On June 24th, the National Science and Technology Conference, the National Science and Technology Awards Conference, and the Academicians' Conference of the two academies were held in Beijing in the morning. Wenzhou Medical University, as the first completing unit, won the second prize of the National Natural Science Award and was commended by the Party Central Committee and the State Council.

Li Xiaokun, President of Wenzhou Medical University. Photograph provided by Wenzhou Medical University

Wenzhou Medical University has taken the lead globally in solving the drug development problem of growth factors. The project "New functions and mechanisms of growth factor FGFs in regulating sugar and fat metabolism" led by Academician Li Xiaokun, the president of Wenzhou Medical University, was completed. The main contributors to the project are Li Xiaokun, Xu Aimin, Huang Zhifeng, Lin Zhuofeng, and Li Huating, with the main completing units being Wenzhou Medical University, the University of Hong Kong, and the Sixth People's Hospital of Shanghai.

Li Xiaokun's team has successfully developed three Class I new drugs in China, which are used for the treatment of difficult-to-heal ulcers such as war trauma, burns, and diabetic foot ulcers, benefiting more than 80 million clinical patients, providing a "Chinese solution" for international trauma treatment. The project has opened up a new field of FGF and sugar and fat metabolism regulation, consolidating China's leading position in the global research and development of new drugs of the FGF class, and also providing a reference model for the development of China's original biological drugs.

It is understood that the new function of fibroblast growth factor in regulating sugar and fat metabolism is an important discovery in recent years, which has triggered the international development of new drugs for the treatment of metabolic diseases of the FGF class. However, the understanding of how FGF perceives and responds to metabolic imbalances, how to stimulate the transmission of metabolic regulatory signals and the reconstruction of homeostasis, is still lacking, which hinders the progress of clinical research and the listing of new drugs. Therefore, it is urgent to deeply explore the characteristics and mechanisms of FGF's regulation of sugar and fat metabolism and to construct new strategies for the prevention and treatment of major chronic metabolic diseases based on this.

After 15 years of unremitting efforts and exploration, the research team has conducted prospective studies with large samples and formed a series of theoretical and technological innovation systems. The research results have expanded people's theoretical understanding of the biological functions of FGF and have been evaluated and recommended by Nature News Perspective, etc. At the same time, it has led and promoted the international research and development process of new drugs for the treatment of metabolic diseases of the FGF class, with many international biopharmaceutical companies such as Amgen, Novartis, Teva, and others competing to layout related targets. Currently, four long-acting allosteric variants of FGF21 have entered the clinical research stage.

The research on macromolecular drugs such as growth factor FGF mainly relies on high-level platforms such as the National Key Laboratory of Large Molecule Drug and Scale Preparation of Wenzhou Medical University, and the National Engineering Research Center for Cell Growth Factor Drugs and Protein Preparations. In recent years, the pharmaceutical discipline of Wenzhou Medical University has successfully been selected as one of the first batch of peak disciplines in Zhejiang Province. The school has grasped the new needs of the development of the big health industry, constructed a "five-in-one" scientific and technological innovation system of platform, team, project, result, and transformation, adhered to the integration of innovation subjects, the integration of disciplines, and the integration of industry, academia, and medicine, and fully utilized the school's characteristic disciplines, talent training, and the rich clinical advantages of the affiliated hospitals to comprehensively build a "talent training + basic research + clinical research + application promotion" chain system.

Wenzhou Medical University. Photograph provided by Wenzhou Medical University

It is reported that the National Science and Technology Award is the highest award in the field of science and technology in China. In recent years, Wenzhou Medical University has won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award once and the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award five times, and the second prize of the National Technological Invention Award twice.

"Next, we will continue to coordinate and promote the collaborative innovation of industry, academia, and research, effectively support the output of symbolic achievements, and comprehensively promote the'double first-class' creation of the school",said the person in charge of Wenzhou Medical University.

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