UMD Expands Partnership with East China University of Science & Technology

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Dr. Gregory Payne

Five years ago, the University of Maryland and Shanghai's East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) launched a partnership to integrate UMD's expertise in biofabrication with ECUST's translational research in biomedical materials. Today, the partnership – sparked by Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BIOE) and Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) professor Gregory Payne’s appointment as Chaired Professor in ECUST – remains strong.

Earlier this year, UMD and ECUST hosted their first graduate student Elevator Pitch competition, through which 12 of the top students from ECUST's Medical Biomaterials Research Center were selected to compete. The participants gave a one-minute description of their research, accompanied by a single PowerPoint slide.

"The focus on efficient communication has been one of the most important benefits of our collaboration with Maryland," said Professor Changsheng Liu, ECUST’s Vice President and a member of the Chinese National Academy of Sciences.

"It has been great to work with some of the brightest young people in China at a time when China is committed to expanding its scientific research enterprise," Payne said.

Recently, current BIOE student Jinyang Li was awarded ECUST’s Outstanding Alumni Award for her Master’s research on a nanotechnology-based system for the targeted delivery of anticancer drugs.

Published January 30, 2018