The Center and its Research Program

    Peking University and Yale University agree to work together to establish a world-class research center in plant genomics by combining the expertise of faculty members from both universities with the facilities and human resources of Peking University. The memorandum was signed in August, 2000. The long-term goal of the Center is to support a multidisciplinary research program in plant biology in which independent research groups will work within a common facility, sharing resources and expertise. The Center will be most directly associated with the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology ("MCDB") at Yale University and the College of Life Sciences at Peking University. Research at the Center will be initially concentrated in the field of basic biology in model plant system Arabidopsis and on the application of this basic research to crop improvement - an area of great interest and importance both to China and the United States.

    Peking University and Yale University will work together through the Center to facilitate direct collaborations between research groups in plant genomics based at each University. They will also endeavor to enable the periodic exchange of students and researchers between research groups at the two institutions, through the Center. Each year the Center will sponsor a lecture series, in Beijing, covering important new developments in plant biology. For either basic research or technology development, researchers at the Center will be encouraged to collaborate with other parties who are not directly associated with the Center.