On April 25th, invited by Prof. Tian He (Academician of CAS, Dean of School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering), Prof. Tan Weihong of Hunan University  visited our university. First Prof. Tan visited the Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials. Prof. Tian He made a detailed introduction of the construction, development and the proposal of application for State Key Laboratory, and Prof. Tan gave some valuable suggestions on the sustainable development for the Key Laboratory.

    After the visit, Prof. Tan attended the 117th “Famous Teacher Forum” and gave a lecture titled “A chemical biology approach”. Prof. Long Yitao hosted the lecture and Prof. Tian He, Zhu Weihong, Ye Cebang, Hua Jianli, Zhu Linyong, Xie Yongshu, Zhong Xinhua also attended the lecture.

    His lecture mainly focused on the application of aptamers in molecular medicine expansion. A full understanding of the molecular basis of diseases depends on the development of molecular probes able to recognize disease targets of interest. Until very recently, such tools are absent from the clinical practice of medicine. The newest molecular probe, and one that holds most promise, is a new class of designer nucleic acids, termed aptamers, which are single-stranded DNA/RNA able to recognize specific targets, such as single proteins and even small molecules. Recently, his group applied a simple, fast and reproducible cell-based aptamer selection strategy called Cell-SELEX which uses whole, intact cells as the target for aptamer selection. This selection process then generates multiple aptamers for the specific recognition of biological cells, but without the need for prior knowledge about the signature of target cell-surface molecules. The selected aptamers have dissociation constants in the nanomolar to picomolar range. Thus far, they have selected aptamer probes for many different diseases, and used them to carry out studies at the vanguard of biomedical science, including ultrasensitive detection of tumors, molecular imaging, targeted drug delivery, and, most critically, cancer biomarker discovery. Taken together, these molecular level tools form a solid scientific platform from which to pursue advanced studies in molecular medicine, which has the widespread application prospect. After the lecture, Prof. Tan discussed with participants and exchanged opinions.

    Prof. Tan Weihong received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1993. In 1996, he joined the University of Florida as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and was promoted to Associate Professor (2001) and Professor (2003). He was named a University of Florida Research Foundation Professor (2004), V. T. and Louis Jackson Chair Professor (2008), and University of Florida Distinguished Professor (2012). He is currently a Distinguished Professor and the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Bio sensing and Chemo metrics at Hunan University. Tan’s group has developed research programs in chemical biology, bionanotechnology, bioanalysis and biomedical engineering. Currently, the Tan group is working a variety of nucleic acid probes for biomedical studies and for single-molecule nanomotors, as well as developing new nanomaterials and bionanotechnologies for bioanalysis, molecular imaging and drug delivery. Most importantly, the Tan group has pushed forward a coordinated effort to elucidate the molecular foundation of such intractable diseases as cancer by using a chemical biology approach. His work has been recognized by such prestigious organizations as Pitt con and the American Chemical Society. Tan has published extensively in the field of chemical biology, molecular engineering, bioanalytical chemistry and bionanotechnology, accumulating more than 385 papers to his credit with an H-index of 81 and more than 20,200 citations.