On November 26, 2018, China National GeneBank (CNGB) and BGI Research and the Macquarie University of Australia formally signed a cooperation agreement during the 7th International Yeast 2.0 and Synthetic Genomes Conference 2018 in Sydney, Australia. The two sides will jointly promote scientific research and education in synthetic biology, and focus on scientific research cooperation in natural products synthesisand bacterial transformation.

Prof. Sakkie Pretorius, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) of Macquarie University (left) and Dr. Hongqi Wang, Vice President of BGI

Dr. Hongqi Wang, Vice President of BGI and Prof. Sakkie Pretorius, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) of Macquarie University and signed the cooperation agreement on behalf of respective sides. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Mr. Jef Boeke, Founding Director of the Institute of Systems Genetics at NYU Langone Medical Center; Mr. Ian Paulsen, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Distinguished Professor; Mr. Yi Ren, Executive Director of Research Training and International Research Training Partnerships at Macquarie University; Mr. Ping Lu, Counselor of Science and Technology of Consulate General of PRC in Sydney; Mr. Zixuan Han, Deputy Consul of Science and Technology; Mr. Zhan Anqi, Chief Representative of Guangdong Economic and Trade Representative Office in Australia; Dr. Yang Bicheng, Director of BGI Australia; academician of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and academician of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the next five years, CNGB and Macquarie University will fully leverage their resources to focus on bilateral cooperation in the fields of synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and natural product synthesis. The two sides will work together with the goal to jointly opening new channels for talent training, industrialization of scientific research projects, and to create educational opportunities between China and Australia.

In recent years, China has witnessed rapid development in synthetic biology, which provides profitable opportunities in a wide range of areas including bio-manufacturing, pharmacology, energy, environment and agriculture. The ground-breaking achievement of CNGB and BGI-Research in the international Synthetic Yeast Genome Project (Sc2.0) showed huge potential in applying synthetic biology to address current medical and environmental issues. The collaboration with Macquarie University was also initiated in 2017 with the joint venture of the Synthetic Yeast Genome Project.

In 2017, CNGB and BGI Research as key participants completed the de novo redesign and synthesis of five more chromosomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae; chromosomes II, V, VI, X and XII. The BGI Research team has led the completed redesign and synthesis of the chromosome II which is 770 kilobase pair longand transformed it into a yeast cell resulting in a synthetic strain that is consistent to the wildtype one in terms of viability. The whole study was published as the cover story on the March 9. 2017 special issue of Science journal and was selected as “Ten Advances in Chinese Science in 2017”. Macquarie University is also one of the participants of this iconic international cooperation project.

Research results of the International Project on Yeast Genome Synthesis Published as a cover article in the journal Science

“CNGB has always regarded Australia as one of the key collaborating countries and has now established close cooperation with a number of research institutions in Australia. This cooperation with Macquarie University has not only deepens the scientific research cooperation between China and Australia but also further strengthens the international influence of the two countries in the field of synthetic biology.” Said Mr. Jason Chen, Director of Global Partnership Business Development of CNGB.

“Synthetic biology, gene editing, brain science, and regenerative medicine are known as the directions that will bring significant changes to the life sciences. Said Dr. Yue Shen, Director of the Genome Synthesis and Editing Platform of CNGB. “Macquarie University and CNGB as co-participants in the ‘Synthetic Yeast Genome Project’, have accumulated a profound scientific research foundation in the field of synthetic biology, and this will be a strong cooperation for both sides to achieve for further breakthroughs in scientific industry and create opportunities for talent training.”

Dr. Yue Shen will also attend a seminar on international research and training cooperation held by Macquarie University in January 2019. At that time, the two sides will further implement the details of the project and make full use of the cooperation opportunity to jointly promote the development of synthetic biology.

About Macquarie University:

Founded in 1964, Macquarie University is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. It has been given five stars by the international QS stars rating system in teaching, research, facilities, innovation and specialist subjects. Macquarie University is ranked among the top 1% of universities in the world.  The government’s Excellence in Research Australia honored 5 of the university’s research areas with having above world standard performances, which are the fields of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences, and the Environment Sciences.

About BGI Research and CNGB

BGI-Research is a non-profit organization dedicated to multi-omics research and development for life science biotechnology and health applications.

BGI has well-established expertise in genome reading and writing technologies. Its pre-eminence of this field is marked by a series of world-class achievements especially the profound involvement of the Synthetic Yeast Genome Project (Sc2.0) in March 2017.

CNGB, China National GeneBank is an open, supportive and leading platform for storing, reading and writing genetic sources for public benefit, operated by BGI Research, it aims at supporting public welfare, innovation, scientific research, and industrial infrastructure construction.

CNGB has built an integrated infrastructure of “Three banks and Two platforms”. “Three Banks” represents the Biorepository, Bio-informatics Data Center and Living Biobank, while “Two Platforms” includes a Digitalization Platform and Synthesis and Editing Platform.