Kent Lai

Kent Lai is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Nutrition & Integrative Physiology at the University of Utah. His research focuses on metabolic disorders, particularly classic galactosemia and congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG), with an emphasis on developing gene therapies, enzyme inhibitors, and nutritional interventions. He holds multiple grants from NIH and industry partners.

• Research Interests: Genetic therapies for metabolic diseases, enzyme replacement, GALT/GALK1 inhibition, ovarian function in galactosemia, and CDG pathophysiology.
• Grants: Includes NIH-funded studies on galactosemia mechanisms (e.g., PGM1-CDG cardiomyopathy, GALT mRNA therapy) and industry collaborations with Biomarin and BridgeBio Pharma.
• Publications: Over 57 scholarly works, with recent focus on AAV-based gene therapies, pharmacochaperone development, and metabolic biomarkers in mouse models.

His work bridges preclinical studies and clinical translation, addressing unmet needs in rare genetic disorders.