From Kuantan to ‘Oscars of science’: top Malaysian scientist is constantly adapting
For Dr Thein Swee Lay, the only Malaysian scientist to have won the Breakthrough Prize, cracking a code in gene therapy was easier than hunting down an authentic version of her hometown popiah – or spring rolls – in the US, where she has been based for years. “I have not come acr
AdvertisementMalaysiaThis Week in AsiaPeopleFrom Kuantan to ‘Oscars of science’: top Malaysian scientist is constantly adaptingBreakthrough Prize winner Thein Swee Lay’s research has helped turn sickle cell disease and beta-thalassaemia into treatable conditions4-MIN READ4-MIN ListenUshar DanielePublished: 12:00pm, 27 Jun 2026For Dr Thein Swee Lay, the only Malaysian scientist to have won the Breakthrough Prize, cracking a code in gene therapy was easier than hunting down an authentic version of her hometown popiah – or spring rolls – in the US, where she has been based for years.“I have not come across a Malaysian restaurant that sells good popiah. I miss it,” Thein told This Week in Asia in an exclusive interview where she fondly reminisced about her childhood in Malaysia’s coastal town of Kuantan.
Thein, the seventh of nine children, said her large family moved from town to town in then Malaya because of her father’s civil service postings.The constant relocation taught her to adapt to ever-changing circumstances, said the 74-year-old, who works at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda and has lived in Washington since 2015.Kuantan-born Thein Swee Lay is the first Malaysian to take home the Breakthrough Prize.
Photo: Jackie LeeIn April, she won one of the 2026 Breakthrough Prizes, dubbed the “Oscars of science”, for work that helped turn a decades-old mystery in blood disorders into a gene-editing discovery.AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.
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