Thomas Chang

Thomas Ming Swi Chang, OC (born 8 April 1933) is a Chinese-born Canadian inventor, physician, and physiologist.

While an undergraduate at McGill University in 1957, Chang invented the world's first artificial cell.

Working with improvised materials like perfume atomizers inside his dorm room turned laboratory, Chang managed to create a permeable plastic sack that would effectively carry haemoglobin almost as effectively as a natural blood cell.

His work on finding a safe blood substitute brought him to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, earning him an Order of Canada.

[3] The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences states, "Dr. Chang’s original ideas were years ahead of the modern era of nanotechnology, regenerative medicine, gene therapy, stem cell/cell therapy and blood substitutes.