YNU teams win awards for 11 projects at national contest

The students and faculty from the School of Life Sciences at Yunnan University – located in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province – achieved multiple awards in the finals of the ninth National College Student Life Science Competition on July 23.

Their teams won the awards in the scientific inquiry category – setting a new record for YNU in the contest.

This year, the scientific inquiry category attracted 16,732 teams from 629 universities across China to participate in the preliminary rounds, with 567 projects advancing to the intense competition of the national finals.

The YNU folks, with their solid foundation in research, won awards for 11 projects in the finals – including four first prizes, three second prizes and four third prizes.

The four projects that won the first prize were: Screening and Preliminary Function Study of Agronomic Traits of Rice WRKY Gene Mutants, the Molecular Mechanism of Transcription Factors ARF3/4 Regulating Arabidopsis Resistance to Bacterial Wilt, Screening of Key Factors in the Initiation of Meiosis in Male Germ Cells and a Study on the Development and Differentiation of Mouse Trophoblast Hepatocytes.

The projects were said to not only showcase the in-depth research of the students and faculty in the cutting-edge fields of life sciences, but also highlight YNU's outstanding achievements in scientific innovation.