The Sichuan-Chongqing Key Laboratory of Metabolic Vascular Diseases is jointly constructed by the Laboratory of Translational Medicine for Major Metabolic Diseases in Chongqing Universities of Chongqing Medical University and the Sichuan Key Laboratory of Metabolic Vascular Diseases in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University. The Laboratory of Translational Medicine for Major Metabolic Diseases in Chongqing Universities of Chongqing Medical University, formerly known as the Laboratory of Lipid and Glucose Metabolism of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, was established in 2013 and approved as the Key Laboratory of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission in 2017. The Sichuan Key Laboratory of Metabolic Vascular Diseases at the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, formerly known as the Luzhou Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases, was established in 2019 and approved as a key laboratory of Sichuan Province in 2022. In 2023, the two sides will prepare for the establishment of the “Sichuan-Chongqing Joint Key Laboratory of Metabolic Vascular Diseases”.

The Laboratory has a dual director system under the leadership of the Board of Directors, with Li Qifu, Director of the Department of Endocrinology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, and Xu Yong, Secretary of the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, as the directors respectively. The laboratory has a high-quality academic team with international vision and innovative spirit, including national talents, provincial and ministerial talents and other multi-level talents, with 101 permanent researchers. At present, the laboratory has established a series of key technology platforms from gene discovery to drug development and clinical treatment: (1) molecular biology experimental platform; (2) high-throughput sequencing and drug screening; (3) molecular imaging and hypoxia workstations; (4) Internet + big data biosample library, and has developed into four distinctive research directions with significant advantages: (1) revealing the microenvironmental regulation of non-coding RNAs (1) revealing the mechanism of metabolic vascular injury and remodeling, and developing clinical translational application programs; (2) revealing the new mechanism of diabetic nephropathy, searching for new biomarkers, and exploring precise treatment targets; (3) revealing the new mechanism and new targets for prevention and treatment of protoaldosteronism, and creating a new system for integrated diagnostic and treatment of nuclear drugs; and (4) researching the new targets and strategies for prevention and treatment of diabetic peripheral vascular lesions and diabetic foot disease.

Some of the research results of the laboratory have reached the domestic leading level, among which the research on non-coding RNA in the cardiovascular field and the basic and clinical research on primary aldosteronism have reached the international leading level. He has undertaken and completed 59 national projects related to metabolic vascular diseases, including two key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), two key projects of the NSFC Joint Fund, one sub-project of the National Key Research and Development Program (NKRDP), and one project of the National Young Top Talents Program (NYTTP). He has published more than 380 high-quality papers in top international journals such as Science (IF 56.9), Ann Intern Med (IF 39.2), Cell Metab (IF 29), Hepatology (IF 17.4), etc.; he has been awarded with China Medical Science and Technology Prize, the First Prize of Sichuan Provincial Scientific and Technological Advancement, the First Prize of Chongqing Scientific and Technological Advancement, and other provincial and ministerial awards. The laboratory has won many awards at provincial and ministerial levels, led the development of several industry diagnostic and treatment guidelines and expert consensus, and authorized more than 20 patents.

In the future, the laboratory will focus on the major problems faced in the pathogenesis and prevention strategies of metabolic vascular diseases, integrate high-level research teams, gather a number of academic leaders with considerable influence in the international arena and outstanding academic backbones of domestic renown, and build the Key Laboratory into a cultivation base for high-quality talents. Improve innovative research, with discipline construction as the leader, technology establishment as the foundation and scientific research as the basis, it is expected to make breakthroughs in the fields of early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of metabolic vascular diseases, and to realize the clinical translation of basic research. We will carry out high-level and substantial academic exchanges and cooperation at home and abroad, and actively participate in major international scientific research programs, and strive to build an internationally renowned, fruitful, and academically important key laboratory for metabolic vascular diseases in Sichuan and Chongqing through the construction of ten years, and make efforts to strive for the creation of a national key laboratory.