PostTime：6/12/2026
In 2026, the sixth cohort of undergraduate graduates from Guangdong Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) is ready to set sail. Armed with the knowledge and courage bestowed by their alma mater, and guided by the belief of "Dream it. Do it.", they have etched their youth in constant exploration and breakthrough. Let us step into their stories, and witness how they take action as wings to wider skies.
Che Xinyu
High School: Qingdao Experimental High School
Program: Biotechnology and Food Engineering (BFE)
Offer:
University College London (UCL): Pharmaceutics; Biochemical Engineering
The University of Manchester (UoM): Biomaterials
City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK): Biomedical Engineering
From barely admitted to GTIIT to landing a UCL offer, from near dismissal to a full comeback, from elective groups to biochemical engineering, in several years at GTIIT, Xinyu ran an extreme experiment on possibility.
From near-dismissal to UCL admission
"Don't slack off freshman year like I did." Looking back, Xinyu's advice is blunt and honest. After cramming through senior year of high school, she went into "revenge play mode." After joining GTIIT, her grades hovered near the passing line, and she was once on the verge of academic dismissal.
After receiving several academic warnings, she made up her mind to change. "I spent most of my sophomore year retaking freshman courses, building up my math and science foundation." Fortunately, after a year of immersion in an all-English environment, keeping up with the professors' pace and train of thought wasn't too hard. "I didn’t intentionally work on my English. After spending so much time 'soaking' in labs and assignments, I could understand it naturally."
English class
As the proportion of core major courses increased, Xinyu — who had been passionate about biology since middle school — began to step into her "comfort zone." "I love lab classes, and GTIIT's BFE program is known for having tons of them — at least eight hours a week in the lab." From designing products in food science, to hands-on fermentation in microbiology, to company field trips, she internalized theoretical knowledge and gradually fueled her inner drive to learn.
BFE Study Tour
"The academic atmosphere is really supportive too. Some of my friends took certain classes before me, but whenever they were free, they'd stay up late with me during exam week." She's especially grateful to Professor Ka Yin Leung for guiding her course selection, helping her stay on track and find her own rhythm, even when her grades were low.
Her growing self-discipline, combined with the support of friends and mentors, translated into tangible results. Her once red-flagged transcript gradually filled with scores of 70+, 80+, and offers from top universities — including University College London (UCL) and the University of Manchester — came rolling in.
Research thinking hatched from an "eggshell"
During university, Xinyu joined Professor Yigal Achmon's "eggshell group," exploring how to use agricultural waste (eggshells) to regulate soil microbial communities and promote crop growth through a green technology called biosolarization.
"Another feature of our program is that elective courses are divided into five tracks — medicine, food, bioinformatics, and so on. Everyone can choose two tracks based on their interests," Xinyu explained. This design respects students' personal passions while encouraging them to broaden their horizons across disciplines and find what they truly love.
The eggshell project almost perfectly connected everything she learned in class. "The microbiology, biochemistry, and analytical methods I studied all came together in a real interdisciplinary setting. It gave me a complete research thinking loop — far beyond just lab skills."
BFE Teaching Laboratory
Through this systematic training, she developed a habit: questioning "why" at every step. Why this variable? Why this control? What does this result mean? How can I improve it next time? She applied those reflections to every experiment optimization. With her team's help, she transformed from a passive executor into an active participant, and became a co-author on a paper awaiting publication.
When applying for graduate school, she followed her heart to programs in pharmaceutical and biochemical engineering — a choice that aligned closely with her undergraduate background in fluid mechanics and heat and mass transfer.
This decision came from her interest in human metabolism, but even more from what she had learned through research: "Breakthroughs in vaccines and synthetic biology must go through robust industrial production to create real value. I want to solve the core challenges of scaling up and purification — from 'lab sample' to 'commercial product.'"
Like many GTIIT students shaped by hands-on education, Xinyu kept her eyes on real-world impact. "My goal is to become a process engineer, turning cutting-edge science into practical industrial workflows in biomanufacturing." She believes discoveries only create real value when they leave the lab for the factory and the market.
Xinyu (far right) and a friend at a musical
This September, as a musical theater fan, she'll head to London, a city where art and science intertwine, to take on a new challenge: how to turn a lab-grown biology dream into a real “cure” on the production line.
Text: GTIIT News & Public Affairs
Photos: provided by Che Xinyu, GTIIT News & Public Affairs
