On October 20th 2014, the 28th International Symposium on the Chemistry of Natural Products and 8th International Conference on Biodiversity (ISCNP28 & ICOB8) were launched successfully in Shanghai, organized by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC), Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, SIMM, CAS, and co-organized by Chinese Chemical Society, Chinese Pharmaceutical Association, Shanghai Pudong Association of Science & Technology, Ningbo (Ninghai) Bio-Pharmaceutical Industrial Park.
The conferences are part of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) series, and held biennially. This year more than 400 scholars from 35 countries have attended the conferences. Over 100 experts and scholars at home and abroad are invited to present plenary lectures, invited lectures and oral presentations. There are also 120 posters are presented in the conference.
Academician SANG Guowei served as the honorary chairman of the conferences, and Academician CHEN Kaixian and Academician DING Jian were the co-chairmen. Professor SANG Guowei, HRH Princess Professor Chulabhorn Mahidol from Thailand, Professor W. Mueller from Germany, Professor Ermias Dagne from the Ethiopia, Professor Atta-ur-Rahman from Pakistan, Academician SUN Handong, Academician TU Yongqiang and many distinguished scholars have delivered plenary lectures at the conferences. The chairman of IUPAC Division III, Professor Mary Garson from Queensland University attended the conferences.
The chairman of the conferences, Professor CHEN Kaixian, opened the conference with a speech stressing the role of natural products in worldwide drug research, and wished the conferences a complete success. Director General of SIMM, Professor JIANG Hualiang, introduced the long history of natural products research in drug discovery at SIMM, and hoped that the conferences would become wonderful memories of the participants. Professor Garson made a speech on behalf of the IUPAC, and introduced its mission, organization and primary activities.
As a part of the opening ceremony, the award ceremony for the 17th SERVIER Award for Young Medicinal Chemist from Chinese Pharmaceutical Association was presided by Academician ZHANG Lihe. Young scholars HUANG Zhangjian from China Pharmaceutical University, LU Xiaoyun from the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, LUO Haibin from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, ZHANG Yingjie from Shandong University, and ZHENG Mingyue from Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, received this year’s award.
Subsequently, Professor SANG Guowei gave the special report entitled "Advances of Innovative Drug Resear ch in China". He introduced the rapid development of pharmaceutical researches in China in recent years, and enumerated the primary drug research cases in ten major fields in China from year 2008 to 2013, which highlighted the achievements of drug discovery R & D in China. He also gave a vision on the deployment and prospects of the biopharmaceutical research in China.
HRH Princess Professor Chulabhorn Mahidol made the first plenary lecture, and introduced several exciting examples on bioactive natural products from marine organism or microorganism, which were discovered and modified by scientists at Chulabhorn Research Institute. In the end of the opening ceremony, Professor Atta-ur-Rahman gave the plenary lecture about the contribution of natural products and relevant derivatives to epilepsy treatment.
The conferences lasted for five days and were closed at the noon of October 24th. With more than 100 high quality academic lectures and more than 120 posters, this conference provided the experts and scholars from different areas with a platform for exchange and learning. Except for the classical contents on new methods for extraction and separation of natural products and identification of new structures, a considerable part of the lectures were from the fields of pharmacology, molecular biology and structural biology, which are closely related to the discovery of natural products and new drugs.
Special attention has been given to the application and combination of new technology, new methods, and frontier research in the field of natural products, such as the combination of liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry, omics technology, identification of GPCR structures, as well as deep investigation and development for application on natural resources, such as fungi or marine organism.
The lectures and posters of this conference demonstrated the significance and achievements of biodiversity research. And the goal of the conferences was fully achieved by promoting the exchange between experts and scholars from the research fields of natural products and related areas.
It is worth mentioning that the third day of the conference, October 22nd, coincided with the World Traditional Medicine Day. Therefore, a series of lectures related to traditional herbal medicine were arranged. Through these reports, experts and scholars from Asia, Europe, and Africa focused on the latest achievements and transformation of traditional medicine, as well as how traditional medicines could face with the needs and challenges of the modern society.
Daneel Ferreira, Ph.D. Associate Editor, Journal of Natural Products said: “I would here with like to convey my sincerest appreciation to you and the organizing team for a truly high-class conference with outstanding presentations. The science was excellent and I was indeed impressed by the large number of outstanding presentations from young Chinese scientists. It indeed bodes well for the future of our Science in your great country.”
