ZJU scientists develop “musical dish” to induce osteogenic differentiation through music derived microstretch with variable frequency2022-03-06Stretch, as a form of mechanical force, plays a crucial role in regulating cell behaviors, preventing injuries and repairing tissues such as lung, heart, brain and skeletal system. Among them, stretch in bone tissues has captured the most immense attention in clinical applications, for bone tissues are continuously exposed to stretch stimulation during physiological activities. The structure and f... READ MORE |
New mechanism in preventing CAR-T cell exhaustion2022-03-04In recent years, chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy has achieved remarkable success in treating patients with relapsed or refractory leukemia and lymphoma. Even so, a significant proportion of patients relapse after treatment with CAR-T cells. The dysfunction of CAR-T cells, such as exhaustion, is one of the critical causes of relapse. Reducing CAR-T cell exhaustion is the key to imp... READ MORE |
ZJU scientists discover novel approach to robustly producing functional human pancreatic β cells for curing diabetes2022-03-03Diabetes, a global chronic disease, affects millions of people worldwide. Islet transplantation holds immense promise as a cure for diabetes, but it is circumscribed by shortage of organ donors and immunosuppression issues. Differentiation of Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) is regarded as an effective solution to cell-based therapy.On February 23, Prof. ZHU Saiyong’s lab at the Zhejiang Univ... READ MORE |
Unravelling the mystery of East Asia’s largest dust storm in a decade2022-03-02Last spring, China and some other Asian countries were plagued several times by dust storms, among which the dust storm that occurred in mid-March was considered to be the worst in the past decade in China. Large-scale dust storms, which have been dormant for years, have undergone a dramatic resurgence, seriously jeopardizing people’s life. What were the initial sources of the dust? How were its ... READ MORE |
Marine pastures equipped with “giant pumps” to reduce carbon and purify water2022-03-01By the end of December 2021, China’s first artificial upwelling demonstration project, located in the waters of Aoshan Bay in Qingdao, had been in operation for 40 months. In this project, an artificial system is installed to form seawater upwelling which can transport nutrient-rich seawater to the euphotic layer on the surface. In this way, the growth of phytoplankton and algae can be promo... READ MORE |
ZJU’s “Heritage Ark” is setting sail on the journey of bringing cultural relics to life2022-02-28At the 7th China International College Students’ “Internet+” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, a Buddha statue from the northern wall of the Guyang Cave in the Longmen Grottoes was “moved” to the exhibition site. A team named “Heritage Ark” from Zhejiang University replicated relics with 3D printing technology and brought them back to life. Since the... READ MORE |
ZJU scientists elucidate novel molecular mechanism of MYBPC3-related hypertrophic cardiomyopathy using human iPSC-CM model2022-02-25Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), characterized by left ventricular hypertrophy and fibrosis, is the most common monogenic cardiovascular disorder with global distribution and diverse clinical spectrum. The disease prevalence has been estimated at approximately 1:500 in the general population and even higher (1 case per 200) when both clinical and genetic diagnoses are taken into accounts. Patien... READ MORE |
Licensing but not fueling: a metabolic enzyme promotes mitosis beyond metabolism2022-02-23Uncontrolled cell proliferation is a hallmark of cancer. To sustain the ceaseless cell division, cancer cells rewire metabolic pathways in order to provide sufficient nutrient and energy for mitotic progression. Metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells is usually orchestrated by dysregulation of metabolic enzymes. It is generally thought that dysregulated metabolic enzymes contribute to cell cycle ... READ MORE |
Therapeutic potential of opioid agonists in human leukemia2022-02-22Leukemia, the blood cancer, is a group of hematopoietic malignancies. Many types of leukemia are associated with poor outcome. Unfortunately, during the past a few decades, the first-line leukemia therapy has long been traditional chemotherapy with high cytotoxicity and low selectivity, such as the “7+3” strategy, i.e., a combination of cytarabine and doxorubicin. Also, side effects of such inte... READ MORE |
Unraveling correlation of Cd induced metabolic toxicity and diabetes2022-02-17Diabetes has become the leading metabolic disease threatening human health. Meanwhile, the association between exposure to harmful environmental factors and the occurrence of diabetes has always been a hot spot of public health and environmental medicine.A recent study conducted by Dr. ZHOU Zhou’s lab at the Department of Environmental Medicine, the Zhejiang University School of Medicine elu... READ MORE |
Turn brittle mineral into plastic substitute2022-02-16Plastics bring much convenience to human life by virtue of their flexibility, plasticity, lightness and cheapness, but they also pose a considerable threat to the natural environment owing to their non-degradable bonds that lead to “white pollution”. In recent years, an increasing number of researchers have started to seek new “plastics” as an alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastic... READ MORE |
Dialogue@ZJU: With Prof. WEN Wu from the International Campus2022-02-15【Message from the editor: In the previous issues, Dr. SHAO Fangwei and Dr. LIU Zuozhu from ZJUI, and Dr. CHEN Di from ZJE shared their research and teaching at the International Campus. Today, let’s meet Prof. WEN Wu, who joined the Zhejiang University International Business School (ZIBS) as a full-time professor in 2020. He is also a doctoral supervisor of the College o... READ MORE |
Solar housing project structured by ZJUers lands in the Winter Olympic City Zhangjiakou2022-02-12What comes to you when talking about the 2022 Winter Olympics? Fast and fierce actions on the slopes? The cute panda mascot Bing Dwen Dwen? The world has gone warm over the Games since its opening. Want to know how ZJUers contributed to the Games? Let’s turn the spotlight on the Solar House, a Demonstration Project in the host city Zhangjiakou jointly designed and built by an international team, ... READ MORE |
Genetic basis for tissue-specific DNA methylation patterns in plants2022-02-11How does a cell develop into various types of tissues and organs with the same set of genome? Epigenetic modification patterns play a vital role in these processing. DNA methylation, a type of stably inheritable epigenetic modification, which is ubiquitous and conserved in both animals and plants, are essential for gene regulation, transposon silencing and gene imprinting. However, how DNA methyla... READ MORE |