From March 18, 2025, the Medical School of Shenzhen University (SZU) hosted a 2 -week International Spring School Program at its Lihu campus. A total of 20 international students from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) participated.The International Spring School was jointly organized by SZU Medical School and the Shenzhen-Almaty Joint Laboratory for the Frontiers of Medical Science (salFMS), which was inaugurated at SZU in October 2024. The laboratory is dedicated to fostering academic exchange and collaboration among graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scientists. The spring school was led by Dr. Nurzhanyat Ablaikhanova, a professor atAl-Farabi Kazakh National University.

Opening ceremony

Professor Xingzhi Xu, Executive Dean of SZU Medical School, chaired the opening ceremony on March 18^th. On behalf of the organizers, he warmly welcomed the faculty and students from KazNU andgave a brief overview of the development of Shenzhen, SZU, andthe Medical School. Professor Ablaikhanova introduced KazNU and expressed her enthusiasm for future collaboration with SZU.

Over the 2-week program, students attended academic lectures on topics such as "Genome Instability and Disease" and the"DNA Damage Response". Lectures were delivered by Professors Xingzhi Xu, Xinhai Pei, Huayan Yang, among others. In addition, students registered for and participated in the 2025 Shenzhen International Conference on Frontiers of Clinical & Fundamental Medicine (szFCFM-2025), co-sponsored by SZU Medical School, the Guangdong Key Laboratory for Genome Stability and Disease Prevention, the SZUCarson International Cancer Center, and SZU General Hospital.

Academic lectures

On the afternoon of March 30, following the closing ceremony of szFCFM-2025, the awarding ceremony for the 2025 International Spring School Program was held in Conference Hall D101 of thecampus library.Student representatives enthusiastically shared their experiences of studying and living at SZUforthe past 2 weeks. Professor Xingzhi Xu presented certificates to the participating students.

Closing ceremony

The Spring School represented a significant step forward in the ongoing collaboration between SZU and KazNU.

Group photos of the 2025 International Spring School Program