March 1-4, 2010, the China-Israel Binational Symposium: Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Drug Design was held in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. The symposium was jointly held by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC) and Israel National Science Foundation, organized by Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIMM) and Changzhou Wujin District Government, and co-organized by Changzhou SIMM Drug R & D Center Co., Ltd. Mr. Jackie Eldan, Israeli Consul General in Shanghai, Dr. Ezra Shoshani, the counselor of International Cooperation of Science & Technology and Agriculture, Israeli Embassy in China, Academician Professor Dr. Kai-Xian Chen and Academician Professor Dr. Jian Ding from SIMM participated the symposium.

　　Professor Hua-Liang Jiang from SIMM and Professor Joel L. Sussman from Weizmann Institute of Science acted as the co-host of the symposium. During the meeting, scientists from both countries had in-depth discussions in various fields such as three-dimensional structure determination and function study in drug targets, application of computer-aided drug design in drug design and R & D, the promoting effects of basic studies on drug R & D, the combination of experiment and calculation in drug R & D and etc. The symposium set up a platform for mutual communications between Israeli scientists and Chinese scientists in drug discovery which inspired scientists from two sides to have new ideas and new collaborations. After three-day excellent presentations and discussions, the experts expressed the wishes to gather together again in the near future to present more inspiring scientific achievements and academic progresses.

　　50 scientists from Weizmann Institute of Science,Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Bar IIan University, Bradford University, Beijing University, Sichuan University, East China University of Science and Technology, Institute of Biophysics, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, and Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences attended the symposium.

　　(Source of News: Professor Ye-Chun Xu)