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Dr. Keyang Xu was awarded the ISEV Scholarship 2024 by the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) in recognition of his research contributions.

Dr. Xu pursued his PhD degree at the School from 2021 to 2024, focusing on the pathogenic mechanisms and targeted therapies for obesity-associated cancers using small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), under the guidance of Dr. KWAN Hiu Yee and Professor LYU Aiping.

His research project reveals the critical role of sEVs in the development of breast cancer. Using proteomics, he identified differentially expressed proteins in the circulating sEVs from individuals with obesity and obese mouse models induced by high-fat diet. The research findings show that extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1) protein level increases in the circulating sEVs in an integrin-β2 dependent-manner under obesity conditions, which underlies the enhanced breast cancer development. Based on this discovery, he further develops novel sEV-based strategy coupled with Chinese medicinal herbal compound to treat the obesity-associated breast cancer. 

Dr. Xu is committed to exploring and realizing the substantial clinical potential of modern Chinese medicine. He has published over 20 papers in prestigious scientific research journals, including Nature Communications and Cell Death & Disease. He believes that his research will bring new hope for patients with metastatic breast cancer in the future.