International Cooperation

China and Canada: Efforts on iBOL

On Oct. 14, the iBOL Meeting of China and Canada was held at the Institute of Zoology, CAS. Six people from Canada attended this bilateral meeting, including Dr. Suzanne Fortier, Director of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Committee of Canada (NSERC), Dr. Martin Godbout, President and CEO of Genome Canada, Dr. Alastair Summerlee, President of the University of Guelph and Dr. Paul Hebert, Chief Scientist of iBOL and Director of Ontario Institute of Biodiversity, Canada.

Witness Sino-German Coop: Uli Schwarz Lab Named

On Oct. 16 afternoon, Prof. Li Jiayang, Vice President of CAS and Prof. Herbert, Vice President of the Max Planck Society (MPG) jointly unveiled the nameplate of Uli Schwarz Laboratory at the CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology. The laboratory, will be built as a more perfective and better equipped biological laboratory, aims to serve the needs of scientific research and provide more efficient services for international visiting research fellows to carry out scientific research, cooperation and exchange at the institute. To further boost Sino-German cooperation and to commemorate Prof. Uli Schwarz (1934-2006), a renowned developmental biologist, former director of Institute for Developmental Biology of the Max Planck Society, former director of the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies, CAS and a witness of scientific Sino-German cooperation, the Partner Institute for Computational Biology specifically named this laboratory as “Uli Schwarz Laboratory”.

China and Denmark: Tie in Science Strengthened

On Oct. 22 afternoon of, Li Jiayang, Vice President of CAS, signed a cooperation memorandum on behalf of CAS with the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (DMSTI). Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Denmark Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen witnessed the signing ceremony.

CAS and BP: Efforts on Cleaner Energy

On Nov. 26, in the presence of Li Jinghai, Vice President of CAS and Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, Deng Maicun, President of CAS Holdings, and John Morgan, Senior Vice President for Research and Technology, BP signed a joint venture agreement on the Clean Energy Commercialization Center on behalf of CAS and BP respectively. Pursuant to the agreement, the two parties plan to build jointly a clean energy commercialization center in early 2009 in Shanghai. Both parties will best use their respective technical expertise and experience to integrate coal gasification, coal liquification, coal chemical industry, IGCC, carbon capture and injection, coal bed methane and other clean energy technologies developed by the institutes of CAS and other R&D institutes at home and abroad, develop competitive technical integrated systems and comprehensive solutions such as coal poly-generation technologies and make greater contributions to the energy safety and environmental protection.

Sino-German Coop in Space Research

The 3rd working conference of SIMBOX Project, the first international cooperation project of China Manned Space Engineering, was held in October in Beijing. Scientists from China and Germany and relevant responsible personnel of the Applied System, Engineering System, members of Sino-German SIMBOX Project Team and some hardware R&D personnel attended this conference. The SIMBOX Project is an experimental project on space microgravity science signed by China Manned Space Engineering Office and DLR. The Applied System (General Department of Space Science and Application, CAS) is generally in charge of this project in cooperation with DLR and ASTRIUM Company. The Chinese and German scientists will conduct 17 scientific experiments in SIMBOX Project, of which, 10 by Chinese scientists, 6 by German scientists and 1 jointly accomplished by Chinese and German scientists. The scientific experiments of SIMBOX Project will be conducted on Shenzhou-8 Spaceship. The different parties attending the conference also signed a minutes after the conference.

Yin Hejun Present at Signing Ceremony on Basic Research

On Oct. 28 afternoon, the Sino-French Laboratory for Computer Science, Automation, and Applied Mathematics (LIAMA) of the Institute of Automation, CAS, held a signing ceremony at the Institute for the 4th Phase Cooperative Agreement on the establishment of the new LIAMA Association. Yin Hejun, Vice President of CAS, Ms. Anne-Marie Idrac, French Minister of State for External Trade, Herve Ladsous, French Ambassador to China and about 100 guests, including representatives from relevant agencies and scientific research institutes from China, France and EU attended this ceremony. Over 10 Chinese and European agencies signed the agreement and so to become members of the Association. LIAMA was co-established by French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRIA) and CAS in January 1997. It is the first Sino-Foreign joint laboratory in China engaged in basic research.

Science: Artificial Synthesis of 13C-labeled Graphite and Graphene

Recently, under the guidance of Prof. Rodney Ruoff and Research Fellow Chen Dongmin, Dr. Cai Weiwei from the Institute of Physics, CAS/Solid State Quantum Information Laboratory of Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics developed a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) during his collaborative research with Prof. Rodney Ruoff in the University of Texas at Austin. Relevant results were published in Science. On the basis of this CVD, they made high-quality 13C-labeled synthetic graphite for the first time, with quality almost equal to that of HOPG. The proportion of isotope carbon 13 and isotope carbon 12 in that graphite ranges between 1% and 99.5%.

World Wonder-Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes to be Protected in Joint Efforts

A 4.7km long nylon wind break fence built on the top of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes can reduce the sand entering into the grottoes by 60%. So it plays an active role in further strengthening protection of Mogao Grottoes. This research result was published in Science recently. Qu Jianjun, author and research fellow of the Cold and Avid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI), CAS, briefed that this engineering measure was co-implemented by Getty Conservation Institute of the US Los Angeles Paul Getty Trust, ?the Dunhuang Academy and the CAREERI, CAS. Earlier this year, the Chinese Government approved an engineering project with an investment of 38 million US dollars to protect the delicate works of art in Mogao Grottoes from being eroded by groundwater salinization and breathing and heat diffusion of visitors and protect Mogao Grottoes from being damaged by traveling dunes. To further study the mechanism of sandstorm damages in Mogao Grottoes, CAREERI, CAS established the Dunhuang Gobi and Desert Ecology and Environment Research Station in Dunhuang in 2007.