Syntheticon's Qiu Yunyan: Pioneering Precision Medicine with High-Throughput Single-Cell Sequencing After Transitioning from Semiconductor Industry
High-throughput single-cell sequencing refers to the sequencing of genetic material from tens of thousands of individual cells, thereby enabling the identification of cell types and functions within a sample, as well as changes in the health or status of specific cells. Single-cell sequencing not only allows for the analysis of heterogeneity among cells of the same type but also provides precise genetic information on different cell types from precious clinical samples, holding broad prospects in scientific research, clinical practice, and the drug development market.
High-throughput single-cell analysis technology first emerged in 2015 and has since experienced rapid development. In October 2017, the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) project was officially launched, aiming to create a reference map of all cells in a healthy human body, marking a milestone in the industrialization of high-throughput single-cell research. Also in 2017, 10X Genomics and BD Biosciences successively introduced their microfluidic systems for single-cell sequencing, which were immediately widely adopted in scientific research. At this time, the burgeoning field of single-cell sequencing attracted the interest of Qiu Yunyan.
Qiu Yunyan holds a master’s degree in Bio-Mechatronics Engineering from National Taiwan University and dedicated his research to biosensors. After graduation, he joined TSMC. He assessed that “single-cell technologies and biochips hold significant promise. Although biochips are not as widely recognized as semiconductor chips, they represent a cutting-edge, rapidly growing field that offers greater opportunities to leverage one’s expertise.” Coinciding with the establishment of Singleron in 2018, the company extended an offer to Qiu Yunyan.
“After several rounds of interactions, I highly resonated with Singleron’s development direction, leadership philosophy, and team culture, and found my professional expertise to be a strong fit.” Driven by personal interest and industry trends, Qiu Yunyan summoned the courage to leave TSMC and transition into the unfamiliar field of biotechnology, joining Singleron as Engineering Director. In this role, he engages in the design and research of microfluidic chips and develops automated solutions ranging from sample processing to single-cell library preparation.
Meanwhile, Qiu Yunyan has also witnessed Singleron’s growth from a 10-person startup to its current position as a leader in China’s single-cell industry. Since its establishment in 2018, Singleron has transformed the technology exclusively licensed from Yale University from a laboratory-stage innovation into commercial products, launching the first mature commercial single-cell sequencing platform in China and the third worldwide.
Due to the late start of China’s single-cell market, key core technologies are dominated by foreign companies such as 10X Genomics and BD. Most mainstream domestic single-cell sequencing platforms and reagents rely heavily on imports. The majority of Chinese enterprises in this sector focus primarily on providing sequencing services or acting as distributors for foreign products, resulting in a severe shortage of domestically produced single-cell sequencing platforms with independent core technologies.
Qiu Yunyan believes that “bottlenecks in key technologies are not only pain points but also harbor significant market opportunities.” The threshold for single-cell sequencing platforms is relatively high, requiring the integration of diverse capabilities such as microfluidics, automation, biochemical reagent development, and software engineering. With a mission to develop domestically produced single-cell sequencing platforms, Singleron has assembled a market and R&D team with keen insights into the clinical application market, supported by comprehensive teams of engineers, bioinformatics researchers, and reagent development and production specialists. This enabled the company to rapidly complete the development and commercialization of China’s first single-cell sequencing platform, making it the third company globally, after 10X Genomics and Becton Dickinson, to possess a mature, commercially available high-throughput single-cell sequencing platform.
It is reported that Singleron’s single-cell sequencing platform provides a comprehensive solution spanning tissue sample processing, high-throughput single-cell isolation and sequencing library preparation, to data analysis and clinical significance exploration, with all performance metrics on par with leading international products.
Currently, Singleron’s single-cell sequencing platform has been widely adopted in the basic research market and has demonstrated significant potential in drug development. In the highly competitive sector of single-cell applications for academic research, the platform has gained recognition from over 700 users worldwide, contributing to numerous scientific publications and achievements. In the pharmaceutical R&D market, there is a widespread need among pharmaceutical companies to identify effective new targets and improve drug development efficiency. Since 2018, Singleron has been building a single-cell database and has successively launched multi-omics products that enable single-cell-level analysis of transcriptomes, immune repertoires, mutations, and functional changes in transcriptomes. The company has established collaborations with firms such as XtalPi and Junshi Biosciences, providing robust support for innovative drug development and clinical trials.
Clearly, compared with the scientific research market and the drug development market, the vast clinical market is a more attractive frontier.
In clinical diagnosis, precise and comprehensive biomarkers play a crucial guiding role in accurate patient stratification, selection of treatment regimens, and even life-critical decision-making for patients. Single-cell sequencing enables timely and precise patient testing while uncovering mechanisms and biomarkers that traditional pathological methods fail to detect, thereby providing evidence of therapeutic efficacy and safety for the discovery of new indications. The assessment of tumors or other disease lesions via single-cell sequencing is multidimensional, investigating cellular and transcriptional characteristics of lesion tissues from various perspectives, including cellular composition, intrinsic correlations between cellular phenotypes and genotypes, functional activity states of cellular pathways, and intercellular communication. Based on this approach, drug target evaluation and the identification of biomarkers yield a more comprehensive and precise characterization of lesion tissue features.
In recent years, the rapid development of China’s precision medicine market has enabled Singleron to recognize the potential and growth opportunities for single-cell technologies in the domestic clinical market. Qiu Yunyan stated, “The key barriers to the clinical translation of single-cell sequencing lie in automation and standardization.” Since its inception, Singleron has focused on the clinical application of single-cell technologies. Qiu Yunyan is leading his team in developing automated solutions spanning from sample processing to single-cell library preparation, thereby meeting the demands of clinical translation. Currently, Singleron has launched Matrix, an automated instrument for single-cell library preparation, while its automated tissue dissociation instrument, Python, is poised for official release.
Qiu Yunyan believes that, with 10X Genomics dominating the market, clinical translation presents one of the key opportunities for Chinese companies to catch up with their foreign counterparts. “For instance, I believe domestic enterprises will soon surpass international players in areas such as end-to-end solutions, automation and flexibility, and precise data processing, thereby accelerating the clinical implementation of single-cell technologies.”
As Qiu Yunyan had previously anticipated, high-throughput single-cell sequencing garnered unprecedented attention in 2020 and 2021. Looking ahead, Qiu Yunyan stated, “In the future, it is worth paying close attention to the development of single-cell technologies in multi-omics and spatial omics. In terms of application scenarios, the expansion from the research market to drug development, clinical diagnostics, and health management has become an inevitable trend. On this promising frontier of single-cell sequencing, Singleron will continue to develop innovative technologies centered on its single-cell sequencing platform, refine its product portfolio, and build a world-leading single-cell sequencing platform.”