Yifan Dai, M.D., Ph.D. Head of Molecular Biology

Yifan Dai has both an MD and PhD, and is currently Head of Molecular Biology at Revivicor, a role he served in for the past 5 years at PPL Therapeutics. Dr. Dai is Project Manager for the company’s lead xenotransplantation program, which has led to the successful production of the World’s first alpha1,3GT double-knockout cloned pigs. He is currently directing the key pre-clinical pig-to-primate transplant program in collaboration with physicians at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Prior to PPL/Revivicor, Dr. Dai worked at Baxter Healthcare, developing mini-adenoviral vectors for gene therapy to treat Factor VIII deficiency and in cancer applications. Dr. Dai performed postdoctoral research in the lab of Dr. Inder Verma at the Salk Institute, developing retroviral and adenoviral vector systems for gene therapy in Factor IX deficiency. He received his Ph.D. from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and his M.D. from Zhejiang University Medical School in Hangzhou, China.