“I won’t give up”
Neuroscientist Yanan Zhang has developed a diagnostic platform capable of detecting tumours in the blood. Keen to make her innovation market-ready, she’s now setting up her own company—thanks to a UZH MedTech Entrepreneur Fellowship.
It took Yanan Zhang only four years to achieve her groundbreaking advance in tumour diagnostics. She began her doctorate at Capital Medical University in Beijing, before spending her final year in the Department of Neurology at University Hospital Zurich as part of a cooperation agreement. There, in the research group led by Tobias Weiss, she completed her project on tumour-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs).
EVs can be thought of as tiny, encapsulated particles secreted by all kinds of cells, each containing proteins, RNA and DNA from the cell of origin. Cells use these specific EVs as messengers to pass on information to other cells.
Top accuracy
Cancer cells, too, release EVs in large numbers, even in the early stages of the disease. Yanan Zhang’s liquid biopsy platform is designed to detect even the faintest traces of these tumour-derived EVs in a patient’s blood. This marks a breakthrough in the diagnosis of glioblastoma—the most common type of primary brain tumour found in adults—which until now could not be reliably detected in blood samples. By opening this door, the platform holds great potential for early diagnoses and improved monitoring of therapy options.
While still a postdoctoral researcher, Zhang identified biomarkers that reveal glioblastoma-derived EVs with ninety-eight percent accuracy in internal validation studies. “That was the start of the platform,” she explains. Today, the liquid biopsy platform can also pick up EVs from lung, breast, pancreatic and skin cancers. Just four millilitres of blood are enough for the test. Even when used to search more generally for cancer cells, it achieves a success rate of ninety-one percent.
From researcher to entrepreneur
Zhang now wants to bring her innovative platform for cancer diagnostics and monitoring to market—though moving from researcher to entrepreneur is no small challenge. Nonetheless, in the build-up to the company’s launch—most likely in the next few months—Zhang is devoting all her energy to the preparations. In the team with Tobias Weiss, she’s ticking off items in a daunting to-do list: refining the prototype, publishing the related scientific paper, attending business courses and speaking with potential investors—one of whom made them a purchase offer. However, she says, the team turned it down. “We want an investor who shares our
commitment to excellence.”
Tobias Weiss, senior attending physician at the Department of Neurology, is her greatest mentor. “He’s a fantastic boss,” Zhang says appreciatively. He also has full confidence in the platform developed by his postdoc—now leading her own research group—and has been actively involved in supporting the venture. It was Weiss who recommended Yanan Zhang a year ago for the UZH MedTech Entrepreneur Fellowship, a professional development programme at the University of Zurich funded by the Werner Siemens Foundation, which helps researchers set up their own companies.
A world first
Zhang’s company will be based in Switzerland and will initially offer diagnostics “only” for brain tumours—because this approach is entirely new. “Our approach is a novel blood-based test and the first to provide clear evidence of glioblastoma-derived EV signals in peripheral blood,” she says proudly. The plan is then to extend the test to other cancers.
The process for their clients—for example, hospitals and private doctors—is simple: if they suspect a brain tumour, they send in the patient’s blood sample and receive the result about two days later. With an accuracy of over ninety percent, validation in larger, independent clinical studies remains a crucial next step. Once the company is established here in Switzerland, the team have plans for expansion into the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.
Starting a company involves a huge amount of work and endless things to consider. What weighs on Zhang most? “Entering the market, and everything we have to do, think about and secure to get there.” Is she still sleeping well? “No,” she says with a cheerful laugh. Does she at least take weekends off? “No!” Where does her tireless energy come from? “When I set myself a goal, I won’t give up. I stick to it until I’ve reached it. The company is my baby. I want to succeed.”
