lei told the Global Times.

Lei had graduated from Tsinghua University in 1994 with a degree in physics and a second degree in engineering. When he was studying physics at McGill University in Canada, he began to understand that life science would be one of the most important fields in the 21st century and life scientists would be involved in truly exciting discoveries. So he changed his academic path and applied to study biophysics at Harvard University, completing his doctorate in 2001.

After that Lei was working as an associate professor at the Department of Biological Chemistry in the University of Michigan Medical School. Like many other Chinese scientists, he felt that he could do something for his home country with the knowledge and expertise he had accumulated in the West.

"It is very difficult to establish a protein research center - it needs a lot of large sophisticated equipment. Many scientists with basic research background would not be able to cope here. But my background in physics and biology fits well."

Lei knew well that he couldn't run the center on his own and in January he returned to the US to recruit a suitable team.

An image of protein molecules Photo: Wang Zhefeng/GT



 

Experts needed

He explained that there were three ways of studying protein. "We use X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and cryo-electron microscopy. I specialize in crystallography but I needed experts for the other areas."

The first person he thought of was a former Harvard classmate James Chou, who also had an inter-disciplinary background in physics and biology and was an expert in protein study using NMR. They went to work in different universities but e-mailed each other frequently over the intervening 10 years.

Chou was immediately attracted by the protein center project. The two old friends caught up with each in February 2011 and decided to work together on the project.

Chou works part time with the center, spending at least four months every year there, building and operating the NMR system and working as the deputy director. He retains his position as a professor at Harvard Medical School.

Chou then began helping Lei assemble the rest of the team. They flew to California to talk to Catherine CL Wong, a leading Chinese-born woman scientist who was an expert in mass spectroscopy analysis and was working as a senior scientist at the prestigious Scripps Research Institute.

"I had never considered leaving Scripps to do something else but when I heard about the center I thought this was a unique opportunity - even in the US I had never heard of such a large dedicated protein research center that was funded so well," Wong told the Global Times.

She brought back to China some of the most advanced mass spectrum techniques and oversaw the building of one of the world's leading mass spectrum research systems.

An image of protein molecules Photo: Wang Zhefeng/GT



 

Forming the team

"A precondition of the establishment of the center was forming a team of great scientists," Lei said. Even with the extensive budget, the scientists had to negotiate with international companies to find the best prices for the equipment they were assembling.

"Because these scientists are experts in their field they know about the most advanced facilities in the world and know how to build advanced systems. And companies are happy to work with top scientists. Without the team's effort it would have been a mission impossible," Lei said.

At present the center features nine high-tech facilities and more than 100 major advanced pieces of specialist equipment. Lei has supervised the building of a large automated protein production system and Chou and Wong have been ensuring that the laboratories and facilities in their fields of expertise are state-of-the-art and functioning properly.

Lei said he had continued to meet other leading scientists to invite them to join the center. Some, like Cheng Yifan, an expert in electron cryo-microscopy and associate professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco, have contributed a great deal to the construction of the electron cryo-microscopy systems at the center and supervises that section.

The academy member Rao Zihe has also worked on inviting experts from round the globe to join the research team. Zhang Rongguang is the leading Chinese-born expert in biophysics in the US and has worked at the Argonne National Laboratory for almost 20 years. Zhang was also Rao's classmate at the University of Science and Technology of China in the 1970s. Rao invited his old university friend to return to China in 2009 to lead the construction of specialist equipment for the protein center.

As well as the section leaders many younger scientists have also flocked to join the center. Wu Bin and Deng Wei were both post-doctorate research fellows in the US but returned to China to begin working at the center.

Lei told the Global Times that when he first returned he was the only staff member employed and the concept of the center was only in his mind. But now the buildings have been completed and state-of-the-art equipment installed and he is working with a team of 126 scientists and staff. "Half of the team are research fellows who have returned and the average age is just 32 - they are young but professional."

The NCPSS has its main building on Haike Road in the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park. The Global Times recently visited one of the laboratories which produces large amounts of specific proteins - a system designed by Chinese scientists - and uses a robotic arm in the process.

An image of protein molecules Photo: Wang Zhefeng/GT



 

Fewer errors

"Before these scientists do their biological experiments, they need to clone genes. This routine monotonous work used to be done by hand and staff could only produce about 10 clones a day per person. We have now automated this process and can produce up to 1,000 clones a day with fewer errors," Lei said.

Another key installation of the center is located in the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, which enables scientists to view proteins in 3D. One of the facility scientists explained how the protein showed up on the computer screens and what research fellows were looking for. 

"Some proteins are related to cancer. When their structures can be analyzed we can find the active center of the protein. We can then work to inhibit the center and kill cancer cells this way," Zhang Rongguang told the Global Times. He said the study of protein structures will advance biological medicine.

"We have first-class scientists although in this pioneering stage we are still designing and adjusting the facilities. It's invaluable work. Publishing papers is only a part of scientific research - it is also important to transform research into practical achievements," Lei said. He hopes that the center will one day have a commercial production side to augment its work. "This is what has happened in US research institutions."

The top scientists here admit that a lot of their work at present is administrative rather than pure research. But Lei said good scientists were also good at multi-tasking and explaining themselves. "The center will not just be a platform for protein research and scientific innovation but we are also trying to contribute to the advance of scientific literacy for all Chinese."


Newspaper headline: Shanghai’s special protein research institution attracts top minds


Posted in: Society, Metro Shanghai, City Panorama

blog comments powered by Disqus