A $1 million gift from The Sealy & Smith Foundation has established the John Sealy Distinguished Chair in
Innovations in Molecular Biology at The University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Pei-Yong Shi, a professor in the
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department and vice chair for Innovation and Commercialization, has been named
the inaugural recipient.
“I’m honored to be named to this distinguished chair and excited to continue our work here at
UTMB,” Shi said. “This investment is an acknowledgment and reminder of the importance of this research
as we combat infectious threats to health.”
Shi, who joined UTMB in 2015, is internationally recognized for his scholarship, leadership and his innovative
scientific approach to counter numerous diseases. His areas of research include virology, drug discovery, vaccine
development, pathogen diagnosis and cancer therapy.
“This distinguished chair recognizes Pei-Yong’s fundamental contributions to understanding the molecular
biology of pathogenic RNA viruses and his pioneering countermeasures to these important threats to global
health,” said Dr. Mariano Garcia-Blanco, professor and chair of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Department.
Shi’s ability to quickly adapt allowed him and his team to be one of the first to engineer a reverse genetic
system of SARS-Cov-2 allowing scientists to safely make the virus in the lab and manipulate it in a petri dish. Shi
and his team also developed tools to streamline the COVID-19 vaccine development process, among other achievements.
When the Zika virus suddenly jumped from a mostly ignored and relatively minor disease to a global threat, Shi and
his lab were already on the cutting edge of related research. His lab immediately advanced scientific knowledge of
the virus by developing the first genetically engineered clone of the Zika virus early in that epidemic. Just this
month, Shi and his team published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences detailing a mutation in
the Zika virus that likely led to its sudden spread and the cause of birth defects to babies born to mothers
infected with the disease.
Now with the sudden and debilitating spread of COVID-19, Shi and his team have once again quickly adapted the
research techniques they developed to study flaviviruses such as Zika and West Nile, to meet this new challenge. His
team just recently made headlines for using an enzyme produced by fireflies to develop better tests for COVID-19 as
well to better understand this new virus.
“This generous endowment supports and enhances UTMB’s efforts to alleviate the human and economic toll
imposed by infectious diseases here at home and worldwide,” said Dr. Ben G. Raimer, interim president of UTMB.
“With the visionary support of The Smith & Sealy Foundation and the innovative work of amazing researchers
such as Dr. Pei-Yong Shi, we are making real progress toward better preventives, treatments and cures.”
“Dr. Shi’s research—and that of all those at UTMB working diligently day in and day out to keep us
safe, to help us stay a step ahead of the next deadly disease and to help us understand the challenges we
face—is truly inspiring,” said John W. Kelso, president of The Sealy & Smith Foundation. “We
must support those doing this work so they are able to innovate, experiment and find solutions to improve health and
well-being in the Galveston community, the state of Texas and around the world.”
For more on Shi’s research, go to www.utmb.edu/newsroom