Prof. Qiufu Ma, chair professor at Westlake University.

The Westlake Education Foundation recently set up the Westlake Neurobiological and Physiological Research Endowment Fund (“Pine Endowment Fund”) to support research in physiology and acupuncture – and it all started with Prof. Qiufu Ma’s research on pain.

Ma joined Westlake in fall 2022 as a full-time chair professor of neurobiology and director of the Center of Bioelectronic Medicine. He previously worked for 23 years at Harvard Medical School, where he made outstanding contributions to research on the transmission of pain in the spinal cord.

However, despite decades of research, researchers on pain transmission have yet to make a significant breakthrough. Numerous molecular targets have been found, but researchers have not yet produced a new safe, non-addictive painkiller.

“The human body is an intricate mechanism,” said Ma. "Inflammation is a key variable that leads to pain, yet the molecular signal released by the pain pathway also regulates inflammation.”

He spoke about a failed medical trial when the medicine showed efficacy in managing the targeted pain but caused an even more severe inflammatory response in the patients.

“We kept our eyes on the pain and forgot that it is only the façade,” Ma added. “The source of pain lies elsewhere, for example inflammation.” Complicated diseases, such as sepsis, chronic enteritis, and various brain diseases, all have multiple pathological pathways.

The discipline of systems physiology came into being to address this challenge. Researchers turned their attention to the interactions between the immune system and target tissue as diseases proceed. In August 2020, Ma’s team discovered that stimulating a mouse's hindlimb acupoint "Zusanli" and abdominal acupoint "Tianshu" with low-intensity electroacupuncture can alleviate the inflammatory factor storm in mice, reducing mortality by about two-thirds.

Prokr2-Cre Projection of nerve fibers in deep fascia.

Ma joined hands with Prof. Yanqing Wang of Fudan University and Prof. Xianghong Jing's team from the Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in October 2021. Together they discovered a new class of sensory neurons that play an essential role in activating the vagal-adrenal anti-inflammatory pathway using low-intensity acupuncture. These Prokr2-Cre nervous fibers help to predict body regions in which low-intensity electroacupuncture will or will not produce anti-inflammatory effects. This research represented a breakthrough by providing a neuroanatomical basis for the selectivity of acupoints in driving specific autonomic pathways, bridging traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine.

Papers published by Ma’s team.

When he joined Westlake University, Ma established the Systems Physiology and Acupuncture Lab. His team systematically maps somatosensory-autonomic reflexive pathways, studies how neural signals control immune cell activity and target tissue inflammation, and optimizes acupuncture stimulation parameters to treat various diseases, including chronic pain, colitis, and neurological disorders.

Minhao Liu, secretary general of the Westlake Education Foundation, commented that traditional Chinese medicine carries thousands of years of experience and clinical knowledge, and that this is immensely valuable in exploring new treatment plans with such knowledge.

“I hope that the Pine Endowment Fund will help to promote the dialogue between traditional medicine and modern science,” Liu added. “We welcome more Westlake family members to support our work.”

Pine Endowment Fund

Traditional Chinese Medicine, the culmination of thousands of years of experience, is considered a treasure of Chinese civilization. However, the lack of scientific evidence of its efficacy has hindered its promotion and advancement. In recent years, the development of the discipline of systems physiology has opened up the space for communication between modern science and traditional medicine.

The Westlake Neurobiological and Physiological Research Endowment Fund is also known as the “Pine Endowment Fund”, reflecting the symbolism of the pine tree in Chinese culture, where it represents perseverance and longevity. The fund was set up to support talent recruitment and research in the frontier fields of systems physiology and bioelectronic medicine at Westlake.

如您希望进一步了解松柏捐赠基金，请联系崔老师（0571）85092201；周老师（0571）85092901。

For more information, please contact Mrs. Cui at (0571) 8509-2201 or Mr. Zhou at (0571) 8509-2901.