(Reported by Tang Xi) On December 4, Wuhan Institute of Technology and Jinghong Bio-Science and Technology Co., Ltd. held a signing ceremony for an industry-academia collaboration project at Room 103 of the Educational and Teaching Complex. Led by Professor Yang Zekun, a newly recruited national youth talent by the School of Chemical Engineering and Pharmacy in 2025, the team inked the school’s first cross-disciplinary research agreement exceeding 20 million yuan. Participating in the ceremony were Jinghong’s Chairman Yang Hui, Vice Secretary of the Party Committee and President Zhang Yanduo, Vice-Presidential level official Zhu Qinglin, executives from both institutions, and faculty representatives. The event was presided over by Chen Xuyong, Dean of the Office of Scientific and Technological Development.
President Zhang welcomed the Jinghong delegation and expressed gratitude for their sustained support. Highlighting the university’s strategic focus on national science and technology initiatives, he emphasized the importance of industry-academia synergy in driving regional economic growth. He called for deeper collaboration to leverage the university’s disciplinary strengths, talent pool, and research platforms in jointly tackling core technology, building high-caliber R&D hubs, cultivating skilled engineers, and accelerating the commercialization of innovations.
Chairman Yang Hui briefed attendees on Jinghong’s industrial roadmap, core technologies, and collaborative projects. He underscored the company’s commitment to technology iteration and management innovation, and expressed enthusiasm for forging partnerships with Professor Yang’s team in areas such as process optimization, technology transfer, and talent development. The goal, he noted, is to bridge the gap between academia, industry, and talent pipelines through mutually beneficial collaboration.
Chairman Yang and Vice Dean Gu Shuangxi jointly signed the agreement on behalf of both parties. During the subsequent dialogue session, delegates explored practical steps for project implementation, technical breakthroughs, and talent cultivation, reaching consensus on key collaboration priorities.
A 2025 full-time recruit to the School of Chemical Engineering and Pharmacy, Yang Zekun specializes in organic synthetic methodology and pharmaceutical engineering. His research centers on efficient bond cleavage/recombination in inert chemical systems, developing novel coupling reaction systems for applications in antibody glycosylation, ADC (antibody-drug conjugate) payload synthesis, and industrial-scale production of photosensitive drug intermediates. Future work will focus on frontier photochemical systems and their integration into pharmaceutical intermediates and continuous manufacturing processes. (Reviewed by Yang Haibo and Gu Shuangxi)
