The Department of Nanomedicine and Biopharmaceuticals was founded in 2012, based on the former Pharmaceutical Research Institute of College of Life Science and Engineering. It is one of the first batch of universities in China that was approved by Ministry of Education to offer Biopharmaceutical undergraduate program. In 2003, the former Pharmaceutical Research Institute has been granted Hubei Engineering Research Center for Nanomedicine, which was later upgraded to National Engineering Research Center for Nanomedicine of Ministry of Science and Technology in 2009. Now the department has 24 faculty members, with 14 full professors, 8 associate professors, and 2 lecturers. The faculty team includes 1 Chief Scientist of a National Key Basic Research and Development Project, 5 National Young Thousand Talent Program Enrollees, 1 Cross Century Talent Program of Ministry of Education enrollee, 4 Huazhong Distinguished Scholars.
The Department of Nanomedicine and Biopharmaceuticals conducts research at the interface of nanotechnology and other disciplines including biology, pharmacy, chemistry, chemical engineering, and bioengineering. The department has made great achievements from fundamental research to drug product development in the fields of nanopharmaceutical technology, nanomaterials for medicine, and nanodiagnostics and detection technology. In the past five years, the department has led 5 projects of National Basic Research Programs of China (Chief project leader of 1 project and Sub-project leader of 4), 1 project of National High-Tech R&D Program (863 Program), 2 National Drug Innovation Major Projects, over 20 National Natural Science Foundation projects, and over 40 industrial collaboration projects. Until 2020, over 400 SCI research papers have been published by faculty members of the department, including 1 in Nature Biomedical Engineering, 3 in Nature Communications, and another over 20 in journals with impact factors > 10. Professor Xiangliang Yang has been ranked among the most cited scholars in pharmaceutics by Elsevier from 2014 – 2020.
The Department of Nanomedicine and Biopharmaceuticals is in charge of the undergraduate and graduate teaching and talent training of the biopharmaceutical major. The major is strategically oriented towards the emerging biopharmaceutical industry, and is supported by National Engineering Research Center for Nanomedicine and Biopharmaceutical Science and Technology Service Platform of Wuhan National Biological Industry Base. The major spans two subjects, biology and pharmacy, and passed the undergraduate major evaluation that was organized by Ministry of Education in 2015. The major was also approved as a regional pilot reform major of Hubei Province. Many undergraduates in the department have won prizes in international competitions, and published articles in renown SCI journals as first authors. The department now gives 18 undergraduates theoretical courses, 4 laboratory courses, 4 practical training courses, and 7 graduate theoretical courses. The graduate laboratory course has been granted by the national “double first class” project.
