On June 4, 2024, the 29th session of the Young Scholars Association (YSA) activity was successfully held in the second-floor conference room at the School of Public Health, Jilin University. This exchange was conducted under the framework of the Ministry of Education's Joint Construction Project for High-Level Public Health Schools between Jilin University and Xinjiang Medical University, and was held in a hybrid format (online and offline). Our School's Associate Dean Wang Zhicheng, Xinjiang Medical University's Associate Dean Wang Kai, and more than 20 young faculty members from both schools participated. The event was co-hosted by Associate Dean Wang Zhicheng and Associate Dean Wang Kai.

This exchange activity invited Associate Professor Zhang Shilei from the Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Xinjiang Medical University, whose research direction is the applied basic research of characteristic medicinal and edible plants in Xinjiang. Associate Professor Zhang Shilei is a member of the First Youth Working Group of the Mutagenesis Professional Committee of the Chinese Environmental Mutagen Society. In recent years, she has presided over one project each from the National Natural Science Foundation, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Autonomous Region Science Foundation, and Autonomous Region Talent Program; participated in one National Natural Science Foundation project and two key projects of the Autonomous Region Natural Science Foundation; published 8 research papers as first author or corresponding author (including 3 high-level papers); applied for 1 invention patent; and received 1 Xinjiang Pharmaceutical Science and Technology Award.

Associate Professor Zhang Shilei shared her research under the theme "Study on the Mechanism of Cistanche Acteoside Regulating the PHD2/HIF-1 Pathway to Induce Skeletal Muscle Mitophagy and Improve Cancer-Related Fatigue," presenting her project's plan to construct cachexia late-stage tumor-bearing mouse models, chemotherapy-induced CRF mouse models, and C26 co-culture-induced muscle cell cancer cachexia models, and introducing the systematic study of the effect and mechanism of Acteoside in treating CRF by inducing skeletal muscle mitophagy. Young scholars from both schools subsequently engaged in lively discussions around Associate Professor Zhang Shilei's research and expressed anticipation for further collaboration. This activity promoted young scholars' understanding and in-depth discussion of the medicinal value of herbaceous parasitic plants mainly produced in Xinjiang, and also provided a platform for better future exchanges and cooperation between the two schools.