"We have to admit that scientists here have been defeated by SARS,"
Yang Huanming said recently to President Hu Jintao when Hu came to
inspect their work. He also repeated this when he was appointed
head of the Beijing Genomics Institute under the
Chinese Academy of
Sciences (CAS).
On
May 1, US Science magazine published two pieces of research
on the genome sequence of the SARS virus. One was composed by
scientists from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention
with the help of scientists from the Netherlands and Germany. The
other paper was composed by the Genome Research Center of the BC
Cancer Agency located in British Columbia, Canada.
Some overseas Chinese scientists subsequently pointed out: "The
publication of the two papers which have been appraised by their
counterparts announces the conclusion of the SARS virus genome
sequence. Chinese scientists were defeated."
It
will be a source of distress in Yang's mind for some time to
come.
As
head of the Beijing Genomics Institute, newly set up by the CAS,
and general coordinator of the "human genome plan" in China, Yang
knows clearly that China could have been the first to finish the
genome sequence on the SARS virus. This was not only because the
first SARS patient was found in China and Chinese scientists should
have had the chance to get hold of first hand material earlier, but
also because the "human genome plan" research center is no way
inferior to their international counterparts either in terms of
scale or technological leverage.
Yang's partner, and deputy head of Beijing Genomics Institute, Wang
Jian, also bitterly resents this. He had been working in the
research center in Canada which first announced that SARS was a new
variety of coronavirus. "That center is much smaller than ours in
scale. As for the technology, I was in charge of the technical work
there. However, we are lagging behind them now," said Wang.
Although the Beijing Genomic Institute worked out the gene sequence
map of four varieties of coronavirus within 36 hours of receiving
the virus samples sent by the Academy of Military Medical Sciences
on April 15, Dr. David Heymann, executive director of Communicable
Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO) announced in Geneva
that same day that only one variety of coronavirus had been
formally confirmed as the pathogen causing atypical pneumonia or
SARS. Scientists then named it the "SARS virus". "From the
discovery of the pathogen of SARS to the testing and diagnosis of
the virus and to the theory of its elaboration, China has achieved
no first," said a senior expert engaged in medical sciences in a
key medical science university.
Yang and his colleagues have appealed.
It
was recorded on earlier internal material that Yang Huanming and
Yang Ruifu from the Microbiology and Epidemiology Institute of the
Academy of Military Medical Sciences had suggested: the slow
development of the identification of the SARS pathogen in China has
revealed the inadequacy of using traditional methods to identify
new diseases. More efforts need to be integrated and new technology
and methods need to be adopted in line with current technology.
Fast identification and diagnosis systems should be established on
pathogens of unexpected and fiercely infectious diseases in order
to achieve early control of an epidemic. Genome technology is
likely to help in this regard.
They have also put this into action.
"We have been hoping to make a contribution since we knew about
it," recalled Yang, "We have been looking for original samples of
the pathogen since before February this year. We couldn't get them
until the Academy of Military Medical Sciences offered them to us.
This was the difficulty we had. We may have had the lead if we had
got the samples earlier."
Doctor Wang Jian had been to Guangdong many times in search of
virus samples and returned empty handed. According to relevant
regulations, only the Chinese Center for Disease Control and
Prevention is the legal holder of virus samples. It is difficult
for other departments to intervene. In addition, few autopsies on
SARS patients had been conducted in Guangdong at that time. Few
virus samples were available. At the beginning of April, they had
no alternative but to secretly "steal" some samples from one
research institute in Beijing according to personal relations.
However, it was very difficult to get the samples. We had to go
there after 10 pm and before 7 am. We had to wear hats and masks
for disguise when we met. Wang Jian joked, "It made us feel we were
conducting spying activities."
Wang Jian said, "My experience is that cooperation between
scientists should be interdisciplinary, interdepartmental and
exceedingly sincere without too much care on ranking."
Chen Hao, ex-vice-director of the Policy Research Bureau of the
CAS, who has been engaged in the research of science and technology
policy for a long time, suggests that it has something to do with
the traditional habit of "waiting for tasks" in state-run
scientific research organizations. Many scientific institutes and
researchers keep their eyes wide open on middle and long-term
scientific research plans of the state. They all wish to find
projects and funding from there.
However, for other projects which are badly needed in the market,
especially for emergency situations like SARS, and projects where
initiative is needed, few of the institutes and researchers were
willing to take until President Hu Jintao gave the order. Another
obvious disadvantage is the division of departments. Each
administers its affairs regardless of the overall interest. Take
the research on medical science for example where the Ministry of
Health, the Ministry of Science
and Technology, the military, and universities all have their
own teams which possess part of the materials. The different
systems are comparatively closely connected but lack communication
and cooperation. In the case of SARS, this delayed the timetable
for finding the SARS pathogen.
(China Youth Daily, translated by Wang Qian for
China.org.cn, June 9, 2003)