The 13th International Symposium of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA), entitled "Bioscience for the 21st Century: Emerging Frontiers and Evolving Concepts", was held in Baiyun International Convention Centre, Guangzhou, China between 25 and 29 July 2011. The Symposium attracted more than a thousand of conferees to attend, which included Nobel laureates and renowned scientists in the fields of biological and biomedical sciences all over the world. A wide range of topics such as biopharmacology, biotechnology, cancer biology, gene regulation, microbiology, immunology, neurosciences, structural biology, stem cells, genomics, etc., were covered in the Symposium.

Prof. Wai-Yee Chan, Director of our School, was invited to co-chair two Symposium Sessions, namely "Human Genetic Diseases, Concepts and Advances & Genomic Medicine on Human Diseases" and "Fate Regulation and Multipotency of Germline Cells". He was also one of the speakers for the latter session.

(from left) Prof. Wai-Yee Chan; Prof. Pak-Chung Sham, Department of Psychiatry, HKU; Prof. Rossa Chiu, Department of Chemical Pathology, CUHK; Prof. Irene O.L. Ng, Department of Pathology, HKU; Prof. Pui-Yan Kwok, Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco; Prof. Paul K.H. Tam, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President, HKU; and Prof. Chris Y.F. Lau, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.