BIOPIC's logo was officially unveiled by Dr. Xu Zhihong, former President of PKU, Dr. Wang Zhizhen, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Zhou Qifeng, President of PKU and Dr. Sunney Xie, founder of BIOPIC (from left to right ).

 

On Dec. 21st, BIOPIC, the first Chinese multidisciplinary research center that combines the advanced bioimaging and sequencing techniques to address fundamental biological and medical problems was officially launched by Peking University, a leading educational and research institute of China.

 

More than 100 researchers, university leaders and high-level officials of China attended the ceremony hosted by the Deputy Vice President Lin Jianhua. Apparently the audience reached the consensus that 21st century was witnessing an important trend of multidisciplinary research, and BIOPIC could take full advantage of PKU’s competitiveness in multiple disciplines and promote further and deeper cooperation between different fields.

 

During his speech, BIOPIC’s founder Professor Sunney Xie of Harvard University told the audience that BIOPIC aimed to develop the critical imaging technology at the molecular and cellular levels. In the next few years, Xie said, BIOPIC will focus on five areas: single molecule observation and manipulation; high throughput sequencing; super-resolution cellular imaging; microfluidic control and analysis of single cells; label-free biomedical imaging.

 

BIOPIC received the best wishes from PKU’s leaders. Dr. Zhou Qifeng, President of PKU, vowed his unreserved support for the new-born center and confirmed that BIOPIC is “very, very, very important to PKU’s big plan to renovate its biological researches and related areas”.

 

The new-born center was also blessed by government officials. Zhang Xian’en, Director of Bureau of Fundamental Research of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chen Yinghui, Vice Director of the Bureau of Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, both expressed their full support for the center on behalf of their organizations.