On August 4, the 2024 "Sino-US Health Bridge" and the 6th Tiantan Human Brain Tissue Banking Symposium on “Tackle the Unmet Clinical Needs for Movement Disorders”, co-organized by the China Science and Technology Exchange Center, the National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases (NCRCND) of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, and the Chinese Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics was successfully held at NCRCND, Beijing Tiantan Hospital. The event was jointly organized by the Human Brain Bank - NCRCND, the Department of Neurology at UC Davis in United States, the Departments of Neurology at Peking University and the Beijing Wuzhou Institute of Integrated Innovation Industry Strategy, and endorsed by the International Society for Parkinson's and Movement Disorders (MDS). The symposium invited 39 experts from China and abroad to discuss topics in the field of movement disorders, attracting more than 100 participants in person and nearly 29,000 audiences online.

The event officially started at 8 a.m., presided over by Zhang Zhang, Chairman of Beijing Wuzhou Institute of Integrated Innovation Industry Strategy, Jia Wang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Chen Zhu, President of the Red Cross Society of China and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Victor S.C. Fung, President of the International Society of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, and Gao Xiang, Director of the China Science and Technology Exchange Center, gave the opening speeches.

Academician Zhu Chen congratulated the convening of the conference in a video speech, and proposed to strengthen basic research, promote technological innovation and international cooperation to meet the challenges of diseases, and encourage to strengthen the human brain tissue banking, promote resource sharing, and improve the accuracy of the diagnosis and accessibility of treatments.

Deputy Secretary Wang Jia warmly welcomed the guests. He said, "Medical scientists have nationality, but medicine has no borders". Movement disorders require multidisciplinary collaboration, and he looks forward to Chinese and American experts to discuss new ways of precision diagnosis and treatment to provide patients with the best treatment.

Mr. Xiang Gao reviewed the history of China-US cooperation in science and technology, emphasized the importance of cooperation in the field of health, and looked forward to continuing to promote exchanges and cooperation between scientists of the two countries through the "China-US Health Bridge" series of activities in the future to benefit human health.

During the seminar, the participating experts brought cutting-edge research results and unique insights in the four themes of "identifying unmet clinical needs of movement disorders", "atypical Parkinson's disease", "solutions to the unmet clinical needs of movement disorders", and " human brain tissue banking".

In response to the "identification of unmet clinical needs for movement disorders", Professor Biao Chen from the National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics focused on the identification of preclinical Parkinson's disease; Professor Irene Litvan of the University of California, San Diego, emphasized the need for early detection of rare neurological diseases; Professor Yue Huang from Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, introduced the clinical studies of Huntington's disease, and provided inspiration for clinical research. At the same time, Professor Margaret Morris from the faculty of Medicine & Health, the University of New South Wales in Australia shared new results on the impact of the gut-brain pathway on movement disorders; Professor Yin Liu from the University of California, Davis in United States and Professor Perminder Sachdev from the Centre for Healthy Aging Research at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of New South Wales in Australia decoded the visual manifestations of Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders and drug-induced problems, respectively.

There were two sessions in the afternoon, which were also exciting. Session 1 invited experts and scholars from the University of California, Davis in United States, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing Tiantan Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, University of Melbourne in Australia and Eastern Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine to discuss two major issues.

First of all, in the sharing of "Atypical Parkinson's Disease", Professor Masud Seyal, Professor Orwa Aboud and Professor Marc Lenaerts from the University of California, Davis, United States, shared the latest research results and treatments around Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, brain tumors and headache challenges.

Then, in the discussion of "Solutions to the Unmet Clinical Needs of Movement Disorders", Professor Tao Feng, Dr. Jianwen Deng, and Dr. Duo Wang discussed the future clinical needs and development directions for biomarkers and clinical evaluation of movement disorders. Prof. Lin Zhang, Prof. Anthony Hannan, Prof. Jianguo Zhang, and Dr. Qianyu Zhao from the team of Prof. Zhigang Chen explored the treatment options for movement disorders from the perspectives of clinical experience, pathogenesis, DBS treatment and application of traditional Chinese medicine, and looked forward to benefiting more patients.

In session 2, the 6th Tiantan Human Brain Tissue Banking Seminar was taken place. Mr. Zongwei Zhang, deputy director of the Chinese Human Organ Donation Management Center, introduced the current situation of human tissue donation in China; Mr. Fan Lu from the National Science and Technology Infrastructure Platform Center put forward in-depth thoughts on the transformation of scientific research paradigms supported by brain banks; Ms. Tanya Barretto from the University of British Colombia, Canada, discussed the boundaries and responsibilities of human research from an ethical perspective; Dr. Huiying Guan from Professor Yue Huang’s group of Beijing Tiantan Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University reported on the relevant situation of the National Human Brain Tissue Bank of Tiantan Hospital.

The session also set up a clinical pathological conference (CPC), through sharing and discussion of cases, to deepen the participants' understanding of the clinical characteristics, pathological features and diagnosis and treatment strategies of movement disorders. Professor Huang Yue's team from Beijing Tiantan Hospital reported on the neuropathology of the case, and the discussion was attended by Professor Jing-Hong Ma from Xuanwu Hospital, Professor Hou-Zhen Duo from Beijing Friendship Hospital, Professor Zhao-Xia Wang from Peking University Hospital, Professor Yi-Ming Liu from Shandong Qilu Hospital, Professor Qun Wang from Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Professor Lin Zhang and Professor Masud Sayel from UC Davis in United States, and genetic counselor Ming-Qi Shi from Beijing Mygenetics Technology Co., Ltd. and doctors from hospitals in Anhui and other places also came to the scene to participate in the discussion. Clinicians have conducted in-depth analysis and discussion on the cases of patients with Parkinson's disease, patients with inability to walk and children with involuntary movements, providing valuable experience and enlightenment for clinical practice.

This symposium has built a platform for exchanges and cooperation among researchers on movement disorders at home and abroad, promoted the in-depth development of research in this field, and is another important chapter in the "Sino-US Health Bridge" to promote non-governmental scientific and technological exchanges. It is expected that experts and scholars around the world can put forward new solutions for the research, diagnosis and treatment of movement disorders, and explore new paths for human society to overcome brain diseases as soon as possible!

Reporter: Liyuan Lu
Reviewer: Yue Huang