Nov 8 2005
Commissioned by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, a panel recently made an evaluation on applied studies of ion beam, a project supported by the national key technology research and development program during the five year from 2001 to 2005. The research has been carried out by a research team led by Prof. YU Zengliang from the CAS Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province.
After an overall scrutiny of the project, the panel noted that the researchers have set up a high-tech platform for the application of ion beam biotechnology and an R&D network for the technology by integrating such technologies as low-energy acceleration, computation, low-temperature biotechnology, cellular image processing and precise positioning. It is a major innovative achievement, says the panel, which is composed of nine specialists from such fields as chemical engineering, biotechnology, nuclear technology, management and finance.
According to the experts, the project has independently opened up new horizons in the application of low-energy ion beams by zooming in its exploration at the country's urgent demands cropping up from the national economy and social development. Specifically, a series of novel approaches have been developed in modification induced by cellular catalysts and cultivation of improved plant strains, which feature both outstanding economic revenues and rewarding social benefits.
The founding of a versatile technical platform for the ion beam application in life sciences has led to more than 20 important R&D results with remarkable influence both at home and abroad.
These include the successful development of the Vc catalyst which plays a critical role in enabling China's Vitamin C industry to have the upper hand in the international competition. Another feat is the fermenting technology for the Arachidonic acid, leading to the formation of a new industry in this country and within three years, it promoted China to be the third biggest producer and supplier of the chemical in the world today.
In the capacity of a disciplinary classic which also used as a collegiate textbook, the monograph under the title of An Introduction to the Ion-beam Bio-technology authored by Prof. Yu has been translated into English and published in US. Dr. I. Brown with the US State Laboratory at Berkeley, a translator of the book, stresses at his inaugural speech when he was elected president of the Second International Conference on Ion-beam Application: The CAS scientists at the IPP and their lab open a brand-new and fascinating R&D realm for ion-beam application, becoming a leading team in this aspect on the international arena. And their work shows that ion-beam technology has its own wide and promising perspective for bringing benefit to the human race.
http://english.cas.ac.cn