Lee, Yuan C.
Yuan C. Lee
Dr. Yuan Chuan Lee is an Academy Professor and Research Professor in the Department of Biology at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Lee feels his greatest achievement was inventing neoglycoproteins to modify proteins; he used chemically established protein groups to study the role of carbohydrates in those proteins. This work led to an understanding of a phenomenon called the cluster effect. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Lee organizes a university-wide glycol-biology interest group, serves as the Taiwanese in Baltimore Association president, and shares music with friends of common interest.
“Don’t succumb to bias or suppression.” -Y.C. Lee, 2005
T. W. Chiu, C. J. Peng, M.C. Chen, M. H. Hsu, Y. H. Liang, C. H. Chiu, J.M. Fang, and Y. C. Lee (2020) Constructing conjugate vaccine against Salmonella Typhimurium using lipid-A free lipopolysaccharide. Biomed. Sc., 27:89. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12929-020-00681-8
F. Demeter, D. T. Chang, Y. C. Lee, T.K. Fu, M. Herczeg, Borbas (2020) Synthesis of α-1,2- and α-1,3-linked di-rhamnolipids for biological studies. S Carbohydrate Research, 496, 108102. DOI:10.1016/j.carres.2020.108102
Demeter, Fruzsina; Chang, Margaret Dah-Tsyr; Lee, Yuan-Chuan; Borbas, Aniko; Herczeg, Mihaly (2020) An Efficient Synthesis of the Pentasaccharide Repeating Unit of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Psl Exopolysaccharide. Synlett, 31(5), 469-474.
Fu, Tse-Kai; Ng, Sim-Kun; Chen, Yi-En; Lee, Yuan-Chuan; Demeter, Fruzsina; Herczeg, Mihaly; Borbas, Aniko; Chiu, Cheng-Hsun; Lan, Chung-Yu; Chen, Chyi-Liang; et al (2019) Rhamnose binding protein as an anti-bacterial agent-targeting biofilm of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Marine Drugs, 17(6), 355.
Demeter, Fruzsina; Balogh, Timea; Fu, Tse-Kai; Chang, Margaret Dah-Tsyr; Lee, Yuan-Chuan; Borbas, Aniko; Herczeg, Mihaly (2019) Preparation of -L-Rhamnobiosides by Open and Conventional Glycosylation for Studies of the rHPL Lectin. Synlett, 30(19), 2185-2192.
Yuan Chuan Lee is the eldest of eight children born to Lee-Tzesan and Pei Lee in 1932. His father was a painter and both his parents were teachers. He and his siblings were raised in the northern Taiwanese city of Hsinchu. Dr. Lee uses a local proverb to describe his childhood city: “Swift winds make tough people.” Hsinchu also boasts the finest high school in Taiwan, Hsinchu Senior High School, which Dr. Lee attended.
He later completed his undergraduate studies at the National Taiwan University. He graduated in 1955 with a bachelor’s of science. Dr. Lee notes that even as a kindergartener, he was attracted to the biological sciences but says that his choice to follow bio-chemistry resulted from chance. He also earned a master of science in agricultural chemistry from National Taiwan University in 1957. Dr. Lee moved to the United States for his doctorate, where Rex Montgomery supervised him at the University of Iowa.
In 1962, after receiving his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Iowa, Dr. Lee did post-doctoral training at the University of California – Berkeley with Clinton Ballou. In 1965 he accepted his first professional academic position as an assistant professor at John Hopkins University with a research focus on glycoconjugates. He was quickly promoted to associate professor before gaining tenure and a full professorship. In 2011 he was appointed Academy Professor of Biology at Johns Hopkins University, working with glycoconjugates, and increasingly integrates his research with nanotechnology and drug delivery. He also researches glycobiology, glycotechnology, and glyconanotechnology.
Dr. Lee joined the Academia Sinica in 1994. In 2001 he was awarded the Claude S. Hudson Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry from the American Chemical Society. In 2011 he shared the Rosalind Kornfield Award from the Society for Glycobiology with Sen-itiroh Hakomori. In 2016, Dr. Lee became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Lee says his professional success came “in ripples and waves.”A particular highlight was receiving the Hudson Award from the National Chemical Society, for which he garnered national recognition. A low point includes difficulties in securing research funds. He says watching funding dry up while research opportunities increase is frustrating. Despite this, Dr. Lee says he remains in his field because of Professor Montgomery’s observation: there is always more to discover.
Dr. Lee feels his greatest achievement was inventing neoglycoproteins to modify proteins. He used chemically established protein groups to study the role of carbohydrates in those proteins. This work led to an understanding of a phenomenon called the cluster effect. Dr. Lee observed that when one has two branches of sugar instead of one, dual strands can have a multiplicative effect instead of a doubling effect; similarly, with three strands, one can observe millions of effects instead of simply a tripling of the phenomena for one sugar branch.
In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Lee organizes a university-wide glycol-biology interest group, serves as the Taiwanese in Baltimore Association president, and is involved in music with friends of common interest. While he plays viola, his wife and laboratory co-worker, Reiko, plays violin.
Dr. Lee cites as his primary mentors his doctoral thesis advisor, Professor Rex Montgomery at the University of Iowa, and his post-doctoral advisor, Professor Clinton Ballou, at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Lee illustrates Professor Montgomery’s influence with the following story: One day, shortly after joining Montgomery’s lab, Dr. Lee had finished his assigned laboratory work early and offered to help his fellow students, saying, “I have no more work to do today.” Professor Montgomery, overhearing this statement, responded: “There are no such days for scientists.” This comment on the nature of scientific exploration deeply impressed Dr. Lee. Professor Ballou also had a significant impact on Dr. Lee’s career. Dr. Lee credits Dr. Ballou with giving him “a way to view things in a broader perspective.”
In nearly 50 years of teaching, Dr. Lee has advised hundreds of undergraduate students. He also mentors graduate and post-doctoral students from around the world. His mentoring involves both the philosophy and techniques of scientific inquiry. He says the most important thing is to know when to use scientific methods, when to be flexible, and how to observe the changes and trends in the field. Dr. Lee regards this as the philosophy of science.
Dr. Lee has this advice for minority youth considering careers in the environmental sciences: “The most important thing is to be confident. Don’t succumb to bias or suppression” (Taylor, 2005).
Interview conducted by Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative staff. 2016. University of Michigan – School of Natural Resources and Environment. Ann Arbor, MI.
Yuan-Chuan Lee. Retrieved July 20, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan-Chuan_Lee