Professor Martin Chalfie, winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry, gave talk at the Outstanding Scholars in Chinese Medicine Lectures at Macau University of Science and Technology in the afternoon of September 6, 2018. Over 400 local researchers, teachers and students attended. Chair Prof. Liu Liang, President of M.U.S.T., gave a welcome speech and presented souvenir to Prof. Martin Chalfie.

President Liu Liang (left) presented souvenir to Prof. Martin Chalfie

Prof. Martin Chalfie, Chair Professor of the Department of Biology Sciences at Columbia University, for his discoveries that the green fluorescent proteins (GFP) in jelly fish could be used as luminescent markers for gene expression, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008. The technique has brought revolutionary changes to research and applications in life sciences and has been widely applied in the biological and medical sciences, and became a “standard procedure in life sciences research”.

Prof. Martin Chalfie gives an inspiring talk

Students take picture with Prof. Martin Chalfie and President Liu

During the lecture, Prof. Martin Chalfie shared with the audience several insights he accumulated through years of life dedicated to scientific research. Firstly, all roads lead to Rome; scientific research should not be restricted to only a small number of established approaches. Secondly, many scientific research outcomes come only in an accidental fashion, which requires continuous trying. Thirdly, scientific research is a build-on process of accumulation. Fourthly, Support by universities, government and other funds are necessary conditions to develop scientific research, to which graduate students and post-docs are important contributors. Fifthly, any organism can serve as a target for scientific research. Lastly, basic research is of crucial importance.

Prof. Martin Chalfie’s talk was both rigorous and humorous, closely interacted with audience and won numerous rounds of applauses. This session of the Outstanding Scholars in Chinese Medicine Lectures series provided a valuable opportunity for researchers, students, and people from the industry in Macao to learn from experiences and research insights of an international scholar; it would exert a positive role in furthering research in Chinese medicine and the internationalization of teaching in Macao.

Before the lecture, Prof. Martin Chalfie was welcomed and received by President Liu Liang, Chair Prof. Zhu Yi Zhun, Dean of the School of Pharmacy, Prof. Zhou Hua, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Chinese Medicine, and Assistant Director Leung Lai Han of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicines. They exchanged views on cultivation of high-end talents and training of scientists. After the meeting, Prof. Martin Chalfie was escorted by President Liu Liang on a tour of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicines.

Photo of Prof. Martin Chalfie (third from right), President Liu Liang (third from left), pose with M.U.S.T. representatives