On May 30, NKU held a Seminar on Interdisciplinary Convergence of Medical and Engineering Technology and a Visiting Professor Appointment Ceremony, as well as an opening ceremony for the 4th Inspur Golden Idea Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Division) at Siyuan Hall on the Balitai Campus.

    Bai Chengming, Vice President of NKU, Zu Yanhui, former Deputy Director of Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Bureau and former Deputy Director of Management Committee of Tianjin Tiankai Higher Education Science and Technology Innovation Park, Lu Shuangying, former member of the Party Leadership Group of Tianjin Association for Science and Technology and First-level Inspector, Bian Shouchuan, member of the Party Leadership Group of Tianjin Association for Science and Technology and Second-level Inspector, Qian Zhuo, Director of Xishuangbanna Brain Decoding Center, Thomas John McHugh, Head of the Laboratory of Brain Science Center of RIKEN in Japan, and Liu Weihua, Senior Vice President of Inspur Group, attended the event, together with relevant officials from the Science and Technology Department and International Academic Exchange Office of NKU. The Seminar was presided over by the head of the School of Medicine.

    Bai Chengming said in his speech that Professor Qian Zhuo and Professor Thomas John McHugh, after being appointed as visiting professors of NKU, will bring a broader international perspective to NKU, and promote personnel and academic exchanges between NKU and world-class scientific research institutions. NKU and Inspur Group jointly organize an innovation and entrepreneurship competition to promote the reform of personnel training in universities based on the latest needs of industrial and technological development, which will fully stimulate the innovation and entrepreneurial vitality of teachers and students. NKU will solidly promote the development of a high-quality interdisciplinary platform of medical and engineering technology, and constantly create a new situation in the construction of a world-class university with Nankai style and Chinese characteristics.

    At the ceremony, Bai Chengming presented a Certificate of Appointment respectively to Professor Qian Zhuo and Professor Thomas John McHugh. In the seminar on the interdisciplinary convergence of medical and engineering technology, Qian Zhuo, Thomas John McHugh, Jordi, Director of the Data and Signal Processing Research Laboratory of the UVic in Spain, Wang Yi, Director of the Medical Affairs Department of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, and Zhou Haipeng respectively reported and shared their views on brain neural networks, improving machine learning models with artificial data, and the clinical application potential of brain-computer interface. Participants said that the interdisciplinary convergence of medical and engineering technology is a critical path to promote discipline construction, scientific and technological innovation, and the cultivation of interdisciplinary talents. They hope that experts, scholars, and corporate representatives give full play to their advantages, actively participate in the construction of the research center, and jointly promote the development and innovation of the interdisciplinary convergence of medical and engineering technology.

    It is reported that Professor Qian Zhuo is the Director of the Brain and Behavior Institute at Augusta University, a Tenured Professor in the Department of Neurology at the School of Medicine, a member of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Academy of Distinguished Scientists, a chair professor of cognitive and systematic neurobiology, and the father of the smart mouse. As an authoritative expert in the research of learning and memory brain sciences, he enjoys a high academic reputation in the field of genetic engineering. Professor Qian Zhuo's laboratory pioneered the conditional gene knockout or protein knockout technology, establishing its pioneer position in the field of genetics and genetic engineering. As the leader of the team of Professor Susumu Tonegawa, a Japanese Nobel Prize winner, Professor Thomas John McHugh has won many awards including the MIT School of Science Infinite Mile Award, MIT School of Science Dean’s Educational Advising Award, NARSAD Young Investigator Award, and Nakaakira Tsukahara Memorial Award from Brain Science Foundation. Both Visiting Professors are top experts and scholars in the interdisciplinary convergence of medicine and engineering technology, and are pioneers in breaking down disciplinary barriers. During their tenure, the two professors will be mainly responsible for communication and research in the field of brain science at NKU, and for promoting the development of disciplines like intelligent medical engineering and brain science at the School of Medicine. The joining of the two professors will further promote academic exchanges between NKU and top scientific research institutes at home and abroad, boost technological innovation in the interdisciplinary convergence of medicine and engineering technology at NKU, and enhance NKU's international influence in the interdisciplinary convergence of medicine and engineering technology.