Yan Xiyun (; born February 1957) is a Chinese nanobiologist, academician of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...

, researcher and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Biophysics, and professor of the

University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences The University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS; ) is a public university for graduate education, under the direct leadership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The predecessors of UCAS are the Graduate University of the Chinese ...

. Her main accomplishment was the discovery of nanozymes and its application in

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

diagnosis.

Early life and career

Xiyun Yan attended Henan Medical University and obtained her B.S. degree in 1983. Following that, Yan studied cell biology in a lab at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) until leaving for Germany to obtain a doctorate in 1989. She graduated with a medical doctor’s degree from

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...

and later traveled to the United States to engage in post-doctoral research at the

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Yan returned to China in 1997 and was selected for the Hundred Talents Program by CAS. Since then, Yan has focused on

research, working to discover new targets and advancing techniques for tumor diagnosis and

therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...

Research summary

Yan Xiyun focused mainly on

tumor immunology Cancer immunology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology that is concerned with understanding the role of the immune system in the progression and development of cancer; the most well known application is cancer immunotherapy, which utilises ...

and nanozymes research. In 2007, Yan discovered nanozymes and proposed that nanoparticles possess

enzymatic Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. ...

properties. Yan was the first to integrate the use of

nanomaterials * Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to na ...

as enzymes mimic to advance tumor diagnosis and therapy. This compelling discovery of nanozyme shifted the initial idea that nanoparticles are chemically inactive, which unveiled many new applications for nanoparticles in the fields of

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

food production The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditiona ...

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...

, and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

. Today, nanozymes is seen as an emerging field that combines both nanotechnology and biotechnology. Tumor immunology research led her to discover CD146, a melanoma cell adhesion molecule that is greatly expressed in tumor cells that leads to

metastasis Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then ...

. Yan and her team were able to determine the ligands of CD146, and develop treatments for liver, pancreatic, and colon cancer by creating therapeutic humanized antibodies. The discovery of nanozymes has won China's State Natural Science Award. The work of Yan and her team has been recognized and published in

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

Blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...

, PNAS, and other journals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yan, Xiyun Chinese immunologists 1957 births Living people Chinese women biologists Biologists from Hunan Cancer researchers