On 13 Aug., 2015, the Institute of Genetics and Development Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGDB, CAS) signed an amendment to a collaborative research agreement with DuPont Pioneer in the area of agricultural biotechnology and crop genetics to extend the cooperative research project of the two parties.
According to a newspaper sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a researcher, Tan Ken and his team from the CAS found that neonicotinoid pesticides will affect Asian bees to find flowers through smell and reduce their food hunting activities, exerting negative effect on the health of bees. This is the first research on the ecology of local bees in Asia by Chinese scientists. The research result was published on the Scientific Report by an English publisher, Nature Publishing Group, on 18 June, 2015.