Professor Fang Xu, the founder and chief scientist of Shandong Henglu Biotechnology Co., Ltd., has been focusing on the research of enzyme-engineering microbial manufacturing and synthetic biology since 1995;
In 1999, went to Japan to study and obtained his master's and a doctor's degree in Kyoto University, where there are many Nobel Prize winners;
In 2006, joined Japan's the largest national research institute – National Institute of Advance Industrial Technology Research Institute to engage in scientific research;
In 2009, as a returned overseas Chinese, Prof. Fang worked as a professor and PhD supervisor at the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology and the National Glycoengineering Research Center of Shandong University, with his research focus on enzyme engineering modifications and biosynthesis of natural products and their derivatives and well as lignocellulosic biodegradation.
Prof. Fang has published more than 70 academic papers in the field of synthetic biology, written English academic monographs, transformed scientific research results into productivity, especially using the self-developed enzymatic process to synthesize and mass-production HMOs (Human Milk Oligosaccharides), which solves “bottleneck” problems in this field in our country, and has won number of scientific and technological awards at national and provincial levels.
In order to implement the concept of "selecting products based on market demand as the core and realizing large-scale mass production with synthetic biotechnology innovation", Prof. Fang initiated the establishment of Shandong Henglu Biotechnology Co., Ltd. in 2018 and set up a synthetic biology R&D platform of "biological intelligence", from enzyme synthesis to whole-cell synthesis, combining artificial intelligence (AI) technology, high-throughput screening and organic expression and integrating the new generation of fermentation engineering technology with life science, information and AI and other disciplines.
Henglu Biotech has established R&D team dominated by doctoral students. Currently, there are more than 10 PhDs, with over 95% of employees have bachelor degrees or higher qualifications.