Discipline Code: 0710Z2 | First-level Discipline: Biology (0710) | Master's Degree Program
1. Review of Discipline History
Medical Bioinformatics is a frontier interdisciplinary subject that deeply integrates bioinformatics, medicine, and pharmaceutical sciences. It focuses on the intelligent analysis and translational application of biomedical data. By integrating multi-dimensional data from genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and other omics, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), molecular simulation, and systems biology approaches, it reveals disease molecular mechanisms and drives precision drug design and clinical diagnostic and therapeutic strategy optimization. Its core lies in cross-scale biomedical information mining (molecular-cellular-clinical), serving new drug development, target discovery, and personalized medicine.
The Biology degree authorization point at Xuzhou Medical University pioneered graduate education in the university, becoming a first-level discipline master's degree authorization point in 2010 and a first-level discipline doctoral degree authorization point in 2013. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology was selected as a provincial key discipline during the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" to "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" periods. During the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" to "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" periods, Biology was selected for the Jiangsu Advantage Discipline Phase I and Phase II construction projects. In 2021, it was adjusted as a first-level discipline master's degree authorization point and selected for the Jiangsu "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" key discipline. In 2022, the Medical Biotechnology secondary discipline degree point was added. Since 2014, undergraduate education in biological sciences has been offered, forming a "Bachelor-Master-PhD" innovative talent cultivation system in Biology. In 2021, the Biological Sciences and Biotechnology programs were approved as provincial first-class undergraduate program construction points.
The Medical Bioinformatics master's degree program (Code: 0710Z2) was established to meet the growing demand for interdisciplinary talents who can bridge the gap between biomedical data science and clinical translation. Its establishment helps promote the completeness and innovation of the Biology first-level discipline research at Xuzhou Medical University, aligning with the university's "New Medical Sciences" development strategy.
2. Main Research Direction of the Discipline
Medical Bioinformatics is a deeply integrated discipline of biology, medicine, information science, and computational technology. It is dedicated to revealing the molecular mechanisms of disease occurrence and development through big data mining, AI algorithms, and multi-omics integrative analysis, promoting precision medicine and intelligent drug development. The discipline focuses on international frontiers and has developed three distinctive research directions:
Direction 1: Multi-Omics Mechanisms of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Intelligent Drug Development
The pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and cognitive dysfunction caused by diabetes) is complex, involving multi-dimensional regulatory abnormalities in genetics, epigenetics, and metabolism. This direction integrates genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics data, combined with AI technology, to analyze disease dynamic networks and accelerate intelligent drug design and targeted therapeutic strategy development.
Key research includes: (1) Multi-omics data integration and molecular network modeling — utilizing bioinformatics tools to mine disease-related genes, non-coding RNAs, and protein interaction networks; (2) AI-driven drug discovery and optimization — screening small molecule compounds targeting misfolded proteins or inflammatory pathways based on deep learning and molecular dynamics simulation; (3) Development of personalized diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers — establishing disease classification prediction models through machine learning analysis of patient multi-omics data.
Direction 2: Gut Microbiota-Host Metabolic Interaction Mechanisms and Omics Analysis
The interaction between gut microbiota and host metabolism profoundly influences immune regulation, energy metabolism, and the development of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. This direction combines metagenomics, metabolomics, and single-cell transcriptomics to analyze the microbiota-host co-metabolic network, providing new targets for precise intervention in metabolic diseases.
Key research includes: (1) Microbiota functional genomics and metabolic pathway analysis — revealing functional gene clusters for short-chain fatty acid and bile acid synthesis by gut microbiota; (2) Multi-omics integrative study of host-microbiota interactions — constructing a ternary regulatory network of host immune gene expression, microbiota composition, and metabolite concentrations; (3) Precision nutrition and microecological regulation technology — developing machine learning-predicted personalized microbiota intervention strategies.
Direction 3:Research on the Pathogenesis of Reproductive Aging-Related Diseases Based on Big Data Omics
Reproductive aging-related diseases (such as oligospermia, asthenospermia, and azoospermia) represent major challenges in reproductive health. This direction integrates clinical big data, multi-omics technologies, and AI algorithms to systematically analyze the molecular mechanisms of spermatogenesis disorders, mining diagnostic biomarkers and targeted intervention strategies.
Key research includes: (1) Multi-dimensional omics atlas construction of spermatogenesis disorders — utilizing single-cell sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and proteomics; (2) Epigenetic regulation and spermatogenesis network research — identifying core non-coding RNAs and epigenetic marks regulating spermatogenesis; (3) Big data-driven male infertility risk prediction and targeted therapy — developing machine learning models based on clinical-genomic-epigenomic data.
3. Discipline Leader and Team Introduction
Discipline Leader:Prof. Yi Liu
Dr. Yi Liu is a Professor, doctoral supervisor, and Vice Dean of the School of Life Sciences, Xuzhou Medical University. He has been recognized as a "Blue Project" Young and Middle-aged Academic Leader of Jiangsu Province, a "Six Talent Summit" High-level Talent of Jiangsu Province, and a recipient of the Xuzhou Top Ten Young Science and Technology Award. He has led or completed 3 NSFC General Projects and published over 60 SCI-indexed papers. He holds 9 authorized invention patents and has received the Second Prize of Jiangsu Teaching Achievement Award.
Core Faculty Team:
Direction 1 — Neurodegenerative Diseases & Intelligent Drug Development:
• Prof. Yi Liu (PhD, Neurobiology, Professor, School of Life Sciences)
• Prof. Can Gao (PhD, Pharmacology, Professor, School of Life Sciences)
• Prof. Wei Yan (PhD, Bioinformatics, Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences)
• Prof. Xiaoyan Zhou (PhD, Genetics, Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences)
Direction 2 — Gut Microbiota-Host Metabolism:
• Prof. Yinghua Yu (PhD, Neurobiology, Professor, School of Basic Medicine)
• Dr. Wenlong Du (PhD, Bioinformatics, Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences)
• Dr. Youzhen Ma (PhD, Bioinformatics, Lecturer, School of Life Sciences)
• Dr. He Zhang (PhD, Zoology, Lecturer, School of Life Sciences)
Direction 3 — Reproductive Aging & Big Data Omics:
• Prof. Zuobin Zhu (PhD, Medical Genetics, Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences)
• Prof. Ruiqin Yao (PhD, Neurobiology, Professor, School of Life Sciences)
• Prof. Jing Hu (PhD, Bioinformatics, Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences)
• Dr. Jianteng Zhou (PhD, Bioinformatics, Lecturer, School of Life Sciences)
Since 2020, the discipline has accumulated 28 research projects at various levels, including 16 NSFC projects and 8 provincial/ministerial projects and talent funds. The team has published over 100 research papers, including more than 80 SCI/EI-indexed papers in high-impact journals.
4. Scientific Research Status
Since 2020, the discipline has achieved significant research progress. Representative publications include:
(a) Regulatory Role of NF-κB on HDAC2 and Tau Hyperphosphorylation in Diabetic Encephalopathy (Liu Y, corresponding author). Diabetes, 2024.
(b) Multifunctional EGCG@ZIF-8 Nanoplatform with PDT/CDT Antibacterial Properties Promotes Infected Wound Healing (Liu Y, corresponding author). ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2024.
(c) Hydrogen Sulfide Attenuates High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity: Involvement of mTOR/IKK/NF-κB Signaling Pathway (Liu Y, corresponding author). Mol Neurobiol, 2022.
(d) Dimethyl itaconate ameliorates cognitive impairment induced by a high-fat diet via the gut-brain axis in mice (Yu YH, corresponding author). Microbiome, 2023.
(e) Butyrate ameliorates quinolinic acid-induced cognitive decline in obesity models (Yu YH, corresponding author). Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2023.
(f) A fiber-deprived diet causes cognitive impairment and hippocampal microglia-mediated synaptic loss (Yu YH, corresponding author). Microbiome, 2021.
(g) Two parallel medial prefrontal cortex-amygdala pathways mediate memory deficits (Gao C, corresponding author). Cell Rep, 2023.
(h) Maternal NO2 exposure and fetal growth restriction (Yan W, co-corresponding author). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2024.
(i) NMDAR antagonists suppress tumor progression by regulating tumor-associated macrophages (Hu J, co-first author). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2023.
(j) Green Synthesis of MOF-Mediated pH-Sensitive Nanomaterial AgNPs@ZIF-8 (Du WL, corresponding author). Int J Nanomedicine, 2023.
Key research projects led by faculty include NSFC General Projects (e.g., "Astrocyte aerobic glycolysis-derived lactate abnormalities mediate Alzheimer's disease cognitive dysfunction through NMDA receptors," PI: Gao C, 2022–2025),NSFC Young Scientists Fund projects, Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation projects, and others.
5. Strength of the Disciplinary Research Platform
The discipline is supported by several provincial and university-level research platforms, including:
• Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease Bioinformatics
• Jiangsu Multi-Gene Major Disease Precision Diagnosis and Treatment Engineering Research Center
• Xuzhou Key Laboratory of Neurobiology
• Xuzhou Medical University Research Public Platform
These platforms are equipped with advanced instruments and facilities, including high-performance computing clusters, spatial transcriptomics sequencing systems, flow cytometers, laser confocal microscopes, real-time PCR systems, and behavioral analysis systems. The integration of computational and experimental capabilities provides students with comprehensive training in bioinformatics, molecular biology, cell biology, and animal behavior studies.
6. Situation of Discipline Talent Cultivation
The discipline has established a comprehensive "Bachelor-Master-PhD-Postdoctoral" full-chain talent cultivation system, leveraging the first-level doctoral degree authorization point in Basic Medicine and the Biology postdoctoral research station. The undergraduate programs in Biotechnology and Biological Sciences are Jiangsu Province first-class undergraduate programs, with current enrollment of over 400 undergraduate students.
The discipline has established "3+2" bachelor-master joint training programs with the Illinois Institute of Technology (USA) and the University of Wollongong (Australia). The curriculum integrates foundational medical courses with bioinformatics specialty courses, cultivating biological talents with a medical background.
The graduate curriculum covers core areas including: Molecular Biology, Genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics, Bioinformatics Algorithms, Biostatistics, Computational Genomics, Single-Cell Omics, Computer-Aided Drug Design, Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Machine Learning and Deep Learning, Neurobiology, Reproductive Biology, and Clinical Medical Big Data Analysis.
The discipline emphasizes the development of graduate research and innovation capabilities through comprehensive training protocols, encouraging students to apply for research projects at various levels, and promoting academic exchanges with renowned institutions at home and abroad.
7. Disciplinary Social Services
Medical Bioinformatics plays an increasingly important role in serving social development. The discipline actively promotes the transformation of research findings into practical applications, with particular focus on the biomedical industry needs of the Huaihai Economic Zone.
The discipline collaborates with regional pharmaceutical companies such as Wanbang Pharmaceutical and Enhua Pharmaceutical to establish joint laboratories, accelerating the industrial application of AI drug screening and microbiome intervention technologies. By focusing on the precision diagnosis and treatment needs of regional high-incidence diseases (such as diabetic cognitive dysfunction, chronic diseases centered on the brain-gut axis, and male infertility), the discipline conducts clinical big data mining and biomarker development, promoting the translation of research outcomes into intelligent diagnostic reagents and targeted drugs.
Faculty members serve as reviewers for international journals and actively participate in academic exchange activities. The discipline contributes to science education promotion and talent training programs, serving the "Healthy China 2030" national strategy and the development of the regional biomedical industry.
8. Enrollment and Employment
The Medical Bioinformatics master's program (Code: 0710Z2) maintains a stable enrollment plan. The School of Life Sciences has established a comprehensive "collaborative education" mechanism to enhance talent cultivation effectiveness.
With the rapid development of the global biomedical industry, especially the rise of precision medicine, AI drug development, and gene diagnostics, the demand for high-level talents in medical bioinformatics has increased significantly. Graduates are well-prepared for careers in:
• Universities and research institutions (teaching and scientific research)
• Medical institutions (clinical big data analysis, precision medicine)
• Biomedical enterprises (AI drug development, diagnostic product development)
• Doctoral programs at prestigious universities (further academic pursuits)
The discipline's comprehensive training equips students with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in multi-omics data analysis, intelligent drug design, and clinical translation, making them competitive candidates in the job market. The School of Life Sciences has consistently achieved outstanding graduate employment outcomes, with an overall employment rate of over 97% and a graduate school enrollment rate of over 36%.
