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DOCUMENT INFO Name: Location: Size: Modified: Comments: SRP Membership Ballot Results.rtf Z:\Shanghai\Scientific Review Panel\ o bytes Thursday, August 16, 2001 7:51 AM Empty file specified, nothing to print (9403) DOCUMENT INFO SH ELL-MCCLU RG-0679S2 9/3012005 Trip Report Washington, DC, to Shanghai, China, 14-18 September 2005 This brief visit to Fudan University was undertaken specifically to view the facilities currently dedicated to the Shanghai Health Study's (SHS) Joint Clinical and Molecular Laboratory (JCML), to review the data and diagnostic products currently being produced by the JCML, and to observe newly constructed facilities into which the JCML will move when Consortium funding ceases. The trip was undertaken in response to an invitation from Professors Richard Irons (PI, SHS; Professor of Pathology, Fudan University), Yang Pengyuan (Deputy Director, Institute of Biomedical Sciences [IBS], Fudan University) and Zheng Wenxin (Chairman of Pathology and Director of Pathology for the IBS Research Center, Fudan University) (PDF copy attached). In addition to the JCML and its future home, there was a discussion of the status of exposure assessment activities with Zhou Yimei. Finally, there was a dinner meeting with Professor Fu Hua. A morning was devoted to a visit to the JCML. The JCML is very impressive, with respect to both its equipment and its skilled staff. The laboratory rooms are clean and neat. The quality of the histological preparations is superior to that of most diagnostic laboratories elsewhere - sections are cut at a maximum thickness of 311m, and no knife marks or other imperfections were present in a random sample of bone marrow and lymph node sections. The cytogenetics and flow cytometry workstations are of similarly high quality. A computerized barcoded labeling system is used for tissue samples, the computers are protected against electrical outage, and there is a sophisticated backup for the computer system. The tissue bank, a series of ultra-low temperature frozen storage units, has ample reserve capacity. The JCML operation is clearly state-of-the-art. However, the JCML is currently located on an upper floor of an older building which has no elevator, so heavy equipment, liquid nitrogen, etc. must be carried up multiple flights of stairs. Following lunch with Professors Irons and Yang Pengyuan, there was a tour of the new IBS building, which is still under construction. This elegant modern building has freight and passenger elevators and provision to pipe in liquid nitrogen. Interior work is still in progress and the building is not yet occupied, but construction should be finished in a matter of weeks. This building is located about one block from the building that now houses the JCML. The IBS will house novel collaborative projects in translational biomedical research, including drug development, which are anticipated to involve extensive collaborations between private industry and the University, a novelty for China. Multiple modern auditoriums (seating capacities of300 and 500) and meeting rooms of various sizes on lower floors will allow the IBS to host major scientific meetings. Space on an upper floor of this building is dedicated to the JCML, which plans to move here as one of the first occupants of the new building. Exposure assessment issues were discussed extensively with Zhou Yimei and Prof. Irons, and continued later in one-on-one conversations with Prof. Irons. Considerable field work to conduct current measurements of ambient benzene concentrations in factory environments is in progress, concentrating on specific industries with significant benzene use and current worker exposure (e.g., shoemaking, paint manufacture). The historical record is very difficult to reconstruct, however, as there has been significant turnover of factories in recent years, and 1 SH ELL-MCCLU RG-067953 9/3012005 records from defunct installations are often not available. Also, older data sets in the official government database are NOT available freely to SHS investigators, although an agreement has been reached whereby newly collected data can be shared. The availability and utility of the official database may have been overestimated in the original SHS research proposals. During dinner with Professors Irons and Fu, in downtown Shanghai, Dr Fu announced that he was not certain he will be able to attend either the 2005 SHS Annual Research Meeting or the public symposium at Georgetown University that will follow. He is scheduled to make a formal presentation in each meeting, but it is possible that his political responsibilities will require his presence in Shanghai during the first week of November. He was encouraged to make every effort to attend both Washington-area meetings. However, Prof. Irons has taken note that it may prove necessary to arrange for a substitute for Prof. Fu in November. Jerry M. Rice, PhD Chair, Scientific Review Panel and Ethics Review Panel Shanghai Health Study 2 SH ELL-MCCLU RG-0679S4