Zhang Feng
Zhang Feng
Zhang Feng, male, born in 1982 in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, is a doctor of chemistry and bioengineering from Stanford University. He is one of the most concerned Chinese biologists. His most famous work is the development and application of crispr-cas9 gene modification technology. He was the first to obtain a US patent and was regarded as one of the most popular candidates for the Nobel Prize.
educational background
work experience
Character experience
Born in 1982 in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China, Zhang Feng immigrated with his parents to Des Moines, Iowa, USA in 1993. In 1994, when he was 12 years old, he watched the film Jurassic Park in a molecular biology class on Saturday. The teacher observed that he showed extraordinary excitement and interest in dinosaurs and bioengineering. Not long later, the teacher helped Zhang Feng find a volunteer job at the local human gene therapy research institute. From then on, Zhang Feng would come to the laboratory every day after school to participate in some molecular biology work.
At that time, his lab tutors often came up with some "crazy ideas", such as green fluorescent protein (GFP) can absorb ultraviolet light, so it can be used as sunscreen. When Zhang Feng coated GFP on a thick layer of DNA, he found that GFP could really protect DNA from UV damage. This experience deepened his interest in biology, and some scientific research projects he participated in during his high school years also helped him win many awards for scientific activities, especially in the 2000 Intel science talent search, Zhang Feng won the third place. You know, this prestigious science competition originated in 1942, and eight winners have won the Nobel Prize, including Qian Xuesen's cousin, Professor Qian Yongjian of the University of California, San Diego, who won the Intel science talent search prize at the age of 15 in 1968.
After high school, Zhang Feng successfully passed the Harvard chemistry and physics major. He later explained why he chose this major instead of molecular biology, which he had already achieved. Although there are exciting new developments in molecular biology every day, the basic principles of physics and chemistry are relatively stable. He wants to lay a solid foundation for his future academic career. During his undergraduate study at Harvard University, he was appreciated by Zhuang Xiaowei and entered her laboratory.
In 2004, Zhang Feng came to Stanford University to apply for postgraduate study. He wanted to visit Nobel laureate Steven Chu, but by mistake he met Karl deisseroth, who had just owned his own lab. After a brief communication, Zhang was very interested in the subject of deisseroth, who was also deeply impressed by Zhang Feng's solid foundation in chemistry and physics. He tried his best to persuade Zhang Feng to join his new laboratory. Their collaboration has led to a new field, optogenetics, which uses optical stimulation and light sensitive proteins from algae to precisely control the activity of brain neurons. This provides a powerful tool like Aladdin's magic lamp for the final understanding of how the brain works, how it generates consciousness and emotion, and how it breaks down in neurodegenerative diseases. It also makes them deeply engrave their own names in the history of brain science, and therefore won the 2012perl uncneuroscience prize and 2014 AlanT.WatermanAward .
In the field of genetics and neuroscience, Zhang Feng has made important contributions to the development of two revolutionary technologies. When he was a graduate student, he was one of the key members of the optogenetics research team.
The team has developed a technology that uses light to activate neurons in the brain, enabling scientists to figure out which neural circuits control which behaviors, and to find the root causes of mental diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Just a few years later, Zhang Feng did another job that made him one of the world's top biologists: how to quickly, easily and effectively understand the genomes of plants and animals, including human beings.
On September 21, 2016, the intellectual property and technology division of Thomson Reuters released its list of citation Laureates in 2016, predicting the research elites who are expected to win the Nobel Prize in 2016 or in the near future. Professor Zhang Feng, a Chinese American scientist at MIT, won the award for his application of crispr-cas9 gene technology in mouse and human cells.
On June 18, 2016, he won the second Tang Award for biotechnology and medicine.
On August 15, 2017, Zhang Feng won the Albany biomedical award, becoming the second Chinese scholar to win the award in history.
In 2017, he won the brawanik National Young Scientist Award.
In April 2018, he won the title of academician of American Academy of Humanities and Sciences.
On September 21, 2016, he was selected as the winner of the citation laureate award in the field of chemistry. In 2017, he was promoted to a tenured professor of MIT. On August 15, 2017, Zhang Feng won the Albany biomedical award, becoming the second Chinese scholar to win the award in history.
On June 18, 2016, he won the second Tang Award for biotechnology and medicine.
In 2017, he won the brawanik National Young Scientist Award.
In April 2018, he won the title of academician of American Academy of Humanities and Sciences.
research field
Zhang Feng's main research field is nervous system function and disease. He has made the most advanced exploration in the development of genetic tools for eukaryotic cells (including human cells) using CRISPR system of natural microorganisms. Through CRISPR and other methods, Zhang Feng deeply studied the relationship between genes and genetic mechanisms and various diseases, especially in nervous system disorders.
Patent dispute
What happened
In January 2016, Eric Lander, a pioneer of international gene sequencing, published a review article in the international academic journal Cell, summarizing the development process of CRISPR technology, and believed that after Zhang Feng used CRISPR to realize genes in eukaryotic cells, CRISPR technology has brought "Stormy changes"
On September 16, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama signed and approved the U.S. invention act, officially confirming that the U.S. patent law system will turn to the system of who applies first and who gets the patent on March 16, 2013.
On May 25, 2012, the University of California, Berkeley filed a CRISPR related patent application with the U.S. patent and Trademark Office. On December 12 of the same year, Zhang Feng and Bode Institute also submitted an application to the U.S. patent and Trademark Office for crispr-cas9 gene on mammalian cell genome.
In June 2012, dudner and his partner Carpentier reported that crispr-cas9 could be used to cut DNA anywhere in a test tube. On March 15, 2013, dudner filed an application for CRISPR related patents with the U.S. patent and Trademark Office.
On April 15, 2014, the U.S. patent and Trademark Office granted the first CRISPR related patent to MIT and Bode Institute. As of November last year, 14 crispr-cas9 related patents of Zhang Feng laboratory and Bode Research Institute have been approved in the United States and four in Europe.
In April 2015, after careful preparation, the University of California, Berkeley asked the U.S. patent and Trademark Office to initiate an intervention procedure to re-examine the ownership of CRISPR related patents.
Email exposure
On February 28, 2015, Lin shuailiang sent an email to Du Dana, with the theme of "CRISPR patent of Bode Research Institute and application for the position of your laboratory".
In October 2011, Lin shuailiang worked in Zhangfeng laboratory. At that time, he was the only one in the laboratory who started to study CRISPR, while others were all immersed in the gene technology talen of the previous generation.
From October 2011 to June 2012, when Lin shuailiang was in Zhang Feng's laboratory, it was the critical period for Zhang Feng to prove that he was the first to carry out CRISPR gene in human cells. In June 2012, because of his mother's surgery and domestic doctoral degree, he chose to return home.
In June 2012, dudena and her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier of umeo University in Sweden published an online paper on DNA in vitro test tubes using CRISPR system of prokaryotes.
Before 2013, the patent ownership in the United States was based on the first invention system. Whoever found CRISPR earlier will get the patent ownership.
Email response
Lee McGuire, a spokesman for the Bode Institute, responded in an article on the Institute's website. The article introduces Lin Shuai Liang's situation when he was in Zhang Feng's laboratory, mentions that Lin Shuai Liang conducted CRISPR research under the guidance of Zhang Feng, and indicates that a large amount of evidence shows that Lin Shuai Liang's accusation is wrong.
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Chinese PinYin : Zhang Feng
Zhang Feng
