Xie Xiaoliang is latest Chinese scientist to give up US citizenship
- Former Harvard professor is part of a trend of returning scientists that is putting China in race for talent lead
- The biophysical chemist is best known for DNA breakthrough that makes it possible to sequence an individual human cell
Xie Xiaoliang, a biophysical chemist and former professor at Harvard University, has been listed as a domestic member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which did not explain Xie’s decision.
He previously was a foreign member of CAS, whose rules permit a change to domestic membership after obtaining Chinese citizenship. Xie has yet to respond to a request for comment.
Xie, who was born in China and trained in the United States, is best known for his team’s invention in 2012 of the single-cell DNA amplification method. This enables the sequencing of individual human cells in the hunt for mutations that can cause genetic diseases or cancer.
The method meant “even one mutation out of 6 billion base pairs” of DNA could be discovered, Xie said on the Peking University website in 2018.
Meanwhile, Sun Licheng, a scientist from Sweden, has also transferred to domestic membership of the academy, according to the CAS website. He returned to China to become a chair of chemistry at Westlake University in April 2020.
