On September 22, at the 2016 Shenzhen International BT Leadership Summit and the opening ceremony of the China National GeneBank, the Shenzhen Academy of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences(SIAT) signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shenzhen Huada Gene Research Institute and Beijing Liuhe Huada Gene Technology Co., Ltd. They will carry out in-depth cooperation in the direction of combining bacteriophage genes and jointly launch the "Thousand Phage Genome Project". This is by far the largest number of synthetic single species genomes in the field of synthetic biology. Jiancheng Lu, Vice President of SIAT, Chenli Liu, Director of the Research Center for Synthetic Biology of SIAT, Yingfei Ma, Head of the Microbiology Group, Xin Liu, Vice President of BGI, Hongqi Wang, Chief Business Office， Yue Sheng, the Head of the Synthesis and Editing Platform, attended the signing ceremony.
The "Thousands of Phage Genome Project" expects to build on the existing technology platforms and research of the three parties, complement each other's strengths, and define a clear division of labor. They will work together to complete the construction of a phage and its corresponding pathogenic bacteria database and synthetic phage genome. For major infectious diseases, a new generation of rapid infection detection technology and treatment system based on phage therapy ideas will be established. At the same time, it focuses on talent training and capacity building, and focuses on cultivating "reading, writing" and applying "one professional, multi-functional" composite talents for genomics.
In the era of biological big data, the "Thousands of Phage Genome Projects" will become the representative project of large-scale synthesis of individual genomes in the field of synthetic biology. At the same time, the new phage therapy developed will help improve China's medical ability to fight super bacteria in the era of "resistant bacteria".
