With the 2025 World Sleep Day theme "Healthy Sleep, A Priority for All" bringing the significant global public health challenge of sleep health back into public focus, its impact extends beyond individual well-being to the very foundations of societal vitality. On 27th September, the "Cambridge Nanjing Forum 2025-Sleep Health and Clinical Monitoring and Treatment," jointly hosted by Cambridge University-Nanjing Centre of Technology and Innovation and Nanjing Brain Hospital, was successfully held in Nanjing.

This event was structured around the theme of innovation in sleep health technology and its clinical application, combining field visits with specialised seminars. Guests were invited to tour Nanjing Brain Hospital and engage in in-depth discussions on related topics. The event brought together experts and scholars from leading Sino-British institutions including the University of Cambridge, Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Nanjing Brain Hospital, Fudan University, and Nanjing Medical University, alongside representatives from UK and Chinese government departments, and the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries and investment sectors. Participants conducted thorough explorations of cutting-edge innovations and practical pathways in sleep monitoring, intervention and treatment.

The opening ceremony was honored by the presence of Ryan Burtonwood, Consul at the British Consulate-General Shanghai; Hong Guo, Director of the Foreign Cooperation Division of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology; Jie Yin, Deputy Director-General of Nanjing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau; Li Zhang, Deputy Dean and Chief Physician of Geriatrics Department, Nanjing Brain Hospital; and Daping Chu, Tenured Chair Professor of the University of Cambridge, and the Academic Director and CEO of the CUNJC. The event attracted approximately 80 guests attended the event in person, while over 500 viewers participated online.

Building A Global Consensus on Shared Challenges

The global nature of sleep health, which transcends borders and nationalities, precisely underscores the essential need for international and cross-sector collaboration – from standardising clinical diagnosis and treatment protocols to optimising the implementation of intelligent monitoring technologies, and from sharing data in basic research to coordinating public health interventions. Collaborative efforts across the international community are a pivotal lever for progress.

At the forum, Ryan Burtonwood pointed out that as two major global scientific and technological powers, China and the UK are key partners in the field of scientific and technological innovation and research, and sleep health is a vital area of cooperation between the two countries. Taking this forum as a link, the Cambridge University-Nanjing Centre of Technology and Innovation has brought in world-leading scientific research resources and effectively deepened its collaborative links with local universities, research institutions and industrial partners in Jiangsu.

Jie Yin stated, "Nanjing is accelerating the construction of a core hub for an industrial science and technology innovation centre with global influence, and has been continuously deepening exchanges and cooperation with the UK in the field of scientific and technological innovation in recent years." She specifically noted that the Centre, co-established by Nanjing and the University of Cambridge, has become a typical case of connecting with the UK's top scientific and educational resources and introducing high-level British innovative talents and projects.

Li Zhang stated, "As a leading medical institution in the Chinese neurological and psychiatric healthcare sector, Nanjing Brain Hospital has long been dedicated to clinical practice, scientific research innovation, and medical education in the field of brain health. While vigorously advancing innovation in the diagnosis and treatment technologies for neurological disorders, it also continues to provide high-quality patient care. Looking ahead, the hospital expects to deepen cooperation with world-leading international institutions such as the University of Cambridge in areas including joint research and clinician exchanges, translating scientific research outcomes into practical solutions that benefit the public and contributing to the 'Healthy China' initiative."

Daping Chu stated, "The convergence of medicine and engineering is a crucial direction for current technological innovation, serving as fertile ground for multidisciplinary breakthroughs and offering new pathways to solve complex health issues." In line with this perspective, the forum took "Sleep Health" – a key practical domain for this convergence – as a platform to delve into clinical sleep disorder mechanisms and therapies. It served as a significant opportunity to foster transnational cooperation and bridge disciplines, accelerating the translation of scientific research into practical solutions.

Medicine-Engineering Integration Empowers a New Chapter in Sleep Health

Currently, technologies centred on data-driven approaches and intelligent algorithms are reshaping the landscape of healthcare. In the field of sleep health, cutting-edge advancements such as wearable nano-sensor technology, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are providing innovative directions and practical pathways for sleep monitoring, intervention and treatment.

Luigi G. Occhipinti, Director of Research in Smart Electronics, Biosystems and AI, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, who has long been dedicated to interdisciplinary research in wearable technology and health monitoring, presented on "Wearable Nanotechnologies and AI for Sleep Conditions Monitoring". He introduced a smart garment integrating bio-inspired nano material based sensing and AI algorithms, which accurately identifies conditions such as sleep apnea with over 95% accuracy. This innovation transforms clinical-grade sleep monitoring into a comfortable, at-home wearable format, offering a novel solution for sleep health management.

In the report "Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches to Sleep Disorders Based on Clinical Practice"， Dean Li Zhang highlighted that sleep disorders affect 38.2% of the Chinese population and are closely associated with neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. She introduced the multidisciplinary one-stop Sleep Medicine Centre at Nanjing Brain Hospital, which leverages advanced monitoring techniques and a big-data AI platform to advance early screening and precision treatment of sleep disorders – offering a practical pathway for early intervention in neurodegenerative conditions.

Ian Smith, Medical Director of Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, UK, delivered a presentation entitled "Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, a Perspective from East Anglia". He systematically elaborated on the pragmatic strategies adopted in East Anglia to address the high incidence of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA). Faced with substantial clinical demand, the region has implemented a simplified diagnostic process primarily based on home-based blood oxygen monitoring. It provides an efficient model for the large-scale management of OSA with 120% of the average number in the UK treated.

Ming Xiao, Principal Investigator at the Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Neurodegeneration, School of Basic Medical Science, Nanjing Medical University, focused on the "Research Progress of the Glymphatic System in Sleep Disorders," elucidating the critical role of the glymphatic system in clearing metabolic waste from the brain, such as Aβ and tau proteins, during sleep. He suggested that targeting AQP4 holds promise as a novel strategy for treating sleep disorders and related neurodegenerative diseases.

Yina Wei, Professor at the Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Fudan University, delved into the topic of "Sleep Staging and its Dynamic Transition Mechanism", presented an automatic sleep staging algorithm named AISleep that requires no manual annotation, which provides an innovative tool for convenient and precise sleep assessment. She also highlighted that sleep stage transitions constitute a gradual dynamic process involving progressive changes in cortical activity, rather than an abrupt switch.

Haochen Liu, Research Assistant in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge, delivered a presentation titled "Accelerating Sleep Monitoring and Sleep Support with Machine Learning." He explained that the Cambridge team is working on utilizing single-channel EEG signals and advanced machine learning algorithms to achieve automated and objective assessment of sleep quality. By designing novel neural networks and effectively applying ensemble learning strategies, the research has enhanced analytical accuracy and addressed the challenge of data imbalance, laying a technical foundation for future large-scale, personalised home-based sleep monitoring and support services.

Convergence of medicine, engineering, and AI for shared health of all. This forum successfully brought together the forces of research and clinical practice, connecting the needs of capital in relation to technological innovation. It represents a solid step for the Centre in closely aligning with Nanjing's strategy for building an innovative biopharmaceutical industry cluster and focusing on the Centre's key research area of "Biomedicine and Health Care." It is also a vivid reflection of the mission to "address common human challenges and promote civilisational progress." The Centre will continue to introduce global innovation resources, establish deep international collaborations, and contribute wisdom and strength to tackling global challenges like sleep health and creating inclusive, shared health value.