The aim of the Innovation Laboratory is to carry out all-round, multi-level cooperation in R&D, industry-university-research, high-tech achievement transformation, and talent training for commercial production of extracellular vesicle-based drug delivery technology. The Innovation Laboratory will focus on technology platforms associated with R&D and commercial production of key drug delivery technology based on extracellular vesicles (EVs) with a particle size below 200 nm. Further, it will overcome relevant technical difficulties, in order to provide this cutting-edge technology to help a vast number of patients as early as possible and provide a more accurate Chinese therapeutic regimen using extracellular vesicle-based drug delivery technology.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) refer to cell-secreted membranous structures enclosed with a lipid bilayer. EVs, carrying a wealth of biological information, can be understood as a natural "logistics and high-throughput information exchange system" in the body. With the functions to mediate intercellular communication and playing a role in the spreading of various diseases, EVs are also considered a potential carrier of targeted medical treatment. In 2013, three scientists from the United States and Germany won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the delivery and regulation mechanisms of EVs. Since then, great attention has been paid to the role of EVs and their clinical translational research by scientists and industries worldwide.

Compared with traditional delivery carriers such as viruses and nanoparticles, EVs are natural nanoscale membrane vesicles, with the advantage of having high stability and biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, absence of cytotoxicity, and passage through biological barriers, providing a brand-new dosing strategy for disease treatment. In addition, with EVs, more diverse drug delivery strategies can be developed. Therapeutic EVs can be developed by editing mother cells, and drugs can be delivered directly with purified EVs. For example, EVs can be used as carriers of small molecule drugs, protein drugs, and siRNA drugs for the treatment of cancer, SARS-CoV-2 infection, cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases, and renal diseases. This way of delivery significantly improves drug bioavailability, stability, targeting, and pharmacokinetic profiles, thereby enhancing drug efficacy while reducing toxic and side effects.

The Nephrology Institute of Southeast University is a well-known center integrating clinical diagnosis, treatment, teaching, and research of kidney disease in China. In recent years, under the leadership of Prof. Liu, a famous nephrologist in China, a series of innovative studies on EVs have been conducted for targeted kidney disease therapy. These studies have been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC) as a major international cooperation project, National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and NSFC's Excellent Young Scientists Fund, and a series of EV-based drug delivery systems with independent intellectual property rights have already been successfully developed. As validated by a variety of animal models, small molecule drugs, protein drugs and siRNA drugs loaded on this system can target renal lesion sites, exerting a significant effect on a variety of acute and chronic kidney injury models.

Prof. Liu is currently the Director of Southeast University School of Medicine, Vice Chairman of Chinese Society of Nephrology, Chairman of East China Society of Nephrology, Associate Editor of Frontier Physiol, and Principal Scientist of National Key R&D Program of Ministry of Science and Technology. He has published more than 190 SCI papers, participated in the compilation of more than 50 monographs, and applied for 10 invention patents, with 5 granted. Liu has won the second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award, the first prize of Natural Science Award of Ministry of Education, the first prize of Chinese Medical Science and Technology Award, and the second prize of Scientific and Technological Progress Award of Ministry of Education, along with other important awards. He enjoys special government allowances of the State Council and has been awarded the honorary title of "Young and Middle-aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions" by the National Health Commission.

Kexing Biopharm is an innovative international biopharmaceutical enterprise mainly engaged in the R&D, production, and sales of recombinant protein therapeutics and micro-ecological agents. We focus on pharmaceutical research in the fields of antiviral, oncology and immunology, hematology, digestion, and degenerative disease. In December 2020, we were listed on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board. We have long focused on the development strategy of biopharmaceuticals and have been closely following the growing trend of cutting-edge biotechnology, with an increasing input in R&D activities. We have explored new biopharmaceutical fields with strong clinical demand with a positive attitude and conducted comprehensive technical investigations and analyses in the fields of new proteins, new antibodies, fusion technologies, nucleic acid drugs, and delivery technologies. We possess great knowledge of the conditions of R&D and product development both at home and abroad, gradually completing the planning and layout of relevant R&D pipelines.