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Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), located in Wuhan, the capital of central China’s Hubei Province, is a national key university. Starting life as the Hupeh Agricultural College founded in 1898 by Zhang Zhidong, the viceroy of Hubei and Hunan in the Qing dynasty, HZAU is a leading light for higher education in agriculture. These days, as a research university focused on agricultural and life sciences, HZAU has a balanced range of disciplines. Dedicated to higher education, research and social service, HZAU seeks to meet sustainable development goals with advanced agricultural research and technologies. Here, Deng Xiuxin, HZAU’s president, outlines its vision.

This year’s award ceremony took place at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, on 21 June 2018. Science writer Geoff Marsh talks to the 2018 winner Andrea Ablasser, Assistant Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, about her contributions to a key step in the innate immune response, which triggers a frontline defense when cells are attacked by microorganisms.

Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU) is one of China’s oldest schools of modern agriculture. With roots in the Hupeh Agricultural College, founded in 1898, it marked the beginning of China’s forays into higher education in agriculture and has been a leader in the field for 120 years.

As researchers rush to investigate the therapeutic benefits of cannabis, a lab tool long used by natural product chemists has found a new application.

As flow cytometry has improved in capability and precision, its applicability to immunologists and cancer researchers has grown quickly. The best is yet to come.

As histone methyltransferase inhibitors advance through clinical trials, researchers accelerate the search for other epigenetic drug targets.

A conversation with Professor Andrew Cuthbertson AO, Chief Scientific Officer & Global R&D Director, CSL Limited. For seven years, Melbourne has been rated the world’s most liveable city. It has vibrant community spaces and great beaches, and is famous for its arts and sports scenes. It also offers world-class healthcare and education. The state of Victoria leads Australia in health and medical research, engineering, digital technology, cyber security and gaming, agriculture and food production. Here, Andrew Cuthbertson outlines why CSL, a world-leading biotech firm and Australia’s sixth largest company, is based in Melbourne.

Indiana University's Precision Health Initiative has the resources and patient base to tackle common cancers, and wants more researchers to join the fight.

A conversation with Craig Johnstone, Global Head, Integrated Drug Discovery, Evotec. Evotec provides a full range of services to foundations, charities, biotech and pharmaceutical companies, from early drug target identification and validation through hit-finding and molecular optimisation to clinical translation. In August 2017, the company acquired Aptuit, a company with drug discovery, development and manufacturing expertise. Following the acquisition, Evotec launched INDiGO, a system to bring drug candidates from discovery to the point of filing an Investigational New Drug (IND) application.

For more than a century, The University of Queensland (UQ) has maintained a global reputation for creating positive change by delivering knowledge leadership for a better world. UQ consistently ranks among the world's top universities*

Through industrial and global collaborations, environmental research at Tongji University has contributed to the sustainable development in China and beyond.

The growing numbers of slums around cities is creating serious health and environmental problems. Rebekah Brown of Monash University discusses how better water management is a sustainable solution to revitalizing slums. Professor Rebekah Brown is the director of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute. As a social scientist with a background in civil engineering, she pioneers interdisciplinary research across the social and biophysical sciences in sustainable development. Under her leadership, the institute is tackling global challenges embodied by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and implementing solutions to real-world problems through partnerships. In 2017, an international research consortium led by Brown was awarded AUD$17 million in funding from the Wellcome Trust for a five-year project in partnership with the Asian Development Bank to provide novel sustainable water services in urban informal settlements or slums across the Asia-Pacific.

The College of Environmental and Resource Sciences at Zhejiang University is leveraging its multidisciplinary resources and has become a leading player in environmental science and ecology research.

Building on its rich legacy, the School of Geography and Ocean Science at Nanjing University harnesses science and technology to make a positive impact on our environment and sustainable development.

Fudan University is establishing a cross-disciplinary research cluster, EGeo-X, to leverage its strengths in ecology, environmental, atmospheric and oceanic sciences to tackle the world’s environmental problems.

Qatar has been one of the largest oil exporters in the world since the resource was discovered there in 1938, and it is home to the world’s largest reservoir of natural gas, found off the country’s shores in the 1970s.

A conversation with Werner Lanthaler, CEO of Evotec. Evotec provides a wide variety of services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies, from drug target identification through to IND submission and beyond. Just over a year ago, the company established its BRIDGE initiatives: partnerships with investors and academic groups that aim to bring research from academia into commercial development. The first bridge was LAB282, set up with the University of Oxford, followed by LAB150 in Toronto, Canada, with MaRS Innovation and its 15 affiliated hospitals and universities. Evotec plans more BRIDGEs in the coming months.

Indiana University’s Precision Health Initiative has ambitious plans for breakthrough cancer treatments using genomics and big data, and it seeks leaders to help win the fight.

A conversation with Nick Brandon, Chief Scientist, Neuroscience, IMED at AstraZeneca.

A conversation with Professor Mark Ferguson Director-General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland.

Science Foundation Ireland, the national foundation for investment in scientific and engineering research, funds basic and applied research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and promote Ireland’s reputation. Professor Mark Ferguson became the Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Irish government in 2012. He has experience in academia and industry, and is passionate about translating scientific research findings into economic and societal impact.