Invited by Prof. Songnan Qu, a talk titled “Sweet Science – A New Track for innovative drug research and development”, by Prof. Yongmin Zhang (張勇民) shared to IAPME and external members on October 27, 2025. Prof. Zhang is currently an Academician of the French National Academy of Pharmacy, a doctoral supervisor at the Sorbonne University in France, a Chair Scholar of the “Changjiang Scholars Program” of the Ministry of Education of China, and a Distinguished Professor at Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He has published 340 high-level research papers with an H-index of 50 (Scopus), and is currently focusing on the research and development of carbohydrate-based drugs.
In his lecture, Prof. Zhang shared his research progress on the application of carbohydrates in anti-tumor, antibacterial, and novel tuberculosis vaccines. His research has found that processes such as cell-to-cell communication and viral or bacterial invasion of host cells are related to interactions between carbohydrate molecules or between carbohydrates and proteins. Oligosaccharides on the cell surface control processes such as cell adhesion, inflammatory responses, cellular immune recognition, and the spread and metastasis of cancer cells. He emphasized the significant importance of intervening in and regulating physiological or pathological processes involving carbohydrates.
