Ray Jui Wu (, 14 August 1928 – 10 February 2008) was a Chinese-born American geneticist and served as

Liberty Hyde Bailey Liberty Hyde Bailey (March 15, 1858 – December 25, 1954) was an American Horticulture, horticulturist and reformer of rural life. He was cofounder of the American Society for Horticultural Science.Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey ...

Professor of Molecular Genetics and Biology at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. In 1970, Wu created the first approach for DNA sequencing, earlier than the Frederick Sanger's method in 1975 and

Walter Gilbert Walter Gilbert (born March 21, 1932) is an American biochemist, physicist, molecular biology pioneer, and Nobel laureate. Education and early life Walter Gilbert was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 21, 1932, into a Jewish family, the so ...

's chemical procedure in 1977. Wu's contributions on DNA sequencing are fundamental to the general sequencing methods today.

Biography

Wu was the son of Hsien and Daisy Yen Wu, both biologists who pioneered biochemical studies in China. Wu was born in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in China; his ancestral hometown was

Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

Fujian Province Fujian is a province in southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefecture city by population is Qua ...

. Wu was educated in the United States and obtained his Ph.D. in

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1955. Wu was a pioneer in

DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. The ...

Onaga, Lisa A. "Ray Wu as Fifth Business: Deconstructing Collective Memory in the History of DNA Sequencing." ''Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences'' 46 (June 2014): 1–14
doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.12.006
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genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

, and is regarded as one of the founding fathers of plant genetic engineering. Wu also was an active educator, and created the CUSBEA (China-US Biochemistry Examination and Application). In 1999, at Cornell, Wu donated US $500,000 to establish the ''Ray Wu Graduate Fellowship'' in Molecular Biology and Genetics to support biology graduate students. Wu spent most of his scientific career at Cornell. Wu was an Academician of

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei. Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...

(

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

), and a Foreign Member of the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences a ...

. Wu's former student Jack W. Szostak was awarded the 2009

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

.The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009
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Ray Wu Memorial Fund

The Ray Wu Memorial Fund (RWMF) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. RWMF administers the annual Ray Wu Prize for Excellence in Life Sciences that is established to inspire Asia's most promising young Ph.D. students to become future leaders in life sciences.

Ray Wu Award

'

'' was established by the society to honor the late Dr. Ray Wu, who not only had a distinguished scientific career but also nurtured a new generation of Chinese scientists in life sciences through his tireless effort in promoting scientific and educational exchanges between China and the United States. The Award recognizes Chinese Biological Investigators Society (CBIS) members who have made fundamental discoveries in life sciences and/or significant contributions in promoting life sciences in China.

References

External links

Ray Wu Memorial Symposium

Ray Wu Faculty Profile
@ Cornell University Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics {{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Ray 1928 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American biologists 20th-century American educators People from Fuzhou American geneticists Biologists from Beijing Chinese emigrants to the United States Cornell University faculty Educators from Beijing Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Members of Academia Sinica Plant geneticists University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences alumni