Speaker

Xian-En Zhang is a Chair Professor of the Faculty of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology and retired PI Professor of the Inst. Biophys, Chinese Acad. Sci. (CAS). He received MPhil. And Ph.D. from the CAS institutes, and Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of Alberta, Canada. He became a full professor in 1993 at the Wuhan Inst. Virol., CAS. 

He has been engaged in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of biosensing, nanobiology, and synthetic biology, applying these approaches to address scientific questions in virology and cancer biology.

His is an elected Fellow of American Institute of Medicine and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of Royal Society Chemistry. He serves as the coordinator of the expert group of the China synthetic biology research program. He also serves as the Vice President of Chinese Society of Biotechnology, member of the organizing committee of the World Congress on Biosensors, and founding co-chair of the Division of Nanobiotechnology/Biosensors/Biochips, Asian Federation of Biotechnology.

Dr. Ben Zhao, with over 20 years of experience at FDA, Abbott, and Shanghai Pharma, specializes in targeted delivery, siRNA, and liposomes. He served as a senior FDA CDER reviewer, focusing on CMC and cGMP, and developed nanomedicine guidelines. Holding FDA Level III certification, he received the FDA Special Achievement Award. In 2014, he founded Haichang Biotech for RNA drugs and 505(b)(2) products. Currently, he is Vice Chairman of PhIRDA and leads the IFPMA ICH Q1 Expert Group, promoting global regulatory harmonization.

Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering next-generation generative AI and automated platforms for drug discovery. Repeatedly nominated for the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list, Dr. Zhavoronkov is an internationally recognized innovator in artificial intelligence for life sciences. Since 2014, he has developed critical technologies in generative AI and reinforcement learning for creating novel molecular structures and synthetic biological data. He also pioneered the application of deep learning techniques, including transformers, for predicting human biological age, transfer learning from aging into disease, target identification, and signaling pathway modeling. Dr. Zhavoronkov spent his early career in senior roles at ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD, before transitioning to biotechnology. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and authored three books. In addition to his role at Insilico, Dr. Zhavoronkov serves on the editorial boards of several top journals and co-chairs the Annual Aging Research and Drug Discovery conference, the world’s largest event on aging research. He is also an adjunct professor of artificial intelligence at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

As the Director of the China Country Office (CCO) at the Gates Foundation (BMGF), Dr. Zhi-Jie Zheng leads the CCO team to develop and strengthen partnerships across China’s public, private and nonprofit sectors to advance health and development outcomes in China and around the world. Before joining the foundation, he was K.C. Wong Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health, School of Public Health and Senior Vice Dean of the university-wide Institute for Global Health and Development at Peking University. In these roles, he worked with a wide range of partners to launch high-impact programs and initiatives to promote cross-disciplinary global collaborations and cultivate next-generation leaders in global health and development. He previously served as Dean of the School of Public Health at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, as Supervisory Medical Officer and Senior Program Director at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, U.S. National Institutes of Health, and as Lead Epidemiologist in the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He earned his M.D. from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, along with an M.A. in biomedical ethics. He also holds an M.P.H. in health services research and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States.

Dr. Zheng focuses on advancing biotechnology to solve clinical problems. Dr. Zheng invented the AMP technology that has been adopted globally for robust molecular diagnosis in both research and clinical settings to guide targeted therapies for cancer patients. Dr. Zheng’s pioneering work in precision genome editing includes the CRISPR off-target analysis method GUIDE-seq that is widely used and supported the first FDA-approved therapy utilizing CRISPR Cas9. Dr. Zheng is dedicated to ‘liquid biopsy’ and ‘DNA surgery’ research and clinical applications.

Mr. Chao Zhou joined the Grand Pharma since June 2019. Since June 2021, he has become the CEO of the Company, being responsible for the general internal management of the Company. He was the legal manager, senior legal manager and business director of Legal Security Management Department of China Grand Enterprises. Now, Mr. Zhou holds directorships in a number of domestic and overseas companies of the Company. Mr. Zhou has headed and participated in several large-scale merger and acquisition projects both locally and overseas, and introduced a variety of products for the Company. In 2011, Mr. Zhou graduated from Ocean University of China with a Bachelor’s Degree in Laws and subsequently obtained a Master’s Degree in International Economic Law from the University of International Business and Economics.

Dr. Grace Zhou holds a Ph.D. from the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She is a recipient of China’s National Thousand Talents Plan award, was named one of China’s Top 10 Outstanding Innovative Women (2024), and is the sole winner of the 2019 International “Antiviral Women Scientist Award”. Additionally, she was honored as one of China’s Top 10 Outstanding Female Entrepreneurs (2021), “Scientific Chinese of the Year” (2017), and a recipient of the “State Council Special Allowance” (1998). Formerly an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Chicago (1999–2014),Dr. Zhou dedicated 15 years to herpesvirus research and has nearly 30 years of expertise in antiviral infection and oncolytic herpesvirus-based tumor immunotherapy. In 2015, Dr. Zhou founded ImmVira Pharma, which has since established the proprietary OVPENS platform—a fully integrated system combining scientific rationale, R&D technology, and manufacturing processes. Building on this foundation, the company has developed two key platforms: Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapy and Engineered Exosome Delivery. Oncolytic Virus Pipelines focus on multiple solid tumors with various routes of administration (intratumoral, intravenous, and intravesical). Exosome Delivery Pipelines targeting applications in large health markets, including complex metabolic, immune, respiratory, ocular, and dermatological diseases.

From September 2009 to July 2021, Dr. Houjiang Zhou worked at the University of Ottawa in Canada, the National Center for Proteomics in the Netherlands, University of Cambridge, and the Key Laboratory of Phosphorylation and Ubiquitination in Cellular Signal Transduction under the UK Medical Research Council. During this period, he engaged in research on proteomics, cellular signal transduction, drug target discovery, and drug discovery. In September 2021, Dr. Houjiang Zhou joined Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. as Chief Biological Scientist. Since January 2024, he has served as Deputy General Manager of the R&D Management Center and President of the Innovative Drug Research Institute. After joining Hisun Pharmaceutical, he has led multiple innovative drug R&D projects. Under his leadership, the Innovative Drug Research Institute has overcome numerous technical barriers, with several projects entering the clinical trial. development stage and one project advancing to the IND (Investigational New Drug) development stage. He participated in a collaborative project with Zhejiang University that was selected into the Zhejiang Provincial Key Research Program. The innovative drug R&D team he leads has been awarded provincial-level honors.

Zhou Hua is the Vice President and Secretary-General of the Chinese Health Association, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of China High-Tech Magazine, Vice Chairman of the Nobel Laureates’ Home, Member of the National Commission for the Review of Scientific and Technological Terminology, Distinguished Expert at the National Elderly Network, Vice President and Deputy Director of the Expert Committee at the New Century Institute of Management Science and Engineering, Deputy Director of the Expert Committee for the National Charity Federation’s Grand Health Industry Committee.

Professional Background:

Extensive leadership experience in government departments and China’s top-tier tertiary hospitals. Co-editor-in-chief of Digital Health Management: Theory and Practice and Food Studies (textbook for primary and secondary school students). Deep expertise in lifelong health management and the grand health industry. Published numerous articles in authoritative media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily Online, China.org.cn, Toutiao, and Phoenix News.

Prof Zhou’s research interests focus on developing organoid models and organoid-based virus research. She and her team established the first human respiratory organoid culture system and first bat intestinal organoid in the world, which has opened up new avenues for diverse applications in biomedical research and drug development. Her contribution to organoid technology is attributed to her clinical medical training and her experience in clinical pathology and virus research. She obtained her PhD from the University of Hong Kong in 2007 and finished postdoctoral training at UCSF in 2009. She has published over 100 research papers in prestigious journals including Nature Medicine, PNAS and Science Advances, ranked among the top 1% of cited scholars by Clarivate Analytics in 2021, and highly cited scholar since 2022. She and the team founded a startup company BiomOrgan Limited to commercialize the proprietary respiratory organoid technology in 2021.