Professor Xiao Guozhi, the famous bone biologist in the world, mainly studies molecular basis of skeletal development and bone diseases (e.g., osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, osseous metastasis of cancer and fracture, etc.) Professor Xiao is the Ph.D. graduated from Peking University Health Science Center; Post-Doctor, Lecturer and Assistant Research Professor in the University of Michigan; Assistant Professor and Associate Professor with Tenure in the University of Pittsburgh; Named Chair Professor and Research Professor in Rice University, Department of Biology and Chemistry; in the capacity of PI, spearhead a few important researches in National Institutes of Health (R01 and other funds) and United States Department of Defense with total research budget in USA at USD 13 million; principal of major researches in 973 Program of Ministry of Science and Technology of China and Chinese Natural Program with research budget totaling RMB 15 million in China. For years, Professor Xiao has been working as the Editor or Editorial Board Member in a few international journals of significance such as JBMR and JBC, etc., and Peer Reviewer in 34 international magazines. He is also the Evaluation Expert in National Science Fund of USA, Research Fund of Italian Ministry of Health, general-project funds and major-project funds in National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Foundation of Major International Cooperation Projects, and Foundation of Researchers in Collaboration with International Scholars and Those from Hong Kong and Macao. For years, Professor Xiao has also been working as the Second-review Expert in general-project funds and major-project funds in National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Q: As the famous bone biologist, can you please introduce your research field and working experience?
Xiao Guozhi: I study bone biology. To be specific, my job is to make researches on bone formation and absorption and its influence on health. For example, if problems arise in the process, diseases would happen and most common ones include osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, which are major diseases damaging health of mankind, in particular the elderly people. So this research field is very important. After receiving Ph.D in Peking University Health Science Center in 1994, I started my post-doctoral research on bones in the University of Michigan. After that, I went to a research center in Chicago and came to SUSTech in 2013.

“I deem it my destiny to become a faculty member in SUSTech.”
Q: Why did you choose to come to SUSTech? What has attracted you to SUSTech?
Xiao Guozhi: A few years ago I was told about a different university in Shenzhen when I was working in the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine. Someone told me about the university while I was driving on the expressway. We felt very excited at the news. After that, I began to pay attention to the progress of the university, hoping to become a faculty member in SUSTech. I believe this is my destiny with it. Either in US, China or any other place in the world, building a premium research-oriented university from scratch is an extraordinary achievement. So I feel very lucky to be involved in this process. Besides, in the past 2 years and more, the Department of Biology has been growing together with SUSTech and has made wonderful progress. We feel very pleased at it.

A thousand-mile journey starts with the first step; development of Biology Department needs efforts of robust steps. 
Q: The Department of Biology is one of the 5 original departments when SUSTech was just established. They have accompanied SUSTech for the past 5 years. The next 5 years marks rapid development of the University. Can you please elaborate on how you plan to develop the Department of Biology? And what about the master plan of the Department?
Xiao Guozhi: Based on the facts, we have drafted a medium plan for the next 5-10 years. In the future, School of Life and Health will be one of the 6 major schools in SUSTech and there will be 150 professor-level faculty members in it, which proves the University’s emphasis on the Department of Biology. Compared with other disciplines, biology is quite special and might have slow development. After all, Rome was not built in a day. Nowadays, we are busy building the research platform for the professors because it is essential for the future development of the Department.

To engage in researches, one has to calm down.
Q: What aspects of research do you hope SUSTech Department of Biology to develop? Why?
Q: Which directions do you wish SUSTech Department of Biology researches would go? Why?
Xiao Guozhi: In general, we would emphasize on the leading fundamental researches. Now the world is quite fickle, in particular in China. Researchers should never pursue immediate interest. Instead, we should avoid bringing the social factor to the campus. People engaging in biological researches should show patience and do basic researches. If they keep doing so, it is likely that they would achieve world-class research results in SUSTech. At the same time, we should focus on major needs of China and Shenzhen and make some application studies while translating research results into productivity and bringing pragmatic benefits to China and to Shenzhen. On the other hand, the science-based layout in the Department of Biology is very important. To be specific, we will emphasize on studying the cancer cells, the pathogenesis of major diseases and the structural biology. Besides, neuro-science and brain studies are future directions of development in SUSTech Department of Biology. USA has publicized the mankind brain program and China will conduct corresponding work in this aspect. Besides, the systems biology, drug research and botanical studies are a few directions emphasized by the Department of Biology in the future. 

Introduce talents including excellent professors and young elites
Q: What’s your plan in faculty building and talent introduction in the Department of Biology?
Xiao Guozhi: Nowadays the Department of Biology has 25 professor-level faculty members, including 1 academician from the American Academy of Sciences and 3 teachers in the 1,000 Talents Program outlined by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC.  At present, SUSTech is working actively to introduce 2-3 faculty members listed in the 1,000 Talents Program. In particular, it is worth mentioning that we just recruited Professor Chen Wei in the 1,000 Talents Program and Professor Guo Hongwei, one of the best scientists in the Chinese community of botanical studies. As a result, SUSTech did very well in the latter part of 2015 in introducing talents. In 2016, the Department of Biology will introduce some young professors, to be specific, about 5 excellent young scientists listed in the 1,000 Young Talents Program. So the excellent professors and young professors in SUSTech will be in wonderful ratio, thus greatly pushing forward development of disciplines. I believe talent introduction is crucial for the building of the Department of Biology. Nowadays, the whole world is struggling for the talents and those countries winning this battle will become the ultimate winners. Thus, talent introduction and faculty building are most important for discipline development. While increasing the number of talents, it is also very important to improve the talent quality. We will also help our professors make progress in their career. With strong support from SUSTech, we will provide better space and research platforms for professors, e.g., by building the Center of Animals in the Department of Biology. Moreover, as an international university, it is important for SUSTech to go international. We will also recruit some non-Chinese scientists as our professors. Till today, we have recruited a young British Assistant Professor. In the future, we will recruit more non-Chinese foreign scientists to make sure the Department of Biology becomes more international.
(Note: Professor Dinshaw J.Patel in the Department of Biology, an Indian, was elected as the Academician in the American Academy of Sciences in 2009.)

Teaching: combine essential abilities and practice in research innovations
Q: What are your plans and measures to cultivate students in the Department of Biology?
Xiao Guozhi: The Department of Biology attaches great attention to teaching undergraduates. SUSTech targets at building the research-oriented university. And this is also the target of Department of Biology. So what’s most important for us is to cultivate excellent students. We will not only become an important research center, but also an education center. Some first-class universities in USA also emphasize greatly on teaching undergraduates. But what can we do to realize this? On the one hand, we will ensure undergraduates grasp solid fundamental knowledge because it will benefit them for their whole life. We will take such measures as small-class teaching, original English textbooks and summer-holiday exchanges to give them more knowledge and broader vision. On the other hand, biology is a discipline of experiments. So it is very important to improve their ability of making experiments. We arrange systematic and sufficient experiments for the undergraduates so that they can learn solid fundamental knowledge and something new.

The Department of Biology is the first in SUSTech to open the course of practice in research innovations, which ensures students and professors engage in genuine researches so that students have practical experience. This year, a few undergraduates in the Department of Biology will or have published theses in SCI magazines in the capacity of First Authors. Besides, our plans and curriculum for the cultivation of postgraduates are also being executed. It is worth mentioning this year the first batch of 8 students were included in SUSTech-University of Macau Ph.D. Joint Cultivation Program, the first program ever seen in training postgraduates. Afterwards, more students will be included in the Ph.D. Joint cultivation programs between SUSTech and University of Hong Kong and Harbin Institute of Technology.
Q: SUSTech pays great attention to cultivating students’ ability in inter-disciplines. What’s the plan of the Department of Biology in the building of inter-disciplines?
Xiao Guozhi: Biology is an inter-discipline. Almost all branches of biology have strong intersectionality.

Q: How long do you hope to spend before realizing this? What are your short-term, medium-term and long-term targets?
Xiao Guozhi: I hope that in 5 years’ time, the Department of Biology will become Top10 in China and Top5 in 10 years’ time. The Department of Biology is working hard to realize this goal. Based on the current speed, the actual speed will be faster. Of course, realizing this goal also needs the strong support from Shenzhen Municipal Government and SUSTech.