Corran McLachlan

McLachlan attended his local primary school where he was one of two students in his class before attending Wairarapa College in Masterton from 1957 to 1961. It was here that he developed his interest in science, a discipline he continued to pursue. In 1962, McLachlan began studying at the University of Canterbury, and graduated with a first-class honours degree in chemical engineering. He then went to the University of Cambridge, where he completed a PhD on the reactions of carbon dioxide in alkaline solutions, supervised by Peter Danckwerts, in 1969.

While at Cambridge, McLachlan met a German au pair, Ulrike von Thielen, and they were married within seven months. The couple went on to have three children.

In 1970, McLachlan returned to New Zealand and began working in the Chemistry Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. In 1974, he won the first United Development Corporation inventor's prize.

McLachlan first became involved in the dairy industry in 1989 when he became the managing director of Tenon Developments. In a joint venture with Morrinsville Thames Cooperative Dairy Company, they developed a method of producing cholesterol-free butter and low-fat meats using extraction technology. He remained the managing director of Tenon Developments Ltd until his death.

While the research project was dropped by the New Zealand Dairy Group, McLachlan's interest in the subject of cholesterol and heart disease remained. He spent five years investigating a potential connection between A1 beta casein protein consumption and heart disease.

In 2000, he formed A2 Corporation, backed by Howard Paterson to license technology for testing, production and use of milk containing only the A2 beta casein protein and no A1 protein (primarily which the BCM-7 peptide is a variant of) in cows' DNA.