Welcome to the DICPWeb

Introduction:

      The group was established in April 2000, headed by Prof. Dr. Wei ZHANG who won the most prestigious award “100 Talent Project” from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999. The group consists of 4 senior academics (Prof. Xingju YU, Prof. Meifang JIN, Assoc. Prof. Yan JIN), 3 guest scientists, 4 technicians and over 20 PhD and Masters students.

      To bridge the gap between the discovery of marine bioproducts and commercialization, we are working on the interfaces of marine biotechnology and bioprocess engineering to establish a new discipline of Marine Bioproducts Engineering with two specific research areas of Marine sponge biotechnology and Biohydrogen production from marine green microalgae.

      The missions of this group are:
      (1) to explore the marine biodiversity in China ocean for the discovery of novel marine bioproducts;
      (2) to develop engineering methods for sustainable use of marine biological resources for the commercial development and production of marine bioproducts; and
      (3) to produce marine bioprocess engineers for the emerging marine biotechnological industries as well as for government and academia.

Research Interests:

      1. Chemical engineering
      2. Biochemical engineering
      3. Marine bioproducts engineering
      4. Biocatalysts and Biotransformation

Research Projects:

      With our major research effort focusing on bioproducts from marine sponges and their associated microorganisms, research grants for 8 research projects have been secured nationally and internationally and are currently being undertaken in our group. In addition, we also have projects in biohydrogen production from marine green algae and plant cell-based bioprocessing.

      1. Marine Bioproducts Engineering (CAS “100 Talent Project”, 2000-2003, RMB 2.0 millions)
      2. Discovery of bioactive lead compounds from marine sponges and sponge-associated microorganisms in China oceans (CAS “Knowledge Innovation Project”, 2002-2004, RMB 0.6 millions)
      3. Marine Bioproducts Engineering Laboratory (DICP Director Special Equipment Fund, 2001-2003, RMB 2.0 millions)
      4. In vitro cell culture of marine sponges for biosynthesis of bioactive compounds in bioreactors (National Marine Biotechnology 863 Program of MOST of China, Project no: 2001AA62040404, 2001-2005, RMB 0.96 million)
      5. Silicon biotechnology: biofabrication of nanostructured silica from marine organisms and use of enzymes involved in metabolism of biogenic silica in industry and medicine (EU Fifth Framework Project: QLRT-2001-01967, SILIBIOTEC, MOST of China, 2002-2005; €170K)
      6. Development and field validation of biosensor methods for the assessment of the effects of pollution and solar UV radiation on commercially and ecologically important marine invertebrate (EU Fifth Framework Project: EVK3-CT1999-00005, UVTOX, MOST of China, 2001-2004; €94.4K)
      7. Photobiological hydrogen gas production by reversible hydrogenase in marine green microalgae (CAS “Knowledge Innovation Project” 2002-2004; RMB 0.8 millions)
      8. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of instability in secondary metabolism of plant cell culture (NSFC Project 20176058, 2002-2004; RMB 0.2 millions)
      9. Metabolic and energetic mechanisms of photobiological hydrogen production in green microalgae (National Key Basic R&D Project ‘973’ “(2003CB214506)”, MOST of China (2003-2008); RMB 1.0 million)
      10. Isolation of marine sponge-associated microorganisms and their uses for enzymes screening (National Key Basic R&D Project ‘973’ “(2003CB716000)”, MOST of China (2003-2008); RMB 0.7 million)

International Collaboration:

      1. A 4-year cooperative agreement for personnel exchange was established between MBEG at DICP and Prof. Werner E. G. Muller’s group at University of Mainz, supported by MOST of China and BMBF of Germany (GCH-01/09, 2001-2004).
      2. A 2-year cooperative agreement for personnel exchange was established between MBEG at DICP and Dr Salvatore De Rosa at The Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry (ICB), CNR, supported by MOST of China and Italy government (2003-2004).
      3. A 2-year cooperative agreement for personnel exchange was established between MBEG at DICP and Dr Hong-kum Lee at Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI), supported by MOST of China and Korea government (2004-2005).
      4. Succeed in securing two EU 5-FP Theme Projects:
      (a) Development and field validation of biosensor methods for the assessment of the effects of pollution and solar UV radiation on commercially and ecologically important marine invertebrate (EU Fifth Framework Project: (EVK3-CT1999-00005, UVTOX), MOST of China, 2001-2004).
      (b) Silicon biotechnology: biofabrication of nanostructured silica from marine organisms and use of enzymes involved in metabolism of biogenic silica in industry and medicine (EU Fifth Framework Project: (QLRT-2001-01967, SILIBIOTEC), MOST of China, 2002-2005).
      5. Hosted 10 foreign visiting scholars for 4-6 months from The University of Adelaide, Australia; The Flinders University, Australia; The Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far-East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences; New Lisbon University, Portugal; University of Mainz, Germany etc. 8 person times of Senior Research staff and students have been sent to abroad for collaboration.
      6. Attended 8 international conferences in marine biotechnology with 4 invited presentations and 3 oral presentations. Prof Zhang has acted as a member of Organizing Committee for 2 international conferences and Session chairs for two conference sessions. In 2003, Prof. Zhang organized and chaired a DICP International Symposium on Marine Biotechnology.

Domestic collaboration:

1. Prof. Song Qin, Qingdao Institute of Oceanology, CAS on Silicon Biotechnology and Bioreactor cultivation of marine organisms.
2. Prof. Jiangchun Hu, Shengyang Institute of Applied Ecology, CAS, on marine sponge-associated bacteria and their applications.