At 14:00 on June 12, 2026, the 124th session of the "Chen Bangjie Forum" was successfully held in the Circular Conference Room on the third floor of Xingzhi Building at the School of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University.
Invited by Associate Professor Jian Li, Dr. Xiangfeng Wang, a professor at the College of Agronomy and Biotechnology at China Agricultural University and Deputy Director of the National Maize Improvement Center, delivered an in-depth presentation on "AI Technology Guides Intelligent Plant Breeding," covering topics from technological landscapes to application case studies. The lecture was chaired by Professor Bojian Zhong, Dean of the School of Life Sciences, and was enthusiastically attended by faculty and students.
Prof. Wang began by systematically reviewing the development history of plant biological breeding, noting that the global breeding industry has now entered the era of Intelligent Biological Breeding 5.0, characterized by the deep integration of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. He emphasized that the fusion of biological large language models and biotechnology has become a new approach to addressing breeding challenges. Prof. Wang then provided a detailed introduction to biological large language models that guide protein design and maize breeding, such as SaPPIM, SAMDesign, and S4Adesign. He explained in accessible terms the design principles and technical approaches of AI language models that perform protein-protein interaction prediction, targeted protein modification, and epitope prediction based on protein structure data. Through application examples, such as plant nanobody design using AI large models, construction of maize dwarf lines, and redesign of herbicide-resistant genes, he vividly demonstrated the indispensable role of AI technology in future plant breeding and modification. He also introduced bioPROTAC technology, which integrates AI with PROTAC technology originally developed in the pharmaceutical field, highlighting its broad applicability in enhancing crop disease resistance and dynamically regulating crop agronomic traits. Finally, Prof. Wang outlined his vision for the future integration of AI and biotechnology industrial chains to realize a full-chain intelligent biological breeding system covering prediction, design, modification, validation, creation, and breeding.
After the lecture, faculty and students engaged in in-depth discussions with Prof. Wang, consulting on technical details of disease-resistant fusion protein design and plant protein modification using AI, as well as the future prospects of AI applications in plant breeding. Throughout the discussion, Prof. Wang answered questions thoroughly and meticulously, encouraging students to break through existing research methods and continuously explore new research areas.
This lecture not only showcased the broad application prospects of AI technology in crop protein modification and breeding but also provided faculty and students with research ideas for using large language models in protein interaction prediction and targeted modification, sparking interest in exploring cross-disciplinary applications of AI technology.