In the list of new academicians announced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the name of structural biologist Yan Ning is impressively listed. On this matter, Yan Ning also posted the news that he was selected on his personal social account, and humorously said that he was "not strong enough to be happy".
At this time, 43-year-old Yan Ning has made many research achievements in the field of structural biology, and published many heavyweight papers in the most influential international journals such as Science 1030 10. He is not only a senior scientist in the field of biology, but also invited by Princeton University to become a tenured professor in Shirley Tillman's Department of Molecular Biology.
As a matter of fact, as early as when she got her postdoctoral degree in Yan Ning, she turned down the favorable conditions offered by foreign countries and resolutely returned to China to become the youngest professor and doctoral supervisor in Tsinghua University. But no one expected that 10 years later, she would leave the United States again. Her behavior once attracted many people's comments and accusations, so that some people said that she left angrily because she was not rated as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. So what made Yan Ning choose to leave the United States?
1977, Yan Ning was born in Boping Village, Zhangqiu, Shandong Province. Her parents are both workers in Shandong Automobile Factory. Because her parents were too busy to take care of her, they left her at grandma's house. According to Yan Ning's aunt, Yan Ning's time is smart and quiet. She likes reading and painting. After reading a comic book, she can perfectly repeat the plot in the book. So everyone thinks that she has an excellent memory and is a child prodigy.
When Yan Ning was 6 years old, she was transferred to Beijing because of her parents' work. At school age, she was accepted by her parents and went to primary school in Beijing.
No matter in primary school or junior high school, Yan Ning's achievements are second to none. Even so, her mother is very strict with her study. Most holidays, students come in to play, but she can only stay at home to continue her studies.
In high school, Yan Ning was fascinated by literature. She not only likes Tang poetry and Song poetry, but also reads a lot of prose novels. At that time, the purpose of studying in Yan Ning was to enter the Chinese Department of Peking University. However, at the time of dividing subjects, her teacher thought that it was almost a waste of talent for her to study liberal arts, so she suggested that she study liberal arts instead.
Persuaded by parents and teachers, Yan Ning finally applied for liberal arts. At that time, the teacher probably didn't know that his little move, although killing a young artist, made the country a great scientist.
From 65438 to 0996, Yan Ning was admitted to Tsinghua University with excellent results. At this time, her parents hope that she can study medicine. In the eyes of parents, it is also a good career for girls to become doctors in the future. However, Yan Ning is a very thoughtful person. She once heard an old scientist say that "2 1 century is the era of life science", which left a deep impression on her. And she didn't want her to go to college just for employment, so she chose the biology department with poor employment prospects at that time.
However, after entering Tsinghua University, although Yan Ning still worked hard, she found that there were many principals there. And she has been doing well, and she has become a passer-by in that group of schoolmasters. This invisibly put a lot of pressure on her and made her work hard for a long time, but the effect was not ideal.
Once, Yan Ning told her mother that the students at school were too fierce. What should she do if she is discouraged by poor grades? Mother comforted her and said, it's okay. I would rather you had a good time than dissuade you. It was not until later that her mother informed her that she was strict with her before going to college because she was afraid that she would come in to play. She's crazy. Now that she has gone to college and grown up, I should know her work.
Mother's self-confidence made Yanning understand that her mother didn't just watch her study, which relieved Yan Ning's psychological pressure. Fortunately, at the end of the term, although she didn't do very well in the exam, she was not as bad as she thought. This gave Yan Ning confidence. After that, she learned more and more easily and participated in many school group activities, such as painting and dancing. She did a good job.
The person who really made Yan Ning like biology was Professor Rao Hezi, a structural biologist. At that time, Yan Ning was a junior. Because she is very dedicated, Professor Rao Hezi spoke highly of her, so she was selected into my laboratory. From then on, Yan Ning discovered the fun of doing experiments. She slowly quit the club she joined and plunged into the laboratory, busy with various experiments all day.
Soon after graduation, students are busy submitting resumes, hoping to find a well-paid job. However, Yan Ning doesn't seem to care much about employment. Like her classmates, Yan Ning once submitted her resume. During that time, she received replies from many companies, including high-paying invitations from big international companies such as Novo Nordisk China Pharmaceutical Company.
At this moment, a professor of Chinese-American history from Princeton University came to Tsinghua University to give a speech, encouraging graduating college students to have a longer-term vision, that is, to study abroad and come back to serve their country after making achievements.
At that time, Shi was an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, and was also the examiner for the interview of Asian students at the school.
I wrote a letter of recommendation to Shi, which said, "I think I am excellent in all aspects, and I hope to spend my time in a more valuable center." But applying for going abroad is a waste of time and money. If Princeton University accepts me, I won't have to spend time applying to other schools. "
Moved by his confidence, he personally accepted a telephone interview as soon as he returned to America. By the time Yan Ning graduated, the admission notice from Princeton University had reached her.
At Princeton University, I studied history. Under his guidance, he began to study the molecular regulation mechanism of apoptosis in tumor attack. However, it takes a lot of efforts to get results. Yan Ning only sleeps more than five hours every day, and spends the rest of the time in the laboratory. But in the first three years, there has been no pause. Seeing other people's papers published in important journals, she was inevitably patient, but she was never a quitter, so she continued to study all night. Fortunately, all the efforts paid off in the end. Yan Ning's experiment was successful, and her related papers were published in Cell and other publications. In the fourth year, she successfully obtained her doctorate and won the "Young Scientist Award" in North America.
What really made Yan Ning famous was that she got a doctorate.
After discussing the work. At that time, no one had made a breakthrough in the study of membrane proteins of important disease blind date. However, if we can analyze the high-resolution crystals of membrane proteins related to a certain disease, we can develop drugs to inhibit it according to its root causes. In that case, the conquest of cancer will have a big pause. Yan Ning stopped repeating experiments in the laboratory. After repeated failures and improvements, she successfully dissected the world's first membrane protein structure. Her victory aroused great vigilance in the world, and she became one of the most promising young scientists in the field of biology to win the Nobel Prize in Biology.
In 2007, Yan Ning, who made brilliant achievements in the field of biology, declined the favorable conditions offered by foreign countries and couldn't wait to return to her alma mater. She hopes that she can continue to stop scientific research in Tsinghua with her talents. At the same time, she also hopes to cultivate more talents that are conducive to the development of national science and technology. In the teaching of 10, Yan Ning has been doing the same thing.
At that time, Yan Ning was the youngest professor and doctoral supervisor in Tsinghua University. However, for Yan Ning, her return means starting from scratch. For example, to build a laboratory, Yan Ning must complete it step by step, build a test bench and buy experimental instruments.
After the laboratory is built, Yan Ning will teach students how to operate instruments and how to do experiments. These things once made her very patient and tortured. But she watched the students work hard and didn't complain. She sat patiently doing and teaching step by step, and finally everything was slowly on the right track, which made her very happy and confident.
Sure enough, during her teaching in Tsinghua University, Yan Ning not only brought out a group of outstanding students, but also analyzed the three-dimensional crystal of glucose transporter (GLUT 1 for short) with her team. You know, in protein, because membrane proteins are constantly present on the cell membrane, it is easy to denature without them. Therefore, it is very difficult to analyze its structure. However, GLUT 1 is abundant in human cells and plays an important role in maintaining the stability of blood sugar concentration and blood supply to the brain. Therefore, Yan Ning's research achievement is not only another great discovery in the world biology field, but also because of this research, we can understand the movement mechanism of GLUT 1 and find out the pathogenic principle of related diseases according to the data.
In addition, Yan Ning also contributed to the sodium ion channel, and analyzed the high-resolution structure of Qualcomm calcium channel RyR 1 by using the latest cryoelectron microscope technology.
In addition, Yan Ning has published dozens of papers in important international journals, which made her twice rated as "Top Ten Pauses of the Year" by Science.
On 20 16, Yan Ning was awarded the "China Science Star" for his contribution to the structure of protein. The following year, she was selected as one of the "Scientific Figures Who Influenced China in 20 17" and was nominated for the "Chinese People Who Influenced the World".
Regarding my achievements, Yan Ning once told reporters that if she were abroad, with the same starting point and the same conditions, she could not have such high income.
However, what people didn't expect was that in 20 17, Yan Ning left Tsinghua University and accepted the invitation of Princeton University in the United States, becoming a tenured professor in the biology department of the school.
Many people expressed regret over Yan Ning's departure. There are also many people who say that Zu Guohua made great efforts to cultivate her, but he betrayed his motherland. Others said that she was nominated as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 20 17 but failed to be selected, which led to her resignation. In short, everyone is very dissatisfied with her departure and thinks that she has no patriotism.
However, in the face of everyone's distortion and lashing, Yan Ning did not give an answer immediately. While teaching at Princeton University, she was still immersed in the topics she discussed and made enviable achievements. Not only won the Weizmann Prize for Women and Scientific Achievement, but also was awarded a foreign academician of the National Academy of Sciences.
As usual, Yan Ning was re-elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a native of China. This is certainly an affirmation of her contribution to scientific research, and it also proves once again that China scientists have become more talented and influential in the world.
Until now, Yan Ningcai explained why she left Tsinghua University. She said that she was afraid that if she stayed in an environment for a long time, she would stand still and not know it. So she wants to change a new environment, give me some new pressure, stimulate my inspiration and play a better role in scientific research.
In addition, Yan Ning also expressed the hope that through his own efforts, he could promote Princeton University and top universities abroad, and increase opportunities for exchanges and cooperation with Tsinghua University. This will add some good conditions to the cultivation of talents.
Obviously, in Yan Ning's mind, he is not only attached to the motherland, but also always thinking about repaying his alma mater. Aren't such scientists worthy of praise?
Shi (1May 5, 967-), born in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, graduated from Hopkins University, academician of China Academy of Sciences, structural biologist, and foreign academician of American College of Humanities and Sciences. He is currently the vice chairman of the Ninth National Committee of China Association for Science and Technology, the president of West Lake University, and the director of Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological Structure. From 2065438+00 to 2065438+07, he has won many awards, such as the Seckler International Biophysics Award, the Chinese Award for Influencing the World, and the Future Science Award-Life Science Award.
At Princeton University, he used structural biology, biophysics and biochemistry to study the molecular mechanism of cancer occurrence and apoptosis. Up to now, he has published more than 100 academic papers in international authoritative academic journals, including 1 1 articles in Cell, 7 articles in Nature and 3 articles in Science. These works systematically reveal the molecular mechanism of apoptosis pathway in mammals, fruit flies and nematodes, and many research results have obtained patents for the development of cancer treatment drugs. He has won the International Seckler Biophysics Award, the Outstanding Scientist Award of Hong Kong Qiushi Science and Technology Foundation, the Tan Lifelong Achievement Award and the 20 14 Emmenov Award of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. Academician of American Academy of Arts, foreign academician of American National Academy of Sciences, foreign member of European Molecular Biology Organization.
He is a world-famous structural biologist. He is the youngest tenured professor since the establishment of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. In 20 13 years, his research team made continuous progress: for the first time, he made great progress in RNA splicing, which laid a solid theoretical foundation for revealing the basic principles of life phenomena; He used X-ray crystallography to make outstanding contributions in the field of apoptosis research, and provided important clues for developing new anticancer and preventive drugs for Alzheimer's disease. 20 13 was also the year when he won the honor. Elected as a Fellow of China Academy of Sciences, a Foreign Fellow of American Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.