Dr. Pei-Yong Shi named inaugural holder of the John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Innovations in Molecular Biology

We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Pei-Yong Shi, professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and vice chair for Innovation and Commercialization, has been named the inaugural holder of the John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Innovations in Molecular Biology at UTMB. 

This new endowed position, made possible through a $1 million contribution from The Sealy & Smith Foundation, will promote and advance UTMB’s outstanding and innovative programs in infectious diseases research. We are deeply grateful to the foundation and its Board of Directors for investing in the future health and well-being of Galveston, our region and beyond through this generous gift. 

Dr. Shi joined UTMB in 2015 and is internationally recognized for his research accomplishments in virology, drug discovery, vaccine development, pathogen diagnosis and cancer therapy.

When the Zika virus spread across the globe in 2015 and 2016, Dr. Shi and his lab were on the cutting edge of research related to the virus. His lab immediately pushed our knowledge of the virus forward by developing the first genetically engineered clone of it early in that epidemic. This month, he published new work detailing a mutation in the virus that likely led to its sudden spread and its serious consequences for babies born to mothers infected with Zika.

Now, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Shi and his team have once again worked quickly to adapt their research techniques and collaborate to meet this new global challenge. They were the first to engineer a reverse genetic system of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, allowing scientists to safely make the virus in the lab and manipulate it in a petri dish. 

Shi and his team also have developed tools to streamline the COVID-19 vaccine development process as research teams around the world work to create life-saving preventives. His team just recently made headlines for using an enzyme produced by fireflies, or fluorescent tag, to develop better tests for COVID-19 and to better understand this new virus.

With this latest support from The Sealy & Smith Foundation, we are confident Dr. Shi and his lab will continue to make groundbreaking discoveries that will make our world a healthier place. 

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Shi on this tremendous honor and in thanking The Sealy & Smith Foundation for its ongoing, visionary support of UTMB’s mission.

Thank you.

Ben G. Raimer, MD, MA, FAAP
President ad interim

Charles P. Mouton, MD, MS, MBA
Executive Vice President and Provost, and Dean, School of Medicine