FigureAsia 35 Under 35 · Science
Jiangfan Yu
Age 33 · Magnetic microrobots and vascular imaging · China
Sole corresponding author of a 2025 system that uses magnetic microrobot swarms to explore and reconstruct blocked vascular networks.
- Approximate age at the edition eligibility date
- 33
- Field
- Biomedical robotics
- Country or region
- China
- FigureAsia U35 Assessment
- 83.5 / 100
Profile
Career and documented record
Conventional angiography follows the bloodstream; it cannot easily reveal branches upstream of a blockage or inside poorly perfused regions. Jiangfan Yu's 2025 Nature Machine Intelligence study used magnetically controlled microrobot swarms to move against flow, navigate obstructions and reconstruct vascular geometry in three dimensions.
Yu is the sole corresponding author and directs the microrobot centre behind the work. The system combines swarm control, localisation and active sensing rather than treating the particles as passive contrast material.
This is preclinical robotics, not a cleared diagnostic procedure. Biocompatibility, retrieval, control reliability and clinical imaging integration remain decisive. The contribution is to demonstrate active vascular exploration as a measurable alternative to passive transport.
FigureAsia selection
Why Jiangfan Yu is on the list
Yu is selected for a system that changes the direction of the imaging problem: instead of waiting for blood flow to carry information, it sends controllable agents to map inaccessible paths. Clear corresponding-author leadership and a completed experimental platform strengthen the case.
Verified work
The 2025–26 record
Active vascular reconstruction
Corresponding-authored magnetic swarms that explore and map vessel networks in three dimensions.
Against-flow navigation
Demonstrated movement into upstream and obstructed branches inaccessible to passive agents.
Microrobot centre leadership
Led the multidisciplinary control and biomedical-robotics programme in Shenzhen.
Field context
The work in its field
Microrobots are scientifically compelling only when control, localisation and information gain are demonstrated together. Vascular use adds strict safety and retrieval requirements.
FigureAsia U35 Assessment
Assessment breakdown
83.5out of 100
Substantive 2025–2026 contribution
15.5 / 20
Corresponding-authored magnetic swarms that explore and map vessel networks in three dimensions.
Verified scientific impact
12.3 / 15
The study demonstrates a distinctive active-imaging capability in a high-value biomedical setting.
Originality and distinction
8.4 / 10
The distinction lies in using controllable microrobot swarms as mobile mapping agents rather than passive contrast particles.
Field influence
8.4 / 10
The contribution gives magnetic microrobots and vascular imaging a new method, limit or line of argument with relevance beyond one paper.
Individual agency
8.4 / 10
Yu is sole corresponding author and centre director, while experimental and engineering contributions remain credited to the team.
Durability and trajectory
4.4 / 5
The record shows continuity at CUHK-Shenzhen and Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society: this contribution belongs to a wider, sustained agenda.
Asian significance and global relevance
4.5 / 5
Chinese roboticist leading a microrobotics programme in Shenzhen.
Evidential validity and reproducibility
6.8 / 8
Three-dimensional reconstruction and navigation are experimentally shown; clinical safety and efficacy are not inferred.
Advance in scientific knowledge
6.1 / 7
The work shows that active agents can recover vascular information beyond the path allowed by normal flow.
Translational or methodological utility
4.3 / 5
If safety hurdles are cleared, the approach could complement imaging and intervention in occluded or complex vessels.
Responsible research stewardship
4.4 / 5
Preclinical status, biocompatibility and retrieval obligations are stated as central limits rather than footnotes.