The Scientific Evaluation of Principal Investigator of IGDB by the International Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) for Molecular Biology was held in Beijing from 3 to 6 August.

The SAB comprised five famous scientists, Dr. Michel Caboche (INRA, CNRS, University of Evry, France), Dr. Nam-Hai Chua (Rockefeller University, USA), Dr. Dirk Inze (Ghent University, Belgium), Dr. Kazuo Shinozaki (RIKEN, Japan) and Dr. John Mundy (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), while Dr. Chua was the Chairman. Research programs of 19 independent Plant Biology laboratories in IGDB were evaluated.

The SAB indicated that most of the research groups was of very good international standard or had the potential to reach that level, and extremely impressed by the world-class facilities on the new campus. They suggested that the Institute should increase efforts to ensure good interactions between groups working on related topics and opportunities should be increased for interactions between students and postdoctoral fellows working in different groups on related or unrelated projects. They also recommend that potential links between fundamental and applied research within the Institute should be frequently reviewed and the Institute seek opportunities to participate in the international community and to set up international collaborations, wherever possible.