From October 27th to October 30th, 2019, at the invitation of Professor Lei Liancheng from the College of Veterinary Medicine, 4 people from Imperial College London including Professor Paul Langford, Professor JANINE BOSSE, Professor Li Yanwen and Dr. Oliver William Stringer came to Jilin University for a four-day academic exchange visit.
Paul Langford is a professor of microbiology at the Notre Dame Mary School of Medicine at Imperial College London. The research interests of his team mainly focus on the pathogenesis of bacterial infectious diseases of the respiratory tract and meninges, vaccine development, and molecular monitoring of related pathogens. He has made outstanding contributions to the research of human meningococcus and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, and the first complete genome sequencing and annotation of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP). He is currently a member of the British Scientific Advisory Board and a special judge for the Infection and Immunity Project Review of the Major Foundation. He once led the major international projects of British biology and biotechnology. Paul Langford team’s research on APP has made outstanding achievements in virulence factors, new genetic engineering plasmid tool development, gene sequencing, and vaccine research, and has obvious advantages in the international arena. Professor Paul Langford and his team have published more than 100 articles in journals such as N Engl J Med, BMJ, Nat Commun, PLoS Med, Clin. Infect. Dis., and obtained many international patents.
The team of Professor Paul Langford and the team of Professor Lei Liancheng of our college have maintained a long-term friendly cooperative relationship, not only because both teams have the same research field, but also because the teams trust each other, understand each other, and embrace scientific research. They have the same passion. Over the years, he has jointly trained 1 PhD, jointly applied for 3 communication cooperation projects in China and the UK, and shared multiple gene manipulation platforms of APP. In addition to visiting and studying during this visit, academic exchanges were the theme of the activity. The Paul Langford team worked tirelessly to conduct 3 academic reports and 1 symposium in a very short period of time.They spent a lot of time conducting in-depth and detailed academic communication with teachers and students. After Professor Lei Liancheng’s overall introduction, the team’s academic leader, Dr. Wang Shuang, chaired the research results report. Dr. Zhu Rining, Dr. Bao Chuntong, Dr. Jiang Hexiang, and Dr. Wang Shuang introduced the achievements made in recent years as well as the future work plan on behalf of different research directions of the research group. Paul’s team listened carefully to the report of each student, and from time to time carefully asked about the source of some experimental data, the technology used and the specific operation method, and carefully sorted out the background, rigor and reliability of some interesting results. Discuss the accuracy of each research focus and the rationality of experimental design, fully excavate the scientific significance and value of new discoveries, and give very good guidance and suggestions to some newly discovered future research directions and key content. Based on his familiarity with the subject and a wealth of relevant knowledge, the lecturer showed clear academic views and good scientific research qualities in answering questions, and was praised by Professor Paul Langford, Professor JANINE BOSSE, Professor Li Yanwen and Dr. Oliver William Stringer. They showed expectations for future scientific research results and development. All the graduate students of the team participated in the discussion, and everyone expressed their opinions and the atmosphere was very active.
In order to help graduate students improve their writing skills, Professor Paul Langford carefully prepared a lecture on "How to Write Good SCI Papers". He comprehensively explained how to write a good essay from the aspects of title, essay structure, content logic, and common language errors, and used vivid and humorous language to interact with students, allowing teachers and students to learn a wealth of knowledge in a relaxed and interesting atmosphere. After the lecture, the students asked the professors about the problems encountered in writing. The professors not only answered patiently one by one, but also conducted detailed linguistic and academic review and discussion on the English articles to be submitted.
Paul’s team made 3 academic reports for the college. They not only introduced the latest international typing methods and newly discovered serotypes of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, but also brought us advanced and well-applicable rapid gene detection technology. Their rigorous scientific research style and solid applied research provide a good example of how to apply scientific research results to practice.
The internationalization of education is one of the important measures taken by College of Veterinary Medicine to actively implement the school's "double first-class" discipline construction. Director Li Jianhua, Professor Han Wenyu, Professor Ding Zhuang, Professor Lei Liancheng, and Professor Feng Xin of the Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine held a warm welcome ceremony for Paul’s team.. Professor Han Wenyu spoke highly of the fruitful cooperation between Paul’s team and the Microbiology and Immunology Laboratory of the College over the years; Professor Liu Mingyuan, Dean of the College, Professor Wang Xinping, Director of the Department of Public Health, Professor Qiu Jiazhang, Director of the Department of Basic Veterinary Medicine attended the discussion. Professor Paul Langford immediately said that Jilin University has left him a very good impression. He was very willing to cooperate with Jilin University in personnel training and academic research more extensively, and intends to cooperate with Jilin University to bring their new achievements-The swine respiratory system high-throughput pathogen detection kit was declared a new veterinary drug certificate in China. The college presented Professor Paul Langford with exquisite souvenirs bearing the logo of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
This event had a profound and positive impact on the teachers and students participating in the conference. During the conference, everyone not only learned the international cutting-edge experimental technology and writing skills, but also exercised their English expression and listening skills. After this exchange, everyone has benefited a lot. Many students said that they had a clearer vision of their future goals while discovering their lack of ability. They hoped that they can further improve their English and experimental levels and make their own contributions to scientific research.