Academic researcher James Liao has been named as the choice to become the new head of Taiwan's Academia Sinica, closing a chapter at the top academic research body that saw potential future Nobel Prize winner Wong Chi-huey resign last month under a cloud for a controversial sale of shares in biotech OBI Pharma by his daughter.
China Post reported that Taiwan's new president and biotech booster Tsai Ing-wen has selected Liao to take the helm as the 11th president of the respected research academy with a formal announcement due later this week. The board of the institute is expected to first confirm the appointment.
Liao is currently in the United States where he holds a top academic post at the Institute for Genomics and Proteomics of the University of California, Los Angeles.
His area of research covers metabolic engineering, synthetic biology and systems biology. He earned a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, according to China Post.
Wong resigned last month after issuing an apology that said he was responsible for the sale of 3 million shares in OBI Pharma just before data was published from the company's key cancer drug showed it had failed a key trial.
- here's the story from China Post