LIU Shuangjiang, Director-General of the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS) led a team of 9 delegates to participate in the 10th International Conference on Asian Network of Research Resource Centers (ANRRC) in Seoul, South Korea, on September 5, 2018.

LIU, chairman of ANRRC, delivered a welcome speech at the opening ceremony of the conference, and gave a keynote speech entitled "Mouse Biobank and Microbiome", introducing his microbial research, especially the study of the interactions between microbes and hosts, and clarifying the causal relationship between microbial groups and diseases that of practical significance.

The conference was composed of eight sessions, i.e. Biodiversity, Microbial Resources, Standardizations for biological resource center (BRCs), New methodologies and their applications for BRCs, Information technology and data management, Animal and plant resources.

Representatives from Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Australia, Singapore, Philippines and other Asian countries, conducted academic exchanges and strategic discussions on the culture collection and sharing of animals, plants, and microbial resources in various Asian countries and regions.

ANRRC is an academic exchange platform, which was jointly established by research institutions in the major microbial resources in China, Japan and Korea. It is a combination of the most important resource centers in Asia, aiming to promote the sharing of biological resources and the common improvement of resource research in Asia and other regions.

The conference promoted the exchange of ideas in preservation and utilization of microbial resources among the countries. As the China’s sponsor of the ANRRC, IMCAS successfully hosted the 9th ANRRC meeting in Beijing in 2017.

Group photos in the conference