In June 2022, Professor Hu Hailan from Zhejiang University in China was awarded the " World Outstanding Female Scientist Achievement Award " at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. This award is called the "Female Nobel Prize in Science". Hu Hailan is the seventh Chinese winner since the establishment of the award and one of the youngest winners at present. In the award information released by UNESCO, Hu Hailan "has won the award for her major discoveries in neuroscience , and her work has promoted the development of a new generation of antidepressants."
Before this, Hu Hailan had already become famous. She was the winner of the " Chinese Young Female Scientist Award ", the "No. 1 Asian Person" to win the IBRO-Kemali International Award , and the special reviewer of the world's top academic journals " Nature " and "Science"... However, she just wants to do scientific research quietly. She believes that "fame is not important". The biggest sense of accomplishment is "you are the first person to discover a certain link in the unknown nature."
Author｜Liu Ying
Editor｜Jiang Fangyi
This article was first published in the 417th issue of "Time Post"
"Climb the highest mountain and see the most beautiful scenery"
1973, Hu Hailan was born in a warm well-off home in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The rich collection of books at home allowed her to wander in the ocean of knowledge since she was a child. When she was young, she told her father that she wanted to be a writer or scientist when she grew up because these two professions were the most glorious. After going to school, Hu Hailan quickly demonstrated his extraordinary learning ability, especially in mathematics and physics. A middle school classmate once described her like this: "In junior high school, she was the best girl in mathematics in the whole grade. She spoke softly, calmly, beautiful and intelligent." Not only did she have good grades, Hu Hailan was also very easy-going and friendly. If her classmates didn't understand anything they didn't know, she always told them patiently.
When she was in high school, Hu Hailan won the first prize in the National Physics Olympics. With this result, she was admitted to the Physics Department of Peking University. However, she felt that the development of physics in the discipline of physics was relatively mature, and "there are still many unknowns in the field of life sciences that are worth discovering", so she chose to turn to biology. A friend asked her, what can a graduate of the biology department do in the future? She smiled and said, "Either study cells and do scientific research, or go to soy sauce factories to make soy sauce."
In the Department of Biology at Peking University, Hu Hailan's initial professional direction was the most popular biochemistry and molecular biology at that time. However, one day, she was deeply attracted by a famous book in the field of neurobiology "Neurobiology - From Neurons to Brain", and decided to choose brain science as the main focus of the future. At the same time, she was also fascinated by scientific experiments. She later recalled: "The moment when she saw the electrical pulses emitted by the brain can be recorded and the function of the pulse can be detected is the moment of enlightenment in my scientific career." In her opinion, the brain has the most mysterious and complex structure in nature, and brain science is full of unknowns and challenges. This is the research she should do. After graduating from
, Hu Hailan went to the United States to study further and obtained a doctorate in neurobiology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002. In 2004, she entered the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory , known as the "world's holy place for life sciences", and conducted a postdoctoral work. After studying and working in the United States for more than 10 years, she gave up her life and career there, returned to her motherland in December 2008, joined the Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and formed her own team. Talking about this choice, Hu Hailan said that on the one hand, she hopes to leave the golden stage of her scientific research to the motherland, and on the other hand, she is also attracted by the country's increasingly perfect talent policies.
In 2009, Hu Hailan was selected as the Chinese Academy of Sciences " Hundred People Plan ". With the support of the "Hundred Talents Plan", she led the team to "roll up her sleeves and work hard", and then achieved a series of scientific research results. In 2015, Hu Hailan was invited to return to Zhejiang and joined the Neurological Research Center of Zhejiang University to continue to climb the peak of science. Looking at Hu Hailan's study and scientific research career, she always obeys her inner call, pursues her own interests, is not afraid of challenges, and is full of curiosity. “Climb the highest mountain, walk the farthest road, see the most beautiful scenery, and never forget your original intention."Hu Hailan, who has experienced countless twists and turns in scientific research, often uses this sentence to motivate herself.
"Scientists are the best profession in the world"
Hu Hailan's main research directions include the neural coding mechanism of normal emotions, the neural circuit and molecular mechanism of abnormal emotions (such as depression ), and the neural circuit mechanism of social competition. She led the team to produce a series of research results that have both theoretical significance and potential application value, especially in the basic and transformational research of depression. Creative and systematic results.
Depression is one of the most common psychological diseases in the present day. There are about 350 million patients around the world. They are deeply troubled and are in a serious unhealthy state of body and mind. In the struggle with depression, people gradually realize that it is not a simple psychological problem, but a pathological change in the brain that requires drug treatment. However, traditional antidepressants generally have the disadvantages of slow onset of effects, wide targets and large side effects, and ketamine has fast and good onset of effects, and has great side effects and is highly addictive. In the past, the scientific community has not done so. The onset of ketamine is not found. In 2018, Hu Hailan's team made a major breakthrough in research.
Hu Hailan's team found that there is a small nucleus in the human brain, which plays a very important role in mediating negative emotions. They call it the "anti-reward center". When the activity in the nucleus is abnormal or enters a high discharge state, it will over-suppress the "reward center" of the brain, which may be the reason why people enter a depressed state. Hu Hailan's team also found that the reason why ketamine can take effect quickly is because it can quickly Block the excessive discharge or excessive activation of the "anti-reward center" to play a "switch". During the research, they also discovered two or three new different molecular targets that can serve as targets for potential antidepressants. After the breakthrough in
research, Hu Hailan's team quickly invested in the clinical translation of new antidepressants. Their work has brought hope of rebirth to people trapped in the dark night of mental depression. Hu Hailan said: "Although the road to drug development is long, we have seen the dawn and taken the first step. "
wants to get rid of the pain for patients, while researchers themselves have to experience countless failures. In the laboratory, Hu Hailan has more than 70% of the time facing the failure of the experiment. She agrees with the advice of a senior: If 50% of the experiments obtain the expected results, then this plan should be abandoned because it is not innovative enough. She believes that the most important quality of scientific researchers is resilience. Indomitableness is not a metaphor but a reality in the field of scientific research.
"The bench must be cold for ten years", scientific research is moving forward through continuous exploration and trial and error. Hu Hailan said: "Persistence is the embodiment of resilience, which is to pursue what you are interested in, and to endure long-term loneliness and setbacks. Scientific research is like a marathon. You have to adjust your pace. Sometimes it is fast, sometimes it is slow, sometimes it is with companions, and sometimes it is necessary to persevere alone. Although you don’t know where the end is, it can always make you full of hope. "
Someone asked Hu Hailan if this persistence day after day felt boring? She smiled and said, "Sorry, I never thought scientific research was a boring thing, and no scientist friends around me ever complained like this. In our opinion, scientists are the best profession in the world, and it is the state and society that will help you to do what you really are interested in. "
In Hu Hailan's eyes, devoting herself to scientific research must be out of interest. Once you find something that you are willing to fight for for your whole life, all your persistence is happy.
"Get self-esteem from scientific achievements themselves"
Hu Hailan is an outstanding scientist and an outstanding teacher. In just over 10 years, she has trained many doctoral students and postdoctoral students. They have won more than 10 national highest scholarships, of which 6 have won teaching positions in Chinese Academy of Sciences , Tsinghua , East China Normal University and Zhejiang University , 4 have won national talent awards such as the National Youth League.
Hu Hailan does not deny the role of talent in scientific research, but she believes that hard work is the most important. She told students that the so-called talent includes at least two levels: one is the basic logical reasoning ability , and the other is the taste and grasp of important scientific research issues. If the former is born with a lack, it may not be easy to make up for it. The latter can be learned through a lot of reading and academic training.
There are many scientists with medium talent but success through hard work, but geniuses who do not work hard are very rare, so hard work is a necessary condition, and at least a part of talent can be obtained through learning. Guidance like
has inspired students' enterprising spirit and self-confidence, and Hu Hailan's own diligence and self-discipline have also invisibly spurred them. But Hu Hailan is not just "injecting chicken blood" to students. On the contrary, she requires students to make enough efforts in their studies and scientific research while trying to maintain a balance in life. Her philosophy is "learning happily and living healthy".
She likes sports and is especially good at swimming. Outside of work, she also has the "little girl" side, and likes travel and food. In short, in the laboratory, she led the team to work hard; after leaving the laboratory, she hopes everyone will have a happy life. Zhang Chi is moderate and approachable, no wonder she was elected as "the most popular teacher at Zhejiang University."
A student once used the word "happiness" to summarize his feelings about learning and researching with Hu Hailan, believing that "Teacher Hu is the one that I can come into contact with the most." The student also emphasized that he admired Hu Hailan not only because of her achievements, but also because he personally felt her diligence in work, her attitude towards excellence in scientific research, her curiosity about new knowledge, and her self-discipline in life. In the eyes of students, Hu Hailan not only gave them a bright start on the road of scientific research, but more importantly, it gave them the courage, confidence and method to continue on this road.
In terms of scientific research paths and methods, Hu Hailan gave students specific and effective guidance. She is good at teaching students in accordance with her aptitude, making full use of students' characteristics and advantages, and helping them find the most suitable research topics. She also attaches great importance to communication. In her research group, students have many opportunities for communication, and many inspirations are born from the intersection and collision of ideas.
Hu Hailan's students are mostly girls, but she treats all students equally. She smiled and said, "In the face of the truth and facts of science, different genders are equal." Noting the emphasis of some media on her female identity, she believes that "female scientists should not be labels" and encourages girls not to care about these. At the same time, she believes that the label of "youngering" should not be overemphasized. She reminds students: "The media likes to report on becoming famous at a young age, but in terms of scientific research, we should especially avoid the mentality of being eager for success and quick success. Scientific research has its own rules and time."
"It is important to attach importance to your scientific research and gain self-esteem from scientific achievements themselves!" Hu Hailan said, "You will never know what will become the new favorite of the media in 3 months, but what is certain is that there will always be a tangible and credible 'truth' in the scientific world. So, if you love science, then be brave to become a scientist!"
preliminary review｜Wang Yana
review｜Li Ling
final review｜Huang Fei
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