The 2021 Academic Advances of HUST were announced recently. The event is held by the academic committee of HUST. Ensuring its impartiality, it aimed to select and promote the outstanding academic achievements of the university.

The applicants had to file for recommendation from either the university’s academic committee members or the academic committee of the relevant department, before the applications were considered and selected by the committees of the relevant department and university. According to the appraisal results, the university’s academic committee directors discussed and deliberated the nominations. The following results were determined by a final round of voting.

The selected 10 recipients included achievements from Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, Engineering and Medical Science. Promoting scientific knowledge and inspiring the spirit of innovation within our community, the recognition of the innovative work done at HUST helps our university to further excel in the development of “first-class disciplines”, while establishing HUST as one of the “first-class universities” from a global perspective. The following serves as a brief overview of the ten achievements.

"References for National Governance" (special issue 1-125 on the battle against COVID-19)

Mainly completed by: Ouyang Kang, among others

After the COVID-19 outbreak, The Institute of State Governance of our university compiled and printed 125 issues of "References for National Governance" (a journal specifically dedicated to the fight against COVID-19), with the publication making a significant contribution to epidemic prevention and control. Within the journal, the team set out early propositions for effective measures in treating COVID-19, analyzing various social risks and impacts, provided suggestions regarding the resumption of work, paid close attention to international cooperation and assistance during the pandemic, offered psychological assistance to the key populations, and reflected on the prevention and control measures for the pandemic to promote the modernization of public health.

   

Over 110 experts contributed to the compiling and publication of the issues from January 2020 to June 2021

New mechanism of G protein coupled receptor dimer binding to G protein

Mainly completed by: Liu Jianfeng, Xu Chanjuan and Zhang Pi

GPCR is an important drug target. Professor Liu Jianfeng’s team revealed the unique G-protein binding mode and asymmetric activation mechanism of GPCR dimer, substituting the paradigm of GPCR and G-protein binding which had formerly received wide recognition in the field. Furthermore, the team managed to find a new mechanism of GPCR involved in how olfactory perception of food could regulate dietary restriction-mediated longevity, providing a new direction for anti-aging research and related drug development.

                           

Illustrations of the new mechanisms

Study on multi-quantum correlation radiation theory

Mainly completed by: LV Xinyou, Bin Qian and Wu Ying

The study of quantum radiation is of great significance to understand the micro world and the development of quantum information science. This project expands on the multi-quantum field of ordinary radiation theory, putting forward the optically controlled multi phonon correlation radiation based on Stokes process and the multi photon correlation radiation theory of parity symmetry protection, and predicts the two-quantum correlation radiation with purity close to 100%. The project provides new resources for quantum precision measurement, anticipating the future research and development within the field of new multi quantum technologies.

                           

Relevant illustrations

Suppression of runaway electrons in magnetically confined fusion plasma

Mainly completed by: Chen Zhongyong, Yan Wei and Pan Yuan

At present, the primary scientific and technological problem which hinders the research and development of fusion energy lies in how to suppress the escaping electrons during plasma disruption. Escaping electrons could incur melting or even damage the first wall materials of the magnetic confinement fusion device. The technology of resonant magnetic perturbation developed by the team achieves complete suppression (100%) of runaway electrons and cascading protection of rapid dissipation of runaway current. In 2020, the J-TEXT device in HUST managed to rank among the four major devices for fragmentation mitigation selected by the Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) of ITER, with the other three being DIII-D in the United States, KSTAR in South Korea, and JET in EU.

                           

The four SPI disruption mitigation research devices selected by STAC

The emission control technology of PM2.5 from coal-fired power plants

Mainly completed by: Yu dunxi, Liu Xiaowei and Chen Sheng

Atmospheric PM2.5 pollution seriously endangers the ecological environment and human health. The project focuses on coal-fired power plants – an important PM2.5 emission source, and devised the solution of a coal-fired PM2.5 generation control technology based on a high-efficiency absorbent to inhibit the generation of PM2.5 during combustion, nipping the emission in the bud. This technology marks a new breakthrough in the traditional post combustion physical dust removal technology. The technology also has the function of synergistic removal of other pollutants and mitigation of slagging and fouling in the boilers. Supported by national key R & D projects, it has been successfully applied in the world’s largest coal-fired unit for the first time and its promotion and application in the future is of great significance.

                           

Development and application of coal-fired PM2.5 generation regulation technology

New-generation regenerative biomaterials and multiple tissue regeneration

Mainly completed by: Zhang Shengmin, Wang Jianglin and Du Yingying

Professor Zhang Shengmin’s team presented an original proposal focused on the naming of a new material called Bioenergetic-active Materials (BAM), marking a significant step in both the development of biomaterials and regenerative medicine the project was granted full intellectual property rights by China and America. With the possibility of being applied to clinical practice, it is a major breakthrough as the degradation products can make the weak cells a "bioreactor" to produce ATP in situ, and accelerate bone regeneration without any growth factors.

                           

The scientific achievement was published in Science Advances

High-throughput computing (HTC) biological microscope

Mainly completed by: Fei Peng, Zhu Dan and Gao ShangBang

Optical microscopes are widely used in life and health research. The key requirement within the development of an optical microscope is for it to achieve fast observation with high-definition. The team resorted to interdisciplinary measures utilizing knowledge from physics, computer science and biomedicine, and developed optical imaging technology capable of high-throughput computation. This achievement greatly improves the spatiotemporal resolution of the current optical microscopes from observing a single cell to a whole organ, realizing fast and accurate high-throughput biomedical observation.

                           

Observing four-dimensional spacetime image resolution via optical microscope

Immunopathogenesis and treatment strategies of cardiovascular diseases

Mainly completed by: Cheng Xiang, Liao Yuhua and Zhou Zihua

Cardiovascular diseases have presented an upward trend in prevalence and mortality, becoming the leading cause of death among other diseases in China. Concerned by these findings, the team assembled for this project dedicated themselves to exploring the immunopathogenesis and treatment strategies for cardiovascular diseases. Through research, the team managed to expound the response, pro-inflammatory phenotype and TCR characteristics of a unique population of regulatory T cells in cardiac local tissue during ischemic failure, which is expected to guide the precise immune intervention for cardiac remodeling. This achievement distinguishes the project as the leading research on therapeutic vaccines for primary hypertension and pulmonary hypertension, shedding light on the future development of treatment modes for such diseases.

                           

Response of regulatory T cells and research on therapeutic vaccines

 Clinical characteristics, early warning and treatment for severe COVID-19 patients

Mainly completed by: Shang You, Yuan Shiying and Xu Jiqian

In the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, its critical cases posed a great threat to mankind’s health and welfare with the world lacking the knowledge needed for treatment. Amid the national crisis, this team conducted scientific research while carrying out clinical treatment, and in doing so, made great achievements. The team provided the earliest insights into the clinical characteristics, organ injury rules and independent risk factors for severe COVID-19 cases, and elucidated on the relationship between immune function and organ failure. In addition, the team also revealed the evolution and regulation characteristics of plasma metabolome, lipidome and proteomics and identified new markers for the occurrence, outcome and prognosis for early warning; establishing a stratified therapy scheme of respiration for ARDS caused by SARS-CoV-2. The research carried out by the team improved efficiency when treating severe patients, and their work was vital in the ongoing fight against COVID-19.

Information about severe COVID-19 patients and how to treat them

Specific efficacy of acupuncture in preventing paroxysmal migraine without aura

Mainly completed by: Wang Wei, Xu Shabei and Yu Lingling

Migraines are globally recognized as the second most common disabling disease which needs reliable non-drug therapy. Always misunderstood as a placebo, the specific efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion has yet to receive full international recognition. The team on this project implemented a series of improvements to the procedure, such as non-penetrating comfort needles and recruiting volunteers without acupuncture experience to standardizing operation and evaluating the success of blinding. With the multicenter randomized controlled trial conducted, the specific efficacy of acupuncture was eventually confirmed, providing a new choice for patients who receive little effect from drug treatment or those who suffer from drug intolerance.   

                      

Experiment proves the efficacy of acupuncture for preventing migraines

Source: University Academic Committee

Written by: Gong Jiarui

Edited by: Cao Yutao, Andrew, Peng Yumeng