On the afternoon of May 20, 2026, the 10th Elite Forum of NCU School of Life Sciences was held in Room A429 of the Science Life Sciences Building. The session was chaired by Dr. Dong Wang, Deputy Dean of the School of Life Sciences. Dr. Yuming Lu from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Director of the Institute of Biofoundry at South China Agricultural University was invited to deliver an academic report titled “AI + Gene Editing: Making Gene Expression Designable.”

Dr. Lu introduced that in 2022, his team integrated artificial intelligence into the field of gene editing, establishing an efficient closed loop from computational design to experimental validation. They successfully constructed a benchmark dataset containing 1 million protein sequences, “NovoBench-1M,” for AI model evaluation and optimization. 

        Aditionally, through nationwide sampling and next-generation sequencing (NGS), Dr. Lu’s team mined over 60 TB of genomic data, identifying nearly 1 million CRISPR loci and screening more than 30 novel Cas enzymes with activity. They subsequently developed a highly efficient Cas enzyme with independent Chinese intellectual property rights, CasY7.  In collaboration with industry partners, the team developed a CasY7-based therapeutic product for pediatric primary hyperoxaluria (hereditary kidney stones), which received Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. FDA. The related research was published in Nature Medicine.

The team also systematically evaluated the performance of CasY7 in plant genome editing, achieving editing efficiencies of 76–78% in rice and maize (results published in the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology). Meanwhile, Dr. Lu’s team developed systems for precise activation and repression of plant gene expression, successfully increasing the yield of specific metabolic pathway products in plants by 100–200%, and constructed new rice germplasm with broad-spectrum resistance to bacterial blight.

Finally, Dr. Lu encouraged young faculties and students to actively embrace AI and enhance their interdisciplinary capabilities.