The University of Washington stopped future awards from a $1 million Origincell endowment and removed public references to professor Dayong Gao’s associated title after the federal government designated the Chinese biotech company a military company, according to university statements and a new research report.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The University of Washington removed public references to a mechanical engineering professor’s endowed position connected to Chinese biotechnology company Origincell Technology Co., Ltd. after the federal government placed the company on its list of Chinese military companies, according to university officials and a Strategy Risks investigation reported Thursday by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Professor Dayong Gao had maintained research and professional ties with Shanghai-based Origincell for years while his cryopreservation work at the University of Washington’s Center for Cryo-Biomedical Engineering and Artificial Organs received support from U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Defense, as it was then known, as well as the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. Gao’s current university biography says his research “has been continually supported” by those federal agencies.
The federal government first included Origincell on its Chinese military companies list in January 2025, according to a Federal Register notice. A subsequent June 2026 federal designation stated that Origincell is “indirectly affiliated” with the People’s Liberation Army, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
University spokesman Victor Balta told the DCNF that UW acted after the federal designation.
“When that designation was established, the University’s International Agreements Risk Assessment Committee undertook a review and took appropriate action regarding the associated endowment and professorship,” Balta said. “As a result of that review, the University determined that no additional awards would be made from the endowment, and references to the Origincell professorship were removed from public-facing materials.
“Because the professorship term had already concluded, the website update was largely a formal administrative change reflecting the University’s decision regarding future use of the fund,” Balta added.
The Origincell Endowed Professorship originated with a $1 million gift signed in late 2016, Balta told the DCNF. Gao received annual payments from the endowment. Following Origincell’s addition to the military-company list in 2025, UW reviewed the arrangement, ended future awards from the fund and removed references to the professorship from university-facing materials.
The relationship predated that federal action by years. Gao received the “Origincell Endowed Professorship” during a January 2017 ceremony attended by company representatives and senior UW officials, including Vice Provost Jeffrey Riedinger, College of Engineering Dean Michael Bragg and Mechanical Engineering Department Chair Per Reinhall, according to an archived University of Washington Mechanical Engineering announcement.
Origincell describes itself as a biotechnology company involved in cell storage and automated biological-sample storage equipment. Its corporate history says it became a strategic partner with the University of Washington in October 2016 to jointly develop a cryogenic bio-freezing technology platform.
The company develops automated systems for storing human cells and other biological samples at very low temperatures. The Strategy Risks report said the UW-Origincell relationship centered substantially on Gao and his expertise in cryopreservation and biomedical engineering.
Evidence of Gao’s association with the company remained public years after he received the endowed title. A March 30, 2020, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering induction notice identified him as “Origincell Endowed Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering, University of Washington.”
Origincell’s Orcella development history states that Gao “worked as chief scientist in Origincell” in October 2017. The Society for Cryobiology and the Chinese Institute of Engineers’ Seattle chapter also continued to identify Gao as “Origincell Endowed Professor” on their websites.
That designation is absent from Gao’s present University of Washington faculty profile, consistent with UW’s statement that references to the professorship were removed from its public materials.
Gao’s federal research history extends back decades. According to a 2023 International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories biography, he completed an NIH-supported postdoctoral fellowship in cryobiology in the early 1990s.
UW also outlined its broader safeguards governing federally supported research and international relationships.
“The University requires Research Security training in accordance with federal requirements, full disclosure on current and pending (other) support, to which an individual certifies, and that all University policies are followed, including conflict of interest, outside work, and intellectual property protection,” Balta told the DCNF. “UW’s research compliance program describes the hallmarks of a foreign talent program, to help individuals and departments identify and receive assistance on next steps and routinely provides presentations/consultation to groups across campus. The University expects that all UW personnel follow University policy and specific sponsor requirements.”
Gao and Origincell did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
The research relationship also produced published scientific work. Gao was among the authors of a 2021 study in “Biopreservation and Biobanking” alongside Origincell President Helen Yang, Chief Technology Officer Xiaowen He and other researchers affiliated with the company, according to the paper’s publication record at Sage Journals.
The Strategy Risks report also examined Gao’s earlier affiliations in China. A 2015 Capital University of Economics and Business account listed him as holding honorary or guest positions with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, according to the report. Those positions are not identified on Gao’s English-language UW biography.
The federal scrutiny of UW’s China-related research relationships has extended beyond Origincell. In March 2026, House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar asked the National Science Foundation to suspend funding and examine the university over what he described as “high-risk research relationships” involving Chinese military- and defense-linked institutions. The committee’s letter to the NSF did not identify Origincell. The Strategy Risks report separately highlighted that distinction.
Origincell’s federal designation came as U.S. authorities continued reviewing links between American research institutions and entities associated with China’s defense-industrial system. The federal government’s June designation specifically described Origincell as indirectly affiliated with the PLA and several Chinese government bodies involved in industry and national defense. A separate report concerning Chinese organizations was among the source material cited in reporting on the broader issue.
Separately, the University of Washington has a large international student population. The Seattle campus enrolled 7,439 international students in fall 2025, including 3,452 students from China, the largest national group represented among international students, according to The Seattle Times.
The campus also has a Chinese Student Association, a registered student organization that reports having more than 300 members and says its mission includes promoting Chinese culture. No information provided in the Strategy Risks findings connects the student organization or those students to Gao’s relationship with Origincell.
UW is also one of the nation’s largest recipients of federal research support. It ranked third among U.S. universities in fiscal 2024 federal science and engineering obligations, receiving approximately $912 million, according to National Science Foundation data. The university separately reports receiving $1.39 billion in federal research funding during fiscal 2025 on its research statistics website.
The university maintains that its removal of the Origincell professorship references reflected the conclusion of Gao’s term and UW’s decision to stop future awards after the 2025 federal designation. The Strategy Risks report, meanwhile, focused on the extent of the earlier academic and research relationship and the subsequent disappearance of those references from UW’s public-facing materials.
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