It was reported that (by the School of Basic Medical Sciences, NCU) recently, the “2025 International Symposium on TGF-β: Signaling in Development and Disease”, hosted by Chinese Society for Cell Signal Transduction, Chinese Society for Cell Biology (CSCB), and co-organized by the Innovation Center for Fundamental Research of Molecular Targeted Medicine in Solid Tumors, Ministry of Education, NCU and the School of Basic Medical Sciences, the Life Sciences Institute of Zhejiang University, the Jiangxi Society for Cell Biology, and the Jiangxi Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, was successfully held at NCU. Professor Chen Yeguang, President of NCU and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, served as the Symposium Chair, with Professor Yan Xiaohua as the Secretary. The international symposium attracted over 300 participants, including renowned Chinese and international experts, scholars, as well as faculty and students from NCU. Professor Chen presided over the opening ceremony.
Professor Chen extended a warm welcome to all the experts and scholars, emphasizing the significant role of the TGF-β family signaling pathways in embryonic development and the study of human diseases. He expressed his hope that the symposium would showcase the latest research findings and advancements in the field, foster scientific innovation and international collaboration in TGF-β signal transduction research, and promote interdisciplinary research and translational application in this field.
The symposium focused on the signal transduction and regulatory mechanisms of TGF-β family cytokines and their functions in embryonic development and human diseases. It featured presentations and discussions by numerous distinguished domestic and international scholars in TGF-β research. Renowned participants included Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin from Uppsala University, Sweden, a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Professor Peter ten Dijke from Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands, a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences; Professor Andrew P. Hinck from the University of Pittsburgh, USA; Professor Steven Dooley from Heidelberg University, Germany; Professor Seong-Jin Kim, Director of the GILO Research Foundation and Fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology; Professor Keiji Miyazawa from Yamanashi University, Japan; Professor Qiaoran Xi from Tsinghua University; Researcher Cun Wang from the Shanghai Cancer Institute; Professor Qiong Wang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Professor Long Zhang from Zhejiang University/ Nanchang University; Professor Pengfei Xu and Associate Professor Yi Yu from Zhejiang University, among others.
The symposium, featuring rich content and vibrant discussions, has advanced the in-depth understanding of TGF-β family signaling networks and their functions, and deliberated on major scientific issues, future research directions, and the potential and pathways for translational applications in the filed. It provides a valuable platform for faculty and students at NCU to engage closely with distinguished experts from both home and abroad, enhancing the scientific research capabilities of NCU in bio-medicine.
