China is set to launch a new Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) in partnership with an existing institute of the same name at the University of California in San Diego. The new institute, to be formally opened in November, will focus initially on translational research in cardiovascular science and metabolic diseases.

“China was building a lot of institutes in basic sciences, but no one was really taking it to human disease,” says Kenneth Chien, director of the IMM's sister institute in San Diego.

The Chinese IMM will be housed in a new building at Beijing University and led by Rui-Ping Xiao, now a senior investigator in cardiovascular science at the US National Institute of Aging.

Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer in China. In 2000, 3.3% of the population had coronary heart disease, but that number is expected to balloon to 12.4% by 2030. “The problem is enormous,” says Xiao. “But the research is far behind international levels.”

The IMM will be first national institute in China to focus on cardiovascular diseases and will combine genomics, engineering, computational biology, molecular biology and disease-oriented research. Xiao says the institute has initial funding of about $12 million, but is actively seeking new partnerships.

The institute will host about eight investigators, but Xiao expects to double that number in the next few years. It will also help train physician-scientists familiar with Western standards of science, Xiao says. Selected students would complete their medical training at the IMM in China and spend up to three years at a research institute in San Diego.