BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- A research center, comprising of doctors from one of China's most famous hospitals and scientists from the country's top research organ, was set up in Beijing on Monday to enhance medical and health sciences.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) signed an agreement to jointly establish the Health Sciences Research Center, aiming to build a national level platform for life science and health research and an exemplary institution of transnational medicine.

Zhao Yupei, head of PUMCH, said China had shifted its focus in the medical sector from illness treatment to providing overall healthcare to the public. The newly established center will combine clinical treatment and basic research to make breakthroughs in health sciences.

He said the center would explore cutting-edge medical fields, and help transform the PUMCH into a research-based hospital.

Bai Chunli, president of CAS, said the center would innovate to give full play to interdisciplinary research, and help cultivate and attract medical talent.

Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission, called the center a "marriage" between China's top research organ and top hospital, which could help push forward health research in China's science and technology innovation.

Zhou Qi, an academician of CAS, said the center would focus on the research and development of prevention, early screening, early diagnosis and new treatment technologies for critical diseases.

"The basic research of the scientists will be driven by clinical needs. And the new technologies and methods developed by basic research will provide new angles and new approaches to clinical practices," Zhou said.

He mentioned that the center will launch 10 to 15 cooperation projects in the coming 3 years. Treatment of pancreatic cancer, female reproductive aging, inherited eye diseases and muscle loss with aging have been selected as the first batch of joint research projects.