Liu Yan

Biography:

Dr. Yan Liu is a distinguished Senior Research Engineer and clinical translation expert at the National Center for Translational Medicine (Shanghai), Ruijin Hospital. She earned her Ph.D. from the Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry (SIPI) in 2009 and subsequently spent over a decade at SIPI’s Gene Engineering Drug Innovation Center. In 2022, she expanded her international academic vision as a visiting scholar at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, before joining Ruijin Hospital to spearhead biopharmaceutical R&D and clinical translation.

With nearly 15 years of experience in the "closed-loop" development of novel biopharmaceuticals, Dr. Liu’s expertise encompasses pharmacodynamics, molecular mechanisms, and complex clinical research management. Her career is marked by significant regulatory achievements, including obtaining two clinical approvals (INDs) for Class I New Drugs. She has been a principal investigator or key member in numerous prestigious national programs, including the National 863 Program, the National Major New Drug Discovery Projects (spanning the 12th and 13th Five-Year Plans), and multiple Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Major Projects.

Dr. Liu has a prolific academic record with 16 peer-reviewed research papers, including 9 as first or co-first author in high-impact SCI journals. Her innovation is further evidenced by 13 authorized invention patents. Her research focus remains steadfast on anti-infective drug development and therapeutic mechanisms. Notably, her pioneering work on the combination of TFF2 and Type I Interferon as a potent candidate for COVID-19—demonstrating superior safety and efficacy in clinical trials—was published as back-to-back co-first author papers in The Lancet EClinicalMedicine. 

Following these breakthroughs, her team optimized the design to create a recombinant TFF2-IFN fusion protein, which simultaneously inhibits viral replication, modulates immune responses, and repairs respiratory mucosa—a dual-function mechanism published in Frontiers in Pharmacology (2022). Her current leadership of the Exo-Aero α project builds upon this established excellence, aiming to revolutionize the treatment of severe respiratory infections through exosome-based targeted delivery.