Gane Wong

BASc '83 Engineering Physics

Dr. Wong graduated from UBC in 1983 with a BASc in Engineering Physics. He went to Cornell for his PhD in experimental low temperature physics, did a postdoctoral stint at Caltech, and then changed paths in 1993, joining Maynard Olson at the University of Washington to launch one of the half dozen NIH-sponsored Genome Centers. As the Human Genome Project hit its crescendo in 1999, he planted new seeds in China, joining Jian Wang, Huanming Yang, and Jun Yu to launch BGI (Huádà Jīyīn). On returning home to Canada in 2007, his research has been focused on novel applications of high throughput sequencing and the development of related technologies. These include: (1) sequencing of diverse organisms, e.g. 1000 plant species; (2) discovery of novel proteins for optogenetics; (3) new technologies to detect rare biomolecules in clinical samples; (4) fecal microbial transplants for GI disorders; (5) retroviral integration in human diseases; and (6) single cell analyses of cancer metastasis progression.