The Second Academic Committee Meeting of Yunnan Characteristic Plant Extraction Laboratory Held

The Second Academic Committee Meeting of Yunnan Characteristic Plant Extraction Laboratory Held

On April 4, 2023, the Second Academic Committee Meeting of Yunnan Characteristic Plant Extraction Laboratory was held at the headquarters of Yunnan Botanee Bio-Technology Group Co., Ltd. (Botanee), which took the initiative in establishing the Laboratory, in the Kunming High-tech Industrial Development Zone. The meeting adopted both online and offline models.

Since its establishment in December 2021, with Botanee serving as the initiator, the Yunnan Characteristic Plant Extraction Laboratory has dedicated itself to industrialization and focused on the R&D of cosmeceuticals, functional food, and medicines based on Yunnan characteristic plants. The Laboratory is committed to fostering product and business clusters based on Yunnan characteristic plants by unclogging key technological bottlenecks in the field and developing healthy characteristic plant products with high added value. These clusters will pursue the cascade development across cosmeceuticals, functional food, and medicines. They are anticipated to address significant obstacles in fundamental research and provide scientific and technological support for industrial innovation through technological breakthroughs.

Academician Hao Xiaojiang, Director of the Academic Committee of Yunnan Characteristic Plant Extraction Laboratory, presided over the meeting. Members of the Academic Committee, and chief scientists and project leaders of the Laboratory attended the meeting. He Ting, Head of the Laboratory and Innovation Platform Division of Yunnan Province Science and Technology Department, was invited to the event. Guo Zhenyu, Director of the Laboratory, delivered a report on the development and operations, completion of task indicators, achievements and output, and use of funds, etc. of the Laboratory in 2022. Guo Zhenyu said that the Laboratory puts the focus on the characteristic plant industry in Yunnan through the establishment of innovative public platforms. Employing strategies such as integration and joint construction, optimization and reorganization, and supplementation and improvement, the Laboratory has achieved effective allocation of R&D resources among units involved in the establishment of the Laboratory. It has completed the establishment of four innovative public platforms, including the Raw Material Screening Platform for Cosmeceuticals and Functional Food Based on Yunnan Characteristic Plants, Product R&D Service CXO and Public Testing Service Platform for Cosmeceuticals and Functional Food Based on Yunnan Characteristic Plants, R&D Platform of Medicines Based on Yunnan Characteristic Plants, and Synthetic Biology R&D Platform of Yunnan Characteristic Plants. Currently, the Laboratory has achieved remarkable results in its first batch of independent research projects. As of December 31, 2022, the Laboratory has applied for 31 invention patents and obtained seven authorized invention patents. It has published 33 SCI papers and 10 core journal papers. It has completed the R&D of 71 new cosmeceuticals and two functional food products. Furthermore, he introduced the work plan of the Laboratory in 2023 and further clarified its development positioning, namely, centering on industrialization, fully integrating effective resources to establish a public R&D platform for Yunnan's plant health industry, and contributing to the development of the province's plant industry.

The Academic Committee fully affirmed the fruitful achievements and industry contributions made by the Laboratory amid strict pandemic prevention and control measures in 2022. It put forward valuable opinions and suggestions on the overall target, strategic planning, innovative R&D, and resource integration of the Laboratory. He stressed that the Laboratory should continue to persist in aligning with industrialization objectives, further focus on research content and directions, and effectively consolidate resources from all stakeholders, contributing to the biomedicine industry and bolstering the high-quality development of Yunnan's massive health industry.

At the meeting, experts and chief scientists from the Academic Committee engaged in in-depth discussions on the directions of the Laboratory's open research projects in 2023 and actively offered advice and suggestions. Academician Hao Xiaojiang said in his concluding remarks that establishing the Yunnan Characteristic Plant Extraction Laboratory is a part of the efforts toward pioneering a new model, and the Laboratory should highlight its characteristics and attain new accomplishments in driving the development of Yunnan's characteristic plant industry. He emphasized that the Laboratory should hold a global vision and plan its development in tandem with the overall industrial development of Yunnan and the strategic plan for sustainable development of the province's biological industry. The Laboratory should expand its strategic layout, elevate its strategic position, and establish itself as a distinctive laboratory brand that boasts an international reputation and influence by the conclusion of its development phase. He required that the Laboratory should make a forward-looking plan to further strengthen the rational utilization and protection of wild plant resources.

He Ting, Head of the Laboratory and Innovation Platform Division of Yunnan Province Science and Technology Department, said that the Yunnan Characteristic Plant Extraction Laboratory serves as a representative of the highest-level innovation platforms in Yunnan. She asserted that relying on enterprises to establish public R&D platforms marks an innovative measure in the province to boost industrial growth. The Yunnan Province Science and Technology Department attaches great importance to the establishment and operations of the Laboratory. She suggested that the Laboratory should combine internal and external resources to actively promote joint research efforts, introduce a range of measures to stimulate the innovation vitality of scientific researchers, and carry out external cooperation through approaches such as open bidding and targeted entrustment, thereby contributing to the high-quality advancement of Yunnan's biomedicine industry.