Wang, Ying-lai, 1907-2001.biochemist
Obituary: Wang Ying-lai (1907–2001)
(also published in Nature, July 5, 2001, p. 38)
L. LING-CHI WANG
L. Ling-chi Wang is in the Department of Ethnic Studies, 506 Barrows Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-2570, USA.
e-mail: lcwang@uclink2.berkeley.edu
L. Ling-chi Wang is a relative of Wang Ying-lai. He teaches Asian American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He last visited his uncle in September last year and discussed their plan for a clan reunion at Shanhou, Jinmen this April. --
Pioneer in the total chemical synthesis of biological molecules
Wang Ying-lai, a biochemist recognized as the first scientist to engineer synthetic insulin, died in his sleep on 5 May 2001 in a hospital in Shanghai, China. He was 93 years old.Wang was born in 1907 in the remote village of Shanhou on the island of Jinmen (Quemoy), off the coast of Fujian, China. Although he lost his father at the age of two, and his mother when he was six, he pursued his education vigorously against all odds during a period of wars and political turmoil in China in the 1920s and 1930s. After graduating from Jinling University (now the University of Nanjing) with a degree in chemistry, he went to the University of Cambridge in 1938. His mentor, David Keilin, quickly recognized his talent, and Wang earned his PhD in 1941. He was invited to stay at Cambridge to teach and to continue his research at the Dunn Nutritional Laboratory, moving to Cambridge's Molteno Institute in 1944.
When the Second World War ended, Wang decided to return to China, against the advice of both Keilin and Professor Joseph Needham, the foremost historian of Chinese science. Wang's aim was to help the country to develop a world-class research base in science, and his first job was a research professorship at the Medical College of the National Central University. In 1948, he became a senior member of the Medical Research Institute of what was then the Academia Sinica (now the Chinese Academy of Science) — the most prestigious research institution in China. Shortly after the liberation of China in 1949, he was appointed deputy director of the newly established Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry of the Academia Sinica of the People's Republic of China.
From 1958 until he retired in 1984, Wang founded and headed the Institute of Biochemistry of the Academia Sinica in Shanghai. It was in this capacity, according to an essay he wrote in the People's Daily in 1991, that he recruited several prominent Chinese scientists who were until then working in other countries. Over several years he helped to plan and develop the national agenda for biochemistry and molecular biology. He also set up several national training programmes to recruit and train hundreds of young scientists. He founded, and was for many years the editor-in-chief of, China's premier journal, the Journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics.
By far the most significant of Wang's scientific contributions was the synthesis of crystalline insulin. This hormone, produced in the pancreas, controls the sugar content in the blood and is widely used to treat diabetes. Under Wang's leadership, scientists in the 'collaboration team on the synthesis of insulin' achieved the synthesis in 1965. Although similar attempts were being made in the United States and Europe, Wang's group was ahead of the game.
Beginning the project in August 1958, the first task of Wang's team was to synthesize the 20 amino acids — the fundamental building blocks of any protein. This enormous job also involved the separation of the D- and L-stereoisomers of each amino acid (only the L-isomers are found in proteins). Then, using these building blocks, the team produced the so-called A and B amino-acid chains of insulin. Wang later said that the greatest challenge was to align the six cysteine amino acids so that they would form the correct disulphide bonds — one within the A chain, and two between the chains. Any mismatch would lead to an inactive product. Biological assays and X-ray crystallography confirmed the authenticity of the chemically synthesized insulin.
The total synthesis of insulin from chemically synthesized amino acids represented a conceptual breakthrough in converting lifeless chemicals to a protein with biological activity. This was accomplished before the development of solid-state peptide synthesis, for which R. Bruce Merrifield was to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1984. In the 1970s, a team headed by Wang achieved the total chemical synthesis of another biologically significant molecule — a transfer RNA (tRNA), which is involved in protein synthesis in vivo. This led to Wang's lifelong interest in tRNA synthetases, the enzymes that produce tRNAs.
Despite Wang's successful work with insulin, China — soon in the throes of the ten-year-long Cultural Revolution and other political upheavals — effectively denied him the opportunity of being nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. During that period, scientists in China were abruptly banned from conducting research and from contact with researchers in other countries. Swedish scientist A. Tiselius (a member of the Nobel Prize committee) and Chinese–American Nobel laureate C. N. Yang independently suggested that Wang be nominated for the prize at that time. About the decade of lost opportunity, Wang said in an interview with the Straits Times of Singapore in 1986, "We were like the proverbial hare which took a long nap while others were not like the tortoise." Nevertheless, he won international acclaim in 1966, before the Cultural Revolution began, when he presented his findings on insulin at a European biochemistry conference in Warsaw. And in 1988, ten years after Deng Xiaoping introduced new policies of economic reform and openness, Wang was allowed to receive a special achievement award at the Miami Biotechnology Symposium.
Wang was a patriotic, humble and dedicated scientist. In his 1991 essay he wrote: "Science is the first productive force. To transform China into a modern socialist power, we must strengthen science and technology... This is the responsibility of every Chinese." Asked by the Straits Times about the honours he had received, he replied, "The honours should go to everyone in the team, including 30 members in our institute and many from five other institutes." Despite the hardship he endured during the Cultural Revolution, he harboured no bitterness.
He is survived by his two sons, Jia-hu and Jia-nan; his daughters-in-law, Huang Jin-pei and Zhang Hong-xia; and two grandchildren, Wei-zhen and Wei-xian.
Prof. Wang Ying-lai, a Pioneer in Insulin Synthesis,
Died at the Age of 93 in Shanghai, ChinaProfessor Wang Ying-lai, a biochemist recognized worldwide as the first scientist to engineer synthetic insulin in 1965, died in his sleep May 5 in a hospital in Shanghai, China. He was 93 years old.
Insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas of animals, controls the sugar content in the blood and used extensively in the treatment of diabetes.
Wang was born in 1907 in the remote village of Shanhou on the island of Jinmen (Quemoy), off the coast of Fujian, China. Even though he lost his father at the age of two and his mother six, he pursued education vigorously against all odds during a period of wars and political turmoils in China in 1920s and 1930s. After he graduated from Jinling University (aka University of Nanjing) with a degree in chemistry, he entered Cambridge University, England on scholarship in 1938.
His talent in biochemistry was immediately recognized by his mentor, Prof. David Keilin. Very quickly he earned his Ph.D. degree in 1941. He was invited to stay at Cambridge to teach and continue his research at the Dunn Nutritional Laboratory from 1942 to 1943. In 1944, he moved to the Molteno Institute where he worked with Keilin.
In 1945, immediately after World War II, he decided, against the advise of his mentor and Professor Joseph Needham, the foremost historian of science in China, to return to China to help China develop a world-class research base in science. His first job was a research professorship at the Medical College of the National Central University.
In 1948, he became a Senior Member of the Medical Research Institute of the former Academic Sinica, the National Academy of Science, the highest and the most prestigious research institution in China. Shortly after the liberation of China, he was appointed Deputy Director of a newly established Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry of the Academia Sinica of the People's Republic of China.
From 1958 until he retired in 1984, he founded and headed the Institute of Biochemistry of the Academia Sinica in Shanghai. It was in this capacity, according to an essay he wrote in the People's Daily in 1991, he succeeded in recruiting several prominent Chinese scientists, then working in foreign countries, to return to China to join his research team.
In 1956, 1962, 1964, and 1977, he helped plan and develop the research agenda for biochemistry and molecular biology in China. He also set up several national training programs to recruit and cultivate hundreds of young scientists. He continued to do research until he was hospitalized last November because of heart troubles. He was also the founder and editor-in-chief of China's premiere Journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics for many years.
By far the most significant contribution made by Wang was the successful synthesis of crystalline insulin. Under his leadership, scientists in the Collaboration Team on the Synthesis of Insulin, achieved the synthesis in 1965 and ushered in a new era of synthetic protein. Even though similar searches were being conducted in laboratories in the U.S. and Europe, Wang's discovery was well in advance of his colleagues in other parts of the world. The total chemical synthesis of insulin from amino acids, which have to be individually synthesized from organic compounds, represents a conceptual breakthrough in converting lifeless chemicals to a protein with biological activity. This was accomplished before the process of solid state peptide synthesis, the invention of which led to the award of a Nobel Prize to Merrifield in the '70s.
In spite of his accomplishments and worldwide recognition of his contributions, China, then undergoing a ten-year cultural revolution and political upheavals, effectively denied him the opportunity of being nominated for the Nobel Prize in chemistry. During that period, scientists in China, including Wang, were abruptly banned from conducting research and contact with scientists in foreign countries was strictly prohibited. Swedish scientist A. Tiselius, a member of the Nobel Prize Committee, and Chinese American Nobel laureate C.N. Yang independently suggested he be nominated for the prize at that time.
Regarding the ten years of lost opportunity in research, Wang said in an interview with the Strait Times (Singapore) in 1986, "We were like the proverbial hare which took a long nap while others were not like the tortoise."
Nevertheless, he won international acclaim, before the cultural revolution, in Warsaw, Poland at an European biochemistry conference in 1966 when he presented his research findings on the insulin.
On February 10, 1988, ten years after Deng Xiao-ping initiated the new policies of economic reform and openness, Wang was allowed to receive a Special Achievement Award at the Miami Biotechnology Symposium in the U.S.Wang was an honorary member of the U.S. Biochemistry Society, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Science, Literature, and Art in Belgium, and an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Science, among the many honors he received in Europe and North America.
In China, he was a delegate to the People's Congress three times and was considered "the father of modern biochemistry" in China. In the last wenty years, he also received many honors and awards in China and Hong Kong. At his 85 birthday in 1992, he was present a Festschrift by his colleagues and former students, a special collection of scientific papers written in honor of his life-time achievements in biochemistry.
Wang was a patriotic, humble, and devoted scientist. In his 1991 essay, he wrote, "Science is the first productive force. To transform China into a modern socialist power, we must strengthen science and technology....This is the responsibility of every Chinese." When asked by the Strait Times of the honors he had received, he replied, "The honor should go to everyone in the team, including 30 members in our institute and many from five other institutes." In spite of the hardship he endured during the cultural revolution, he harbored no bitterness. In fact, he remained hopeful and optimistic and continued his daily research until he was hospitalized last fall.
He was survived by his two sons, Jia-hu and Jia-nan, his daughters-in-law, Huang Jin-pei and Zhang Hong-xia, and two grandchildren, Wei-zhen and Wei-xian. The family was by his bedside at the time of his death.
In Memory of Professor WANG Ying-Lai
LIN Qi-Shui
( Former Director of Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences )
Li Bo-Liang
( Director of Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences )Professor WANG Ying?Lai, world?renowned biochemist and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, passed away at 19:10, May 5, 2001 resulting from an incurable disease. Since then, the Chinese Communist Party has lost an outstanding member struggling all his life for the development of science in China. The scientific communities in China have lost an outstanding scientist enjoying world prestige. His colleagues and students have lost a valuable friend and good teacher. Today, although he has left us, his scientific achievement and noble morality will be engraved on our mind forever.?
Born in an overseas Chinese family in Jinmen county, Fujian Province in 1907, Professor Wang lost his father when he was 2 years old and lost his mother when he was 6. His hard childhood contributed, to some extent, to the forming of his strong and hard working personality. In 1925, he enrolled in Fujian Union College and Nanjing Jinling University successively to study chemistry and graduated in 1929 with excellent grade and a "Golden Key" Award. In 1938, Professor Wang continued his study in the Cambridge University in Britain and got his Ph.D. in 1941. Later, he worked in the Cambridge University and carried on the research on he moglobin in the laboratory led by the famous scientist Keilin. After World War II, he declined the kind offering of Professor Keilin and returned to his motherland in 1945. Thereafter, he worked in the former Medical College of Central University and the preparatory department of the Institute of Medical Science, Academia Sinica in Shanghai. Undoubtedly, Professor Wang was a great patriot.?
In 1950, Professor Wang was appointed the Deputy Director of the newly established Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He joined the Jiu San Society in 1953 and became a member in its Central Committee and Vice Chairman in its Shanghai Branch. He was elected as a member of the Council of Biology in CAS in 1955. Professor Wang had served as the Director of the Institute of Biochemistry, CAS since its establishment in 1958 and joined the Communist Party of China in the same year. He had served as Honorary Director of Institute of Biochemistry, CAS since 1984 and President of the Shanghai Branch of CAS from 1978 to 1983. He was Honorary President and former President of Chinese Biochemical Society, Honorary Chief Editor and former Chief Editor of Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica. Professor Wang was also elected the Delegate of the 3rd, 5th and 6th People's Congress. With the effort of Professor Wang, the International Meeting on Biochemistry was held successfully in China in 1987.Professor Wang, as chairperson of this conference, had made extremely important contribution to the meeting. As a world?renowned scientist, Professor Wang was Foreign Member of Belgian Royal Academy of Science, Literature and Fine Arts, Foreign Member of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Foreign Member of Czech Academy of Sciences and Honorary Member of American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Professor Wang was an outstanding scientist with great creativity, one of the founders of biochemical sciences in China, a distinguished organizer and leader, and a model of scientists and scientific research leaders in our country. He was honored as pioneer of biochemistry in China at a commendatory meeting for scientists working for 50 years held by the Shanghai Branch of CAS in the Spring Festival of 1985. Professor Wang then cited the maxim “The future is yet for oneself to shape” to express his persistent sincerity in the development of biochemical research in China. Dr. Joseph Needham, the famous expert of history of science, appraised that Professor Wang was one of the persons who started and founded the biochemical research in China.?
The successful total synthesis of bovine insulin and yeast alanine transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) was the embodiment of decades of Professor Wang's devotion to initiating and developing the biochemical research in China. For these, he won the Special Achievement Award in the winter Biotechnology Symposium in Miami, U.S.A. in 1988 and the He Liang He Li Scientific and Technological Achievement Award of Hong Kong in 1996. He contributed also in the initiative studies carried out by himself. When he was in Cambridge University, he first found the toxicity of excessive vitamin A and the defect of tissues as a result of vitamin E deficiency. He set up methods for the micro?determination of four water soluble vitamins, and demonstrated for the first time the existence of hemoglobin in the nodule bacteria of legume. He studied on the succinic dehydrogenase in the membrane after coming back to China and purified first in the world the membrane protein succinic dehydrogenase which could be reconstituted. He further revealed the linkage of coenzyme and enzyme. His work reached the leading level of the world and won the important achievement awards of CAS and National Scientific Meeting. In 1984, Professor Wang initiated a new research field of interaction of nucleic acids and proteins. He led a research group to study the interaction of the aminoacyl?tRNA synthetase and related tRNA, and published more than 60 papers in domestic and international journals.?
Professor Wang was not only a remarkable scientist, but also a strategic policymaker and leader of scientific research. His great contribution was due to his acute foresight and broad mind which directed the biochemical research in our country at an advanced starting point and catch up the trend of the world according to the international development of biological sciences. It was Professor Wang who made correct judgement and directed the research in the world frontiers, resolutely decided, organized and implemented the projects of total synthesis of bovine insulin and yeast alanine tRNA. These two great achievements of life sciences in the world frontiers have become milestones of biochemical sciences.In particular, the total synthesis of bovine insulin is the first success of total synthesis of protein in the world, which made a brilliant record for our country in the history of life science research. He also led the implementation of genetic engineering research in China in the 70's, which not only adjusted the direction of scientific research of the Institute of Biochemistry, but also accelerated the research of molecular biology in our country. Starting from the foundation of the nation, Professor Wang participated in and took charge of making the biochemistry and molecular biology parts of the planning program for science and technology development in China in 1956, 1962, 1964 and 1977. He also took up some of the important tasks in the program with experts in the institute.?
As a deserving talent?finder, Professor Wang attracted, trained and brought up many leading talents of life science research in China, who contributed greatly to the development of biochemical research. On the initial stage of setting up the Institute of Biochemistry, he step by step invited Dr. ZOU Cheng?Lu(Chen?Lu TSOU), Dr. CAO Tian?Qin, Dr. ZHANG You?Duan, Dr. WANG De?Bao, Dr. NIU Jing?Yi,Dr.ZHOU Guang?Yu and other biochemical experts from abroad to work in the Institute, according to the needs of the research development. As a result, many important achievements were obtained and the Institute became well known at home and abroad. In training scientists, Professor Wang paid much of his attention to the development of biochemical research in China and educated many scientific researchers and academic leaders in biochemistry by setting up the national advanced biochemistry training classes with lectures given by the best experts in the Institute of Biochemistry.?
Professor Wang was also the person who founded the biochemical reagent industry in our country. The Dongfeng Biochemical Reagent Factory was established in 1958 under his leadership and produced amino acids for the synthesis of insulin and various biochemical reagents for the whole country. Long before our advocating of knowledge innovation and accelerating the industrialization of the scientific findings, Professor Wang had put it into practice 40 years ago.?
Professor Wang paid much attention to the cultivation of scientific morality and advocated the academic atmosphere of “dedication, realism, consolidation, courage”. In spite of his contribution, he did not put his name on the list of authors and the prize winners in the total synthesis of bovine insulin and yeast alanine tRNA. Affected by Professor Wang and scientists of the elder generation, an atmosphere of pursuing reality and refusing the undeserved reputation has been formed in the Institute of Biochemistry.?
Professor Wang had devoted his lifetime energy to the development of biochemistry in China. He deserved to be a pioneer in biochemistry of our country because of his scientific achievements and contributions. He had made basic, strategic and perspective contribution for the development of life sciences in our country. To be a man strict with himself and kind to others, cautious and unselfish, he had become a model in the scientific circle. He will be engraved on our heart forever.
Although Professor Wang has passed away, it is consolable that along his footprint, his colleagues and students all over the country and abroad will continue to climb the new peaks in science.?
May you rest in peace, Professor Wang!
