Michael Ming-Chiao Lai (; born 8 September 1942) is a Taiwanese virologist. A native of

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" ...

born on 8 September 1942, Lai graduated from National Tainan First Senior High School and studied medicine at National Taiwan University. After completing his doctorate at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1973, Lai joined the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

faculty, where he remained until 2003. While teaching at USC, Lai was elected a member of

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

in 1992 and a fellow of the American College of Microbiology in 2002. From 1990, Lai was a

Howard Hughes Medical Investigator The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, f ...

. Upon his return to Taiwan in 2003, Lai was named a distinguished fellow of Academia Sinica. He became a fellow of

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable devel ...

in 2006. In 2009, Lai received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America. The government of Taiwan awarded Lai a in 2013. He won the

Nikkei Asia Prize The Nikkei Asia Prize (Japanese: 日経アジア賞) is an award which recognizes the achievements of people and organizations that have improved the lives of people throughout Asia. The awards were created and presented by Nikkei Inc, one of the l ...

in science and technology in 2017. Lai specialized in

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

, the species of virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome. His work has led to acknowledgement of Lai as "father of coronavirus research." He returned to Taiwan in the midst of the

2003 SARS outbreak 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

, and began researching vaccinations against the disease with the help of

Ding-Shinn Chen Ding-Shinn Chen (; 6 July 1943 – 24 June 2020) was a Taiwanese hepatologist. He was born on 6 July 1943, in what became Yingge District, New Taipei City. Chen's mother became sick when he was a child, and needed surgical intervention. As such, ...

. Lai succeeded Sunney Chan as vice president of Academia Sinica in July 2003. He stepped down from Academia Sinica in 2006, and began his tenure as president of

National Cheng Kung University National Cheng Kung University (NCKU; ) is a public research university located in Tainan, Taiwan. The university is best known for engineering, computer science, medicine, and planning and design. As a top university in Taiwan, NCKU has played ...

the next year. During his tenure, the institution began partnering with IBM Taiwan on nanotechnology research. Thirteen of the university's departments were placed on a watchlist compiled by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan in 2009. Later that year, researchers at NCKU piloted the first

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

flight across the Taiwan Strait. Lai was supportive of government proposals to permit Chinese students to study at Taiwanese universities and backed efforts to retain top academics. In 2010, NCKU established an English-language medical program. Later that year, The Small Medicine and Advanced Research Translation team at Institute of Oral Medicine, affiliated with NCKU announced new developments in gene manipulation techniques using Artificial Targeting Light Activated Nano Scissors. After yielding the NCKU presidency to

Hwung Hwung-hweng Hwung Hwung-hweng (; 10 November 1946 – 26 July 2019) was a Taiwanese hydraulic engineer, university president, and political administrator. Academic career Hwung was born in 1946. He received a bachelor's degree from National Cheng Kung Uni ...

in 2011, Lai was named distinguished professor in 2013. Lai researched the

H7N9 Influenza A virus subtype H7N9 (A/H7N9) is a bird flu strain of the species Influenza virus A (avian influenza virus or bird flu virus). Avian influenza A H7 viruses normally circulate amongst avian populations with some variants known to occ ...

virus soon after cases were reported in China in 2013.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lai, Michael M. C. 1942 births Living people Taiwanese virologists National Taiwan University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Academic staff of the National Cheng Kung University University of Southern California faculty Members of Academia Sinica Presidents of universities and colleges in Taiwan Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Scientists from Tainan TWAS fellows Winners of the Nikkei Asia Prize