Industry-university-research cooperation plans for the integration of medicine a

2024-07-31

The medical and health industry is a highly specialized and comprehensive field, which not only requires the support of basic disciplines such as medicine and biology, but also the interdisciplinary integration of materials science, information technology, artificial intelligence, and more. Scientific innovation and industrial collaboration, as well as the integration of medicine and engineering, are particularly important.

To promote the transformation and application of scientific research achievements, on April 19th, the School of Life Science and Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in conjunction with DeepTech and Luoyi Science, co-hosted a roadshow event for scientific research achievement projects.

Professor Liu Bifeng, the Party Secretary of the School of Life Science and Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, attended the roadshow event as a leader of the school. In addition, representatives from several top professional investment institutions and industry representatives attended the event, including Wuhan Industrial Innovation Development Research Institute, Wuhan BGI Technology Co., Ltd., Wuhan Huake Yu Xin Technology Service Co., Ltd., Hui Rong Group, Plug and Play China Wuhan Innovation Center, Hunan Xiaoxiang Zhiyi Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd., Jia Bi You, Lilly Asia Fund, Shenzhen Capital Group, State-owned Venture Capital, Shouyi Science and Technology Innovation Mother Fund, Dawn Financial Intelligence, Inno Angel Fund, and Jia Cheng Capital.

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Ten top research teams from the School of Life Science and Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology took to the stage to showcase their cutting-edge research achievements in the field of life sciences and provided an in-depth introduction to the industrial potential and commercial prospects of these achievements.

"In this era of rapidly changing technology, the integration of medicine and engineering has become an important force in promoting the development of life sciences," said Professor Liu Bifeng, the Party Secretary of the School of Life Science and Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in his speech.Only by breaking down the barriers of traditional disciplines can we ignite more sparks of innovation. Over the past few years, the college has achieved many eye-catching results in the field of medical-engineering integration. Research teams have carried out a series of influential scientific research projects through cutting-edge technology and innovative thinking, continuously promoting the development and application of medical-engineering integration technology.

In addition, the college also encourages teachers and students to actively participate in innovation and entrepreneurship projects, cultivating practical ability and team spirit. In the future development, our college will also continue to adhere to the people-oriented and innovation-driven concept, continuously expand the boundaries of disciplines, strengthen the intersection and integration of disciplines, cultivate more talents with international vision and innovative ability, and make greater contributions to promoting the prosperity of the medical-engineering integration cause.

"Roadshow activities are also a new platform for industry-university-research exchange and cooperation. I hope that friends from the industry and investment circles can discuss the possibilities of medical-engineering integration with us. I think there are infinite possibilities," said Liu Bifeng.

DeepTech co-founder and CEO Li Hang introduced in his speech that some of the emerging new technologies are often combinations and superpositions based on existing technologies. Whether it is in the field of medical-engineering integration or artificial intelligence-powered biotechnology, we have witnessed many interdisciplinary integrations and innovations.

How to effectively industrialize scientific research achievements and deeply link research institutions and other entities is the direction that DeepTech has been working hard on. DeepTech, supported by technology media, has gradually expanded its business to technology research and consulting, and has participated in the incubation of ultra-early stage projects, based on the judgment and insight of emerging technology trends.Li Hang stated that collaborating with the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and other industry partners represents an effort to effectively link outstanding early-stage projects and active market entities, further promoting the process from the laboratory to the office.

New Generation Nanobody Technology and Applications

Antibodies are an essential component of the human immune system, with their main function being to identify and characterize foreign substances that enter the body, such as bacteria and viruses. Antibodies have a wide range of applications in the fields of life science and medicine, with a huge market size. However, the domestic monoclonal antibody industry faces challenges. Data from 2022 shows that Europe and North America account for more than 90% of the market share, and imported brands also account for more than 70% in the IVD field, indicating that the development of the domestic antibody industry has a long way to go.

The team led by Liu Jianfeng, Dean of the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, has established a professional technical team of about 50 people, completed the nano-technology development of more than 100 targets, and established an independent base in Wuhan. They have developed a nanobody preparation platform that uses intelligent workstations and robotic arms to automate the screening of antibodies, improving screening efficiency and throughput.At the same time, a fermentation tank-based nanoantibody preparation platform has been established, which can produce antibodies in batches to support the development of nano products. Based on the high-throughput platform, the team has carried out work in three directions: cooperation and services based on nanoantibodies, mainly for antigen preparation, modification, and the development of scientific research reagents; layout of antigen drug work and the development of GPCR drugs.

HuiGuan Bio: Full-scene Cross-scale Light Sheet Microscopy Imaging System

HuiGuan Bio focuses on developing advanced cell imaging technology, using original composite modulation light sheet imaging technology and brain-like artificial intelligence algorithms to address the problems of existing microscopic imaging technology in the pharmaceutical industry, such as increasing experimental costs and time. The second-generation imaging product, confocal imaging technology, although providing three-dimensional imaging capabilities, still has not solved the problems of cytotoxicity and long scanning time.

The thinner the light knife of the light sheet, the higher the axial image resolution. HuiGuan Bio redefines the light sheet technology and has developed the world's thinnest nanometer-level light knife, with a significant improvement in resolution compared to the current international highest level (such as Carl Zeiss, etc.). The application of this technology makes large-scale cell imaging, organoid drug screening, and whole organ high-throughput three-dimensional imaging possible, greatly improving the research efficiency of life sciences and biomedicine.

The team has published more than 100 papers in international journals and obtained more than 30 patents. Its product, "Full-scene Universal Intelligent Light Sheet Microscopy Imaging System," can perform high-resolution and large tissue, whole organ imaging, meeting the needs of different application scenarios. In the field of live cell dynamic imaging, the team's technology has achieved a breakthrough in three-dimensional resolution reaching 60 nanometers. In addition, they have also explored the application of the technology in muscle nerve tissue imaging, whole brain single neuron scale imaging, lung tumor imaging, and other fields.

HuiGuan Bio has completed two rounds of financing and has received orders exceeding ten million in 2023.Jun Weian - AI-Empowered Live Bacterial Medicine

The gut microbiota is closely related to a variety of diseases, and improving the gut microbiota can intervene in the treatment of certain diseases, especially chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In recent years, live bacterial medicines have attracted widespread attention from domestic and foreign enterprises. The FDA officially approved two microbiota-based treatment methods for clinical trials last year, proving their broad prospects.

Jun Weian was established in March 2019, relying on the National Nano Engineering Technology Center and the Life Sciences Institute, led by two founders, combining the advantages of microbiology and data analysis. Among them, Liu Zhi is responsible for the exploration and functional evaluation of microbial strains, while Chen Weihua specializes in artificial intelligence big data analysis and microbiome studies, achieving complementarity.

The company's product pipeline is divided into two major series. The first is live bacterial medicine, and five products for various indications have been launched into the clinical stage, especially the product for liver cancer patients, which has completed clinical trials and shown good results. The second product line is self-strain customization, similar to CAR-T in the field of gut microbiota. This method involves isolating and cultivating beneficial bacteria from the patient's own microbiota for in vitro expansion, or screening from probiotics to form a precise and sustainable treatment plan. It has served 150 people so far, with an efficiency rate of over 80%.

Lianhua Zhizao - High-throughput single-cell secretion manipulation and sorting, aiding in the research and development and marketing of innovative drugs.Lianhua Zhizao focuses on the monoclonal antibody drug development and diagnostic reagent market, a market with a scale of hundreds of billions. Against the backdrop of the current global economic downturn and the difficulty of profiting from the development of innovative drugs, improving the efficiency of drug development has become a key challenge for enterprises. Among them, the separation of single B lymphocytes is a key step in drug development, and the antibody discovery technology based on the single-cell secretion profile can significantly shorten the development cycle.

The company is positioned to provide solutions for high-throughput single-cell secretion manipulation and sorting, including two major product lines: droplet microfluidic single-cell products and digital droplet microfluidic technology, achieving single-cell sorting from tens to millions of levels. High-throughput single-cell products use an oil-in-water method to encapsulate cells, forming isolated compartments for incubation, sorting luminescent cells through microfluidic technology, and finally using single-cell printing technology for sorting. Digital droplet single-cell products are based on dielectric wetting technology to achieve comprehensive single-cell manipulation, monitoring, and sorting, perfectly matching single-cell omics. The core technologies include integrated acoustic focusing technology, high-frequency soft cell sorting technology, dielectric wetting digital microfluidic technology, single-cell printing technology, and live cell workstations, etc. The two major core product lines work together to achieve comprehensive applications from basic life science research to innovative drug processes to precision medicine.

The Lianhua Zhizao team is composed of deeply market-oriented operators and the Micro-Nano Manufacturing and Intelligent Sensing Research Group of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and has incubated Lianhua Zhizao (Wuhan) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. The current team composition mainly includes CEO Sun Xugang, Chief Scientist Professor Liao Guanglan, a Changjiang Scholar, and Technical Director Dr. Liu Zhiyong. In terms of products, the team's high-throughput single-cell sorting product line and digital droplet sorting product line have both completed prototype development and passed functional verification, and will achieve commercial operation in a relatively short period of time. The company's products will significantly shorten the market launch cycle of innovative drugs/CGT/synthetic biological products and reduce the market launch cost, thereby benefiting patients worldwide.

ZhiCheng Medical - Nano Bio-Cellulose DressingThe high-end dressing market has a broad prospect, with the global market expected to reach over 7 billion US dollars by 2027, and the Chinese market is also expected to reach 500 million US dollars. At present, high-end dressings mostly rely on imports, and there is an urgent need in China to develop new types of multifunctional high-end dressings.

ZhiCheng Medical relies on the strong and broad scientific research platform of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and has long-term medical research cooperation with Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Wuhan Tongji Hospital, and others. Teacher Yang Guang has been committed to the research of nanocellulose for a long time, and has achieved certain accomplishments and a certain reputation in this field both domestically and internationally.

The company is currently focused on four product lines:

1. Bacterial cellulose/starch vascular scaffolds. It is composed of natural materials of bacterial cellulose/starch, with excellent biocompatibility and biomimetic stratified characteristics, which can promote rapid vascular regeneration. It not only fills a gap in the medical field both domestically and internationally, but also represents a revolutionary breakthrough in science and technology.

2. Multifunctional selenium-loaded bacterial cellulose/gelatin nano-composite hydrogel dressings. This product is composed of bacterial cellulose, gelatin, and nano-selenium, with a green and simple preparation process, without the need for crosslinking agents, and no damage to surrounding tissues. It has good mechanical properties, flexibility, degradability, and biocompatibility; it has excellent antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, and can effectively promote the healing of skin wounds.3. Degradable electroactive regenerated bacterial cellulose/MXene nanocomposite hydrogel dressings. This product is prepared by a dual physical and chemical crosslinking method, exhibiting excellent mechanical strength, flexibility and toughness, thermal stability, electroactivity, water absorption and swelling properties, and degradability. In addition, the product's coupling effect with electrical stimulation can synergistically promote cell proliferation and active wound healing.

4. In addition, Zhicheng Medical has also explored the medical aesthetics field and has successfully developed its first product - the photoelectric skin rejuvenation beauty device, which was developed in cooperation with the Korean ES company and is currently mainly marketed in South Korea. The highlight of the photoelectric skin rejuvenation beauty device is its excellent import and export functions, especially the export effect, which can efficiently remove dirt and impurities in the pores, which are usually difficult to remove by other methods.

Teacher Yang Guang emphasized that, relying on the strong R&D strength of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and a good cooperation platform, the company will be committed to developing more high-end dressing products, filling the domestic market gap, and improving the international competitiveness of domestic dressings.

Magic Bag - The next generation of drug-loaded vesicle delivery system for precise tumor targeting

Malignant tumors pose a serious threat to human life and health, with one person diagnosed with a tumor every 8 seconds and one person dying every 12 seconds. Although surgical resection, radiotherapy, and interventional treatment are widely used, drug therapy still occupies an important position in tumor treatment. However, the response rate of drug therapy is usually low, mainly due to the low targeting efficiency of chemotherapy drugs, tumor drug resistance, and the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment.Huazhong University of Science and Technology's School of Life Sciences and Technology, along with the National Nano-Medicine Engineering Technology Research Center, the team of Yang Xiangliang, Gan Lu, and Yong Tuying has developed the world's first extracellular vesicle biomechanical regulation technology. They have prepared soft, deformable drug-carrying vesicles that can penetrate tumor blood vessels and dense tumor tissue extracellular matrix, demonstrating extremely high tumor targeting efficiency in mice.

Compared with traditional nano-drugs, these soft drug-carrying vesicles can achieve efficient drug accumulation in tumors at very low dosages, significantly improving targeting efficiency while reducing side effects. Moreover, these soft drug-carrying vesicles can effectively kill tumor stem cells, addressing the root cause of tumor drug resistance, and further activate efficient anti-tumor immune responses, showing an extremely high response rate for difficult-to-treat tumors such as pancreatic cancer.

The team has published more than 40 high-level SCI papers in international top journals such as Nat. Biomed. Eng., Nat. Commun., and has been granted 14 related Chinese invention patents. They have a rich technological reserve and possess strong product iteration capabilities.

Qiu Yue Wu Tong—Carotid Artery 3D Ultrasound Imaging SystemStroke, especially ischemic stroke, is an acute and severe disease. Currently, two-dimensional ultrasound is a commonly used method for observing carotid plaques, but it is limited by subjectivity, lack of standardization, and other factors. CT is a commonly used imaging tool for stroke diagnosis, but it has issues with radiation and cost.

A team led by Professor Qiu Wu from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology has developed a three-dimensional ultrasound system combined with a robotic arm and scanning device, which achieves three-dimensional data acquisition through a conventional two-dimensional ultrasound probe. On this basis, the core advantages of the system still lie in subsequent image reconstruction, three-dimensional display, post-processing, plaque analysis, and risk prediction. In addition, the company has also developed a stroke acute phase diagnosis technology based on low-dose CT images. Currently, the prototype developed by the company has been cooperating with clinical practice in Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and it is expected to achieve precise diagnosis in more general hospitals in the future.

The innovation of the project lies in overcoming the limitations of two-dimensional ultrasound in the three-dimensional scanning and quantification of the carotid artery, and in the field of CT imaging, it has achieved that the perfusion effect of low-dose CT is comparable to that of high-dose CT, which has global innovation and industrialization potential.

Taorui Bio - The world's first original waste cell-derived single phenotype cell therapy product series - Physical pressure reverse differentiation adipose stem cells (CIDAS) platform.

With the aging of the global population and the increasing incidence of degenerative diseases, it is expected that the market size will grow significantly by 2029. At present, the market for stem cell products is mostly aimed at niche indications, with limited market size and penetration rate.Tao Rui Bio's founder, Ma Xudong, stated that the project is composed of outstanding scientists and a commercialization team; it has adopted a First in class stem cell platform technology and has developed a series of equipped platforms. In addition, the company has also used a single stem cell expressing CD105+, which has great potential in future drug development. Finally, the project's business model is not limited to drug development; it will also support a variety of advanced commercial platforms in the future.

In terms of industrialization progress, the company has obtained the first third-class medical registration certificate in China, and has developed an efficient process from sample acquisition to high-quality cell preparation. The project has also designed an ecosystem, including clinical stem cell services, cell resource libraries, etc.

Ma Xudong emphasized that Tao Rui Bio is committed to solving the pain points faced by the stem cell industry, such as low sample preparation efficiency, safety issues, and the complexity of preparation processes. By innovative technology and business models, it promotes the application of stem cell therapy in the field of degenerative diseases and other areas to meet the growing clinical demand.

Descartes Bio - An intelligent exploration and application platform for microbial resources.Wuhan Descartes Biology is dedicated to building an intelligent microorganism resource exploration and application platform, focusing on microbiome research, exploring the interactions between microorganisms and hosts, involving production, life, and all aspects of life. At present, although China has abundant microbial resources, the effective distribution is low, and there is a significant gap compared to the United States. Existing microbial research mainly relies on sequencing technology, but there is a huge gap between correlation and causality, mainly because more than 90% of microorganisms have not been fully understood.

The technical challenges faced by the industry include the limitations of traditional culture methods, the loss of rare species in the dilution process, the high cost of high-end culture equipment, and poor applicability. To solve these problems, Descartes Biology has proposed three solutions: 1. Innovate automated high-throughput microbial single colony inoculation methods to improve the diversity of culture; 2. Combine automation technology to simplify the colony selection process; 3. Use single-cell and single-molecule technology to guide the design and application of live bacteria drugs.

Currently, the company has three products on the market: high-throughput single colony culture instruments, high-throughput community assembly instruments, and colony identification, and plans to launch more products for the development of microbial culture, community intelligent diagnosis, and high-throughput functional testing instruments to support microbial health diagnosis.

The business model is divided into three directions, including providing microbial culture tools, building a fully automated culture omics platform, and developing functional testing products for the consumer market. Huang Xizhi himself has a bachelor's degree from Huazhong Agricultural University, a doctoral degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a postdoctoral background from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Recovery Biology - Synthetic biology combined with enzyme engineering to develop a series of new oral enzyme drugs.Li Qingshan, the chairman and general manager of Kangfude Biotech, is an alumnus of Huazhong University of Science and Technology with 30 years of industry experience, having engaged in the research and development of oral biologics in the United States for over 20 years.

Since its establishment in Wuhan in 2010, the company has been dedicated to this field and has now established a unique technology platform. By using synthetic biology and enzyme evolution techniques, the company screens and artificially evolves enzymes from nature to create enzymes that can withstand the digestive system. These enzymes are heat-resistant, have a simple production process, low cost, and can produce high-purity proteins, significantly reducing production costs. Based on the platform, the company currently has three new drug projects, with the first new drug undergoing phase II clinical trials, and the other two expected to enter the clinical stage in the next year or two.

Kangfude's first product pipeline is a hypoxanthine-lowering drug for patients with hyperoxaluria and kidney stones. Oxalate causes many diseases in the human body, and there is currently a lack of effective treatment methods worldwide. Their product has shown 12 times the efficiency of existing drugs in investigator-initiated clinical trials and can significantly reduce oxalate levels in rat models. The company is currently negotiating commercialization authorizations with multiple institutions, with partners covering China, the United States, Japan, Europe, and other countries.

Li Qingshan emphasized that with its unique technology platform and efficient R&D team, the company is expected to achieve breakthroughs in the field of oral biologics, address the limitations of existing treatment methods, meet the huge market demand, and ultimately achieve commercialization goals.

Cross-industry driving, leading the future health industry.Through this roadshow, participants not only gained the most cutting-edge information in the field of life sciences but also personally experienced the tremendous opportunities brought about by the development of the bioeconomy. The roadshow projects covered various frontier areas such as precision targeting of tumors, high-throughput single-cell, medical imaging, nano-antibody drugs, and stem cells, which is also a concentrated display of the industrialization capability of scientific research achievements by the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Since its establishment in 1980, the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology has always adhered to the development idea of "interdisciplinary integration of science, engineering, and medicine," and has consistently emphasized international cooperation and exchange. It has carried out extensive and substantial scientific research cooperation and talent cultivation with universities and research institutions in France, the United States, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, and other countries. Each year, it regularly holds master's student forums, doctoral academic annual meetings, doctoral interdisciplinary innovation forums, and various salon activities, organizes or undertakes high-level academic conferences at home and abroad, and invites well-known experts at home and abroad for academic exchanges. It also hopes to build more and richer platforms to promote exchanges and cooperation, helping more outstanding scientific research achievements within the school to better achieve industrialization.

Echoing each other, DeepTech, as a resource empowerment and service organization focusing on emerging technologies, has long been concerned with the industrialization and commercialization of emerging technologies in the Chinese region, hoping to help more outstanding research teams to achieve the transformation of achievements more quickly.

It is also based on this common goal that DeepTech and the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology jointly initiated this activity. It also hopes to take this activity as an opportunity to let more friends from the investment community and the scientific research community see the outstanding projects of the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and to promote exchanges and cooperation between the school and friends from the investment community, the industry, and other sectors.

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