From the Sino-German collaboration on purines to the Chinese Purine Club

摘要

In the winter of 2011, Prof. Yong Tang and Dr. Zhan-Guo Gao met for lunch at the NIH (Bethesda, Maryland, USA). Based on the suggestion of Dr. Gao, Prof. Geoffrey Burnstock (Melbourne, Australia) was contacted, who recommended to set up a broad collaboration between Chinese scientists to investigate the purinergic hypothesis of acupuncture and also to promote the development of purine research in China. On this occasion, Prof. Peter Illes (University of Leipzig, Germany) was proposed by Prof. Burnstock to write a proposal together with Prof. Yong Tang (Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), China) and submit it to the Sino-German Center (Beijing, China) for financing the “1st Sino-German Symposium on Purinergic Signalling, Pain and Acupuncture” in Chengdu.