Goals
The Institute of Biopharmaceutical and Health Engineering (iBHE) aims to explore the frontiers of health technology and engineering for human wellness to meet the practical needs and long-term development strategy of building a "Healthy China" as well as Shenzhen's biotechnology industry. The strategy of iBHE is to build international first-class disciplines for providing comprehensive science solutions and awareness-based revolutionary technologies for human health and happiness by integrating pharmaceutical engineering, bioengineering, life sciences, medical sciences, chemical engineering, process and system engineering, materials engineering and other advanced discipline clusters. iBHE will focus on the development of three directions: cell engineering, health engineering, and pharmaceutical engineering. The institute will build a world-class talent team and create a new interdisciplinary education system in the field of biopharmaceutical and health engineering.
Research Areas
Focusing on two key bottleneck issues for human health, preventive treatment of diseases and prevention and cure from disease sources, our three major research directions include cell engineering, health engineering, and pharmaceutical engineering.
Cell Engineering is a discipline driven by clinical needs and medical-engineering integration, leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as stem cells, immune cells, organoids, synthetic biomanufacturing, gene editing, and artificial intelligence. It focuses on:
l Human-derived chassis stem cells and organoid synthetic biology
l Computational life models
l Cell culture and preservation technologies
l In situ live-cell engineering technologies
l Cell formulation and delivery systems (technologies and equipment)
l Novel multimodal imaging and tracking technologies
l Large-scale intelligent manufacturing platforms for cell production
By advancing cell-based therapeutics in treating major chronic diseases (e.g., malignancies, immune disorders, neurodegenerative diseases) and promoting longevity healthcare, this field accelerates the new quality productive forces of the cell industry.
Health Engineering is an interdisciplinary field oriented toward preventive healthcare and disease prevention, grounded in evidence-based medicine, life and health sciences, and engineering sciences. It focuses on:
l Health monitoring technologies and mild-condition assessment systems development of devices and instruments
l AI-driven mining and evaluation of health-functional factors using biomedical big data
l One Health frameworks and anti-aging technologies
l Synthetic biomanufacturing of health products and chronic disease intervention strategies
By facilitating the shift from conventional disease treatment to a holistic 'prevention-treatment-rehabilitatio' framework, this discipline catalyzes the high-quality development of China's health industry.
Pharmaceutical Engineering is a frontier discipline oriented toward disease treatment, rehabilitation, and innovative drug development, grounded in biomedical sciences, chemical engineering, synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, biomaterials, and nanoscience. It focuses on:
l AI-driven drug design
l Novel target discovery and development of nucleic acid therapeutics
l Advanced protein/enzyme engineering technologies
l Molecular Pharmaceutics for natural and traditional Chinese medicine
l Subpopulation-specific drug development
l Vaccine manufacturing technologies and systems
l Precision formulation engineering
l Smart and sustainable biomanufacturing and clinical translation
By establishing an end-to-end innovation ecosystem spanning pioneering discovery → sustainable manufacturing → precision therapeutics, this field accelerates technological breakthroughs in China's biopharmaceutical industry.
