Sam Lai: Boldly Breaking Barriers

Sam Lai has founded multiple startups by studying underexplored processes in the body — like mucus production.

Some of Sam Lai's research isn't the kind you'd want to bring up in a dinner conversation — unless your goal is to clear the table. He studies mucus, the slimy substance we'd rather leave in a tissue than discuss in polite company.

Lai wasn't always interested in mucus, or even science for that matter. Growing up in Hong Kong, he was surrounded by friends and family who pursued business and finance. It seemed natural for him to do the same, so after his first year studying engineering at Cornell, he took an internship at an investment bank in Hong Kong. But he didn't like it. When he got back to New York in the fall, Lai knew he wanted to keep pursuing science.

"I wanted to do something that could have more of an impact on society, something that would get me out of bed in the morning," he says.

He dove headfirst into research, working in three different labs as an undergraduate. One area stood out: drug delivery—the challenge of getting medicine to the right place at the right time in the body and as efficiently as possible. This fascination led him to pursue a PhD at Johns Hopkins University, where he developed innovative systems to break through mucus barriers, enabling life-saving drugs to reach the cells that need them most.

"If you don't mind studying something that might seem gross, and really try to understand it, well, it can actually get you somewhere," he says, laughing.

Mucus coating the lungs, nose, stomach, and other organs has evolved to trap and clear foreign particulates like pathogens before they reach their target. Unfortunately, this also poses a barrier for drug delivery as mucus can block helpful medicines. Lai developed nanoparticles that could traverse this obstacle without getting stuck, delivering treatments directly to target cells.

Lai's work formed the foundation for Kala Pharmaceuticals, launched in 2009, which advanced the technology he developed during his PhD into clinical trials. This led to multiple FDA-approved drugs for eye diseases and another startup.

When Lai joined the faculty at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2010, he wanted to do something different. Reflecting on his strengths, he realized he was one of the few researchers skilled in studying mucus but also had a knack for analytics. And then it hit him.

For years, his work had focused on getting drugs through mucus — one of the body’s toughest barriers for fighting disease and infection. But what if, instead of fighting mucus, he used its natural properties to stop infections? Could he design strategies to reinforce the mucus barrier against pathogens?

With degrees in engineering, Lai had never taken a course in microbiology or immunology, so he started by soaking in as much foundational knowledge as he could. He found that his layman’s perspective was beneficial, picking up what he needed to know to make his research successful along the way.

"When you accumulate experience in more and more diverse fields, you can draw on those experiences to find different approaches to solve these problems," he says.

Read more at UNC Research Stories