Future Leaders Fellowships granted to Dr. Jiang in collaboration with Exactmer for the development of breakthrough technology
Exactmer is excited to announce that Dr. Zhiwei Jiang has been selected as one of eighty-four of the most promising science and research leaders, the successful leaders will benefit from a total of £97.8m investment to tackle major global challenges and to commercialise innovations in the UK. The Future Leaders Fellowships scheme helps universities and businesses in the UK recruit, develop and retain the world’s best researchers and innovators.
Dr. Jiang received his PhD degree from Imperial College London as a membrane scientist, and afterwards contributed as Research Associate for 5 years. During this period, he developed ultrathin membranes dedicated for molecular separations that outperformed the commercial membranes available on the market. He also worked closely with BP and ExxonMobil where he participated in the filing of patents for the development of two-dimensional materials as separation membranes.
He will be working in collaboration with Exactmer during his fellowship to advance membrane technology. Exactmer is a fast-growing company based in East London, developing a proprietary technology platform to break through the barriers of making exact polymers such as oligonucleotides, PEGylated drugs and ADC linkers. Oligonucleotide medicines work by interfering with how genes are expressed to limit the production of detrimental proteins and have shown success in the treatment of rare diseases. This next-generation therapeutic class is now being explored to treat chronic diseases that affect much larger patient populations.
At the heart of Exactmer’s platform is a molecular separation membrane, used to separate a growing polymer from residual monomers. Dr. Jiang’s Future Leaders Fellowships will last for 4 years, and it aims to fabricate membranes with well-defined and controlled pore size, which can withstand the harsh chemical environments required for polymer synthesis. Dr. Jiang’s collaboration with Exactmer will lead to the development of an entirely new membrane class known as isoporous organic solvent nanofiltration membranes (iOSN).
Dr. Jiang will work on the development of the membrane technology that will bring considerable advances in the synthesis of exact polymers at Exactmer. This will allow the manufacturing of high purity and high yield products, assist Exactmer to develop their technology for the upcoming demand in the oligos market, and subsequently help millions of patients around the world.
Please visit the following link for more information about the Future Leaders Fellows:
84 new Future Leaders Fellows and £100m for next round announced – UKRI