On October 31, the 2nd International Symposium of Human Phenomics (2018 International Symposium of Genetics) opened in Shanghai. At the opening ceremony, the International Human Phenome Consortium and the Human Phenome Consortium of China were announced,. This symposium also includes the Future Science Forum II of the 2018 Pujiang Innovation Forum.
Li Jin, Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Vice President of Fudan University, Jeremy Nicholson, known as the father of metabolomics, Member of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences of Murdoch University, and Leroy E. Hood, Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of Institute for Systems Biology, are the co-chairs of the Board of the International Human Phenome Consortium with a total of more than 20 top experts in related fields from 16 countries as the members of the Board. It includes three professional committees: Committee on Standards and Technical Specifications, Committee on Intellectual Property Rights, Data Sharing and Data Security, and Committee on Ethics and Law. The Secretariat is located at the Human Phenome Institute of Fudan University.
Li Jin, Wang Chen and Xu Tao, Members of Chinese Academy of Sciences, serve as co-directors of the Human Phenome Consortium of China.
The 1st International Symposium of Human Phenomics (2016 International Symposium of Genetics) was held at Fudan University two years ago. With the theme of Phenomics and Human Health, the 2nd International Symposium of Human Phenomics (2018 International Symposium of Genetics) has seven sessions, including (1) Human Phenome Project Initiative, (2) Promoting Human Phenome Research, (3) Phenomics and Human Health, (4) Human Phenome Mapping, (5) Phenomics and Precision Medicine, (6) Phenotypic Formation and Regulation Mechanism, and (7)Multiscale Image Phenome Technology.
At the opening ceremony, speeches were delivered by Leroy E. Hood (Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine), Jeremy Nicholson (Member of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences), Chaozi Lei (Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ministry of Education of China), Qing Li (Director of Development Center for Medical Science and Technology of National Health Commission of China), Jianzhong Shen (Deputy Director of China National Center for Biotechnology Development of Ministry of Science and Technology of China), Wenjin Qiu (Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Development & Reform Commission), and Guozhi Zhang (Deputy Party Secretary of Chongqing Liang Jiang New Area CPA Committee). After the opening ceremony, Fuchu He (Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor of the National Proteome Research Center) gave a keynote speech named Practice and Perspective of Human Proteome Project – A Dream Trip from HLPP to CNHPP and Li Jin (Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Vice President of Fudan University) gave a keynote speech named The International Human Phenome Initiative. 3 Nobel Prize winners—Arieh Warshel, Michael Levitt and Roger Kornberg, 13 domestic and foreign academicians from 17 countries, nearly 40 well-known experts in the field of human phenotypic research and nearly 400 representatives from universities, research institutes and enterprises at home and abroad attended the conference.
The symposium was jointly organized by Fudan University, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Shanghai International Human Phenome Institute and Fudan University Taizhou Institute of Human Sciences, jointly undertaken by Human Phenome Institute Fudan University, School of Life Sciences Fudan University, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, and Multiscale Research Institute for Complex Systems, co-organized by Biophysical Society of China. This symposium is the annual forum of International Symposium of Genetics, which is to commemorate the famous geneticist Mr. Jiazhen Tan. It is held once a year with different themes and gathers global scientists to discuss the frontier issues related to genetics. This year is already the sixth.
“With ship and navigation technology, humans can explore the world; with astronomical telescopes, humans can explore the universe. With human phenome research, we can explore the inner world of the human body.” Li Jin said that human phenome research needs to carry out precise measurement of the human body, fine deconstruction of the system, and so as to achieve precise intervention and regulation. “The human phenome research will accelerate the entry of life sciences and medicine into the era of great discoveries,” said Fuchu He, Director of the Human Phenome Consortium of China and Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.