CBRS experts were invited to the 1st Airborne Biosafety Strategy Seminar held in Peking University-天津大学生物安全战略研究中心

Bioaerosols include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and chemical toxins that are suspended in the air. They can cause various respiratory diseases including lower respiratory tract infections, asthma, allergies. For example, the outbreak of the H1N1 flu in 1918 gave rise to the death of 50 million people around the world. Now, the lower respiratory tract infection caused by aerosols is still the fourth largest cause of human death. In recent years, bioaerosol-related large-scale emerging infectious diseases have erupted frequently. The threat of the bioterrorism, in the form of genetically modified pathogens of high pathogenicity, will possibly arises with the increase of military conflict.
In order to facilitate research cooperation and development of biosafety, the 1^st Airborne Biosafety Strategy Seminar was held in Peking University on Apr 13, 2018. Prof. Yingjin Yuan and Prof. Weiwen Zhang in TJU CBRS were invited to the meeting. Other attendants included experts from Peking University, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, North China Electric Power University, Hunan University, Shandong University, Beihang University, Central South University, Southeast University, etc.

At the meeting, Prof. Yingjin Yuan presented the biosafety situation, frontier, and ethical issues in terms of new-type dual-use synthetic biology. Prof. Yuan and Prof. Zhang also gave suggestion to the proposal of a future biosafety project and discussed the potential interdisciplinary strategic cooperation with other experts.