Industry Insights with Henry Zhu: 20 Years of Innovation at BPS Bioscience To mark BPS Biosciences 20th anniversary, we spoke with Dr. Henry Zhu , CEO and President of BPS Bioscience , about the companys beginnings, its growth into new areas of drug discovery research, and how his team of scientists works to develop tools and services that meet the evolving needs of researchers. In this interview, Dr. Zhu shares insights on the companys history, the role of customization in research, and the importance of maintaining scientific expertise when building resources for the lab. https://insidescientific.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Henry-Zhu-2-300x300.png

Can you share a bit about BPS Biosciences origin story and how it first entered the biotech space?

The company was founded in 2005, therefore this year is our 20 th birthday! We initially provided specific solutions in the production of recombinant, active enzymes for drug discovery projects. Our first recombinant enzyme was sphingosine kinase. When I founded the company, I determined that the enzyme did not exist commercially at a time when many pharmaceutical companies were trying to develop candidate drugs. I saw a gap in the market and went from there. Since then, the team has grown and were now about 90 strong. We have moved location several times as the company grew, the last time in 2020 when we moved to a much larger building at our current address [in San Diego]. In 20 years, our catalog has increased to approximately 4000 off the shelf products and tools, which now include cell lines, viral tools such as lentivirus and adeno associated virus for gene therapy. We also offer over 600 assay kits as well as screening and profiling services to test drug candidates in biochemical or cell-based assays.

So, youre saying that over the years, the company has expanded from recombinant proteins into assays, cell lines, and other biotech products. What was the transition like?

Our expansion has been driven by the evolving needs of the drug discovery industry and by our strong commitment to innovation. Over time we recognized that scientists needed more advanced tools to evaluate drug candidates, and we developed a range of reporter cell lines to study compounds within cellular environments. With the immunotherapy breakthrough in oncology, we adapted again by introducing a comprehensive portfolio of essential reagents for immunotherapy research. Today, our CAR-T, CAR-NK, and TCR-T tools support the development of next-generation therapies. Of course, expanding into new technologies is not without challenges. It has required significant investment, the recruitment of highly skilled scientists, and the implementation of stringent quality control measures. These efforts have been instrumental in establishing BPS Bioscience as a leading service provider, ensuring we continue to meet the needs of researchers worldwide. [fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" align_self="auto" content_layout="column" align_content="flex-start" valign_content="flex-start" content_wrap="wrap" spacing="" center_content="no" column_tag="div" link="" target="_self" link_description="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" sticky_display="normal,sticky" class="" id="" type_medium="" type_small="" order_medium="0" order_small="0" dimension_spacing_medium="" dimension_spacing_small="" dimension_spacing="" dimension_margin_medium="" dimension_margin_small="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_medium="" padding_small="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" hover_type="none" border_sizes="" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_radius="" box_shadow="no" dimension_box_shadow="" box_shadow_blur="0" box_shadow_spread="0" box_shadow_color="" box_shadow_st