On March 30, the 5th China-US Pathology Summit Forum and the Inaugural Meeting of Zhejiang Pathology Association are co-held in Hangzhou by Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Medical College of Johns Hopkins University and DIAN Diagnostics, where more than 20 well-known experts at home and abroad attend in person to give a lecture, nearly 500 clinical, laboratory and pathological doctors from all over the country are present as participants, and the global live channel is open, creating a grandeur at the 5th anniversary of China-US pathology forum. And the official formation of Zhejiang Pathology Association (sharing platform) also brings milestone significance in the field of shared medical care.
Message from Secretary Yu Enyan
Yu Enyan, Secretary of the Party committee of Zhejiang Cancer Hospital addressed that as the chairman of Zhejiang Pathology Association, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital had actively promoted the formation of the Association. In response to the strategic deployment of “healthy Zhejiang, the Association will strive for the homogenization of medical services with the help of such service modes as hierarchical diagnosis and treatment, and remote diagnosis, so as to meet the growing needs of the grassroots for high-quality medical care and help form the medical associations and medical communities in Zhejiang Province.
Message from deputy director Cao Qifeng
As Cao Qifeng, Deputy Director of Zhejiang Health Committee said in his speech, Zhejiang Province was fighting 5 tough battles including medical summit construction, medical community construction, linkage construction of three medical systems (medical insurance system, health system and drug circulation system), health data transformation, and construction of health recommendation mechanism, under the guidance of “convenient medical care” strategy in the medical field. In view of the challenges of insufficient pathological personnel, uneven distribution of pathological resources and uneven level of pathological diagnosis, the formation of Zhejiang Pathology Association was expected to resolve the contradiction of unbalanced development and create high-quality competitiveness in terms of accuracy, sociality, sharing, intelligence and openness.
Message from Dr.Ralph Hruban
Dr.Ralph Hruban, Director of the Department of Pathology, Medical College of Johns Hopkins University, told the story of the College participating in the establishment of Peking Union Medical College Hospital 100 years ago, and the original intention of cooperation with China, which is: on the one hand, to have Chinese patients receive better medical care by providing expert guidance, on the other hand, to popularize medical education by sharing cutting-edge medical knowledge. Particularly in the past five years, Medical College of Johns Hopkins University had formed a good interaction between China and US in pathology by cooperating with DIAN Diagnostics, convening annual pathology summit, establishing international remote consultation platforms, and promoting medical software in both Chinese and English, which produced a profound influence.
Message from Dr.David Fowler
Dr.David Fowler, Director of the Medical Prosecutor's Office of Maryland, USA, recalled that when he first came to Hangzhou to visit DIAN’s laboratories ten years ago, he was surprised by the excellent equipment and staff in the laboratories. Five years ago, he attended the China-US pathology summit forum sponsored by DIAN and Johns Hopkins University, where he witnessed the cooperation of the two parties. Over the past few years, the forum had discussed many tumor-related topics and had become a perfect platform for scholars in China and US to share and exchange crossing the regional differences of the two countries.
Message from Chairman Chen Haibin
Chen Haibin, Chairman of DIAN Diagnostics remarked that as the 5th anniversary of China-US pathology forum, this forum had reached a record high in the number of participating experts and the academic reporting level. This year marked the 15th anniversary of DIAN’s independent laboratory business. DIAN had set up 39 independent laboratories in China, and now was in transition to a stage of competence, duration and depth. The cooperation with Johns Hopkins University over the past five years had laid a foundation for DIAN to go forward on the basis of a high point, which was also a new beginning. It was his hope that China and US would work together to create new pathological achievements, so that there would be no diseases difficult to diagnose in the world
Establishment of Zhejiang Pathology Association
Launching ceremony of Zhejiang Pathology Association (sharing platform)
At the meeting, the launching ceremony of Zhejiang Pathology Association (sharing platform) was held solemnly. Under the guidance of Health Commission of Zhejiang Province and led by Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, the Association was co-sponsored by 11 hospitals including Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Sir Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, etc., with 141 participating medical units. By introducing an international cooperation unit with Johns Hopkins Hospital as the platform, the Association established a three-level sharing platform for pathological precision diagnostics covering 11 cities in Zhejiang Province, and aimed to solve the imbalanced development of pathology in Zhejiang Province, help primary medical institutions inprove their technical capacity, and cultivate talent team to comprehensively improve the level of pathology construction and tumor diagnosis and treatment in the Province.
Cao Qifeng, deputy director of Health Commission of Zhejiang Province, awards the license to Zhejiang Pathology Association
This is another try to establish a sharing platform around pathology following the formation of the Association for the Sharing Platform of Clinical Laboratory Testing in Zhejiang Province in January this year, which is also at the forefront of the country. As the only third-party medical diagnostic institution participating in the formation of the two associations, DIAN Diagnostics gives full play to the advantages as a third party, to promote the construction of the associations together with hospitals.
Awarding and signing ceremony of Zhejiang Pathology Association
There are five orientations of Zhejiang Pathology Association: pathologist group, innovation of pathological diagnosis service mode, international cooperation, supporting medical summit plan with precision center, and transformation of production, learning and research achievements. As a third-party institution, DIAN Diagnostics plays a supportive role in the Association, and will give full play to the technical, platform and talent advantages in pathological diagnosis for many years to empower the grassroots and devote itself to the transformation of pathological scientific research achievements, so as to benefit patients clinically.
High-end academic feast between China and US
Cancer susceptibility, cancer prevention and screening, and early diagnosis and treatment have become the health topics of common people while molecular diagnostics, genetic screening and targeted therapy and immunotherapy have also become the focus of attention of clinicians.
Meeting spot
In addition to the main venue, there are also three sub forums in this China-US pathology summit forum, including: “new progress in molecular diagnosis of tumors and its clinical application”, “characteristics of gene mutations and molecular diagnosis and screening of genetic tumors” and “Forum on diagnosis and treatment of blood diseases- from clinical trials to clinical practice”, where more than 20 domestic and foreign well-known experts show their own strong points, sharing the most cutting-edge diagnosis and treatment wisdom.
China-US conference on intractable cases
On the afternoon of March 29, a China-US conference on intractable cases was held in the international telepathology center of DIAN Diagnostics’ industry base, in which Dr Elizabeth Montgomery and Dr Rena Xian from the Department of Pathology, Medical College of Johns Hopkins University and Professor Fan Qinhe from Jiangsu Provincial Hospital analyzed and commented on the intractable cases, and participating pathologists had a heated discussion and communication with each other.
In the future, DIAN Diagnostics will continue to improve in clinical laboratory and pathological diagnosis and build more powerful technical force and platforms to provide comprehensive, professional and high-quality clinical services.
GMP plant of Digena Diagnostics successfully completed, accelerating the localization of nucleic acid mass spectrometry
Recognized as a “star” in the field of mass spectrometry, nucleic acid mass spectrometry has the advantages of high flux, high accuracy, short detection cycle and low detection cost, and has been applied in clinical practice in many countries around the world. In China, the “Consensus on the Application of Nucleic Acid Mass Spectrometry” released last year believes that this technology is of great competitiveness and is likely to become a piece of indispensable standard equipment for standardizing laboratories in the future.
On April 3, Digena Diagnostics, an innovative molecular diagnosis technology company co-established by DIAN Diagnostics and an international excellent team, held the completion ceremony of GMP plant in Yuhang Economic and Technological Development Zone, Hangzhou, marking the official implementation of the localization project of nucleic acid mass spectrometry technology in China.
The site of the completion ceremony
On July 4 last year, DIAN Diagnostics officially entered into an agreement with Agena, the only FDA certified developer and manufacturer of nucleic acid mass spectrometry technology in the world, following which Digena Diagnostics was authorized to sell core products from Agena in China, and was committed to the promotion of the nucleic acid mass spectrometry technical platform and the multiple gene detection and diagnosis scheme in China’s clinical market.
Over the 9 months after its establishment, Digena Diagnostics has made a series of significant progress, including the introduction of nucleic acid mass spectrometry technical platforms leading in the world, the establishment of an expert team and a quality system compliant with the production and quality management standards for in vitro diagnostic reagents, the development of multiple nucleic acid mass spectrometry detection reagents in the field of pharmacogenomics, the construction of the standard GMP plant, etc.
Message from deputy director Cai Meng
At the ceremony, Cai Meng, member of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Management Committee of Yuhang District Economic and Technological Development Zone addressed that Yuhang Economic and Technological Development Zone was striving to develop digital economy and bioeconomy, which was why he was very supportive that Digena Diagnostics could take root and develop here, and we firmly believed that Digena could bring global leading technology and excellent talent teams to promote the development of precision medicine.
Message from chairman Chen Haibin
Chen Haibin, chairman of DIAN Diagnostics remarked that Digena Diagnostics had completed a lot in a very short term, including: constructing a standard GMP plant, entering the market quickly, successfully cooperating with Agena teams, etc., and had become a paragon of the “three good modes”- good technology, good team and good mechanism, as advocated by DIAN. With many unique advantages and competitiveness, the nucleic acid mass spectrometry greatly conformed to the needs of domestic clinical market. He expected that Digena Diagnostics could introduce this technology into market as soon as possible to benefit common people in China.
Message from general manager Wang Bofei
As remarked by Wang Bofei, vice president of Agena Global and general manager of Agena China, the completion of Digena’s GMP plant reflected “China’s speed”. DIAN was of great advantages in many aspects including market, channel, scale and industrial chain, so on behalf of Agena, he said that he was very lucky to select DIAN and Digena team as partner to realize the successful implementation of the nucleic acid mass spectrometry project.
Message from director Tian Yaping
Professor Tian Yaping, director of the Biochemistry Department of Chinese PLA General Hospital proposed that against the backdrop that China was promoting the “national health” plan and the health concept of "preventive treatment", the nucleic acid mass spectrometry of Digena could help people predict diseases and medication risks in depth and detail, which was helpful to achieve “preventive treatment”.
Message from chairman Ding Lieming
Ding Lieming, chairman of Betta Pharmaceuticals said that he was very pleased to participate in the witness of the completion ceremony of Digena’s GMP plant. Digena was the first project settling in Betta Dream Works. He hoped to provide a good platform for it to move forward and to contribute to the establishment of a Healthy China.
Message from general manager Zhang Yu
Zhang Yu, general manager of Digena Diagnostics expressed his gratitude in his speech. He said that Digena team was greatly encouraged by the award of the“leading talent project of Yuhang District high-level talent innovation project in 2018” obtained last year. The completion of Digena’s GMP plant not only laid a foundation for the Digena’s development in the next five years, but also created favorable conditions for the transformation and implementation of nucleic acid mass spectrometry in China. So far, Digena had accomplished the R&D of multiple genetic detection kits with multiple genes and multiple sites, and now was applying for certification.
The launching ceremony
On the launching ceremony, Cai Meng, member of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Management Committee of Yuhang District Economic and Technological Development Zone took the stage with Professor Tian Yaping, director of the Biochemistry Department of Chinese PLA General Hospital , Professor Yu Yongguo, director of Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and Genetics, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Ding Lieming, chairman of Betta Pharmaceuticals, Wang Bofei, vice president of Agena Global and general manager of Agena China, Chen Haibin, chairman of DIAN Diagnostics and Zhang Yu, general manager of Digena Diagnostics, all of whom together unveiled the red silk covering the LOGO of Digena’s GMP plant with all guests and Digena’s staff counting down “3, 2, 1... Start!”, marking the official opening of the plant.
Visiting the plant
After the ceremony, the participants visited Digena’s standard GMP plant with an area of about 4000m2 to have a close contact with Digena’s nucleic acid mass spectrometer DP-TOF which was a product of MassARRAY® nucleic acid mass spectrometry genetic analysis system transformed in China and would be put into clinical application market in the future, for which Digena was applying for registration at Zhejiang Medical Products Administration.
Planting a “Digena tree”
On the green belt outside the plant, they planted a “Digena tree” symbolizing their best wishes to Digena in its career
Bearing the concept of “intelligence, innovation, collaboration and practicality”, Digena will accelerate the R&D, transformation and application of nucleic acid mass spectrometry in the future to benefit people with this technology.
Nucleic acid mass spectrometry detection system
Based on the technology of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF), this system is an original high-precision DNA qualitative analysis platform of nucleic acid mass spectrometry in the world, able to cover all fields of biomedicine, including genetic disease detection, pharmacogenomics, cancer analysis, solid tumor and liquid biopsy, clinical translational medicine research, etc., by perfect integration of the high sensitivity of PCR technology, high throughput of chip technology, high precision of mass spectrometry and powerful functions of computer-based intelligent analysis.
