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.
Discovering the Velcro effect
As Lai began his research, he found reports that showed more antibodies were produced by the immune system and secreted into mucus than in blood. But the notion that antibodies can work together with mucus to enable protection was nonexistent. Immunologists had previously measured interactions between individual antibody molecules and mucins — the matrix-like proteins that give mucus its sticky properties — and concluded they couldn’t work together.
But Lai discovered that when multiple antibodies bind to the same virus or bacteria, they generate several weak interactions that collectively bind pathogens to the mucin mesh like Velcro, trapping them. It’s an elegant system, turning mucus into one of the body’s first lines of defense.
Lai wasn’t content to keep his findings confined to academic journals. Drawing on his experience launching startups, he wanted to take this new concept into the clinic so it could be tested and eventually translated into marketable treatments.
He founded Inhalon Biofarma in late 2018, just a few years before the COVID-19 pandemic began reshaping the world.
“We wanted to figure out how we could take advantage of this concept we’d discovered to make a real impact,” he says.
His team developed inhalable antibodies to treat COVID-19, leveraging mucus-trapping properties to halt infections in their tracks. While new variants posed some challenges, his lab is actively developing a pan-SARS molecule slated to go into clinical trials by the second half of 2025.
Beyond COVID, Inhalon is advancing treatments for other respiratory infections like RSV and influenza. The principle remains the same: muco-trapping antibodies immobilize pathogens in the mucus lining of the airways, preventing infections from spreading deeper into the lungs. The platform has been supported by nearly $50 million in funding to date.
Innovating in women’s health
Lai’s research isn’t limited to respiratory diseases. In 2019, he founded Mucommune, a startup focused on harnessing the same muco-trapping antibody platform to improve female reproductive health.
Inspired by how some infertility occurs when the female reproductive tract produces antibodies that attack sperm, Lai’s team has created antibodies that prevent sperm from fertilizing an egg. This nonhormonal birth control can be used on-demand, from seconds to hours before sexual activity, or once per month to provide protection across the entire fertility window. In animal studies, they’ve shown that even small amounts of these antibodies can trap and eliminate sperm within just two minutes.
This approach avoids the side effects of hormonal contraceptives, offering women more control over their reproductive health. Mucommune is also exploring other applications for antibody-mucin interactions, from preventing sexually transmitted infections to improving fertility treatments.
Translating groundbreaking research into real-world applications isn’t easy. Startups like Inhalon and Mucommune face a gauntlet of challenges, from securing funding to navigating complex regulatory landscapes. For Lai, the early stages often mean balancing the dual demands of running a lab and managing a business.
“It’s very challenging,” he admits. “Once you start, you cannot stop, regardless of how daunting the tasks may seem.”
Yet Lai remains undeterred. After having at least six startups launched from his research, he’s learned first-hand that the potential to transform lives outweighs the obstacles. The slimy stuff we often overlook might just hold the key to a healthier future. And the challenges encountered in translating technologies from bench to bedside can further inspire other discoveries or better approaches to address unmet needs.
“No one understands a technology that was created in my lab better than me or my students,” he explains. “I have a responsibility to society to do all I can to advance these technologies to benefit patients.”