On January 5, 2024, we were delighted to welcome Professor Xiu-Wu Bian, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Science, member of the national committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Chairman of the Department of Pathology, Third Military Medical School Southwestern Hospital, to give the first academic presentation of 2024 at the “SHAHE Hall”, Shenzhen University Lihu Campus. The title of his presentation was “Disease Phenome and Intelligent Precision Diagnosis”. Professor Xiu-Wu Bian was invited by Professor Wei-Guo Zhu, Director of the Shenzhen University International Cancer Center.

Professor Xiu-Wu Bian explained to us that the clinical requirement for precision cancer diagnosis is ever increasing, particularly in the era of individualized treatment. That is, pathological diagnosis should provide guidance for cancer prognosis and treatment — the so-called prognostic diagnosis and treatment diagnosis. Traditionally, the gold standard for pathological diagnosis is based on histopathological examination. Modern pathology, however, requires multi-dimensional, large scale big data including imaging, genome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome which are cumulatively termed the “disease phenome”. Interpretation of big data further requires artificial intelligence-based assistance. This approach is the essence of next-generation diagnostic pathology, which emphasizes the relationship between genotype and phenotype. The aim is to deal with the heterogeneity of cancer, which includes not only cancer cells, but also the interacting cancer microenvironment with the extracellular matrix, blood vessels, tumor associated macrophages and fibroblasts. Through extracting patterns of common variations and specific changes for different tissues and cell types, we may provide a diagnosis that is clinically meaningful.

Finally, Professor Xiu-Wu Bian mentioned the concept of the mesoscale, which is the structural–functional organizing principles of biology through the vast dimensional range from nanometers to millimeters in real life. By providing numerous specific examples of successful and failed clinical diagnosis, Professor Xiu-Wu Bian's exciting presentation was warmly received by the audience.

Brief introduction of the Speaker

Xiu-Wu Bian, MD, PhD, Professor, is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Science; member of the national committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Chairman of the Department of Pathology, Third Military Medical School Southwestern Hospital; and chief physician with professional Major General rank. He holds other academic positions including Director of the Clinical Pathology Research Institute of the Army; President of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, subcommittee on Pathology; President of the Chinese Society for Cell Biology, subcommittee on Stem Cell Biology; and Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Society of Pathology, Chinese Medical Association. His research focuses on the clinical diagnosis and basic principles of cancer pathology, which includes tumor stem cells, tumor interactions with the microenvironment, and targeted therapy. He has published 260 research articles in leading academic journals including Nature, Science, Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Immunology and Nature Neuroscience. He also won various awards including the First Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award (first rank); the Ho Leung Ho Lee Science and Technology Progress Award; Distinguished “QiuShi” Young Scholar; National Award for ChuangYouZhengXian; Outstanding contribution award from the Chongqing Municipal government; National Exemplary Teacher; National Outstanding Communist Party Member; and role model in the country's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.