Tsinghua ISSU E 40 September 2018

Tsinghua University holds the First International Forum on Engineering Education

Yigong Shi’s group reports on the structure of auto- somal dominant polycystic kidney disease related to the PKD1/PKD2 complex

China Theory Week 2018 launched holds the First International Forum on Engineering Education

On September 24th, the first Chinese Academy of Engineering of UNESCO, as well as Tsinghua Pres- International Forum on Engineering and Chairman of the Advisory Com- ident Qiu Yong, Vice President You Education opened in the Main Build- mittee of UNESCO’s International Zheng, and the Vice Chairpersons ing of Tsinghua University. Attending Engineering Education Center, Mari- of Tsinghua University Council Xie the forum were Li Xiaohong, Pres- elza Oliveira, Director of UNESCO’s Weihe and Yuan Si. The opening cer- ident of the Chinese Academy of Office, Wu Qidi, Director of emony of the forum was hosted by Engineering, Zhou Ji, Honorary the International Center for Engi- Chen Xu, Chairperson of Tsinghua Chairman of the Presidium of the neering Education under the auspices University Council. Themed “Innovation and Devel- opment of Engineering Education”, this forum aims to bring together renowned scholars and outstanding leaders worldwide in the fields of engineering education, engineering technology, and engineering man- agement to discuss the innovation and development of engineering education, promote the progress of world engineering technology and society, and meet major global chal- lenges. Jointly sponsored by Tsinghua

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 2 University, the Chinese Academy of Engineering and UNESCO, the forum was attended by more than 150 experts, scholars and industry representatives from prestigious uni- versities, international organizations, academic communities and enterpris- es in nearly 20 countries or regions. At the opening ceremony, Li Xiao- hong noted in his welcome address that the development of engineering technology is an important symbol of human social progress, and education is an important factor affecting the movement of the world science and technology center. With the accel- eration of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transfor- mation, engineering education has heralded a new stage of development. is attaching great importance to engineering education in the new era, striving to contribute its wisdom to international engineering educa- tion. Oriented to the fourth industrial revolution, this forum would hold exchanges and discussions around future engineering education, which and help people to understand the the founding of the People’s Republic he believed would inspire new and development of new technologies. of China, especially since the reform different thinking. At the opening ceremony, Presi- and opening up, China’s engineer- Marielza Oliveira said she was dent Qiu delivered a plenary speech ing education has developed rapidly, very pleased to have the chance to entitled “Engineering Education: For and China has worked out a path of discuss cutting-edge issues of engi- a Better Home of Mankind”. On behalf engineering education development neering education with experts and of Tsinghua University, President that suited to its national conditions, scholars in academia and industries. At Qiu extended a warm welcome to all which plays an important role in pro- present, engineering education needs the guests. He noted that engineering moting the country’s modernization. to be more inclusive and sustainable, has created the world in which we Committed to outstanding engineer- to promote lifelong learning, enhance live, and engineering education will ing education, Tsinghua University team spirit and social responsibility, determine world. Since has trained a large number of out- standing engineers and technicians, making important contributions to the country’s industrialization. President Qiu pointed out that in order to meet the challenges, the international engineering education community has been considering and taking active measures. This forum will discuss in depth the new concept of engineering education and plan for the future of engineering education. He believed that with the joint efforts of the world community, the voice of

3 September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER engineering education will be heard of engineering to society, and com- experimental learning; select top more widely in the world, the goal of prehensively enhance the influence talents and teachers worldwide, engineering education development of engineering and engineering edu- strengthen international exchanges will become clearer, and the action cation in society. Finally, President and cooperation and jointly promote plan dedicated to training outstand- Qiu said that we should, with a lofty the development of engineering edu- ing engineering talents will be more vision of the world, the future and cation. coordinated. all mankind, promote the innovation Natacha DePaola, Chair of the President Qiu also stressed that and development of engineering edu- Global Engineering Deans Council future-oriented engineering educa- cation and jointly train outstanding (GEDC), delivered a plenary speech tion should serve to build a better engineering and scientific talents to entitled “Maximizing Impact through home for mankind. He put forward build a better home for mankind. Synergy: a Global Perspective”. the following suggestions for future Richard Lester, Vice Provost of DePaola noted that engineering is engineering education: strengthen the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- the core of the development of global the education of responsibility aware- nology, delivered a plenary speech industry 4.0, and innovation must be ness, train engineers with a strong entitled “Innovations in Engineer- realized through collaboration. Spe- sense of social responsibility, engi- ing Education”. Lester elaborated on cifically, we should accelerate the neers with noble ethics, engineers MIT’s practice of coping with the development of platforms and tools with a soul; strengthen the cultivation new trend of international engineer- suitable for global collaboration; we of innovative ability and strive to cul- ing education: encourage students should reform teaching methods and tivate innovative talents in the field to select courses and study across train high-quality talents to meet of engineering technology; strength- departments and schools; urge stu- future challenges; we should, through en communication and cooperation, dents to interact with diverse groups in-depth dialogue with industries, and strengthen understanding and by setting up study groups and realize the integration of production, exchange, to timely and accurate- achieve a balance between class- teaching and research, and seek holis- ly convey the information and value room learning, digital learning and tic solutions. The opening ceremony was fol- lowed by a university presidents’ forum and a sub-group forum. The presidents will deliver plenary reports and discussions on the following themes: “The Challenge of Engineer- ing Education and the Development of First-class Engineering Universi- ty” and “Engineering Education for Sustainable Development”. At the same time, nearly 50 experts, schol- ars and enterprise representatives will speak and discuss in groups about the new mode of industrial-academ- ic cooperation, the cultivation of practical competence in engineering, artificial intelligence and innovation in engineering education, interna- tional cooperation and innovation in engineering education, innovative practices in engineering education, innovation and entrepreneurship education, engineering ethics educa- tion and the diversity of engineering education, among others.

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 4 Yigong Shi’s group reports on the structure of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease related to the PKD1/PKD2 complex

The kidney is an important living the kidneys need to excrete blood hyperlipidemia are important causes organ of the human body. It has from the organs and supply it to more of chronic kidney disease. According many physiological functions such as important organs (e.g. the heart and to the National Institute of Health, excreting metabolic products, regu- brain). While of such great impor- the prevalence of chronic kidney dis- lating water and electrolyte balance tance, the kidneys, however, are ease in US adults (approximately 200 and the endocrine system. Under a among those most vulnerable organs. million in total) has reached 11.3%. variety of pathological conditions, Genetic factors, hyperglycemia and Autosomal dominant polycystic

5 September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER kidney disease (ADPKD) is one of the most important causes of chron- ic kidney disease, with an incidence of 1/400-1/1000. About 12 million patients worldwide are affected by this disease. The bilateral kidneys of the patient gradually produce fluid-filled vesicles with increasing age, squeez- ing and destroying the surrounding normal tissues. About 50% of patients develop end-stage renal failure, requiring heterologous kidney trans- plantation or life-long hemodialysis. There are about 1.5 million patients with this disease in China. Every year, tens of thousands of patients are Figure 1: A. schematic diagram of the topology of human PKD1 and PKD2 proteins. B. The overall structure of human PKD1 and PKD2 on the waiting list for donated kidney protein complex; C. The unique channel domain of PKD1. transplantation or sustaining life through continuous dialysis. ADPKD and protein maturation. PKD1 and is different from that of all current- not only causes severe physical and PKD2 proteins can interact to form ly known voltage-gated ion channels. mental suffering to the patient, but hetero-tetrameric complexes and The S6 transmembrane helix of PKD1 also imposes a heavy financial burden may perform important physiological has a number of positively charged on the patient’s family. functions on primary cilia. amino acids protruding into the The genes associated with On August 10th, 2018, UTC+8, central cavity of the channel, poten- ADPKD pathogenesis are PKD1 and Yigong Shi’s group, published a tially blocking the central channel PKD2, and their gene products are research article entitled “Structure of path which is for calcium permeation. the membrane proteins PKD1 and the human PKD1 and PKD2 complex” There have been many debates about PKD2 respectively. Mutations in both online in the journal Science, report- whether PKD1 and PKD2 form calci- accounted for approximately 85% ing the first near-atomic resolution um channels in the field. The current and 10% of all patients respectively. (3.6Å) of the polycystic kidney dis- conformation of this structure does The human pkd1 gene is located on ease-associated protein PKD1/PKD2 not support the channel hypothe- chromosome 16, encoding a protein complex. sis, which brings new thinking to the of PKD1 with a length of 4302 amino Yigong Shi’s group first resolved investigation of the mechanism of acids containing 11 transmembrane the near-atom resolution structure polycystic kidney disease. helices. Because of the huge molecu- of human PKD1 and PKD2 com- Yigong Shi’s research team coop- lar weight of PKD1, researchers have plexes. This structure reveals that erated with Prof. Mei Changlin and been challenged with great techni- the PKD1 and PKD2 proteins form a Prof. Yu Shengqiang from Shanghai cal difficulties in their research. Since distinctive one-to-three complex (1 Changzheng Hospital. Since 2013, the successful sequencing of the pkd1 PKD1: 3 PKD2). Based on this struc- the structure of two human proteins, gene in 1993, many scientists have tural and biochemical data, the team PKD1 and PKD2, has been conceived. been investigating this protein for found that PKD1 and PKD2 were able During the past five years, unremit- more than 20 years. Although these to form complexes without the pro- ting efforts on the protein boundary, studies have broadened the percep- tein C-terminal coiled-coil domain. frozen sample preparation conditions tion of ADPKD, the function of the This result is inconsistent with the and detergent optimization have PKD1 protein and the pathogenesis mainstream doctrine which pre- been tried and screened. Finally, the of polycystic kidney disease remains viously thought that “no protein structure of PKD1 and PKD2 protein controversial for lack of sufficient complex can be formed when there complex was resolved with an over- information. Another pathogenic is no coiled-coil domain”. Therefore, all resolution of 3.6Å, and the core protein, PKD2, is a chaperone mole- many studies based on this conclu- region resolution was able to reach cule of PKD1, and plays an extremely sion need to be reconsidered. In 3.2Å. This was the first time that the important role in the folding of addition, the researchers found that structure of a TRP channel family PKD1, transporting among organelles the pore domain structure of PKD1 heterologous complex had been

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 6 obtained. complete some of the experiments. facility of Tsinghua University. The Professor Yigong Shi from the Dr. Lei Jianlin from Tsinghua Uni- calculation work was supported by School of Life Sciences of Tsinghua versity’s cryo-electron microscopy the Tsinghua University High Per- University and the Center for Struc- facility provided assistance in the col- formance Computing Platform and tural Biology and Innovation, is the lection of cryo-electron microscopy National Protein Facility Experimen- corresponding author of this article; data. Professor Zhou Qiang, School tal Technology Center (Beijing). This Qiang Su, a third-year doctoral stu- of Medicine, Tsinghua University, work has received funding support dent at the School of Life Sciences of provided cryo-EM data processing from the Beijing Center for Structural Tsinghua University, and Dr. Feizhuo guidance. Associate Professor Wang Biology and the National Natural Sci- Hu from the School of Medicine,, are Tingliang, School of Medicine, Tsin- ence Foundation. the co-first authors of this article; Ge ghua University, was involved in the Link to the publication: Xuefei, an undergraduate student in early operation of the subject. The http://science.sciencemag.org/ the six-character class of the School electron microscope data was collect- content/early/2018/08/08/science. of Life, Tsinghua University, helped ed from the cryo-electron microscope aat9819

China Theory Week 2018 launched

China Theory Week 2018 took covering a wide range of topics from place from September 17th to Sep- algorithms, complexity theory, and tember 20th, 2018 at the Institute for cryptography to machine learning Interdisciplinary Information Sci- theory, quantum computation and ences (IIIS), Tsinghua University. An mechanism design. international group of young scholars Now in its 12th year, the work- from Harvard University, Prince- shop is an annual event that brings ton University, MIT, UC Berkeley, together and connects pioneering aca- Tsinghua University and Shanghai demics across the world. Vatsal Sharan Jiaotong University had the chance from said he was to discuss their current research on advised to attend the workshop by his theoretical computer science at the advisor Gregory Valiant, who came to workshop. The workshop was opened CTW three times (CTW2009 student by IIIS Assistant Professor Ran Duan, speaker, CTW2014 keynote speaker, co-chair of CTW 2018; Prof. Andrew and CTW2016 keynote speaker) and Yao, IIIS Dean and CTW General this was something that made this Chair, also attended the workshop. workshop special. Prof. Seth Pettie, The four-day program includ- one of the keynote speakers, com- ed four keynote talks by the Director mented on the workshop: “It is a great of the Baidu Quantum Computation idea. It does a good job at advertising Institute Runyao Duan, Michigan China to the world, and it’s a big suc- Professor Seth Pettie, Aarhus Asso- cess.” This year also sees two alumni ciate Professor Kasper Green Larsen of Yao’s class attending the work- and UB Assistant Professor Shi Li, as shop as speakers: Shi Li, Yao class of well as twenty-four talks by graduate 2008 graduate and now UB Assistant students from renowned universities, Professor, and Tianren Liu, Yao class

7 September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER of 2014 graduate and now MIT PhD candidate. China Theory Week was initiat- ed by Prof. Andrew Yao in 2007, and aims to promote academic exchange in the field of computer science worldwide. It now enjoys a high rep- utation among graduates and has witnessed the process of growth and transformation into researchers by the student participants. This annual event rotates locations chosen by the host organization (IIIS) from Beijing to Aarhus, Hong Kong, Shanghai; this year, it was held in Beijing.

The Nobel Prize Winner Prof. Steven Chu joins TBSI’s External Advisory Board

On September 26th, Professor Steven Chu from Stanford Univer- sity, the winner of 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics, was invited to visit the Tsinghua-Berkeley Insti- tute (TBSI) and to give a lecture to students and faculty, whose title was Progress in Molecular and Ultrasound Imaging in Biology and Bio-medicine. The Core-PI from TBSI and industry audience listened to the lecture with the students, and engaged in some active questions after the lecture with Professor Chu. Professor Steven Chu’s speech focused on recent progress in ultra- sound super resolution imaging and of dynein transport with millisecond spatial resolution for live cell imag- the development and applications of time resolution. Rare-earth nanopar- ing. In clinics, ultrasound imaging is rare-earth nanoparticle probes in biol- ticle probes are nanometer-sized, extensively used worldwide. ogy and biomedicine. His group used bright, photostable, non-toxic and In the second half of the lecture, the rare-earth nanoparticles Er3+ and able to label single proteins in cells Professor Chu shared new approach- Yb3+ imbedded in a crystalline host and tissues. Professor Chu’s group es to greatly improve the resolution of to achieve long-term live cell tracking are aiming to attain ~10 nanometer ultrasound imaging through reducing

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 8 Professor Kenichi Iga, the Deputy Provost of UC Berkeley Professor Tsu-Jae King Liu and Professor Fiona M. Doyle, the Provost of Nazarbayev University Professor Ilesanmi Ade- sida, the President of the University of Surrey Professor Max Lu, and Pro- fessor Leonidas Guibas from Stanford University. speckle noise. Angular compounding Professor Zhang showed the TBSI’s It is an honor to invite Professor with nine angles along with frequen- labs and scientific achievements to Steven Chu to join the EAB, which cy compounding can lead to 6~8 times Professor Chu. will further enhance the interna- speckle noise reduction. The TBSI’s External Advisory tional influence and reputation of The bio-harmless detection Board held its first meeting on 26th the TBSI and inject more theoretical methods produced by Professor Chu March, 2018, and elected Eric Grim- foundations and practical experience are able to obtain unprecedented son, the former president of MIT, into the interdisciplinary concept of high-resolution ultrasound images of as its chairman. Eight of the world’s the institute. living biological tissues and monitor top scholars became founding mem- molecular migration in living cells or bers, including Emeritus Professor tissues, which will make a significant Chenming Hu from UC Berkeley, contribution to the fields of biology the former president of Tokyo Tech and biomedicine. After the lecture, as a represen- tative of the TBSI, the core-director Professor Lin Zhang issued a cer- tificate to Steven Chu officially appointing him a consultant of the External Advisory Board (EAB). Pro- fessor Chu’s parents both came from Tsinghua University in the 1940s. They wrote two letters to the univer- sity when they graduated. Professor Zhang gave two photocopies to Pro- fessor Chu as a gift. Afterwards,

Renowned Professor Donald B. Rubin launched a new course “The Design of Experiments” at Tsinghua

In the fall semester of 2018, “The Design of Experiments” at Tsin- a wide range of applications. The Professor Donald B. Rubin, an inter- ghua. course is mainly taught by professor nationally well-known statistician “The Design of Experiments” is Rubin himself, and overseas schol- opened a graduate course entitled a basic subject of statistics and has ars of related majors are also invited

9 September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER to participate through seminars and special reports, so that students can experience the research frontier in the field of statistics while learning basic knowledge. Professor Rubin joins Yau Math- ematical Sciences Center, Tsinghua University, from Harvard Univer- sity, where he was the John L. Loeb Professor of Statistics. He has served on Harvard’s faculty as full profes- sor of Statistics since 1983, chairing its Department of Statistics for 13 of those years. He is most well-known for the Rubin Causal Model, a set of methods designed for causal infer- ence with observational data, and for his methods for dealing with miss- ing data. As a statistician, his research focuses on the design of empiri- cal studies, including surveys and experiments, and the analysis of data from such studies. As of 2017, he has authored/coauthored over 400 pub- lications (including ten books), has four joint patents, and for many years has been one of the most highly cited authors in the world, with current- ly over 200,000 citations and nearly 20,000 in 2016 alone (Google Schol- ar). Yau Mathematical Sciences Center (YMSC) of the Tsinghua Uni- versity was established in December

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 10 2009. Professor Shing-Tung Yau, international frontier subjects, pro- Director of YMSC, is one of the most moting academic communication famous mathematical scientists in of mathematical conceptions and the world, being honored by numer- achievements, and improving the ous prestigious prizes and awards, level of mathematics research and such as Fields Medal, Crafoord Prize, teaching in China. Wolf Prize, and Marcel Grossman Award. YMSC is devoted to studying

2nd Anniversary of the Opening of Tsinghua University Art Museum

Tsinghua University Art Museum second anniversary. was officially opened to the public To celebrate it having been on September 11th, 2016, following opened now for its second year, the the opening ceremony on September museum opened nine exhibitions. 10th, that same year. On September 10th, 2018, the museum celebrated its

11September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER The first exhibition, open from August 16th, 2018 to October 7th, 2018, is called “Bright Glory— The Aesthetics of Yuan Yunfu.” It attempts to cherish the memory of Mr. Yuan Yunfu, and prize the art- ist’s life path and significance in art history through the organization, interpretation and description of his artistic thoughts and works, while delving into the historical traditions and ideological development track of the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University.

The second exhibition, the Koji Kinutani Exhibition, is open from September 1st, 2018 to September 23rd, 2018, and tries to explore the future of the relations between these two countries with the force of art in the long history through a selec- tion of masterpieces of Koji Kinutani along with his other works themed on China introduces the artist in three units.

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 12 “Foster + Partners: Sustainable Communities | Shared Futures” is an exhibition that is open from July 24th, 2018 to October 7th, 2018, while investigating the work of the world-renowned architectural studio led by Norman Foster, through the lens of sustainability by focusing on the Foster + Partners’ integrated design approach that combines exper- tise from several disciplines from engineering and research to industri- al design. Another exhibition is “Classics on Bamboo Slips” - Documentary Exhi- bition of Tsinghua Bamboo Slips.” These “Tsinghua Bamboo slips” are the cultural relics unearthed from the tomb in Kingdom Chu in the middle Warring States Period in Chinese his- tory, totaling approximately 2,500 pieces (including some broken ones).

13September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER “Tsinghua Treasures – Select- ed Silk Embroidery Exhibition of Tsinghua University Art Museum Col- lection – Textile” is an exhibition that captures the Ming Dynasty’s Round Chinese silk Kesi with phoenix and peony patterns, Qing Dynasty’s Kesi Buddha with “Infinite Life Buddha” patterns, Red and Soft Silk Changyi Gown embroidered with “Jinyuman- tang” designs and Blue Kesi Imperial Robe.

“Tsinghua Treasures - The Art of Chinese Ink and Brush Exhibition of Tsinghua University Art Museum Collection–Painting and Calligraphy II” has a rich collection of Chinese ancient and modern paintings and calligraphy. The vast majority of these paintings and calligraphy collections originate from the old possession of the former Central Academy of Arts and Design. With representative works of various genres and famous artists from various periods since Ming dynasty, they can clearly and system- atically reflect the development of Chinese painting and calligraphy.

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 14 Another exhibition, titled as “Tsinghua Treasures – Built to Suit Exhibition of Tsinghua University Art Museum Collection—Furniture,” holds some of the 50 plus pieces of famous Ming-style furniture mainly made of yellow pears, red sandalwood and other materials. The eighth exhibition is titled as the “Autumn Charm of Miu Pusun – The paintings of Chrysanthemums,” and is opened from August 25, 2018 to March 17, 2019. The album displays Miu Pusun’s One Hundred Chry- santhemum Pictures, counting one hundred leaves, displayed 187 kinds of chrysanthemum flowers.

15September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER Last but not least, the “Tsing- hua Treasures – The Sunset Glow Exhibition of Tsinghua University Art Museum Collection – Porcelain” exhibition displays pottery made in Jingdezhen kiln factory in Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Period from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Clearly, all of these exhibitions show the artistic history of China and some embroidery, porcelain, furniture, (Photos from Tsinghua University Art artwork created by some renowned bronze ware and comprehensive art- Museum) artists. work. Most of the collections are from Tsinghua University Art Museum Academy of Arts & Design since 1956, owns more than 13,000 pieces of col- and donations from Tsinghua alumni lections, covering six major categories, or some social elites. namely, painting and calligraphy,

Tsinghua Graduate claims gold at Asian Game

Wang Yu, a graduate of Tsinghua of Social Sciences earlier this year, hoping to better his own personal University, won a gold medal in the clinched the title with a jump of 2.30 best of 2.33 metres. men’s high jump athletics final at the metres, thus becoming the third Chi- Talking about his alma mater, 2018 in , Indone- nese athlete to claim a men’s high Wang Yu noted that Tsinghua has a sia on August 27th 2018. jump gold in the Asian Games. Wang profound cultural heritage and a tra- Wang, who obtained a Master’s stated that although he is very happy dition of attaching importance to degree from the Tsinghua School to have won the gold medal, he was sports. Speaking about his experience

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 16 at university, Wang said, “The Tsin- ghua spirit has helped me develop personally and my character has grown so I feel more fulfilled than before.” Born in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, in 1991, Wang Yu showed a superior talent for sports early in his childhood. In March 2010, due to his excellent performance in Tsing- hua University High School, Wang Yu qualified for a recommendation for admission to Tsinghua Univer- sity. However, he did not accept the recommendation. He then took part in the national college entrance examination and was admitted to the （Photo from Chinanews.com） School of Economic Management, Tsinghua University, with an excel- Wang Yu, now aged 27, says and looks to improve whilst enjoying lent performance. there are two keywords which define the sport of high jump. Wang Yu liked sports from an his past ten years: Tsinghua and high early age, enjoying playing badmin- jump. High jump represents his pas- ton, golf, basketball, and swimming. sion and Tsinghua is the place where He is also fond of music and reading, he spent his youth, has his best mem- and watching animé. Wang started ories, and was the place where he to learn high jump in his first year of realized his dreams. high school and then became increas- Currently, Wang Yu has joined ingly fond of the sport. “High jump the staff of the General Adminis- enables one to continually challenge tration of Sport of China. He is now oneself,” said Wang. focusing on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,

Yang Bin visits and Kazakhstan to promote regional university cooperation

Tsinghua University Provost designed to understand the develop- role that the Belt and Road Initiative and Vice President Yang Bin has ment of Eurasia as an emerging area was having on academic partnerships, contributed to a Times Higher Edu- for world research and innovation, and how Tsinghua University is well cation Summit in , Republic and identify where new opportunities placed to deepen cooperation with of , during a visit to Russia for the region exist. the region. “I would like to see great- and Kazakhstan. The summit, enti- Addressing the Summit on 31st er education cooperation projects tled Research Excellence: Eurasia was August, Yang Bin highlighted the that are inter-disciplinary in nature,

17September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER promote people to people links and improve cross cultural fluency of our respective students and faculty. This approach will best serve the devel- opment of regional excellence in our institutions.” Following the summit, Yang Bin visited university partners in Kazakh- stan on 1st September, including Nazarbayev University (NU). Yang Bin and NU Provost Ilesanmi Adesida looked into the all-round coopera- tion between the two universities and explored future development and greater levels of engagement, includ- ing student and faculty exchange. During a meeting with senior representatives of the Kazakh Depart- Panelists included representatives from SOAS University of , Nazarbayev University, Turan University and Atilim University ment of Education and Science, Yang Bin introduced the cooperation histo- ry between Tsinghua and Kazakhstan. attended the meetings. of organic chemistry due to works The two sides discussed pathways for was by Aleksandr Butlerov, Vladimir greater cooperation including the founded in 1804, making it the sec- Markovnikov, Aleksandr Arbuzov, promotion of talent training and other ond-oldest Russian university. and the birthplace of electron spin related matters. Representatives from Famous mathematician Nikolai Iva- Tsinghua’s Office of International novich Lobachevsky served there as For more information on Kazan Cooperation and Exchange and Wud- the from 1827 until 1846. The Federal University, visit： https://kpfu.ru/eng aokou Tsinghua School of Finance university is known as the birthplace

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 18 Meeting with Nazarbayev University Provost Ilesanmi Adesida

resonance discovered by Evgeny Zavoisky. Nazarbayev University is an autonomous in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Founded in 2010, it is an English-me- dium institution, with a high level of international faculty and staff.

For more information on NU, visit： https://nu.edu.kz/

During his visit to Kazan Federal University, Yang Bin held talks with university representatives including the Vice Rector Dr Linar Latypov

Meeting with representatives from the Kazakh Department of Education and Science

19September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER Yi Zhong’s group published a Cell Reports article revealing the role of the Drosophila fan-shaped body neurons in nociceptive avoidance

Recently, a research team led by nociceptive information and guides electric shock-induced responses in Professor Yi Zhong from the School avoidance behavior. The authors different FB layers using multiple of Life Sciences at Tsinghua Uni- set up automatic stimulation equip- Gal4 lines. The data showed that dif- versity published a research article ment and a living calcium imaging ferent FB layers responded differently entitled Fan-Shaped Body Neurons recording device based on two-pho- to an electric shock, and the responses in the Drosophila Brain Regulate ton microscopy. The living brain of of the ventral layers were higher than both Innate and Conditioned Noci- the transgenic fly with the calcium of the dorsal layers. ceptive Avoidance in Cell Reports, ion indicator protein GCaMP3 was Do such shock-induced responses reporting an important role of Dro- dissected and the response to nox- play a role in the nociceptive avoid- sophila Fan-shaped Body (FB) ious electric shock stimulation was ance behavior of Drosophila? The neurons in nociceptive avoidance. recorded. The results showed that the authors conducted behavioral exper- The living environment for ani- fan-shaped body (FB) located in the iments to explore this question. The mals is complicated and dangerous. middle of the brain responded strong- FB neurons were found to be neces- If there is no effective escape mech- ly to such noxious stimuli. Since the sary in avoiding noxious electrical anism to avoid noxious stimuli, it FB is a complex multi-layer struc- stimulation or noxious thermal stim- is hard for animals to survive. The ture, the authors further investigated ulation. In addition, if the stimulus avoidance of noxious stimuli consists of two parts; one is innate avoidance, such as escaping after being stabbed by a sharp object, or burning; the other is conditioned avoidance. For example, once a mouse receives electric shocks in room A which is not initially a dangerous room, it will couple room A with electric shock damage. Even if there is no electric shock in room A later, it will still avoid the room as it has the electric shock. Two kinds of nociceptive avoid- ance behaviors also exist in fruit flies. Previous studies in fruit flies mainly focused on the peripheral nervous system, and little is known about how the central nervous system processes Fig 1 In vivo Calcium recording

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER | September 20 was not noxious (for example, if the fly encountered a disgusting smell), its avoidance behavior was not affect- ed by the activity of FB neurons. Flies also avoided the area where the FB neurons were artificially activated, and this “avoidance” could be con- ditionally learned. Moreover, the author found that the FB not only participates in innate avoidance, but also participates in conditioned avoidance. In such behavioral exper- iments, the flies learnt to avoid an odor coupled with noxious electrical stimulation. The activity of FB neu- rons was found to be required in such Fig 2 Different FB layers take part in different avoidance behaviors avoidance behavior. Interestingly, different FB layers had different roles corresponding authors of this article. of Science and Technology of China, in both innate and conditioned avoid- Fang Zhang, Dr. Xuchen Zhang, Lian- and the Tsinghua-Peking Joint Center ance behavior. zhang Wang, and Bohan Zhao also for Life Sciences. Dr. Wantong Hu, Yiqing Peng, contributed to this study. This work and Jiameng Sun at the School of was supported by grants from the Paper link: Life Sciences at Tsinghua University National Natural Science Foundation https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/ are the co-first authors of this article. of China, the National Basic Research fulltext/S2211-1247(18)31118-5 Dr. Qian Li and Dr. Yi Zhong are the Project (973 program) of the Ministry

21September | TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER