Fudan agreement a boost to the Faculty of Medicine

The agreement, which is called an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), was signed last week with DMF’s sister faculty at Fudan University in Shanghai.

“This contract alone is worth the trip here,” says the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Stig Slørdahl.

Neuroscience, obesity, cancer

The agreement applies to neuroscience, obesity problems and cancer research. Chinese researchers will be guests at NTNU. The dean says that Chinese medical students would like a stay of 1-2 months, not to participate in classes, but to be at St. Olav's Hospital, where they can follow medical treatments at close range.

“We hope that our researchers will see the opportunities of a research stay at Fudan,” said Slørdahl.

The dean anticipates that the Chinese scientists will result in a strengthening of the faculty's reputation, through scientific publications and increased internationalization. A partnership with one of the top universities in China is an advantage for the faculty.

A boost for DMF

The DMF delegation went on to Chengdu on the weekend to sign another MoU with Xiâchuan University. This is also a university of great interest to the faculty, according to Slørdahl.

“We believe these agreements will represent a boost for us. But an agreement is not worth much on its own, it must be implemented. Researchers have to experience this as positive. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what I say and do as dean,” Slørdahl says.

It is up to researchers, such as the faculty’s Duan Chen and Astrid Lægreid, both professors of molecular biology, to ensure that the MoU will amount to more than pretty words.

Good time together

Chen, who is Chinese, and Lægreid will produce results by collaborating with colleagues at the selected Chinese universities. All the best collaboration starts with good conversations.

“China is about to be number one when it comes to biotechnology, and they have very good universities. By being here and building good personal contacts, we’re laying the foundation for joint research projects,” said Chen.

Lægreid adds: “Our Chinese partners have spent a remarkable amount of time with us. Thus, we have had the time and the opportunity to move beyond pure science. We talked a lot about research policy, for example. This has given us the opportunity to get to know what affects each other’s ways of thinking, and to influence it.”

Equal standards

“Genetic engineering is a field of research filled with ethical landmines. Many are sceptical about China's ability and willingness to meet international - or western -- ethical standards.”

“I object to that viewpoint,” says Lægreid.

“At an individual level, it is important to have a high personal standard for research ethics. But I see no indications that the Chinese standard would be behind that of the Americans, for example. At the forefront of research in genetic engineering, there are ethical issues that researchers everywhere are confronted with every day, all over the world.”

The most important thing is that China wants to become a full member of the modern world, including in research in general, both Lægreid and Chen emphasize. The Chinese know that they will not be published in recognized journals if their methodology isn’t ethically valid. International pharmaceutical groups will not touch material from Chinese biobanks if the research ethics are not bona fide.

“There are global control mechanisms, global standards for good and proper research that China wants to meet,” say the two molecular biologists.