Congratulations to Professor Lai-Xi Wang on receiving the 2027 CLAUDE S. HUDSON AWARD!
Dr. Lai-Xi Wang has made pioneering and transformative contributions to carbohydrate chemistry and chemical glycobiology, including advances in the chemoenzymatic synthesis of complex HIV glycopeptide antigens and homogeneous glycoproteins, as well as the development of innovative enabling technologies for antibody glycoengineering and site-specific bioconjugation for functional studies and broad biomedical applications.
Lai-Xi Wang is a Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his Ph.D. from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. During his doctoral studies, he spent three years at the RIKEN Institute in Japan conducting research in bioorganic and carbohydrate chemistry. After postdoctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he joined the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in 2000. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005 and Full Professor in 2009. In 2015, he was recruited to the University of Maryland, College Park, to establish and lead a chemical biology program. Dr. Wang’s research integrates bioorganic chemistry, carbohydrate chemistry, glycobiology, enzymology, and immunology. His laboratory is recognized for pioneering chemoenzymatic methods for glycoprotein synthesis and antibody glycoengineering. His recent research focuses on developing innovative chemical and enzymatic strategies for antibody glycoengineering, site-specific antibody–drug conjugates, and glycan-based therapeutics, with the goal of advancing next-generation biologics for precision medicine. Dr. Wang has authored more than 220 peer-reviewed publications and is the lead inventor on 36 U.S. and international patents. His research, teaching, and entrepreneurial achievements have been recognized by numerous awards and honors, including the New Investigator (David Gin) Award (2004) and the Melville L. Wolfrom Award (2014) from the American Chemical Society, and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2020) and the Norma M. Allewell Prize in Entrepreneurship (2021) from the University of Maryland. Dr. Wang is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, 2014), the American Chemical Society (ACS, 2019), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI, 2023).
