Alan Ming-ta Wu (

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

: 吳明達; 1938/1939 – 1981) was a

Taiwanese-American Taiwanese Americans ( Chinese: 臺灣裔美國人; pinyin: ''Táiwān yì měiguó rén''; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ''Tâi-Bí-jîn'') are Americans of Taiwanese ancestry, including American-born descendants of migrants from the Republic of China (Taiwan) ...

molecular biologist Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

and immunologist who developed techniques to grow

hematopoietic stem cell Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. This process is called haematopoiesis. In vertebrates, the first definitive HSCs arise from the ventral endothelial wall of the embryonic aorta within the ...

s in

cell culture Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cell (biology), cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. After cells of interest have been Cell isolation, isolated from living tissue, ...

Early life and education

Wu was born in Tainan, Taiwan, and attended in Tainan. He obtained his medical degree from

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...

Medical School and served for two years as a medical officer in the

Republic of China Army The Republic of China Army ( Chinese, 中華民國陸軍) also known as the ROC Army (ROCA); colloquially the Taiwanese Army ( Chinese, 台湾陆军) by western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Army ( Chi ...

Research

Wu conducted research for his PhD in medical biophysics with

Till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

& McCulloch at the

Ontario Cancer Institute The Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI) is the research division of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, affiliated to the University Health Network of the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. As Canada's first dedicated cancer hospital, it opened off ...

in Toronto. Wu's PhD work demonstrated the relation between

bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid biological tissue, tissue found within the Spongy bone, spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It i ...

and

T cell T cells (also known as T lymphocytes) are an important part of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on their cell ...

s. He was the first to grow stem cells (then called colony forming cells) in cell culture. This allowed Wu to transplant a single cell that generated the entire

hematopoietic system The haematopoietic system ( spelled hematopoietic system in American English) is the system in the body involved in the creation of the cells of blood. Structure Stem cells Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside in the medulla of the bone ( ...

in a mouse. Following his PhD, Wu joined Harrison Echols' lab in the US, performing pioneering work on the regulation of viral genes. They probed the mechanism whereby the ''cI'' protein of phage λ represses

expression Expression may refer to: Linguistics * Expression (linguistics), a word, phrase, or sentence * Expression (mathematics), Symbolic description of a mathematical object * Fixed expression, a form of words with a specific meaning * Idiom, a type of ...

of viral genes through interactions with host

RNA polymerase In molecular biology, RNA polymerase (abbreviated RNAP or RNApol), or more specifically DNA-directed/dependent RNA polymerase (DdRP), is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reactions that synthesize RNA from a DNA template. Using the e ...

. In 1971, Wu obtained a position as Senior Scientist at the

NIH The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

in Bethesda, Maryland. He collaborated with

Bob Gallo Robert Charles Gallo (; born March 23, 1937) is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in establishing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the infectious agent responsible for acquired immune deficiency syndrome ( ...

on studying how oncogenic viruses replicate, which included studies of

reverse transcriptase A reverse transcriptase (RT) is an enzyme used to convert RNA genome to DNA, a process termed reverse transcription. Reverse transcriptases are used by viruses such as HIV and hepatitis B to replicate their genomes, by retrotransposon mobi ...

. Wu applied this knowledge to probe the effects of drugs on mouse tumours induced by oncogenic viruses. He became director of molecular biology at cancer research firm Litton Bionetics Inc. Wu returned to Toronto in 1976 to take up a position as an Associate Professor of Anatomy. His lab developed techniques for the long-term culture of human

progenitors, enabling detailed analysis of T cell biology. The Institute of Medical Sciences at University of Toronto presents their annual Alan Wu Poster Prize to the most outstanding poster presentations at IMS Scientific Day. This award in honour of Wu notes that "He was well recognized for his research excellence, his passion for science and his strong belief in the value of

translational medicine Translational medicine (often called translational science, of which it is a form) develops the clinical practice applications of the basic science aspects of the biomedical sciences; that is, it translates basic science to applied science in me ...

Personal details

Wu married Gillian Edwards, a fellow graduate student. They have two sons,

Tim Wu Timothy Shiou-Ming Wu (born 1971 or 1972) is a Taiwanese-American legal scholar who served as Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy at the United States from 2021 to 2023. He is also a professor of law at Colum ...

and David Wu. Wu was active in the

Taiwan independence movement The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an independent and sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Strait relations. Into the 21st- ...

. Wu was an avid runner, completing ten marathons in the five years before his death. Wu died from a brain tumour in 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Alan Ming-ta 1981 deaths University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto American academics of Taiwanese descent American medical researchers Molecular biologists National Taiwan University alumni