CIBR Welcomes New Students in 2020 Opening Ceremony

The 2020 CIBR opening ceremony was held on September 10, corresponding with the 36th Annual Chinese Teacher's Day. Dr. Junwen Mao, Director of Research, hosted the event with over 200 students and faculty in attendance, including the CIBR Co-Directors, Professor Yi Rao and Professor Minmin Luo.

Professor Yi Rao delivers a speech to welcome and encourage all students at CIBR.

Prof. Rao welcomed all students and expressed his wishes for their success. “I hope 20 years from now, when you recall the day you came here, you will all agree that it was the right time to join the right platform for the right research direction.”

Professor Minmin Luo introduces recent developments and future plans for CIBR.

In his speech, Prof. Luo described the recent ascent of CIBR in terms of new research teams, infrastructure construction, and external collaborations. CIBR has recently recruited 14 PIs and 7 core facility directors, and will increase the student body from 57 this year to 107 next year, in order to fulfill the research and training needs of this rapidly growing institute. Moreover, the 50,000 square meters of floorspace in new CIBR buildings will also come into service next year, and external collaborations will to continue to increase, going forward. Expressing optimism about the development of CIBR, he added, “You will never regret choosing CIBR after graduating from here five or six years from now”.

Speeches were also delivered by Professor Chen Zhang, Dean of the School of Basic Medical Science, Capital Medical University, and Dr. Tongfei Wang, CIBR PI, both whom welcomed students and shared their experiences in study and research.

The debut of new students recruited in 2020.

The number of new students at CIBR has skyrocketed in 2020 compared with the previous two years. This year we have jointly recruited 39 outstanding graduate students from domestic colleges and universities, including ten PhD students shared with Peking University, three with Peking Union Medical College, four with Beijing Normal University, three with Nankai University, four with China Agricultural University, and 15 (five in Master's Degree programs) with Capital Medical University. Representative new students, seniors, and new postdocs also gave speeches respectively expressing their expectations and ambitions for future research success.

Student representatives deliver speeches during the opening ceremony.

Haiyue Zou, representing new students, praised the innovative potential of this newly established institute, and resolved to make “great advances” here working with her colleagues.

Bingxin Xia, representing senior students at CIBR, encouraged all students to explore and engage in interdisciplinary research based on one's major as well as personal research interests, in order to make substantive contributions to human health. In addition, she exhorted newcomers to ensure the sustainability of their efforts by practicing a strong work-life balance.

As the representative of postdocs, Dr. Kai Gao emphasized the need for perseverance as well as cooperation when facing difficulties in research, and encouraged his peers to enjoy the curiosity and inspiration inherent in scientific exploration.