Wang Jian (geneticist)

Wang Jian (Chinese: 汪建; born 13 April 1954) is a Chinese geneticist and businessman. He is Chairman and co-founder of the BGI Group (formerly Beijing Genomics Institute).[1]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Wang.
Wang Jian (right) showing Nobel winner Sydney Brenner around BGI.

Education

He graduated in 1979 from Hunan Medical College and in 1986 graduated with a Master's in Integrated Medicines from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. From 1988 to 1994, he was a research fellow at the University of Texas, the University of Iowa and the University of Washington, working on cell proliferation and differentiation.[2]

Career

After returning to China in 1994 to set up Jubilee Biotechnology, this provided much of the initial capital used to set up the Beijing Genomics Institute with Yang Huanming, Liu Siqi and Yu Jun in 1999 in order to engage in research contributing to the Human Genome Project.[2] After this work he was involved in the sequencing of the rice genome,[3] first Asian human reference genome[4] and numerous other large-scale genomics projects. In 2003 he was involved in the efforts to sequence and contain the SARS coronavirus,[5] meeting with Hu Jintao who praised BGI's contribution.[6] In 2007 the Beijing Genomics Institute become just BGI when it was relocated to Shenzhen as "the first citizen-managed, non-profit research institution in China". As the largest shareholder in BGI's holding company,[7] in 2019 his net worth was estimated by Forbes to be US$1.2 billion.[8][9] In January 2020 he travelled to Wuhan to set up a situation room tackling the COVID-19 disease outbreak, helping coordinate the development of diagnostic tests and a 2000-sq-meter emergency detection laboratory built in 5 days.[10] Devoted to fitness and believing health and longevity to be the first priority of BGI,[11] he has climbed and skied on some of the highest mountains in the world, including summiting Mount Everest.[2]

References
  1. Yang, Lin. "Exploring The Future Of Life Economy With BGI Co-Founder Wang Jian". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  2. "Wang Jian". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  3. Yang, Huanming; Yuan, Longping; Zhu, Lihuang; Wang, Jian; Tao, Ming; Liu, Siqi; Li, Guojie; Guo, Wei; Chen, Shouyi (2002-04-05). "A Draft Sequence of the Rice Genome (Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica)". Science. 296 (5565): 79–92. doi:10.1126/science.1068037. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 11935017.
  4. "Chinese scientists sequence 1st volunteer's genome - People's Daily Online". en.people.cn. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  5. Enserink, M. (2003-07-18). "SARS IN CHINA: China's Missed Chance". Science. 301 (5631): 294–296. doi:10.1126/science.301.5631.294. ISSN 0036-8075.
  6. Enserink, Martin; Vogel, Gretchen (2003-05-02). "Hungry for Details, Scientists Zoom In on SARS Genomes". Science. 300 (5620): 715–717. doi:10.1126/science.300.5620.715. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 12730563.
  7. "Next on the list « Week In China". Week In China. 2017-04-07. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  8. "Wang Jian". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  9. Yang, Lin. "Exploring The Future Of Life Economy With BGI Co-Founder Wang Jian". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  10. "BGI's Coronavirus Response? Build a Lab in Wuhan". GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  11. PhD, Alex Zhavoronkov. "The Elon Musk of China: Dr. Wang Jian of BGI". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
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