On the afternoon of May 21, Professor Jia Wei, a Fellow of the Academy of Europe, Chair Professor of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, and Director of theTranslationalMedicine Center at the Sixth People's Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, visited the Zhihui Health PhD Innovation Forum. Before the lecture, PresidentWang Qingyuan met with Professor Jia Wei in the VIP room of the library.
Wang Qingyuan warmly welcomed Professor Jia Wei on behalf of Chengdu University and introduced the school's overview and recent development trends. He pointed out that "Healthy China" is one of the country's important strategic goals, and education must "face the forefront of world science and technology" and "meet the health needs of the people." To promote high-quality medical education, Chengdu University has launched the "Zhihui Health PhD Innovation Forum" this year, aiming to focus on the innovative development of medical education and the cultivation of innovative talents in the "New Medical Sciences". He expressed hope that Professor Jia would continue tofocusonthe university's medical disciplines, provide guidance and support, and engage in multi-faceted cooperation in thedevelopmentof disciplines such as basic medicine, clinical medicine, food and biological engineering, and pharmacy.
Professor Jia Wei remarked that he was deeply impressed after visiting the university’s Institute of Frontier Biology and Medicine, Institute for Advanced Studies, Medical Center, Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereals Processing (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs), and the laboratories of the School of Preclinical Medicine. He praised Chengdu University as a vibrant and innovative institution, commended the university's talent training model and research work, congratulated it on its rapid development, and expressed his intention to explore cooperative methods in joint master’s and doctoral training and scientific research personnel exchanges with the university.
The lecture was held in the library lecture hall, where Professor Jia Wei delivered a talk on "Metabolomics and Precision Health". He shared his cutting-edge perspectives and research findings on applying metabolomics totranslationalmedicine and new drug discovery since he began his research in this field in 2003. His talk covered the mechanisms of metabolism involving gut microbiota, bile acids, and the liver, as well as the development of therapeutic drugs for metabolic diseases. His team's research, published in high-impact academic journals such asNature Reviews Drug Discovery, highlighted the significant correlation between gut microbiota and major metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and gastrointestinal disorders, which is becoming a new target for future drug therapies. He systematically revealed the co-metabolic mechanisms of gut bacteria and hosts, proposing therapeutic schemes targeting gut bacterial metabolism, and summarized the interactions between secondary bile acids produced by gut bacteria and the liver, promoting the establishment of "gut-liver" treatment methods. He also shared his experiences in conducting scientific research and building medical teams, offering guidance on research methodologies, frontier theories, and innovative trends in medical research.
During the Q&A session, the audience of teachers and students enthusiastically raised questions, all of which Professor Jia Wei answered patiently. Zhu Hongxu, a postgraduate student in the School of Preclinical Medicine and a member of the Student PartyBranchCommittee, noted, "The progress in metabolomics research presented by Professor Jia Wei has been very enlightening. As a graduate student in nursing, the integration of disciplines and metabolomics methods has opened new avenues for our 'precision nursing' research. The 'Zhihui Health PhD Innovation Forum' is very meaningful, as it provides us with a platform to interact with high-level experts, bringing us closer to experts and understanding the forefront, which is beneficial for cultivating scientific thinking and innovative qualities."
The "Zhihui Health PhD Innovation Forum" aims to "enhance intelligent integration, build cooperation bridges, and promote the transformation of research results" through various forms such as annual health summits, monthly health forums, and academic salons. It brings together experts and scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds in the health field to discuss frontier issues and development trends in the health domain, creating an open and inclusive academic exchange platform, fostering an academic atmosphere of medical innovation, and promoting the production of innovative scientific research outcomes and the cultivation of medical talents.
This forum was organized by the university’s Medical Center and the Science and Technology Department. Nearly 300 teachers and students from related medical disciplines of the university and medical staff from Sichuan University, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Sichuan Normal University, Sichuan Provincial Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Chengdu Anorectal Specialist Hospital, and the Sixth People’s Hospital of Chengdu attended. Relevant leaders from the Science and Technology Department, School of Preclinical Medicine, International Cooperation and Exchange Office, College of Pharmacy, and School of Food and Biological Engineering participated in the meeting.
Profile:
Professor Jia Wei is a Fellow of the Division of Physiology and Neuroscience at the Academy of Europe and holds a master's and doctorate in radiopharmacy from the University of Missouri. He is currently a Chair Professor at the Department of Pharmacology of the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Medicine, a professor at the Sixth People's Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and the Director of the Translational Medicine Center. He previously served as the Executive Vice Dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology at Tianjin University, Deputy Dean of the School of Pharmacy at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Director of the Biomedical Translational Research Center at the University of North Carolina, Deputy Director of the Cancer Research Center at the University of Hawaii, and Acting Dean of the School of Chinese Medicine at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Professor Jia Wei is one of the earliest scholars globally to delve into metabolomics research, with over two decades of experience in the field. His main research areas include the development of metabolomics technologies and their applications in translational medicine, studying the mechanisms of metabolism involving gut microbiota, bile acids, and the liver, and the development of therapeutic drugs for metabolic diseases. His translational medicine research spans traditional Chinese medicine, metabolic diseases, and malignant tumors.
