Robert Tjian PRESIDENT HHMI

Indeed, as a newish member of the biochemistry faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, I had a Ray Wu encounter of my own. Wu had asked me to give a talk at Cornell University and that much about my visit was straightforward. What I didn't expect was that a home-cooked meal—made by Wu himself—would be the highlight of my visit. He was a true gentleman, a scientist of the old school who went out of his way to help younger colleagues. Myself included.

Wu made his scientific mark as a molecular biologist and geneticist. His laboratory made major discoveries that simplified the process of DNA sequencing, helping to set the stage for sequencing whole genomes. Later, Wu focused his attention on the rice genome and the difficult challenge of engineering strains of cultivated rice that could better withstand drought, salt, and a variety of pests. One of the many scientists who passed through the Wu lab during the early years was HHMI's Jack Szostak, who arrived at Cornell as a 19-year-old graduate student and went on to share the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. (Both Szostak and fellow Nobelist Tom Steitz, who shared the 2009 Chemistry Prize, are profiled in this issue.) Szostak credits Wu with creating a scientific environment that prized creativity and independence—a culture that remains a hallmark of HHMI's approach to research—which continues to inform his own work.

Wu's career trajectory is one to which most scientists would aspire: meaningful work that illuminates a new aspect of the world around us, discoveries that make a difference to society, and talented students who achieve even greater success than oneself. But Ray Wu's impact on science went beyond those conventional aspirations and continues to reverberate in the United States and China. This descendent of a long line of scientists and scholars developed a new passion in the 1980s—one just as important as ensuring a bountiful rice crop. Wu began cultivating an entire generation of Chinese scientists through the China–United States Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Examination and Administration program. Over a period of nine years the program brought some 400 Chinese students to this country for graduate school. Many of them achieved great success as academic researchers here. Others returned home, where they sowed the seeds for China's renewed commitment to scientific and scholarly research.

Photo: Barbara Ries

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