The 2016 World Life Science Conference (WLSC2016) opened on Nov. 1 in Beijing. World-renowned life scientists including 10 Nobel Laureates, 4 World Food Prize and Wolf Prize in Agriculture winners, Royal Society President V. Ramakrishnanand US NAS President Marcia McNutt attended the conference.

At the opening ceremony, Shang Yong, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), read out a message from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, in which he stressed the importance of life science to the survival and health of humankind as well as sustainable development. Premier Li encourages Chinese scientists and industrialists to work hand in hand to meet the challenges facing the human survival and development with more scientific breakthroughs and innovation.

Chen Zhu, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the China's National People's Congress and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered the opening speech. He said that in recent years China had achieved significant innovative results and breakthroughs in many areas of life sciences such as hybrid rice breeding, induced pluripotent stem cells, animal organ transplantation, bioengineered artificial cornea, Ebora vaccine and new anti-cancer drugs. He hoped that the communication and discussions among the participants from various countries at this conference would inspire newideas for innovation and facilitate a win-win development so as to make due contributions to the health and well-being of the humankind.

About 4,000 scientists and engineers working in various fields of life science from 36 countries and regions participated in the opening ceremony. Conference chairman Prof. David Baltimore, a laureate of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine from California Institute of Technology, delivered a speech at the ceremony.

Sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and organized by the China Union of Life Science Societies and the China International Scientific and Technological Exchange Center, the three-day long conference focuses on the theme "Health, Agriculture, Environment", with 66 sessions addressing topics relating to biology, basic medicine, clinical medicine, pharmacology, agriculture, environment, animal science, biotechnology, nutrition, medical ethics and health policy, biobank, etc. More than 400 internationally known scientists will make presentations focusing on the cutting edge progress and trend in biology, health, agriculture and environment. The conference program also includes poster sessions, a discussion session for youth from BRICS countries, an interactive dialogue between Nobel laureates and middle-school students, and an exhibition that showcases the progress in the frontier of world life science research and the achievements made by Chinese scientists.

（SOURCE： China Association of Science and Technology)