He returned to China in May, 2000, and served as distinguished professor of Hunan Normal University, Dean of School of Life Sciences, doctoral supervisor, one of the academic leaders of protein Key Laboratory of Chemistry and Developmental Biology of Hunan Normal University and the key laboratory jointly established by Ministry of Science and Technology, and the head of the national life science and technology talent training base of Hunan Normal University. The Secretary-General of Hunan Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology established the Molecular Developmental Genetics Laboratory. At present, he is in charge of the Sino-US cooperation project 1 of the National Natural Science Foundation, 2 general projects, the key scientific research project 1 of the Ministry of Education, the fund for returned overseas students 1 of the Ministry of Education, and the distinguished professor Fund 1, and cooperates with the former 973 project 1 of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
At present, there are 24 master students and doctoral students. Each of the first graduate students in 2000 has published a research paper with an impact factor of 3 in foreign SCI magazines as the first author. Progress has been made in the research project: more than 200 heart mutants and 100 peripheral nervous system mutants of Drosophila were screened by using P transposon mutagenesis and other technologies, and 50 candidate genes for human heart development were initially cloned and identified, of which 20 were new human genes. The naming of these genes has been approved by the International Committee on Human Gene Nomenclature, and the expression and function of a number of new human genes have been preliminarily studied. He has published 53 papers and 4 books (2 are chief editors) in domestic and foreign magazines. Seven national invention patents have been applied (two of which have obtained patent publication numbers).