On March 7, Beijing Forum of Life Science - 2009 Annual Forum of Graduate Students was successfully held in Beijing. This forum was organized by the League of Graduate Students in Beijing Institutes of Life Science (BIOLS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Ph.D. candidates from various research institutes and universities in Beijing gave oral and poster presentations. Four hundred graduate students attended the forum.

　　All presentations in the forum were based on original research and required graduate students as first authors. Many works have been published in peer-reviewed international journals, including Nature. This event was the largest life science forum of graduate students in Beijing. The topics included the chronic liver disease' pathogenesis, the carbon dioxide signals, the nerve growth factor and the receptor complex conformation, et al. Dr. Yi Rao from Peking University, Dr. Zhongyi Wu from the Beijing Institute of Genomics CAS and others reviewed the research works and gave valuable suggestions.　

　　This forum originated from Beijing Graduate Student Forum of Life Science, which was organized by the league of graduate students in life science fields in Beijing, CAS. After BIOLS was founded, the name of the former league was changed into League of Graduate Students in BIOLS, CAS, and the Graduate Student Forum became part of the Beijing Forum of Life Science. This was the first event held by the new League of Graduate Students in BIOLS, CAS, and was supported by Graduate Association of Institutes of Biophysics, CAS. The forum provided a valuable platform for graduate students to present their research work and to communicate with other colleagues in Beijing.