The mission of the Area of Biological Sciences and Diseases is to advance biomedical research with a passion for discovery of mechanisms and therapies of major diseases like cancer and stroke, to provide biomedical engineering students with cutting-edge knowledge education, research skill and aptitude training in biological sciences in an interdisciplinary and collaborative nature, to extend biomedical education to the public and improve their health science concept.
 

       Currently, the program has 10 faculty members, including Professors Wei-Qiang Gao, Guo-Yuan Yang, Weihai Ying, Shigang He, Associate Professors Xiaoni Kong, Weiliang Xia, Yongting Wang, Yue Zhou, and Yan Zhang, and Assistant Professor Zhijun Zhang. The major research directions of the Area include stem cells and tissue (cerebral, inner ear, and retinal) repair/regeneration; mechanisms of ischemic brain injury and neuroprotection; neural cell death mechanisms; cancer research and cancer stem cells; and synchrotron radiation X-ray-based imaging.

       In the recent five years, the faculty members of the Area have made a number of scientific discoveries: (1) identified stem cell symmetric and asymmetric division mechanism during prostate development with significance for prostate cancer therapy; (2) developed stem cell therapy for cerebral vascular diseases, gene therapy and stem-cell-combined gene therapy for ischemic stroke; (3) identified new functions of NAD+ and NAD+-dependent enzymes such as Sirtuin family proteins in cell death, cancer and inflammation; and (4) pioneered in the study of the morphology and distribution of cerebral vessels in mice using synchrotron radiation angiography.

       The faculty members of the Area have has led the efforts to organizing international symposium and conference on cerebral diseases and cancer stem cells, and invited keynote speakers like Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus at dozens of academic meetings, as well as hundreds of internationally renowned scholars and collaborators to deliver talks at BME's seminar series. They have also made significant appearances in international conferences. Such active scholarly exchanges and research collaborations have contributed greatly to the growth of the Area, and to the undergraduate/graduate education. The faculty members of the Area have close collaboration with affiliated top-notched medical centers such as Renji Hospital, Ruijin Hospital, and Shanghai Mental Health Center. During the last five years, the faculty members of the Area have obtained 3 Shanghai 'Pujiang Scholar Awards', 4 973 Projects (one Chief Scientist, and three program project PI), 17 NSFC projects (2 Key grants), 10 projects from STC of Shanghai Municipality, 4 projects from Chinese Ministry of Education and 10 projects from SJTU. They have published more than 160 papers, 138 of which are SCI papers, in high impact international journals such as Nature, Oncogene, Stroke, Prog. Neurology, Cancer Research, JCBFM, Gene Therapy, Glia, and Biomaterials. In addition, the faculty members have obtained the following awards and honors: The Science and Technology Prize of Chinese Ministry of Education (Second Prize), 2013; The Science and Technology Prize, Shanghai Municipality (Third Prize), 2010; Bai Yu Lan Technology Award, 2009; Oriental Scholar Award, 2012; and Teaching Achievement Award, Shanghai Municipality (Second Prize), 2013.