Tian Zhigang

Biography

Tian Zhigang is selected into CAS Hundred Talents Program, winner of National Natural Science Founds for Distinguished Young Scholars, and academic leader of Innovative Research Group of National Natural Science of Foundation of China. He used to serve as director of Institute of Basic Medicine, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, director of Tumor Biotherapy Center of Shandong Province, and director of Shandong Key Laboratory for Tumor Immunity and Genetic Engineering. Since 1993, he has been to National Cancer Institute (NCI), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) five times to collaborate in researches. In 2001 he won the Research Project Award of Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). Prof. Tian won the title of“Young Experts with Outstanding Contributions”. In September 2001, with the support of CAS Hundred Talents Program, Prof. Tian entered University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and established a scientific research institution-Institute of Immunology. Now he is dean of School of Life Sciences, USTC, and director of Institute of Immunology and director of Anhui Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine. In the meantime Prof. Tian has assumed the following posts: Vice President of Chinese Society for Immunology; President of the Branch Society for Tumor Immunology and Biotherapy, Chinese Society for Immunology and Deputy Director of Professional Committee for Biological Therapy, Executive Chief Editor of Cellular & Molecular Immunology, an English journal of Chinese Society for Immunology. Prof. Tian has published totally 115 papers, and since 2002 he has published 82 SCI papers, such as 2 papers in PNAS, 6 papers in Hepatology, 3 papers in J Heptol, 6 papers in J Immunol. He gave speeches on or presided over international conferences or international organizations over 20 times, and in 2008 he made a comprehensive report on “Innate Immune-mediated Liver Injury” at the Annual Conference of American Associate of Immunologists (AAI).

Research Interest

Prof. Tian is mainly engaged in applied basic research for natural immunity, disease mechanism and related biological therapy. In the beginning of 1990s, he took the lead in researching NK cells at mainland China, carried out immunologic research for liver in the end of 1990s, systematically studied immune mechanism of liver damage and NK/NKT cells, established a series of NK cell-mediated hepatitis model and solved some technical problems of Liver NK cells. He studied human NK cell subsets with the distinguished function, found innate immune recognition as one of molecular mechanisms of liver immune injury, explained clearly pathologic role of NK cell receptors in liver damage and discovered valuable molecular targets. He discovered regulatory NK cell subsets with the value of immunologic therapy.