Ta-Yan Leong

By Helen WolffAugust 23rd, 2023

Ta-Yan Leong joined the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry in 1982. He joined Head Office in 1994 and was instrumental in driving CSIRO’s Asian engagement

[Stub entry only]

Dr Ta-Yan Leong was born in Ipoh, Malaya (now Malaysia) on 3 December 1946.

He grew up as a Mandarin speaker in post-war Malaya and undertook tertiary studies in Chiba and Kyoto.

He completed a Master of Engineering degree. It was in Japan that Ta-Yan learnt to speak German, decided to switch from chemistry to cell biology and went to Germany to complete his doctoral degree at the Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology. On completion of his degree in Germany, Ta-Yan spent two years at the School of Biological Sciences, Stanford University. He was thus well qualified to take a Research Scientist position in the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry.

Honours and awards

 

2010 CSIRO Lifetime Achievement Award

Source

Ta-Yan Leong, interviewed by Tom Spurling and Terry Healy, 7 February 2019