Yunnan University teams up with life sciences firm BGI Group

Yunnan University, or YNU – located in Kunming, capital city of Southwest China's Yunnan province – and leading Chinese life sciences company BGI Group held a signing ceremony on April 3, marking a strategic agreement for the two to join forces.

YNU hopes the accord will see BGI leverage its considerable resources to help commercialize research breakthroughs made by the university. The agreement also aims to widen overall dealings between academia and the commercial world.

It's smiles all round as the two sides formally commit to working closely together on April 3. [Photo/ynu.edu.cn]

Founded in 1999, Shenzhen-headquartered BGI Group – formerly known as the Beijing Genomics Institute – is a leading institution in life sciences, dedicated to applying cutting-edge scientific research to fields such as medical health and resource conservation.

Before the signing, the two held talks. YNU hopes to rely on BGI's advanced platforms, technology and equipment to better promote the commercial transformation of its scientific and technological achievements.

For its part, the group hopes to deepen school-enterprise cooperation with Yunnan University to jointly cultivate professional talent and promote the development of biotechnology.

It is reported that the two sides will focus on the promotion of perennial rice in the near future. Perennial rice is a new type of rice that can be harvested for many years, obviating the current need for replanting and reseeding. It is an important research result developed over the years by a YNU team led by Professor Hu Fengyi.

At present, the team is conducting trials and demonstrations in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh and some African countries such as Uganda – showing its great potential.