Dr. Yajie Wang and Dr. Yilong Zou, both young principal investigators from Westlake University, were named in the latest list of Innovators Under 35 China compiled by MIT Technology Review.

Dr. Yajie Wang developed a couple of novel light-driven cooperative chemoenzymatic systems and demonstrated the compatibility between photocatalysts and enzymes, enabling cooperative chemoenzymatic processes beyond dynamic kinetics resolution and co-factor regeneration within the past 30 years. She also assisted BASF in developing an automated high-throughput engineering platform to engineer S. cerevisiae with improved acidic tolerance and lactic acid productivity.

The worldwide trend toward a low-carbon economy and the urge for sustainable manufacturing stimulates the development of next-generation, biobased, sustainable manufacturing processes.

Last year, Dr. Yajie Wang joined Westlake University and established the Synthetic Biology and Biocatalysis lab. She focuses on integrating synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, protein engineering, chemistry, material science, and machine learning to establish a ‘Design-Build-Test-Learn’ platform to design and construct artificial chemo-bio hybrid systems to harness the synthetic power from both chemistry and biology, and synthesizing value-added compounds from the air.

Dr. Yilong Zou is committed to using systematic chemical and genetic approaches to interrogate the metabolic vulnerabilities associated with metastatic cancers. His recent work revealed the cancer types that are sensitive to ferroptosis, an iron-dependent cell death program, elucidated the molecular mechanisms mediating ferroptosis execution and regulation, and dissected the pathways contributing to tumor evasion from ferroptosis induction.

Moreover, Dr. Zou has established a technique, photochemical activation of lipid peroxidation (PALP) to stratify tumor sensitivity to ferroptosis, which will likely simplify the selection of patients that are more likely to respond to ferroptosis-inducing therapies.

Dr. Zou’s lab at Westlake University is continuing to identify the pathophysiological functions of ferroptosis and the underlying regulatory mechanisms, and develop ferroptosis-targeted drugs for cancer treatment.

Since 1999,  MIT Technology Review has identified young innovators doing exciting work that could shape their fields for decades. Recognizing the rise of Chinese technology talent, the magazine decided to launch a 35 Innovators Under 35 specifically for China in May of 2017. Each year, brilliant men and women are recognized for their advancements in diverse technical fields including biotechnology and medicine, computer and electronics hardware, software, internet, artificial intelligence, robotics, telecommunications, nanotechnology and materials, energy, and transportation.