Thomas Ming Swi Chang: Summary    

• Inventor of the artificial cell
• b. Swatow, China
• Physiologist

Director, Artificial Cells and Organs Research Centre, McGill University, Montréal.

Thomas Chang was born in Swatow, a coastal town in southern China. His grandfather was a general practitioner who rode a bicycle to tend to farmers in the outlying villages. Years later, Chang, while still an undergraduate at McGill, invented the world's first artificial cell in 1957. His idea was to make tiny, ultrathin plastic microcapsules that could hold biological agents (such as enzymes). If he could control the permeability of the plastic membrane, he could control what passed through the wall of his artificial cell, and thus mimic many of the functions of real cells. After earning his Ph.D. in physiology, Chang developed the first artificial blood and a new cellular-based approach to an artificial kidney, liver and pancreas. While various drawbacks persist, Chang's inventions have proved useful as temporary measures and in conjunction with other approaches. Chang is a recipient of the Order of Canada.

Sources: "The Bionic Threshold" by Sylvia Wright, Equinox, c. 1990;