Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2021): Dr Zhou Lihan, Co-Founder and CEO, MiRXES

Dr ZHOU Lihan (Life Sciences, 2007) received the award in recognition of his outstanding innovations in biotechnology and healthcare.

He and his colleagues developed a way of detecting, with unparalleled sensitivity, the smallest strands of genetic material, known as microribonucleic acid (microRNA). MicroRNA is crucial in cell functions and aberrations could provide early indications of disease.

This discovery led to the birth of MiRXES, a multiple award-winning biotechnology company, which brings accurate and affordable RNA-based multi-cancer early diagnostic solutions to the world.

Dr Zhou oversees MiRXES’s overall strategy and global operations, and has propelled the company into leadership in the early detection of diseases.

He said, “To know is to act. To act, you really have to persevere as every day in a startup is different and challenging. Every collaboration, every disease and every patient sample also gives us more knowledge. So, in a way, to act is also to know.”