Peking University, Oct. 20, 2013: Leory Hood, world-known professor for his extraordinary achievement of initiating systems biology, visited Peking University (PKU) recently.

Prof. Leory Hood

Involved in the Peking University Global Fellowship, a high-end program for world-class scholars, Professor Hood gave a speech about the rise of systems medicine and 4P medicine on September 26. Ke Yang, executive vice president of PKU and executive vice president of its Health Science Center (PUHSC), attended the lecture.

Ke Yang (right) awarded the Fellowship certificate to Hood.

Previously on September 25, Professor Hood addressed the School of Basic Medicine at PKU, talking about "A Systems Approach to Disease: Novel Strategies, Emerging Technologies and Systems Medicine Is Revolutionizing the Practice of Medicine."

Hood, awarded visiting professorship by Dean Yin Yuxin of the School, proposed his suggestions on the “2011 Program” of PKU. He expressed “enthusiastic support” for future development of systems biology in China.

Professor Hood also visited the Institute of System Biomedicine, Peking University Third Hospital, the School of Life Sciences, BIOPIC (Biodynamics Optical Imaging Center) and other research entities at PKU, where extensive conversations were held with local staff and students.

Background Info:

Leroy Hood is a pioneer in the systems approach to biology and medicine. His research has focused on the study of molecular immunology, biotechnology and genomics. He is now member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

In 2000, Hood co-founded, and is still president of, the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, an independent, nonprofit organization that develops strategies and technologies for systems approaches to biology and medicine.

Hood and a team of scientists revolutionized biomedicine and forensic science when they discovered how to automate DNA sequencing in the 1980s. The research has become an essential part of mapping the human genome ever since. Consequently, Hood shared the Lasker Prize in 1987.

Hood also won the 2002 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology (“for developing automated technologies for analyzing proteins and genes”), the 2003 Lemelson-MIT Prize (for inventing "four instruments that have unlocked much of the mystery of human biology" by helping decode the genome), and the 2011 Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize (“for automating DNA sequencing that revolutionized biomedicine and forensic science”).

Written by: Wang Jingwei
Edited by: Arthars
Source: bynews (PUHSC) , Wikipedia (English)