Overview

The Zhejiang Engineering Research Center for Chinese Medicine Processing Standardization, approved by the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission in 2017, is an important university-industry cooperation platform for talent trainingand Chinese materia medica processing research in Zhejiang.

Research Directions

(1) Traditional Chinese materia medica processing and mechanisms;

(2) Chemical transformation in the traditional processing procedures and  development of analytical methods;

(3) Multidisciplinary research on Chinese materia medica processing and clinical medicine

Research Staff

        There are 12 researchers in the Center, with Prof. Cao Gang as the executive director. Their academic backgrounds cover a broad spectrum,encompassing pharmacology, drug delivery materials, analytical chemistry, and microbiome, with a focus on the bioactive substances of natural products, the interaction and mechanism of microbiota and metabolomics.

        Prof. Cao is Vice Dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ZCMU. He has been awarded the Excellent Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC), named as National Young Qihuang Scholar(a title for leading TCM experts) by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Top-notch Young Talent of Zhejiang Ten Thousand Talents Plan. In 2017, Prof. Cao won the second prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ministry of Education. He has been funded by NSFC and several provincial and ministerial projects, including the Zhejiang Provincial Major Research Program, and published more than 100 papers in SCI journals, such as Nature Communication, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, and British Journal of Pharmacology.

Projectsand Cooperation

        The Center has carried out more than 10 national projects funded by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, General Program and Young Scientists Fund of NSCF,as well as provincial and ministerial projects. It also has conducted extensive cooperation and exchanges with renowned universities at home and abroad.

Equipment

        The Center has access to state-of-the-art metabolomics, microbiome, and molecular biology equipment with a total value of over 3 million RMB, including UPLC-QTOF-MS with imaging module, UPLC, HPLC, preparative-HPLC, UV spectrometry, cell culture system, real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR instrument and anaerobic bacteria culture system.