Haifan Lin


Haifan Lin is a Chinese-born American stem cell biologist. He is the Eugene Higgins Chair Professor of Cell Biology at Yale University and the founding Director of the Yale Stem Cell Center. He previously founded and directed the Stem Cell Research Program at Duke University. Recognized for his significant contributions to stem cell research, he was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018.

Biography

Lin was born in Dongtou, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China. In 1982, he graduated from Fudan University in Shanghai with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry. He moved to the United States to pursue graduate studies at Cornell University and earned his PhD in 1990 in genetics and development. He subsequently worked as a Jane Coffin Childs Fellow for Medical Research at the Carnegie Institution for Science.
In 1994, he became a faculty member of Duke University School of Medicine, and later established the Stem Cell Research Program in 2005. In 2006, Lin moved to Yale University, where he founded the Yale Stem Cell Center and served as its director. He is also the Eugene Higgins Chair Professor of Cell Biology, Professor of Genetics, of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences, and of Dermatology at Yale School of Medicine.
From 2014 to 2022, Lin served concurrently as the adjunct founding dean of ShanghaiTech University's School of Life Science and Technology in China, while retaining his positions at Yale.
Lin's work is focused on the self-renewing mechanism of stem cells, especially the small-RNA-mediated gene regulation mechanism. His research uses Drosophila germline stem cells, mouse germline stem cells, and mouse embryonic stem cells as models. He also studies germline development and stem cell-related cancers.
Lin is recognized for his contributions to stem cell and developmental biology research, especially for his discoveries of the Piwi/Argonaute gene family and the Piwi-interacting RNAs, and for contributing to the demonstration of asymmetric stem cell division and to the proof of the stem cell niche theory. The journal Science named the discovery of piRNAs as one of the ten most important breakthroughs in 2006. In recent years, he demonstrated the crucial roles of the Piwi-piRNA pathway in epigenetic programming and post-transcriptional regulation of mRNA and lncRNA.
Lin has played numerous leadership roles globally in the scientific community. He is President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and has served as Director, Treasurer, Executive Committee Member, Vice President, and President-Elect of ISSCR; Chair of the Finance Committee ; Chair the Publications Committee, and Chair the Annual Meeting Program Committee of the ISSCR. He led the establishment of ISSCR's official journal, Stem Cell Reports. 
Lin has also served on the Medical Advisory Board of New York Stem Cell Foundation, the US National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award Selection Committee, the NIH study sections, the Board of Directors of the Society of Chinese Biological Investigators, USA, the Council of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America, the Advisory Council of RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Japan, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research, National Key Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, the Council of Shantou University, and the Council of Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. He was a co-founder and Core Member of the Connecticut State Government Life Sciences Advisory Group and served on the advisory board of Connecticut Innovation Bioscience Fund.

Honors

Academic Awards:
  • Francis Amory Prize in Reproductive Medicine and Physiology, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2024.
  • Outstanding Science and Innovation Award, The Chinese Association for Science and Technology, USA, 2019.
  • The Society for the Study of Reproduction Research Award, 2015.
  • The G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Award, 2007, 2010, 2014.
  • The Ray Wu Award, 2013.
  • The NIH MERIT Award, 2012.
  • The NIH Director's Pioneer Award, 2010.
  • The Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award, 2010.
  • Outstanding Fudan University Alumnus Award, North America Fudan Alumni Association, 2010.
  • The Laura Hartenbaum Breast Cancer Foundation's Legacy for Hope Award, 2009.
  • The American Society of Andrology Lecturer Award, 2008.
  • The David and Lucile Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, 1996.
  • American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Research Award, 1996.
  • March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Scholar Research Award, 1996.
  • The Jane Coffin Childs Fellow for Medical Research, 1990.
  • Second Place, the Larry Sandler Memorial Award for the best Ph.D. thesis research in Genetics, Genetics Society of America, 1990.
  • Sage Graduate Fellowship, Cornell University, 1989.
  • The Wu Memorial Award, Cornell University; 1987.
  • Fellowship, the 1982 China and United States Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Examinations and Admissions Program.
  • Inaugural Fudan University Scholarship; 1982.
  • University-level Honors Student, Fudan University; 1980, 1981, and 1982.
  • Honors Student, Fudan University; 1979.
Elected Memberships:
Lin was investigated by federal agencies under the Trump administration's China Initiative. The government's allegations against Lin remain unclear. He was not arrested or charged with any crime. Lin was temporarily suspended from Yale and banned from running his lab in January 2022.
In April 2022, the case was dropped by the Biden administration's Department of Justice and Yale lifted Lin's suspension.
There was an outpouring of support for Lin by Yale faculty members during his suspension, including: a March 9, 2022, letter addressed to Yale University President Peter Salovey, and signed by nearly 100 Yale professors calling for Lin's full reinstatement. In addition, on March 17, 2022, the Yale Department of Cell Biology and the Yale Stem Cell Center published a joint statement noting that "Haifan Lin is not only a brilliant scientist and mentor, whose eminence has been recognized by election to the US National Academy of Sciences, but also a leader who we know to be of the utmost integrity. We have complete confidence in him. We are equally confident that the Department of Justice investigation will only reveal that he has been the victim of poorly conceived federal policies."