Source: Zhongshan School of Medicine
Written by: Zhongshan School of Medicine
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

The Sino-German Symposium on Cancers, Viruses and Immune Responses, funded by Sino-German Science Center, and co-organized by Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) and Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine of Germany (MDC), was held on North Campus of SYSU from May 13 to 15, 2014. Nearly thirty experts from institutes and universities including MDC, Humboldt University, University of Freiburg, Freie University, TU München, Sun Yat-sen University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, West China Hospital, Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and Guangdong Medical College attended the symposium.


Prof. Klaus Rajewsky reviewed in detailthe Cas9/CRISPRgene knockout technology and the pathogenic mechanism of the Epstein-Barr-Virus (EBV) production with their latest modeling of EBV pathologies in mice. He and his collaborators have developed a general method of targeted mutagenesis in mouse embryonic stem cells by introducing bacteriophage- and yeast-derived recombination systems, which opened the way for conditional gene targeting.

Prof. Thomas Blankenstein shared their latest studies on the power of adoptive T cell therapy (ACT), which generates human T cell receptors (TCR) that recognize human tumor-associated (self) antigens as foreign and work in gene therapy.

This symposium offers an academic exchange platform for professionals in cancers, viruses and immune responses research. It also opens up new opportunities for all-round cooperation among colleges in China and Germany. Such high-level international symposiums can help broaden the international horizons of medical students and play a positive role in medical education at SYSU.