Manyuan Long

Manyuan Long is an American evolutionary biologist and geneticist, known for investigating the origination and evolution of new genes. He received numerous awards including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for Biology.
== Early life ==
Manyuan Long was born and grew up in a family from an ethnic minority group from the mountainous area of southwestern China, the Miao (also called Hmong). In the late stage of the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, after middle school, Long was exiled as "Sent-down youth" to a poor mountainous area in southern Sichuan. Working as a peasant, postman and commune secretary in the village for three years, Long endured starvation but survived by a chance to grow rice in Hainan.
== Education ==
Long was enrolled in Sichuan Agricultural University after his hard journey in countryside, earning a Bachelor's degree|baccalaureate in agronomy in 1982 and a Master's degree in plant genetics and breeding in 1985. Two year later, in 1987, he was admitted into the genetics graduate program at the University of California, Davis, where he earned a PhD in genetics in 1992, mentored by Charles Langley. He worked as postdoctoral fellow in Harvard University to research molecular biology and population genetics with Walter Gilbert and Richard Lewontin.
== Career and research ==
=== Research career ===
Long was appointed assistant professor in Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago in 1997. He was promoted as associate professor with tenure in 2003, full professor with tenure in 2005. He has been the Edna K. Papazian Distinguished Service Professor since 2011. 
=== New gene origin ===
Manyuan Long proposed and defined the concept of the "evolutionary new genes" in early 1990s. He has then delved into this question area by integrating tools including experimental techniques and computational bioinformatics. In 1993, Long identified the scientific problem of new gene evolution while researching a gene called Jingwei , the first ever known new gene with Charles Langley at Davis. He did his postdoctoral research work for four and a half years, with Walter Gilbert and Richard Lewontin at Harvard University, investigating the evolution of gene structures while continuing his research on Jingwei. The origination of Jingwei was noted as a classical example of new gene formation in Nature Education library and the textbook of Evolution by Douglas J. Futuyma and Mark Kirkpatrick. 
Long developed methods and theories used to investigate the new genes, including theoretical, computational, and molecular experimental approaches. He has investigated molecular mechanisms, rates, and patterns of new gene origination in species ranging from fruit flies to insects, vertebrates, and plants. His research interests include phenotypes and functions of new genes, the evolution of gene expression networks by the integration of new genes, and the imperfection of gene functions with underlying conflicting evolutionary forces. 
One of Long and his coworkers' findings, De novo gene birth|de novo genes are far more commonly than previously thought, was rated as one of "15 studies that challenged medical dogma in 2019" (medscape).
=== History of science ===
Long has also worked in the history of the sciences, especially the early history of molecular biology, genomics, molecular evolution, and general evolutionary biology. He has established and currently teaches graduate courses on the classic texts of evolutionary genetics.
He collaborated with Walter Gilbert to investigate and record important discoveries as molecular biology began to emerge as a field, driven by research in the labs of Walter Gilbert and other scientific pioneers of the era, who shaped the molecular revolution in biology from the 1950s through the 1970s. Decades later, to commemorate and document this radical shift in scientific thought, Long oversaw the editing and publication of the book Walter Gilbert: Selected Works. 
He worked with the evolutionary geneticist Hongya Gu in Peking University|Peking university and the paleontologist Zhonghe Zhou in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of Chinese Academy of Sciences|the Chinese Academy of Sciences to publish another book, entitled Darwin’s Heritage Today, regarding the history and impact of evolutionary biology research defined by Darwin since the publication of his work, On the Origin of Species, in 1859.
== Social impact ==
The new gene studies summarized by Long was presented in the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District and elsewhere in defense of the First Amendment to U.S. Constitution and the evolutionary biology.
== Awards and honors ==
1993 - Allen Marr Prize for the best Ph.D. thesis research in University of California, Davis, USA
2003 - CAREER Award National Science Foundation
2011 - Inaugural Edna K Papazian Distinguished Service Professor The University of Chicago
2014 - Fellow, the American Association for the Advancement of Science
2019 - 15 Studies That Challenged Medical Dogma in 2019 Medscape
2020 - The Distinguished Investigator Award in Biology, University of Chicago, USA
2022 - The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for Biology, USA & Canada
2022 - The Ray Wu Award, USA.
Category:American evolutionary biologists
Category:American geneticists
Category:People from Sichuan