Department of Genetics was formally established in July 2008, the former of which was Department of Biology of Suzhou Medical College founded in the 1950s. The department has a set of excellent faculties focusing on teaching and research. After more efforts from all the faculties and staff, especially two well-known geneticists Professors Jingsheng Gao and Yongquan Xue, the department was authorized to award master degree of Genetics in September 2003. Then, the department was authorized to award master and doctor degree of Genomics Medicine in December 2004 under direction of Professor Zixing Chen, a medical geneticist. Soochow University Lab of Cancer Molecular Genetics was founded in September 2009 (Director, Prof. Hong-Tao Zhang). More recently, Soochow University Center for Circadian Clocks was founded in May 2011 (Director, Prof. Han Wang).
The main courses undertaken by Department of Genetics include Genetics, Medical Genetics, Molecular Genetics, Human Genetics, Basic Biological Technology (III), Biotechnology Industry, Modern Biotechnology, Comprehensive Biological Experiment and Genetic Engineering. The department has been giving lectures of over 600 hours per year for undergraduate, post-graduate and doctorial students who are majoring medicine and life sciences.
The faculties of Department of Genetics were awarded approximately 20 grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Education Ministry of China and Science and Technology Committee of Jiangsu Province in the past five years, and have more than 25 SCI papers to be published in several higher impact journals, such as Cancer Res, J Clin Oncol, Carcinogenesis, Int J Cancer, J Thorac Oncol, Biochem Biophys Res Commun and Prenat Diagn. One program “Association of genetic polymorphisms and DNA methylation of cancer-related genes with non-small cell lung cancer” (Principal Investigator: Hong-Tao Zhang) has been awarded the 3rd prize by Science and Technology Committee of Jiangsu Province in 2008.
Professor: Hong-Tao Zhang, Han Wang, Xiang-Xun Meng, Bin Zhu, Yi-Feng Zhou, Guo-Cun Huang, Bai-Rong Shen(Part-time), Guo-Ping Zhao(Part-time), Yan Zhou(Part-time)
Associate Professor: Guang-Li Cao, Ping Wu, Yi Sun, Mo-Li Huang, Jian Huang
Lecturer: Gao-Chuan Zhang, Xia Liu, Zhong-Qin Cheng, Cheng Ji, De-Yin Yang, Ying-Bin Zhong, Fei Xiao
Technician: Xiao Yu,Zhe Lei, Zhao-Min Zhong, Jia Hu,Yong-Jie Feng
Administrative staff: Ying-Ying Hu
