Lin-fa Wang
Programme in Emerging Infectious Disease, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
Prof. Wang is a Professor in the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore. He is one of the world’s leading experts in zoonotic diseases, bat immunology and pathogen discovery.
His early research was at the Monash Centre for Molecular Biology and Medicine. In 1990, he joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) where he played a leading role in identifying bats as the natural host of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus. His research then extended from bat-borne viruses to better understand virus-bat interaction and how bats co-exist with a large number of viruses without developing clinical diseases. His recent research contributions include developing antibody based serological tests to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the COVID-19 outbreak, and the early and successful culture of the virus from an infected patents sample. His team is currently focusing on research into the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and developing assays which can better assess vaccine efficacy in the context of a potential immunity passport strategy and the challenges faced by the emergence of different virus variants.
Prof. Wang’s work has been recognized internationally through various international awards, numerous invited speeches at major international conferences and many top scientific publications including papers in Science, Nature, Lancet. He was elected to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2010 and the American Academy of Microbiology in 2021 in recognition of his expertise in new and emerging diseases.