Recently, notification was received from the Ministry of Science and Technology that, after months of multiple rounds of review—including preliminary application, letter review, and formal application—the National Key R&D Program project (formerly the 973 Program) titled "Key Technologies and Product Development for Genetically Modified Immune Cell Therapy (Application Demonstration Category)," for which Shenzhen Cell Valley serves as the lead unit, has advanced to the final defense stage. On the morning of October 21, the project leaders and key members of each research task from ten participating units—including Tsinghua University, the University of Science and Technology of China, China Agricultural University, and Peking University Shenzhen Hospital—gathered at Shenzhen Cell Valley to participate in the pre-defense project application seminar.

The meeting was chaired by Professor Shi Yuanyuan, Chief Leader of the project and Chairman of Shenzhen Cell Valley. Distinguished experts attending the seminar included Professor Wan Xiaochun, Chief Expert of National Key R&D Projects and Deputy Director of the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Professor Wu Fenfang, Director of the Central Laboratory of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Shenzhen Hospital (Longgang); Li Kedeng, Deputy Secretary-General of the China International Science Exchange Foundation; and Dr. Kang Xi, Researcher at the Translational Medicine Center of Shenzhen Bay Laboratory. More than twenty participants attended the meeting, including Professor Wang Jianxun, Chief Scientist of Shenzhen Cell Valley; Professors Cui Hengmi and Zhang Xinyue of Jiangsu Yinovi Biotechnology Co., Ltd.; Director Chen Junhui and Dr. Xu Yanwei of Peking University Shenzhen Hospital; Dr. Li Xiaorui of the College of Biological Sciences at China Agricultural University; and Dr. Ma Yipeng of Shenzhen Innova Immune Co., Ltd., along with other task leaders and key members.

During the seminar, the invited experts provided professional guidance to the project team, offering many valuable suggestions on aspects including research background, domestic and international research status, definition of core concepts, research value, research objectives and content, research plan, innovation highlights, and expected outcomes. The experts fully affirmed the preliminary preparation work of each research task, as well as the topic selection and research value, and provided logically rigorous suggestions for improvement in areas such as focusing on highlight advantages, closely aligning with assessment indicators, ensuring an overall logical closed loop, and expected translation outcomes.

Professor Shi Yuanyuan, Chief Scientist of the project, stated that each research task should greatly cherish the valuable learning opportunity of having experts provide on-site guidance, and should carry out all preparatory work before the project defense in a solid and effective manner in strict accordance with the experts' recommendations.

This seminar promoted exchange and interaction among the participating units of the project team, resolved issues existing in the project application process, and provided a high degree of assurance for efficiently completing the application task and ensuring the smooth defense of the subsequent project.