On April 14^th 2017, Professor Cao Xiaofeng, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and plant epistemologist, was invited to give a lecture at SUSTech. The lecture entitled “Discovering the journey of Barbara McClintock – to reveal the function of jumping genes” was held in the lecture hall of the university’s library.

In the lecture hall

From the second half of the 19^th century to the first half of the 20^th, the genetics community had three great scientists whose names began with the letter M. They are Gregor Johann Mendel, Thomas Hunt Morgan and Barbara McClintock. In 1983, the 81-year-old indomitable female scientist won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She is the first independent scientist in the field of genetic research to receive a Nobel Prize.

During the lecture Cao Xiaofeng first introduced the early scientific discoveries of McClintock, as well as the process by which McClintock identified jumping genes. Many of the major discoveries related to genetic variations of maize chromosomes are attributed to her, and she has successfully illustrated the process of meiosis. It can be said that her research on maize genetics has helped the establishment of the sub-branch of cytogenetics in the field of genetics. However, the achievement she is most famous for is her study of transposable elements (commonly known as “jumping gene”) in maize.

Based on her own experiences as a scientific researcher, Professor Cao Xiaofeng told the students to make the most of the opportunities they had and to be confident when facing hardship. She said the most important element in research is a passionate interest in their field, students should not blindly follow the crowd, but find their own field of interest among the many important scientific issues. She also underlined how important it was to be mentally prepared to face difficulties and setbacks, and to have a long term vision.

The lecture ended with a questions and answers session with the students, and with Professor Cao delivering her best wishes to SUSTech.

Biography:

Professor Cao Xiaofeng is currently the Director of the Genomics Biology Research Center of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, as well as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, of the National Committee on Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms, the International Committee on Plant Epigenetics, and an Associate Editor of “Chinese Science”, Current Opinion in Plant Biology and The Plant Cell. She has been rewarded multiple times for her research, including being awarded the United States “DuPont Young Scientist Award”, “Chinese young female scientist award”, “National Outstanding Science and Technology Worker” as well as many other recognitions.

Contributed by: Guo Ying

Edited by: Jeremy Welburn

Images: Sun Yingrui