On October 21, the SJTU-BGI Academic Exchange Conference on Sequencing Technology and Applications was successfully held in the Translational Medicine Building of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), which was jointly hosted by SJTU and BGI Genomics. Mr. Yang Shuang led a BGI delegation to attend the conference, at which Prof. Ding Kuiling of SJTU delivered a keynote speech. 

At the beginning of the meeting, Professor Ding Kuiling, Executive Vice President of SJTU, introduced the research and achievements of SJTU in gene sequencing and precision medical diagnosis and expressed his expectation for further cooperation between the two sides. He said that SJTU has been committed to achieving breakthroughs in talent training, scientific and technological innovation, and people here have been upholding the principle of “making breakthroughs and pursuing excellence”. Ding also expressed his hope that this activity can create a new opportunity to promote in-depth communication and cooperation in gene sequencing and other fields between the two sides.

Mr. Yang Shuang then elaborated on the vision of “Genetic Technology for the Wellbeing of Mankind”, which is built on promoting the development of research on life sciences, the application of big data and the improvement of global medical health, and to accelerate scientific and technological innovation, reduce the harm of major diseases to human beings and enhance precision medicine. Yang hoped that the cooperation between the two sides could be expanded to a broader scale, especially in talent training to impetus further development.

After the opening ceremony, an exchange meeting was organized at which experts and professors from both sides introduced their current research and discussed cutting-edge research findings. 

At last, BGI Genomics held a campus recruitment seminar, which attracted more than 100 SJTU students from various schools. During the seminar, BGI leaders introduced the situation of the company and the recruitment requirements, and also answered the questions raised by the students. The seminar provided the students an opportunity to better understand BGI and join the BGI family.

The conference focused on the latest development of gene sequencing technology, and both sides conducted in-depth discussions on the cutting-edge research results in genome sequencing methods, big data, tumor genomics, and gene-editing technology, which attached profound significance to this activity. It not only helped build the partnership between the two sides but also lay the foundation for deepening the research cooperation in translational medicine in the next stage and expanding multidisciplinary cooperation in the future.