Guangdong Provincial Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences (Guangdong Microbial Analysis and Testing Center)

The Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, formerly the Fungi Research Office of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Central South China, was approved by the National Science and Technology Commission on May 19, 1964, and changed to its current name in 1972. It is affiliated with the Guangdong Academy of Sciences. The institute houses the State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology in South China (co-built by the province and the ministry, approved in May 2013), the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application (established and operating since 1987), and the Guangdong Provincial Public Laboratory of New Microbial Applied Technologies (established in 2005). The Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Platform for Food Safety Testing and Evaluation, based on this institute, has been established. The Ecological Toxicology and Biosafety Evaluation Laboratory, part of the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Platform for Material Testing and Evaluation, has completed all construction and is in operation. The Guangzhou National Bio-industry Base Public Experimental Center for R&D and Testing of New Biotechnologies and Products has been supported by the National Development and Reform Commission and was completed and put into use in 2011. The Guangdong Society of Microbiology, the Guangdong Edible Fungi Industry Association, the Guangdong Biotechnology Productivity Promotion Center, and the Guangdong Edible Fungi Products Quality Supervision and Inspection Station are all affiliated with this institute. The institute's key research areas include microbial resource diversity and preliminary development, microbial ecology and environmental pollution control, microbial hazards and their detection and control, microbial molecular breeding and biotransformation, and edible and medicinal fungi biotechnology and human health. Currently, the institute has formed four advantageous disciplines: resource microbiology, environmental microbiology, analytical microbiology, and mold and mildew microbiology. It has the capacity to train doctoral and master's students, and was approved in 2010 by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security to establish a postdoctoral research station. The scientific and technological business of the institute mainly focuses on three aspects: scientific and technological innovation, industry common key technologies and scientific services, and technology transfer and transformation of achievements. Among these, scientific and technological innovation mainly relies on the State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology in South China (co-built by the province and the ministry), the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, and the Guangdong Provincial Public Laboratory of New Microbial Applied Technologies; industry common key technologies and scientific services mainly rely on the Guangdong Microbial Analysis and Testing Center, the Guangdong Edible Fungi Products Quality Supervision and Inspection Station, and the National Guangzhou Chemical Ecological Environmental Safety Evaluation Service Center; and technology transfer and transformation of achievements mainly rely on the Guangzhou National Bio-industry Base Public Experimental Center for R&D and Testing of New Biotechnologies and Products, as well as four research and development centers that integrate research, development, and application: the Edible Fungi R&D Center, the New Microbial Detection Technology R&D Center, the Microbial Engineering R&D Center, and the Environmental Microbiology R&D Center. The Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, based on this institute, was rated as an excellent provincial key laboratory four consecutive times in 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2010. The Guangdong Provincial Public Laboratory of New Microbial Applied Technologies passed the acceptance check by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology in 2008 with excellent results. Based on the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application and the Guangdong Provincial Public Laboratory of New Microbial Applied Technologies, the Guangdong South China Applied Microbiology Key Laboratory was approved in 2009 by the Ministry of Science and Technology to become a provincial-ministry co-built state key laboratory cultivation base. It passed the expert acceptance organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology in April 2012, and in March 2013 passed the expert demonstration organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology, successfully upgrading to the State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology in South China (co-built by the province and the ministry). Currently, the laboratory has an experimental area of 4,750 square meters, including public laboratories, a large-scale instrument room, the South China Microbial Resources Center (including a specimen bank and a culture collection center), environmental microbiology laboratories, microbial detection and control laboratories, mold and mildew microbiology laboratories, laboratories for physiological function and molecular mechanisms of edible and medicinal fungi, and pre-industrialization laboratories. The laboratory has 236 sets of various instruments and equipment with a total original value of 36.8 million RMB, of which 36 sets are valued at over 300,000 RMB each, including flow cytometers, transmission electron microscopes, scanning electron microscopes, laser confocal microscopes, automatic fermenters, gel imaging systems, various PCR instruments, ultra-high performance liquid chromatographs, microbial electrolytic respiration instruments, mass spectrometry systems, gas chromatographs, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers, high-performance triple quadrupole liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry systems, graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometers, high-speed refrigerated centrifuges, and fully automatic microbial identification systems. Most of these instruments have been purchased since 2008, and the overall equipment reaches the international advanced level. The laboratories and equipment are fully capable of meeting the research requirements at the molecular, cellular, and genetic levels. Since its establishment, the institute has successively undertaken major key scientific and technological projects, including the National 973 Program projects, National 863 Program projects, National Major Science and Technology Projects, National Science and Technology Support Projects, National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, Agricultural Science and Technology Achievement Transformation projects, National Science and Technology Innovation Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises projects, National Biological High-tech Industrialization Demonstration Engineering projects, Guangdong Province Ministry of Education Industry-Academia-Research projects, Guangdong-Hong Kong bidding projects, Guangdong Provincial Fund team projects, Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Hundred Projects, Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation projects, Guangdong Provincial Major and Key Science and Technology Projects, Science and Technology Aid to Tibet projects, and Guangzhou Municipal Major and Key Science and Technology projects. In terms of standard setting, it has led or participated in more than seventy national, industry, and local standard formulation and revision projects. In terms of scientific and technological achievements, it has achieved a total of 142 innovation achievements, of which 60 are at the international advanced or leading level. It has won 108 national, provincial, and ministerial achievement awards, including 6 special achievements and 12 provincial and ministerial first-class awards. In terms of patent applications, it has filed a total of 287 patents, of which 272 are invention patents, and has been granted 162 patents, of which 147 are invention patents. It has published more than 1,800 papers in core academic journals at home and abroad and published 36 scientific monographs.