It all started with a familiar pain point:

Years ago, labs often grappled with a "good problem to have." Project volumes grew rapidly, and sample sizes ballooned like rolling snowballs. Yet traditional cDNA reverse transcription and RPE amplification remained tedious, time-consuming, and heavily reliant on error-prone manual operations. Researchers invested immense effort into highly repetitive tasks—pipetting, timing, and temperature changes—while efficiency lagged and output hit a bottleneck. A shared sentiment grew: Things had to change.

NovelBio's Response: Engineering a Breakthrough

A cross-functional team of hardware/software engineers and biologists was formed with a clear goal: to develop NovelBio's own automated workstation—smarter, more reliable, and built for heavy use.

NovelcDNAStation：The challenge was to convert fragile RNA into stable cDNA with precision, requiring exact liquid handling, rapid temperature changes, and contamination prevention. After extensive R&D and countless iterations, the team successfully created a system that automates RNA quantitation, reaction setup, reverse transcription, and product purification—streamlining a once tedious manual process into a seamless, automated workflow.

Cyto-RPE Station：To achieve high-fidelity, high-throughput, and unattended amplification of precious cDNA samples, the team drew from industrial automation principles. They innovatively integrated precision temperature control, microfluidic technology, optical detection, and intelligent algorithms. Each movement of the robotic arm was optimized through extensive simulation and testing; temperature uniformity and stability met stringent molecular biology requirements; and a built-in quality control module continuously monitored the amplification process to ensure accurate "copying" of genetic material.

NovelBio: Breaking Barriers with Autonomous Innovation We engineered our own "Interpreter" and "Copier" systems not only to decipher life's code, but to translate scientific discovery into tangible health solutions—faster and more reliably. This self-sustaining drive—the core of the NovelBio Strength—propels us further on the journey to decode life and combat disease with ever-deepening resolve.

September 2017

The rapid advancement of gene sequencing technology has fueled the rise of precision medicine and triggered an explosion of genomic data. However, efficiently storing, managing, and analyzing these vast datasets—while maintaining high speed, stability, and reproducibility—remains a critical challenge. In response, bio-cloud computing systems like NovelBrain® have emerged, leveraging big data approaches to solve these issues with minimal manual effort.
In an interview with Sequencing China, Dr. Zong Jie, founder of NovelBio, introduced the NovelBrain® cloud platform and shared his enduring commitment to bio-cloud computing innovation.

Rooted in Research, Dedicated to Research

As a founder, what led you to choose bioinformatics and eventually establish NovelBio?

Dr. Zong Jie: My journey began in 2009, as high-throughput sequencing gained momentum nationwide. During my Ph.D. in biology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University under Professor Zhang Dabing, I was introduced to bioinformatics—a field that matched my computer skills and scientific curiosity. I started organizing and analyzing sequencing data for our lab.

At that time, sequencing companies delivered highly standardized results, leaving many custom analytical needs unmet due to a lack of suitable software. Recognizing this gap, I co-founded Shanghai NovelBio in 2010 to extract meaningful biological insights from complex data. Within a year, we helped clients publish over 10 papers, with a cumulative impact factor exceeding 50.

A key transition came in 2012, when we became China’s first company to adopt ABI’s semiconductor-based sequencing platform. This allowed us to evolve from a sequencing service provider into an integrated R&D company. In 2013, we supported the publication of the first transcriptome study and first Nature paper using the Ion Proton platform.

We continued expanding our technology portfolio, building cloud-based distributed computing and storage systems, and creating the big data analysis platform NovelBrain^®, powered by proprietary algorithms—a system designed to manage and interpret genomic data at scale.

First and foremost, it aligned with my personal interests. Software development opened a new frontier for me—where a single program could eliminate repetitive tasks and dramatically improve efficiency. The sense of accomplishment when code I designed ran successfully was unparalleled. Secondly, there was substantial market demand for data analysis services. With the spread of high-throughput sequencing, vast amounts of data awaited biological interpretation. This required individuals versed in both biology and computing to step beyond traditional academic boundaries and provide customized services for researchers. This dual drive formed the foundation of my decision to start NovelBio—and it remains what our team continues to uphold today.

Building an Integrated Full-Industry Chain

What are NovelBio’s current core business focuses and key competitive advantages?

Dr. Zong Jie: In our early days, data analysis relied entirely on command-line code. With bioinformaticians in short supply, we developed our first standalone analysis system—enabling biologists to perform analyses without programming. This allowed our small team to focus on interpreting biological significance, improving both efficiency and service quality.

By 2012, as big data technologies matured within the internet industry, we recognized their potential for solving biological challenges. An early version of our cloud computing system was already deployed internally by early 2013—a platform rigorously tested in real R&D environments. Through continuous iteration and functional expansion, it evolved into the NovelBrain® cloud platform as it exists today.

Core Advantages:
• Early development of user-friendly, code-free analysis systems
• Seamless transition to scalable, cloud-native architecture
• Long-term real-world validation in production settings
Closed-loop integration spanning wet-lab services to dry-lab analysis

Who benefits from the NovelBrain® cloud platform?

Dr. Zong Jie: The platform serves a wide range of users—including individual researchers, large institutions, biotech enterprises, and high‑throughput sequencing facilities. Beyond powering scientific analysis, it also supports intelligent management in enterprise settings.
• For researchers, NovelBrain® offers a visual, user‑friendly interface that significantly accelerates data analysis. It enables customized processing for different species, populations, and datasets with ease.
• For hospitals, the platform integrates multiple databases and modern reporting workflows to deliver end‑to‑end solutions and interpretable clinical reports.
• For corporate users, it bridges the gap between ERP systems and data analysis. With enterprise‑grade tools that enable global collaboration and remote work, the system helps optimize resources, improve productivity, and drive business growth.

Overtaking on the Curve: The Late-mover Advantage

How does NovelBrain® differ from other bio-cloud platforms like Seven Bridges, and can China truly catch up technologically?

Dr. Zong Jie: In fact, China's cloud computing sector holds a "late-mover advantage"—positioning us to overtake international counterparts on the technological curve.
Since 2013, domestic and global players—including Alibaba Cloud and Baidu Cloud—have introduced new computational models such as batch computing. These frameworks have simplified the development and operation of bio-cloud platforms. As a result, the underlying infrastructure in China now closely parallels that abroad, effectively placing domestic and international firms on the same starting line.
What sets NovelBrain® apart is its zero-code interface, making it accessible to users without coding or bioinformatics experience. Moreover, built upon years of hands-on data analysis and research expertise, NovelBrain® is deeply optimized for biological insight discovery. It offers a richer suite of interpretation tools—such as functional annotation, trend analysis, gene regulatory network construction, and disease association mapping—than most competing platforms.

Dedicated to Research, Committed to Life

What is NovelBio's vision for future development?

Dr. Zong Jie: My goal is to bring NovelBrain® to the general public—enabling individuals to decode their own biology and, through that understanding, inspire greater care for their own health and that of their families and communities.
Looking back to 2017, when Dr. Zong Jie first outlined a strategy built on research as the foundation, cloud computing as the engine, and translational medicine as the goal, this approach was undoubtedly ahead of its time—positioning the company at the forefront of industrialized bioinformatics. We have since worked to make biological data analysis more systematic and efficient.
Through the accumulation of thousands of projects and tens of thousands of samples, our team’s experience and insights gradually crystallized into the creation of CytoNavigator.
2023: NovelBio launched CytoNavigator, a single-cell data analysis and visualization platform designed as a silent yet reliable “research compass,” transforming complex bioinformatics workflows into reproducible, scalable, and standardized processes.
2024: The platform expanded to cover the full transcriptomic spectrum, enabling code-free end-to-end analysis of both single-cell and conventional transcriptome data—freeing researchers to focus on scientific questions rather than coding.
2025: The CytoNavigator Spatial Transcriptomics Cloud Platform was fully released, supporting a wide range of high-resolution spatial transcriptomic analyses and continuously integrating cutting-edge tools recognized by top journals—paving the way for one-click multi-omics integration.

CytoNavigator embodies the culmination of NovelBio's technical expertise—integrating cell clustering, rare subtype discovery, spatiotemporal trajectory mapping, and cell-cell interaction analysis into a cohesive, dynamic analytical framework. It represents years of dedicated collaboration among bioinformaticians, engineers, and R&D teams—a finely woven "web of analysis" designed to make biological interpretation more fluid, intuitive, and accessible.
We firmly believe that a true platform delivers not just tools, but insight; not just analysis, but understanding. At NovelBio, we continue on our journey to comprehend life—one cell, one dataset, one discovery at a time.

In our early days, the NovelBrain cloud platform pioneered the move of bioinformatics into the Internet era, freeing data analysis from local constraints. When the world’s first primate autism model made headlines in Nature, that international recognition affirmed our rigorous scientific foundation—but for us, it was only the beginning.Facing the emerging frontier of single-cell technology, NovelBio undertook a decisive strategic shift. We not only rapidly established cutting-edge platforms to deliver one-stop services but also held a firm belief: core tools must be mastered through independent innovation.

Thus began a quiet "speed revolution" within our walls: the PanoCell single-cell platform, CytoNavigator intelligent cloud analysis system, NovelCyto microwell platform, automated workstations, tissue dissociators… One after another, these self-developed tools—embodying NovelBio’s ingenuity—emerged, breaking through the limits of efficiency and understanding, from software to hardware. The establishment of the Jiangxi production center, the expansion of regional offices across the country, and deep collaborations with industry leaders—each step moved in rhythm with our growth. Surpassing ¥100 million in revenue and the accumulation of 180+ high-impact outcomes stand as the most solid milestones of this relentless sprint forward.

The NovelBio Speed is not a cold metric—it's an instinct embedded in our actions. It represents the powerful fusion of technical strength, efficient collaboration, total commitment, and deep alignment with our clients' goals. We continuously refine this end-to-end rapid-response system—from hearing needs, to solving challenges, to providing ongoing support—all to ensure that with NovelBio as a partner, scientific exploration moves faster, sees clearer, and reaches further.