Renowned scientist Prof. Kam W. Leong visited School of Life Sciences and Technology from July 16th to July 18th, 2023. The visit was organized by Prof. Yang Letao to facilitate the development of the field of biomaterials and tissue engineering. Prof. Leong is the Samuel Y. Sheng Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Systems Biology at Columbia University. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Biomaterials, and a member of the USA National Academy of Inventors, National Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Medicine. He has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of innovative biomaterials, particularly in drug delivery, nanomedicine, and tissue engineering. He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed research manuscripts with citations exceeding 63,000 and an h-index higher than 130. His remarkable achievements have earned him numerous accolades, including the Founders Award of Society for Biomaterials.

On July 17th, Prof. Leong delivered a captivating lecture entitled Cationic Biomaterials for Treating Inflammatory Diseases at Tongji University's Hubei Campus. During the presentation, Prof. Leong provided a comprehensive overview of a series of self-therapeutic biomaterials based on cationic polymers and their unique applications in inflammatory-related diseases such as sepsis, spinal cord injury, cancer metastasis, and arthritis. He highlighted the significance of extracellular nucleic acid fragments as critical inflammatory inducers and emphasized the urgent need for effective methods to eliminate them. Since 2011, Prof. Leong's research group has been actively developing cationic polymers capable of efficiently removing extracellular nucleic acid fragments while maintaining a balance between nucleic acid adsorption performance and biocompatibility. After the presentation, Prof. Leong had a systematic and in-depth discussion with the participants, providing guidance for the future progress of the project.

On July 18th, in order to further promote collaboration between Prof. Leong and School of Life Sciences and Technology, Prof. Lu Jianfeng, Prof. Chu Maoquan and Prof. Xiang Yaozu had formal talks with Prof. Leong respectively, and carried out discussions on various aspects including research directions and potential scientific collaborations, and reached the cooperation intention in the direction of mutual interest.

The visit of Prof. Leong has significantly enriched our scientific exchange and cooperation, contributing to the advancement of the field of biomaterials and tissue engineering. The fruitful discussions and collaborations established during this visit are expected to pave the way for exciting new discoveries.