On June 28, the 2nd Workshop on Biosafety between Tianjin University (TJU) and Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States, was held at the Peiyangyuan Campus of TJU. 

At the invitation of TJU’s Center for Bio-safety Research and Strategy, the world's leading think tank in the bio-safety field, Professor Anita Cicero, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Health Security, USA, Dr. Gigi Gronvall and Dr. Caitlin Rivers visited TJU to discuss future cooperation and exchange. The meeting was presided over by Professor Zhang Weiwen, Director of TJU’s Center for Bio-safety Research and Strategy. Vice President Yuan Yingjin and faculty members of related fields, departments and offices of Tianjin University attended the workshop. 

Vice President Yuan Yingjin said that it was the second workshop between TJU and JHU in the field of bio-safety research and both sides had already knew each other well. It is hoped that both parties can forge a comprehensive cooperation in bio-safety research field in the future. 

In the academic reporting session, Professor Zhang Weiwen reported on the theme of "Synthetic Biology of Cyanobacteria", giving a systematic introduction to cyanobacteria-based research, such as how to produce high value-added chemicals and how to optimize chassis robustness. Professor Yuan Yingjin's research team has made progress in "synthetic yeast chromosomes" over last few years, with two papers published in "Science" and three in "Nature Communications", about which details were later given by Associate Professor Wu Yi from the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology. After the academic reports, the two sides exchanged ideas and agreed that the appropriate utilization of the synthetic biology will benefit mankind. 

Future comprehensive cooperation between the two parties was the theme of this workshop. At the end of the workshop, both sides had in-depth discussions on issues including cooperative research, joint application of research projects and exchange of visiting scholars and students. 

The Johns Hopkins Health and Safety Center was founded in 1998 by Dr. D. A. Henderson. Funded by the US government, US philanthropic groups and some foreign governments, it is committed to protecting the public from epidemics, disasters and post-disaster reconstruction as well as to carrying out research work into organizations, systems, policies and projects that are related to public health.