HitGen Founder Dr. Jin Li Received the Award of Honorary Doctor of Science from Aston University Release Time：2018-07-26

Birmingham, UK, July 18, 2018   Aston University, with over one hundred year history, welcomed their important annual day of graduation ceremony which took place at Birmingham Town Hall. Dr. Jin Li, Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of HitGen Ltd, has made excellent contribution to the area of innovative drug discovery. To recognize the outstanding achievements, Dr. Jin Li, the first entrepreneur from Chinese biotech companies, is awarded the Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree by Aston University.

PhD is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. "Doctor of Science" or DSc. is a "higher doctorate" awarded in recognition of a substantial and sustained contribution to scientific knowledge beyond that required for a PhD. It may also be awarded as an honorary degree.  

The Chancellor of Aston University expressed “The award of honorary degree is to publicly recognize Dr. Jin Li who has distinguished himself in the biotech area and made great contribution to the innovative drug discovery and development. Moreover, he has devoted himself to the biotech area and successfully established the proprietary DNA

Encoded Libraries to further advance the process of innovative drug discovery as well as co-authored over 30 scientific publications, and is co-inventor of over 50 patents.”

Jin was awarded a PhD in macromolecular science from Aston in 1988. Returning to Birmingham has brought back many memories. At the graduation ceremony, Dr. Jin Li shared few thoughts with new graduates who will embark on the next chapter of their journey: 1)Gratitude:be grateful to the opportunities, endorsement, and mentorship you have received; 2)Courageand Confidence: have the courage to explore and further your understanding of the world; and deepen your understanding of yourself; 3)Contribution:make contributions to others’ needs and growth. Never underestimate your ability to counsel, challenge, and inspire those around you. “There will be immense opportunity and changes in the years ahead, particularly in the field of life and health sciences. From the detailed unravelling of genomics information governing life and disease processes to the more accurate diagnosis of disease unset; from the advanced biotechnology for novel therapeutics such as genome editing by CRISPR/Cas9 to the frontier of personalised healthcare; from big data and cloud computing to the applications of automation and AI in healthcare. Be confident in the contribution and impact you can make. Be empowered and resilient in the face of changes and challenges.” said Dr. Jin Li.

Jin was awarded a PhD in macromolecular science from Aston in 1988. After graduating Jin then went on to work as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Manchester for two years. Later, he began working in pharmaceutical companies. After witnessing the long and hard time for innovative drug discovery as well as high cost, in 2012, Jin went back to China and started a biotechnology company HitGen using pioneering technologies to prosecute some of the most challenging therapeutic areas today, and have the privilege of collaborating with the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, leading academic groups, and most impactful philanthropic foundations. However, there still remains unmet medical needs. As one of the cutting-edge technologies in the innovative drug discovery area, DNA Encoded Library (DEL) technology enables us to shorten the R&D research period to further improve screening efficiency for challenging targets to accelerate the innovative drug discovery development. In the coming future, HitGen hope more scientists can join together to develop an ecosystem for innovative drug discovery in the worldwide, make real commitments and contributions to the unmet medical needs to further improve people’s lives.” said Dr. Jin Li.

About HitGen Ltd.

HitGen is an innovation driven life science company with headquarters and main research facilities based in Chengdu, China and with offices in USA. HitGen has established a unique platform for drug discovery research. Our DNA encoded chemical libraries (DELs) contain more than 200 billion novel, diverse, drug-like compounds. These compounds are members of DELs synthesised from many hundreds of distinct chemical scaffolds, designed with tractable chemistry based on proven results for identifying small molecule leads against targets from both known and unprecedented protein classes. HitGen is collaborating with multiple pharmaceutical, biotech and agrochemical companies, and academic research institutes to discover and develop the therapeutics of the future.

For further information, please visitwww.hitgen.com