A momentous and unforgettable day, November 9, 2023, saw the opening of the Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing (CIMR). Professor Mei Lin served as the Director of CIMR, with Liu Ying as the Deputy Director Administrative and Liao Xinsheng as the Deputy Director for Clinical Medicine.
Li Yi and Rao Yi jointly unveiled the plaque for CIMR
At the CIMR’s full staff meeting, Hu Wenliang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Capital Medical University, and Rao Yi, President of Capital Medical University, briefly reviewed the preparation process of CIMR and raised high expectations for all staff of CIMR.
According to Professor Mei Lin, CIMR’s success is strongly guaranteed by consistent and stable policy support and financial investment, the recruitment of top talent, innovative mechanisms, and an academic atmosphere. It also benefits from top-notch international research platforms and conditions, as well as effective administrative support. He underlined the necessity of teamwork to complete the task, quicken the construction pace, and promote human health and medical knowledge.
CIMR, approved by the Beijing municipal government, is a new independent legal entity for research and development. It operates on a director-responsible basis, with the board of directors serving as its head. By supporting the deep integration of “medical education research production”, it seeks to advance public health, establish a contemporary medical scientific research system with interdisciplinary collaboration, and play a significant role in the development of a “Healthy Beijing” and even a “Healthy China”. These goals are align with the fundamental requirements of the “Four Orientations”. CIMR fully utilizes top-notch clinical resources in the Beijing region by working closely with Capital Medical University’s faculties and unique affiliated hospitals. Its objectives are to investigate a novel medical research organizational framework, concentrate on focused and well-structured scientific research, create a platform system that facilitates the translation of basic and clinical research findings, and propel the integration of basic and translational medical research to build a pharmaceutical innovation and research cluster of unprecedented caliber.
Talent is essential for the long-term objective. In order to attract and assemble scientists of academic significance both domestically and globally, CIMR has built an international talent recruiting system. The main goals are to create a hub for talent, give a comfortable research atmosphere, and provide a large stage. Cultivating fresh medical research talent with an international perspective is part of CIMR's purpose, along with aggressively supporting research innovation and result change. It works with both domestic and foreign institutions and aggressively investigates a novel talent training model that blends clinical and fundamental elements, medical engineering, and medical theory. Hosted by CIMR, the “Innovation Forum” and “Journal Club” have developed into unique and well-liked venues for training sessions and scholarly discussion.
Dr. Mei Lin, the Director of CIMR
Dr. Mei Lin pioneered our apprehension of the development and function of synapses - nerve cell contacts critical to the communication between neurons. He revealed molecular mechanisms of the formation of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), a special synapse critical to our mobility. He discovered that LRP4, a molecule critical to NMJ formation, serves as the receptor for agrin, solving a decade-old mystery. By solving the crystal structure of an agrin-LRP4 complex, he revealed how signal is transduced from agrin to the downstream kinase MuSK. Dr. Mei also uncovered LRP4 antibodies as a new biomarker for myasthenia gravis that otherwise cannot be diagnosed. He recently revealed rapsyn, a classic “adapter protein”, undergoes phase condensation and is in fact an enzyme whose activity is necessary for NMJ formation, uncovering brand-new mechanisms. Dr. Mei has also discovered an important homeostatic control of brain activity by neuregulin 1 and its receptor ErbB4, both risk genes of major depression and schizophrenia. Dr. Mei’s paradigm-shifting works have been described in neuroscience textbooks and have an enormous impact on clinical practice. For example, a test he invented to detect LRP4 antibodies has been used worldwide in the clinic to diagnose myasthenia gravis. Dr. Mei led a consortium of seventeen clinical centers in the US to study newly identified biomarkers in myasthenia gravis.
10 Xitoutiao, Youanmen Wai, Fengtai District, Beijing 100069, China
010-86738999
cimr@cimrbj.ac.cn
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