Yanan Du

Yanan Du is a professor at Tsinghua University and the founding scientist behind CytoNiche (华龛生物), a 3D cell manufacturing platform. He established the company in 2018 based on research from his lab at Tsinghua's School of Medicine, later also described as the biomedical engineering school, and remains its chief scientist . The company has since raised multiple funding rounds, including a nearly RMB 300 million Series B in 2022 and a Series B+ in 2025, to commercialize its core 3D microcarrier technology for cell therapy production . Du has publicly framed the work as building a modern "3D cell smart manufacturing factory" to capitalize on what he calls the global cell industry's inflection point .

Related coverage: CytoNiche's funding was reported by Gaorong Venture Capital . Du's name also appears in background material covering other investors and firms, including 暗涌Waves profiles of Joy Capital and others .