Research Project Express | A research project of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center was selected into “Lingyan” Plan of Zhejiang Province

2022-01-10

With the rapid sci-tech progress in recent years, aerospace and automobile industries have placed higher requirements on the performance indicators of power electronic devices and the ability of the devices to work in harsh working environments, so a new generation of power electronic devices are expected to have excellent attributes, e.g. higher voltage resistance, higher switching speed, lower loss and high temperature resistance and can function well in harsh working environments like high temperature and strong irradiation.After the development for decades, the technology of traditional silicon-based semiconductor devices has become mature, and the performance of silicon-based devices has come to their physical limits, which means they are not up to the applications with high temperature, high pressure and high frequency, etc. Compared with silicon materials, silicon carbide (SiC) materials have a wider band gap width (3 times that of silicon), a higher critical breakdown electric field (10 times that of silicon), a higher thermal conductivity (3 times that of silicon), a higher intrinsic failure temperature (over 500 °C), more stable chemical properties and better irradiation resistance. SiC has these superior physical and electrical properties, so the power devices based on SiC materials are ideal for the applications with high temperature, high pressure, high frequency, and strong radiation.However, the current actual SiC MOSFET devices are confronted with serious challenges, such as total dose effects and single particle effects, poor radiation resistance and low stability, so they cannot satisfy the application requirements of aerospace avionics. Therefore, many problems are to be tackled in the research of the radiation effects of SiC MOSFET devices; for example, there lacks theoretical research on device radiation effects and failure mechanism, the test methods of device radiation effects and the evaluation methods of radiation resistance need to be improved, and the radiation hardening technology based on the innovative design of device structures and manufacturing improvement methods needs to be studied. The major participant of the project, REN Na, a young researcher in Power Chip Research Laboratory of Advanced Semiconductor Research Institute at ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, will make full use of the research foundation and technical reserves of the team in silicon carbide power MOSFET devices, as well as the first-class experimental facilities and research capacity of the Center to cooperate with Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University, Zhejiang for the research and technological innovation on the “bottlenecks” in radiation resistance of silicon carbide power MOSFET so as to reveal the special radiation effect mechanism of silicon carbide MOSFET, break through traditional radiation hardening methods in silicon-based devices, propose a variety of new and efficient combinations of hardening technologies, implement all-round radiation resistance hardening for silicon carbide power MOSFET devices from multiple angles, change the inefficient single-point trial and error methods of the traditional hardening technologies of power MOSFET devices, improve the corresponding technical design rules, guide and develop the radiation resistant power MOSFET products in series.

Catfish effect in semiconductor field? A research team of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center revealed the principle of “dilution effect” of organic photovoltaic devices

2021-12-22

Have you ever thought of a day like this?While the sunlight is streaming through huge French windows, the temperature inside the room is not rising at all; however the energy is stored and applied elsewhere quietly.This is not a dream; it is a research being conducted by scientists.Organic solar cells (or organic photovoltaic devices), applied with organic conjugated molecules (or polymers) as the photosensitive layer and prepared by solution processing, are characterized by low cost, light weight, flexibility, being colorful and translucent, so they are used for a wider range of scenarios, and can even be made into building glass.However, compared with silicon solar cells, organic solar cells still have low photoelectric conversion efficiency, which is one of the major obstacles to their industrialization. In recent years, it has been discovered that the co-blending of multiple organic dye molecules (i.e., multiple-blending strategy) can effectively improve the efficiency of photovoltaic devices; however, the principle still remains unknown, which also leads to the lack of material screening guidelines for multiple-component blending devices and being a hindrance for making high-performance devices.Dr. Zuo Lijian, a young PI at the Institute of Future Science, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, has made an important progress in this field by revealing for the first time the principle of “dilution effect” (organic dye molecular blending), which provides a basis for the screening of multiple-component blending device materials from the perspective of physical principles. The result entitled “Dilution effect for highly efficient multiple-component organic solar cells” was published in Nanotechnology, a series of Nature.Exercising “catfish effect” to activate the “still water” of organic photovoltaic devicesAs known to all, solar energy is currently an ideal clean energy. Solar cells at present, mainly of monocrystalline silicon devices, have the advantages of high conversion efficiency, long service life and others; however, they also have shortcomings, e.g. fragile texture, monotone color, high preparation costs and long energy return cycle. Therefore, organic photovoltaic cells have become a new R & D tendency.In comparison, organic photovoltaic cells show obvious advantages, e.g. light weight, simple fabrication, and broad application prospects as they can be used to prepare large area flexible devices with low-cost printing process. Therefore, it is the focus of current research to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic.Based on the previous experiments of other scholars, Dr. Zuo Lijian’s team revealed the principle of “dilution effect” for the first time. They found that when organic light-emitting dyes are dispersed in a wide band gap dye molecule, the band gap of the molecule will turn wider, the electron-vibration coupling be reduced, the non-radiative compound energy loss of the system reduced, and the photoelectric conversion efficiency improved. It is like putting catfish to a school of carp, the efficiency of fish movement will be increased. The study discovered further that the charge in the multiple-component blending system can be transferred “freely” at the interface of molecular heterojunction, which provides a theoretical basis for adding receptors to improve conversion efficiency.Based on this “dilution effect” principle, the research team proposed design guidelines for material selection of multiple-component organic photovoltaic devices, including compatibility, energy level structure, band gap and other requirements, and achieved success in the preparation of organic photovoltaic devices with a performance of up to 18.3%, which was a strong impetus to the industrialization of organic photovoltaics.Pursuing an “Industrial Dream” at the Center How to empower daily life with sci-technology innovation? Dr. Zuo Lijian, after getting his doctorate in Zhejiang University, has been making explorations in the research of materials and device performance structure-effect relationship and device physics. He used to work on the science of materials at the University of Washington. He has made breakthroughs in device performance through innovative design of materials and device structures, published 80-odd papers in Science Advances, JACS, Nature Communications and other top journals, and has been granted one patent.In his opinion, serving industrial progress with science and technology and disseminating scientific principles in a better way are as important as sci-tech innovations, so it is the reason that he chose to work for the Center. He hopes to realize his dream of “serving China with science and technology” on this platform.“I am currently engaged in research on perovskite at the Institute of Future Science of the Center. If the material used in organic solar cells is “plastic semiconductor”, which can be obtained through solution processing, then the material used in perovskite cells is “salt”, which is like a transition zone between silicon materials and solution-processable polymers, integrating the advantages of both, with important research value and broad application prospects!Zuo Lijian said that his research project is an interdisciplinary one of materials, chemistry, physics, optics and other areas, and the Institute of Future Science at the Center is dedicated to exploring these frontier technologies that may have a significant impact on industrial development in the future. “Research can not be carried out in closed doors; researchers should see the industry themselves, understand its real needs and conduct research with application value!”Together with his team members, he hopes to make good use of this high-energy multidisciplinary innovation platform to focus on such forward-looking research issues as the stability of perovskite solar cells and to provide research support for large-scale application and mass production of academic fruits.

Achievements of Mogan-1 and Tianmu-1 Superconducting Quantum Chips released

2021-12-17

On December 17, 2021, the academic results of Mogan-1 and Tianmu-1 superconducting quantum chips were released by Zhejiang University at ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, proclaiming that quantum science and technology of Zhejiang Province is taking a big stride forward. Mr. Yan Jianhua, Standing Member of the CPC Committee and Vice President of Zhejiang University, Mr. Ni Shiying, Vice Mayor of Xiaoshan District, Academician Yang Deren, Chief Scientist of the Center, and Mr. Zhu Shiyao, Academician of the Quantum Computing Innovation Workshop, were present at the event and delivered speeches, encouraging the quantum team to bear the “Great ambitions of China” in mind and work for the key and core technologies. The event was hosted by Yang Jianyi, Director of the Center. Unveiling Tianmu-1 and Mogan-1 The protagonists today are two fingernail-sized chips in front of us: Mogan-1 and Tianmu-1 superconducting quantum chips. Mogan-1, a special quantum chip with a fully connected architecture, is applied to quantum simulation and precise regulation of quantum states for specific problems. The team, with Mogan-1 chip, has systematically investigated the Stark multibody localization in quantum multibody physics, a topic of great attention, and has characterized the Stark multibody localization from various perspectives, including the system’s memory of the initial state and the spatial scale of quantum entanglement. The result has been published in Physical Review Letters [127, 240502 (2021)], a leading journal in physics.The simulation of quantum multibody systems using superconducting quantum chips, an exciting area that differs from classical numerical simulations based on supercomputers, is a novel research tool that will greatly facilitate the study of complex multibody systems. The team has owned patented technologies related to fully connected architecture chips and will continue to develop further in this field to serve more scholars.Tianmu-1 chip, designed for general-purpose quantum computing, is applied with an easily scalable nearest-neighbor connectivity architecture. In order to perform relatively complex quantum gate circuit algorithms, 36 superconducting quantum bits with longer bit lifetimes (decoherence time about 50 microseconds) have been integrated into Tianmu-1 chip, realizing high fidelity general-purpose quantum gates (controlled phase gates with precision better than 98%).Compared with Mogan-1, Tianmu-1 has higher programming flexibility to perform quantum algorithms of varieties, so it can be applied to more research fields. The team has recently made breakthroughs in increasing coherence time, and the “Tianmu” chips with higher performances to be developed will continue to serve the society.In addition, apart from the self-developed and prepared Mogan-1 and Tianmu-1, the team has had a full-stack R&D capability from superconducting quantum chip design, preparation, packaging to measurement and control. Meanwhile, the team has also built an integrated quantum measurement and control platform with advanced world level, which can be used for a variety of complex quantum experiments.Based in Zhejiang, Serving China and Facing the WorldThe R & D team of Mogan-1 and Tianmu-1 is led by Academician Zhu Shiyao, an expert in quantum optics, professor of physics at Zhejiang University and chief scientist of the Quantum Computing Innovation Workshop of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center. Academician Zhu said China has reached the advanced world level in some parts of quantum information and quantum communication; however, the sci-tech progress is just like a race of running. We will be lagging behind if we don’t run faster than others, as every country is running hard.  Rome was not made in one day. Zhejiang University began to layout its superconducting quantum computing more than ten years ago and the Quantum Computing Innovation Workshop of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center was set up in 2021, providing holistic support for quantum R & D. With the participation of more members, the team has been devoting their youth and energy to the quantum science and technology of China. In recent years, the team has achieved a series of research results and published 20-odd articles in Science, Nature Physics, Physical Review Letters and other top journals as the primary author. Many of the team members in this project were born after 1990s, and they are the young force, running day and night, for the research and development of quantum technology, as commented by Academician Zhu. Key Members of the R & D TeamThey claimed that “Mogan” and “Tianmu”, named after the famous Mogan Mountain and the Tianmu Mountain of Zhejiang Province, symbolize the ambition of the team to be based in Zhejiang, serve China and face the world. The researchers believed quantum computers have great prospects for application. Though at an initial stage, the quantum information era will be realized with the concerted efforts of researchers.  What is superconducting quantum chips?Quantum computing is a major area of quantum technology applications. Recently, the R & D of quantum computers has become a top-notch field of global science and technology strategy that every country is vying for and quantum chip development is the core of quantum computer research.Quantum bit is the basic unit in quantum computing. Unlike classical bits, which are either 0 or 1, a quantum bit can be in both 0 and 1 states, and when the number of quantum bits increases, the corresponding state shows an exponential explosion carrying more information, which is the key to quantum acceleration. Superconducting quantum chips, electronic circuits based on superconducting Josephson junctions, can be flexibly constructed by semiconductor micro and nano processes, so they are considered the most promising and practical of quantum chips.Three dimensions: the number of quantum bits, decoherence time (the lifetime of quantum bits), and manipulation precision, are generally used to evaluate superconducting quantum chips. A practical superconducting quantum chip is one which takes into consideration the three dimensions. Only when the three dimensions reach good indexes can quantum computing be realized quickly and precisely.

What will happen when the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements meets AI model? The new achievement of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center will give us the answer.

2021-12-09

What will happen when the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements meets AI model?“Molecular Contrastive Learning with Chemical Element Knowledge Graph”, the latest research achievement by Dr. Zhang Qiang, Qiushi Sci-tech Scholar (among the Global Recruitment Program of 100 Talents) and his team of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center has brought us imagination. In this innovative achievement, first the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements was constructed  into Chemical Element Knowledge Graph and then the Graph was incorporated into AI model to build a new AI framework for Knowledge-enhanced Molecular Contrastive Learning, which is expected to be widely applied in biomolecular research and compound synthesis research, e.g. the prediction of toxicity properties of compound molecules.Currently, the research has been accepted by AAAI2022, a top international AI conference, from nearly 10,000 submissions worldwide, with Dr. Fang Yin and Dr. Zhang Qiang as the first authors and Prof. Chen Huajun as the corresponding author. Molecular Contrastive Learning with Chemical Element Knowledge GraphKnowledge Graph aims to describe the concepts, entities, and events in the objective world and their relationships. In the Knowledge Graph, “Entity” is used to express the nodes in the Graph and “Relation” to express the “edges” in the graph. Entities refer to the objects in the real world, such as persons, institutions, chemical elements, genes, proteins, while relationships to express the connections between entities, such as a person-“lives in”-Beijing, Zhang San and Li Si are “friends”. Knowledge graphs are applied extensively in search engines, intelligent question and answer, recommendation computing, language understanding, big data analysis, device IoT, and other fields. Contrastive Learning on Graph, put it simply, is a self-supervised learning algorithm for graph data. For a given large amount of unlabeled graph data, the graph contrastive learning algorithm, instead of designing a complex pre-training task, only aims to train an encoder, the graphs encoded from which are vectors, so the properties of the graph data can be preserved.In recent years, Learning on Molecular Graphs has come to be applied to several downstream tasks in biology, chemistry, and pharmaceuticals, such as molecular property prediction and drug designs, with unlimited prospects. However, previous studies failed to incorporate domain scientific knowledge into Learning on Molecular Graphs, ignoring the microscopic connections between domain knowledge and atoms embedded in molecular graphs.Chemical Element Knowledge Graph establishes the relationships between atoms that are not connected by chemical bonds but have related chemical propertiesTo address this problem, Dr. Zhang Qiang, under the guidance of Prof. Chen Huajun from College of Computer Science and Technology of Zhejiang University, led his members to conduct interdisciplinary research by constructing Chemical Element Knowledge Graph based on the integration of AI models and the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, which describes the microscopic connections between elements and the domain scientific knowledge related to each element. In addition, a new Knowledge-enhanced Contrastive Learning (KCL) framework for molecular graphs was proposed.Knowledge-enhanced Contrastive Learning (KCL) frameworkThis new Knowledge-enhanced Contrastive Learning (KCL) framework for molecular graphs consists of three modules: Knowledge-enhanced graph module, knowledge-aware graph representation module, and contrastive learning target module. The knowledge-enhanced graph module expands the original molecular graphs based on knowledge graph (KG) with chemical elements. The knowledge-aware graph representation module extracts molecular representations from the original molecular graph using a generic graph encoder, and encodes complex information in the enhanced molecular graph using the Knowledge-aware Message Passing Neural Network (KMPNN). The contrast learning target module constructs a contrast loss function by maximizing the consistency between positive sample pairs and the variability between Hard negative pairs (HNPs) to optimize the model.The research of the team also explained what Knowledge-enhanced Contrastive Learning (KCL) learns from atoms and attributes in the augmented molecular graph through a large number of visualization experiments in multiple real-world scenarios, thus demonstrating that KCL achieves better performance than the advanced baseline on eight molecular datasets. Experiencing Infinite Interdisciplinary Possibilities at the CenterDr. Zhang Qiang, Qiushi Sci-tech Scholar (among the Global Recruitment Program of 100 Talents), got his Ph.D degree from University College London (UK), and his research covers machine learning, data mining, natural language processing and biomolecular intelligence, etc. He has participated in several major research projects funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the UK and companies such as Google and has published a number of papers in NeurIPS, ICML, AAAI, WWW, TOIS, top academic conferences and SCI journals on artificial intelligence.As a young scholar with rich experience in research and industrial projects, Zhang Qiang were favored by several top Internet organizations when he returned to China, but he chose ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center after careful consideration.“Because I see more possibilities at the Center, I am very much looking forward to AI for Science, and also hope to see the paradigm shift, Science for AI, which will be innovative and meaningful.” The Research Institute of Biological and Molecular Smart Manufacturing at the Center where Dr. Zhang Qiang is working is in great need of AI-related knowledge at promoting research in biological and molecular smart manufacturing with high-throughput technologies.Zhang Qiang said, as an expert in computer science and technology, he had never thought he would be so closely related to biology and chemistry. Every day at the Center, he experiences great brainstorming when he meets young scholars from different fields, and sometimes there may be a new idea after a casual chat. He said, “Our research integrates the knowledge of computer science and technology, chemistry, biology and others, and the interdisciplinary research between knowledge graph and AI model can help us better predict the properties of molecules, so it can be widely applied in biomedical field with a wide range of scenarios.”In an open and interdisciplinary landscape, Zhang Qiang hopes to meet more like-minded friends and colleagues to achieve more in scientific research at the Center in a cooperative manner and finally contribute young power to scientific innovation together!

Good News! Hangzhou Engineering Research Center for Smart Design and Manufacturing of Chemical Functional Materials of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center was approved

2021-12-02

 A list of Hangzhou Municipal Engineering Research Centers to be established in 2021 has been announced, and Hangzhou Engineering Research Center for Smart Design and Manufacturing of Chemical Functional Materials, mainly established by ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, was approved as a municipal engineering research center. Organized scientific research to address “Bottleneck” problems!Chemical functional materials are the indispensable materials to support social economy, national defense and strategic emerging industries, and also the key to guarantee high-end manufacturing and industrial transformation. Therefore, its core technology has become the focus of competition among different nations.  Organized scientific research to address “Bottleneck” problems!The 14th Five-Year Plan of Zhejiang Petrochemical Industry proposed to build high value-added industrial chains and improve the manufacturing of new chemical materials, specialty chemicals and traditional fine chemical industries. The newly-approved Hangzhou Engineering Research Center for smart Design and Manufacturing of Chemical Functional Materials aims at key common technical problems such as variable application scenarios and complex structure types of chemical functional materials. It is expected that the Research Center will tackle the “bottleneck” technological problems in petrochemicals, auxiliaries, dyestuffs and special polymers by exercising the interdisciplinary advantages of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, forming research teams and creating new research paradigms with some companies, e.g. Transfar Fine Chemicals and Chuanying New Material.  The integration of “Industry-academia-research-application” leading the transformation and upgrading of industry!The integration of “Industry-academia-research-application” leading the transformation and upgrading of industry! The Engineering Research Center will build a hub connecting academic research and findings application, establish a pilot base linking laboratory research and factory production.Applying self-developed automation equipment and AI technology, the Engineering Research Center will research on precise and smart manufacturing of chemical functional materials, build an automated, high-throughput and smart technical system for the design and manufacturing of chemical functional materials, promote the leapfrog upgrading of green chemicals, precise synthesis and functional materials industries, and enhance the independent guarantee capability of the core industrial chain. Relying on Research Institute of Biological and Molecular Smart Manufacturing and led by Prof. Xing Huabin, President of the Institute, the Research Center has pooled a research team composed of some recipients of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. After making some breakthroughs in AI-driven automated high-throughput synthesis, smart design and green and efficient synthesis of functional chemicals, and smart construction and application of catalytic separation materials in the early stage, the team has been granted 2 national awards and over 120 patents. Besides, about 20 research achievements have been applied into industry. In the future, based on industrial needs, the Research Center will carry out innovative research, address common problems in key areas, and lead industrial transformation and upgrading.

Congratulations to Prof. Chen Hongsheng on his being elected IEEE Fellow!

2021-11-29

On November 24, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) announced it list of new Fellows for 2022, and Prof. Chen Hongsheng from the Institute of Future Science, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center was elected for his remarkable contributions to electromagnetic metamaterials and invisibility cloaks.Chen HongshengHe is a Distinguished Professor of “Cheung Kong Scholar’s Program”, the Ministry of Education, a recipients of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and currently, head of the Innovative Research Laboratory of New Electromagnetic Structures and Quantum Electromagnetism at the Institute of Future Science of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center. IEEE Fellow is the top ranking member of the IEEE, the highest honor conferred by the Institute. Recognized as an authoritative honor and an important professional achievement in the academic and scientific community, the Fellow is selected annually by peer experts among members who have made outstanding contributions, and the number of the Fellows does not exceed 0.1% of the total number of IEEE members.Prof. Chen Hongsheng’s achievements on new electromagnetic structures, meta-material, electromagnetic wave stealth, deep learning and intelligent electromagnetic wave modulation have been widely cited by academic journals at home and abroad. He has published over 260 papers in domestic and international journals, with the citations of tens of thousands of times, and in particular, his papers on new electromagnetic wave stealth and other fields have been listed as research highlights in Nature, Science, MIT Technology Review, etc. In 2020, Prof. Chen Hongsheng, together with his team, became one of the first batch of scientists to be stationed in the Center. Nowadays, most of the 30-plus members Prof. Chen Hongsheng’s team are promising young men born in 1980s and 1990s. A younger force is driving scientific and technological innovation forward in the Center!Team PhotoLaboratory Photo

iGEM Gold Award by ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center

2021-11-26

International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) 2021 was concluded in the early morning of November 15, Beijing time. HiZJU-China, a team from ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, took part in the Competition for the first time and won the gold medal among 352 teams worldwide. The team passed all the settings of the Competition with the best performance and won the highest appraisal from the panel of judging professors with its excellent experimental design, wonderful presentation of results and articulate defense.Genetic engineering helping degrade ethinyl estradiol (EE2)Social progress brought about various emerging pollutants impacting the environment and ecosystem worldwide, and 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2) is one of them. It is widely known that 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2), a typical endocrine interferent, is often used in contraceptive drugs, and the HiZJU-China team has found, through field research,  that there is no effective degradation and detection method for the artificial estrogen EE2. The accumulation of these artificial estrogens in water not only caused the feminization of male fish, but endangered the balance of human endocrine system in several regions as well. In order to tackle EE2 pollution, the team members modified Escherichia Coli with genetic engineering to construct a co-metabolic pathway to degrade EE2 and ammonia nitrogen in wastewater, and, in an innovative way, achieved trace-level biochemical reaction detection with yeast two-hybrid technology, so the content of EE2 in water can be obtained by observing the cell color or fluorescence intensity.In addition, the project is also likely to degrade a variety of organic amine pollutants such as sulfonamides in wastewater. It is a useful exploration to degrade new pollutants and make contributions to the construction of ecological China.Interdisciplinary Integration! Solving practical problems with synthetic biology methodsYu Haoran, Lian Jiachang and Bao Zehua, from left to right The mentors of this award-winning team are the three young PIs: Yu Haoran, Lian Jiachang and Bao Zehua, from the Institute of Biological and Molecular Smart Manufacturing of the Center. The members are students of different majors, including bioengineering, electrical, accounting and industrial design. They showed excellent teamwork spirit with their individual strengths and exercised cooperation and innovation in experiments, modeling, research and defense, etc., and finally overcame the problems.Photo of the Team “Our team is very interdisciplinary, as future industrial development and scientific problem solving require interdisciplinary knowledge and expertise.”Mr. Lian Jiachang told us that the members, apart from doing research at the lab, conducted field research visits to sewage treatment plants, hospitals and other institutions to understand the bottlenecks of industries and practical needs of the society, and they even did artwork, designed web pages and animations to present scientific research results in the most lively way.Upgrading teaching with competitions and integrating industry and research. The young PIs said.We hope that the competition would give students an opportunity to apply what they have learned in synthetic biology into solving practical problems.Meanwhile, they also hope to, with the contests and competitions, open up the vision of the team, promote global exchange and cooperation, and strive to build ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center into a cradle for integrating sci-tech innovation and industrial innovation. News+International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM), founded by MIT in 2003, developed into an international academic competition in 2005, and is currently the top international academic competition in the field of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology is an emerging field of research in recent years, and the research results of the competition teams each year have received widespread attention from journals such as Science, Nature, Scientific American, The Economist, and the related industry. As one of the top international sci-tech innovation events, iGEM is known as the “Olympics” of synthetic biology for university students. The students in applied biology, mathematics, computer science, art design, economics and management from MIT, Harvard, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and other world-renowned universities competed on the same stage and explored the infinite possibilities of synthetic biology.

‘’putting armor on biochar‘’ to promote biochar carbon sequestration potential in soils

2021-09-07

IntroductionGlobal warming is an important issue facing society today. Biochar carbon storage in soils is a potential natural-based solution for carbon sequestration. In recent years, Lehmann and others have repeatedly introduced and recommended this technology in Nature. In response to the large-scale implementation potential and feasibility of soil-biochar carbon sequestration proposed by him, the team of Academician Zhu Lizhong has been committed to systematic researches (i.e. key influencing factors, macro-scale biochar application scenarios, the overall potential of biochar carbon sequestration in farmland soil in China), which provide scientific basis to maximize the potential of biochar carbon sequestration in soil environment to promote the realization of carbon neutrality. Recently, they have revealed the mystery of biochar earth armor. Today, let us take a look at the mystery of the earth armor. Can it promote carbon storage?Figure 1 Scanning electron micrographs of fresh biochar and aged biocharThe fresh biochar exposed a wrinkled surface with cracks and channels (Figure 1a, Figure 1c and Figure 1e). In contrast, the aged biochar showed an observable covering on the surface (Figure 1b). In the image with large magnifications (500 times) (Figure 1f), the surface of aged biochar was observed to attach with a lot of fine particles, blocking the cracks and channels that were observed on the fresh biochar’s surface (Figure 1e). After the removal of the surface substances, both the fresh and aged biochar showed a surface with cracks and channels (Figure 1g and 1h).ⅡFigure 2 EDS images of the biochar’s surface elementsThe SEM-EDS results further indicated that the contents of Si, Al, Fe, and O elements on the surface of aged biochar were significantly increased, as compared to those on fresh biochar which means that the aged biochar was attached with soil minerals (e.g., SiO2). Moreover, the surface contents of soil mineral elements (Si, Al, and Fe) on the aged biochar were decreased after scraping the surface substances. ⅢFigure 3 Characterization of physicochemical properties of biochar(a) XRD pattern, (b) SSA, (c) FTIR spectra, and (d) Result of Oxidation experiment. (“Aged biochar*” was abbreviated for “Aged biochar with surface removed”).XRD results further supported the existence of certain minerals on the aged biochar. The surface area of the biochar after the field aging was significantly smaller than the fresh biochar (Figure 3b), consistent with the mineral accumulation of soil minerals on the surface of the biochar after the field aging, which blocked the cracks and channels (Figure1d, Figure 2 and Figure 3a). The discrepancy between the FTIR spectra of interior biochar and the surface substances indicated the high possibility of organo-mineral complexations, which had been widely reported. The oxidation test showed that the aged biochar with composite layer formed has a higher resistance to chemical oxidation than the fresh biochar. The chemical oxidation test indirectly proved that the soil minerals attached to the aged biochar can enhance the anti-chemical oxidation process of the biochar in the soil environment.ⅣFigure 4 Mechanical performance analysisThe results suggested the improvement of biochar particles’ mechanical strength after the field aging process, which would benefit the sequestration of particle internal structure and substances. The improvement of compressive strength of the aged biochar particles indicates that they might be able to withstand a higher mechanical pressure than the fresh biochar particles, leading to relative lower potential environmental risks, e.g., less fragmentation, less surface carbon loss, and more benefits for the microbial communities in the biochar particles.ⅤFigure 5 The impact of biochar on soil CO2 or N2O emissions (“Aged biochar*” was abbreviated for “Aged biochar without surface substances”)Fresh biochar had no significant impact on soil CO2 emissions, and significantly reduced soil accumulated N2O emissions; aged biochar further significantly reduced soil CO2 and N2O emissions (P<0.05); after scraping off the surface material of aged biochar, the soil CO2 emission reduction effect of aged biochar has disappeared while the soil N2O emission reduction effect was weakened. The results indicated that the surface material of the aged biochar (containing more organic-mineral complexes) played an important role in reducing soil CO2 and N2O emissions.ConclusionsThese results indicate that soil minerals could accumulate on the biochar during the field aging process, forming organo-mineral complexes, blocking the cracks and channels of the biochar, and improving its mechanical properties. The improved mechanical properties could inhibit the fragmentation of biochar particles, reducing the release of labile fractions from the biochar and the subsequent CO2 and N2O emissions. These findings also indicate that adjusting the mechanical properties of biochar particles to improve their physical stability before adding them into the soil, may be a potential way to better control the release of soil CO2 and N2O emissions.本文内容来自ELSEVIER旗舰期刊Sci Total Environ第782卷发表的论文：Wang, L., Gao, CC., Yang, K., Sheng, YQ., Xu, J., Zhao, YX., Lou, J., Sun, R., Zhu, LZ., 2021. Effects of biochar aging in the soil on its mechanical property and performance for soil CO2 and N2O emissions, Sci Total Environ 782, 146824. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146824

Progress in Tumor Treatment Achieved by SHEN Youqing’s Team from ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Published in Top Journals Again

2021-04-27

 The latest global cancer burden data for 2020 released by the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) show that there were 19.29 million new cancer cases worldwide in 2020, among which 4.57 million new cancer cases and 3 million cancer deaths happened in China. The numbers of new cancer cases and cancer mortality ranked the first in the world.Cancer has become a high incidence disease that seriously threatens human health with the advent of ageing society. How to treat tumors efficiently has become a topic of great social concern. Recently, Mr. SHEN Youqing's team from ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation has made new progress in tumor nanomedicine delivery vehicles and tumor immunotherapy, and the findings were published in Nature Biomedical Engineering and Nature Communications.  I. Passing Game! Novel drug carriers break through “layers of tumor defense”The researchers of SHEN Youqing’s team said solid tumors are like a “sphere” wrapped up by layers of cells, and drugs will stop when they reach the vicinity of the sphere limited by traditional carriers, so it is difficult to break through the layers of cells and also difficult for drugs to penetrate into tumors.Mr. SHEN Youqing’s team developed a new type polymer-drug conjugate with cell membrane affinity, which can be bound to cells without adhering to proteins, and will effectively solve the problem mentioned above. This nanodrug, a polymeric OPDEA conjugated with phospholipids, is non-adhesive to proteins and can achieve nanodrug transcytosis by passing through different layers. After intravenous injection, it can circulate in the blood and maintain a dynamic balance between plasma and red blood cell surfaces, ultimately achieving efficient delivery of cancer drugs and improving therapeutic efficacy substantially.It is reported that researchers have been making remitting efforts to develop this nanodrug and the drug is of great significance in clinical translation. The findings will help design translational anti-cancer nanomedicines.The paper entitled “Enhanced tumour penetration and prolonged circulation in blood of polyzwitterion-drug conjugates with cell-membrane affinity” was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering online.II. New breakthroughs in tumor immunotherapyIf the new drug carrier is said to help tumor treatment by external force, immunotherapy is to improve the efficacy by modifying the body’s own cells and then being precisely targeted at tumor cells.It is understood that blocking PD-1/PD-L1 interactions with antibodies can restore human T cells to normal state and thus help tumor treatment. However, large-sized antibodies are often difficult to work well due to poor tumor penetration and other reasons.Mr. SHEN Youqing’s team discovered recently an efficient small immunotherapeutic molecule: 5-carboxy-8-hydroxyquinoline (IOX1), which can hinder the growth of solid tumors when combined with tumor chemotherapy drug adriamycin (DOX). The combination of liposomal IOX1 and DOX has shown it can eliminate various mouse cancer models and produce long-term immune memory. iOX1 inhibits the p-glycoprotein of cancer cells via the JMJD1A/β-catenin/P-gp pathway and enhances DOX-induced immunostimulatory immunogenic cell death significantly. iOX1 is likely to be a highly effective antibody-free chemotherapeutic immunotherapy.The finding entitled “Co-deliveryof IOX1 and doxorubicin for antibody-independent cancer chemo-immunotherapy” is published in Nature Communications online. Laboratory of Bio-Nano Engineering, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological InnovationIt is reported that Mr. SHEN Youqing is leading the Bio-Nano Engineering Lab at ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation, which focuses on the creation and clinical translation of highly effective new-generation anti-tumor nanomedicines. The team has so far developed nanomedicine-related patents and technologies, which have been successfully transferred to pharmaceutical companies at 70 million in August and 20 million in September 2020; the team has applied for 2 invention patents and published several top papers after they entered ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation.

Here come new polymer materials! A review of dynamic covalent polymer networks published in Chemical Reviews by the research team of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center

2021-04-02

 Synthetic polymers (plastics) have been playing an increasingly important role in the marketplace since the early 20th century, and they have been indispensable to industrial development. However, a series of environmental problems caused by plastic products have begun to attract more and more attention with the sustainable social development. Traditional polymer materials consist of thermoset and thermoplastic materials. Thermoset polymers (e.g. epoxy resin substrates, polyurethane foams.) have better dimensional stability and creep resistance than thermoplastic polymers and are therefore widely favored. However, it is also their chemical cross-linking that prevents thermoset polymers from being recycled and reproduced.How to dispose of plastic waste and reduce environmental pollution has become a headache.Is there a material that retains the advantages of thermoset plastics but can be reprocessed and recycled like thermoplastics? Dynamic covalent polymer networks (DCPN) offer a possibility, and they are beginning to challenge our understanding of traditional polymers.Recently, a paper entitled “Dynamic Covalent Polymer Networks: A Molecular Platform for Designing Functions beyond Chemical Recycling and Self-Healing” was published in Chemical Reviews, a top international review journal, with corresponding author of Prof. XIE Tao and first author Dr. ZHENG Ning from ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center. Dynamic covalent bonding is a class of chemical bonds that can realize reverse exchange  under certain conditions (e.g., light, heat, humidity stimulation). The introduction of dynamic covalent bonds into polymers can form Dynamic Covalent Polymer Networks (DCPN), which have very different properties from traditional thermoplastic and thermoset polymers.In the last decade, DCPNs have made tremendous progress in new dynamic covalent chemistry, fundamental material concepts and emerging applications. The review focuses on four advances in Chemical Recycling, Self-Healing, Solid-State Plasticity, and Topological Transformation, highlighting the network structure design of functional materials and envisioning how DCPN complements traditional thermoplastic and thermoset polymers and how they shape the future together.   The reuse and recycling of polymers have been under heated discussions nowadays as they play an important role in environmental protection and energy conservation, and DCPNs have attracted much attention for their unique role in chemical recycling and self-healing. The review summarizes the recent progress of DCPN in chemical recycling and self-healing, and provides insight into the nature of these two applications and the reasons why they have not yet been truly applied into industry from technical fields. In addition, DCPN possesses functional properties that traditional thermoplastic and thermoset polymers do not have. One of the most important properties is solid-state plasticity, i.e., the ability of a material to deform plastically in the solid state, thus changing its permanent shape and giving it new properties. DCPNs with solid-state plasticity have shown marvelous design versatility in deformation devices, artificial muscles, and micro and nano processing.The topology determines the properties of polymers, which in turn affects their application. The topology of polymers is generally pre-designed and is unchangeable after the material is synthesized to achieve desired properties unless they contain “active centers” that can be further polymerized (e.g., reactive polymerization). In contrast to conventional findings, the topology of polymer networks can be manipulated with dynamic bonding, facilitating easy post-programming of the topology. Since dynamic bonds can be activated repeatedly, proposed in this review is the concept of living network, which deems the DCPNs whose topology can be transformed can be regarded as living networks.This concept emphasizes the change of network topology after synthesis, including the steady evolution and growth of polymer networks. The review lists three types of topological transitions with different mechanisms: topological transitions with active chain growth, template-induced topological switching, and topological isomerization (Topological Isomerization), summarizing their distinctive features and advantages, and thus validating the concept of active networks.In conclusion, different from conventional thermoset and thermoplastic polymers, dynamic covalent polymers are a class of polymeric materials with unique properties that are expected to shed new light to human society together with conventional polymers in the future. The full paper is available at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00938