New joint centre focuses on Chinese medicine

The University of Adelaide has partnered with China to launch a new centre focused on understanding traditional Chinese medicine at the molecular level and integrating it with Western medicine.

The Zhendong Australia China Centre for Molecular Traditional Chinese Medicine is a joint centre involving the University, the Shanxi College of Traditional Medicine and the Zhendong Pharmaceutical Company.

The Adelaide-based centre was launched in Beijing last month at a special event which also marked the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and China.

University of Adelaide Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor James McWha AO, said the partnership offered a unique model of operation.

"It brings together an Australian university, a Chinese university, and direct investment from a Chinese company in a ground-breaking development that offers tremendous opportunities for research and discoveries that will benefit us all," Professor McWha said.

"By working together - bringing together exponents of traditional Chinese medicine with molecular science - we are opening the way for new funding and the expansion of interest in this area of medicine.

"It's an exciting venture that can only strengthen the ties between our two countries and we are very grateful for the support of China's State Administration for Traditional Chinese Medicine."

Those present at the event included the Vice Minister of Health and Director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wang Guoqiang; Australian Ambassador to China Frances Adamson; Executive Chairman of China Pharmaceutical Industry Research and Development Association Song Ruilin; Shanxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine President Professor Zhou Ran; Zhendong Pharmaceutical Company Chairman Li Anping and University of Adelaide Vice-Chancellor and President Professor James McWha.

At the University of Adelaide, the Zhendong Centre will be based within the School of Molecular and Biomedical Science. It will investigate the mode of action of traditional Chinese medicine using the rapidly growing field of Systems or Network Biology which looks at the regulation of complex biological systems in the body.

"The application of systems biology to traditional Chinese medicine is particularly exciting because it explores what effects there may be on the molecular/genetic networks that are altered in sickness," said Director of the Zhendong Centre, Professor David Adelson.

"This will not only provide us with an understanding of how traditional Chinese medicine acts - supporting its evidence-based integration into Western medicine - but it will also increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying disease."

Professor Adelson has also been appointed Chair for the Molecular Basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a new Chair endowed by Zhendong Pharmaceutical Company as part of its investment in this research.

Story by Robyn Mills