Our life is changed by science and technology and young scientists full of innovation and enterprising spirit are constantly bringing infinite possibilities for future technological transformations.

The winners of the 2021 edition of “35 Innovators Under 35 China” by the 5^th MIT Technology Review (TR 35) were released on January 22. Yiming Mo, a young PI from the Institute of Biological and Molecular Smart Manufacturing of ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center was on the list, and he delivered a speech on innovation at the Chinese webinar as the representative.

The winners, on biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc., are selected after a rigorous judging process for about one year, and the review is considered a major benchmark of Chinese young sci-tech power as it brought together 50 top science and technology leaders in the world.

Ph.D. Yiming Mo, an outstanding young talent and doctoral supervisor at ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, got his bachelor’s degree from Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University, and pursued his doctorate at Chemical Engineering Department, MIT under the tutelage of Professor Klavs F. Jensen, Academician of the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences, the USA. With a wealth of cross-disciplinary research on electrochemical organic synthesis, high-throughput screening and artificial intelligence, Mo has so far published a number of papers on top journals, e.g. Science.

Why was Yiming Mo, a post-90s scientist, on the list?

“MIT Technology Review” described his achievements as follows: He has realized the continuous intelligent pharmaceuticals manufacturing technology based on electrochemical microreactors and the world’s first nanomolar high-throughput microdroplet screening electrochemical platform to address increasingly pressing industrial needs for safety, green and miniaturization.

So what exactly is the continuous intelligent pharmaceuticals manufacturing technology? What is the world’s first nanomolar high-throughput microdroplet screening electrochemical platform? What connection exists between them and ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center? Mr. Yiming Mo will share with us more.

A greener and smaller pharmaceutical innovation technology for life and health is coming!

Mr. Yiming Mo told us that rapid progress of pharmaceuticals technology has brought about better human health in modern times, and challenges in population growth and emergency public health need an adequate supply of pharmaceuticals in a more flexible, cheap and green way of production.

Continuous intelligent pharmaceuticals manufacturing is not only a technology, but a new production paradigm as well. Traditional pharmaceutical production, usually in batch stirred tank reactions, has poor flexibility, unstable product quality, and low efficiency; while the continuous process uses flow chemical reactors for simultaneous input of raw materials and product output, which does not need the transfer of reaction intermediates as what traditional batch stirred tank reactors do, so it is an important technical means for continuous, miniaturized and safe pharmaceutical production. Since the technology makes flexible and miniaturized pharmaceutical production possible, it is of great significance to apply it in addressing drug shortages or public health emergencies.

The continuous intelligent manufacturing technology of electrochemical microreactors, mainly developed by Mr. Yiming Mo, drives the oxidation/reduction reaction process by utilizing electric energy, controls the electrochemical reaction process precisely coupled with microreactor technology, and realizes the green synthesis of small pharmaceutical molecules with high atom economy. Being developed by ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, the technology is making the pharmaceuticals manufacturing environment-friendly and granting it broad application prospects due to its easy operation and small size.

The world’s first platform device for nanomolar-level high-throughput microdroplet screening electrochemistry

For faster development of new electrochemical synthesis methods, Mr. Yiming Mo constructed the world’s first platform device for nanomolar-level high-throughput microdroplet screening electrochemistry by integrating automation and microfluidic technology, realizing the rapid screening of electrochemical reaction conditions and accurate measurement of reaction kinetics.

The nanomolar level is 10-9 mol, which is far smaller than 10-3 mol, the micromolar level used in traditional experiments, which means a high-precision screening can be performed with a slight dose of experimental reagents and high-throughput devices such as intelligent robotic arms.

iChemFoundry Platform Intelligent Robotic Arm

This platform device for nanomolar-level high-throughput microdroplet screening electrochemistry is currently one of the important modules of iChemFoundry platform of the Institute of Biological and Molecular Smart Manufacturing of the Center. Mr. Yiming Mo and his team members also constructed an orbital positioning system that requires the use of large stroke and high precision, which tackled two major engineering challenges of large stroke movement and high precision positioning.

Mr. Yiming Mo said that “35 Innovators Under 35” is looking for innovative young scientists who can make a significant impact. He also hopes to attract more like-minded young partners to the Center to explore the world of continuous intelligent technology and cross-disciplinary studies, so as to bring more possibilities for sci-tech innovation.