Bayer and Tsinghua University establish joint research centre in China

Bayer Schering Pharma's plans to invest some Euro 100m over the next five years in a global r&d centre in China are starting to take shape with the announcement that Bayer HealthCare and Beijing-based Tsinghua University are to establish a joint research centre at Tsinghua University, to be called the Bayer-Tsinghua (Institute of Biomedicine) Research Centre of Innovative Drug Discovery.

Scientists at Tsinghua University will collaborate with teams from Bayer Schering Pharma's Global Drug Discovery unit in the therapeutic research areas of oncology, women's health, diagnostic imaging, and cardiology. Through this collaboration, Tsinghua scientists will make substantial contributions with their research findings to the discovery of new medicines.

Professor Yigong Shi, currently director of the department of biological sciences and biotechnology and vice dean of the Institute of Biomedicine of Tsinghua University, has been appointed as director of the Bayer-Tsinghua Research Centre. The recruitment and selection process to assemble a skilled team of scientists has begun.

As part of the partnership, Bayer Schering Pharma will promote life science education as well as reward scientific excellence at Tsinghua and will launch a Student Fund and a Faculty Fund.

The Student Fund will enable a variety of Bayer-sponsored life science programmes at Tsinghua, including student and scientist exchange programmes between Tsinghua and Bayer Schering Pharma.

The Faculty Fund will reward creative individuals for their significant contributions to life sciences and cutting-edge research in drug discovery, in particular in the fields of Bayer Schering Pharma's core therapeutic areas.