Memorandum for Establishing a CAS-DFG Research Institute Signed

On 23 May, Zhu Chen, Vice-President of CAS and Gerhart Eigenburger, Vice-Chairman of the German Research Foundation (DFG) signed a "Memorandum for Establishing a CAS-DFG Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Research Institute" on behalf of their respective countries, setting a new milestone in conducting the research on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau internationally between China and Germany.

Annual Meeting on EU's IMSORB Project held at Genetics & Developmental Biology Institute

IMSORB (Integrated Marker System for Oilseed Rape Breeding) is a EU sponsored international cooperation project for rape breeding. The project is jointly undertaken by Li Jiayang's research team from the Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology and seven laboratories in John Innes Center of the UK, Biogemma, MPI-MP of Germany and Advanta of Belgium. The objective of the research is aimed at developing the SNP markers of the oilseed rape. Such SNP markers will be used to construct a high-resolution genetic map, which will be integrated with the existing molecular marker map. Meanwhile the newly developed SNP markers and genetic map will be used in identifying and analyzing the QTL that is relevant to the important agronomic characters of oilseed rape, so as to lay a foundation for further research into the functional genomes of oilseed rape. The heads of the laboratories made in-depth discussions concerning the next step of the research program.

Memorandum for Cooperation Signed between Institute of Mechanics and Florida State University of USA

Dr. Modesto (Mitch) Maidique, President of Florida International University (Florida State University, USA), Dr. Doug Kincaid, Vice-Dean, Dr. V. Prasad, President of the Engineering and Applied Science College and Dr. Yi Deng, Professor of the Computer College paid a visit to the Institute of Mechanics on 7 April. A Memorandum for Cooperation between the two sides was signed by Youshi Hong, Director of the Institute of Mechanics and Dr. Modesto (Mitch) Maidique, the president of the University on behalf of their respective institutions.

The 2nd International Symposium on Comparison of Sand-Dust Modules Held

The Second International Symposium on Comparison of Sand-Dust Modules was held during 2-3 April in Beijing. The conference was hosted by the Zhu Kezhen-Nansen International Research Center of the CAS Institute of Atmospheric Physics, and was attended by nearly 60 sandstorm research experts from the USA, Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as Chinese researchers in the field. The conference was aimed at making comparisons between the dust models currently applied internationally to the East Asian Region. By simulating the sandstorms typical of Asia, the simulation results of sand-dust discharge, transport and settlement by various models are compared. Modifications will be made to these models to improve the precision of the sandstorm value simulation in Asia.