Professor Lin Hao-Ran was born on November 29, 1934, in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China. He graduated from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou in 1954 and subsequently joined the university's Department of Biology, where he progressed from assistant to lecturer from 1959 to 1978, and then to associate professor from 1978 to 1986. He took a leave of absence to study in Canada as a visiting scholar from 1979 to 1981, working first in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia and then at the University of Alberta. Upon returning to Sun Yat-sen University, he served as Chairman of the Department of Biology from 1984 to 1989 and became a full professor in 1986. In 1997, he was elected as an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Science. He also held the position of Director at the Institute of Aquatic Economic Animals and the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Improved Variety Reproduction of Aquatic Economic Animals at the School of Life Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University.
Professor Lin conducted both fundamental and applied research in fish physiology, comparative endocrinology, and molecular endocrinology, focusing particularly on neuroendocrine regulation of pituitary functions in teleosts, as well as the endocrine regulation of reproduction, growth, and metabolism in cultured fish.
His significant contributions include: (1) elucidating the neuroendocrine regulation of gonadotropin (GtH) secretion in carps and loaches, which is primarily controlled by a dual neurohormonal system where GtH release is stimulated by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and inhibited by dopamine, acting as a gonadotropin release-inhibitory factor (GRIF); (2) collaborating with Professor R. E. Peter from the University of Alberta to develop a highly effective method for inducing ovulation and spawning in cultured fish using a combination of a GnRH analogue and a dopamine antagonist, which has been termed the "Linpe Method" in international academic circles, combining Prof. Lin's surname with the first syllable of Prof. Peter's name. This method has been widely implemented in fish farms for inducing spawning in freshwater cultured fish in China, India, and other countries; (3) clarifying the hormonal mechanisms regulating the brain-pituitary-gonad axis in Japanese eels and developing new techniques for stimulating GnRH and GtH secretion and promoting gonadal development and maturation through serial steroid implantation (methyltestosterone or androstenedione); (4) elucidating the neuroendocrine regulation of growth hormone (GH) secretion and body growth in carps, and creating practical methods to enhance the growth of cultured fish by administering various neuropeptides (e.g., GHRF, GHRH, THR, Ghrelin) and/or neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine), as well as recombinant fish GH; (5) clarifying the neuroendocrine mechanisms regulating reproduction and growth in groupers, a key species in mariculture, cloning, sequencing, and characterizing functional genes related to reproduction and growth regulation in groupers (e.g., GH, IGF, PACAP, SRIF), and developing techniques for induced breeding and larviculture to facilitate large-scale production of grouper fingerlings.
