It took him eight years to go from assistant professor to tenured full professor. The year he reached the top of the ladder, he left it behind in Texas and flew to Hangzhou.
In mid-October, news from Westlake University sent stem cell scientist Wu Jun trending online. In September this year, the 49-year-old had already joined Westlake University full time as a Chair Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in its School of Life Sciences. Just before returning to China, he had been promoted to tenured full professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in the United States. He joined as an assistant professor in 2018 and became an associate professor in 2023. In eight years, he covered the ground that takes many people half a career.
When his former institution heard he was leaving, it made a sincere effort to keep him and even considered offering him a new compensation package. He politely declined. An interview published by the South China Morning Post on October 15 included this detail: Wu was sitting in a temporary office at Westlake University, with unopened luggage still on a cabinet. In his own words: “I had already decided to return to China. No amount of money could have kept me.”
Pay attention to the order of events. He made his decision first; the retention effort came later. He wasn’t fired, nor was he lured away by an astronomical offer. He chose to leave on his own at the most secure point in his career.
His academic credentials are formidable. In a 2017 study of human-pig chimeric embryos, his team injected human stem cells into pig embryos and became the first in the world to reach the threshold of integrating human pluripotent stem cells into early pig embryos. In 2021, he was the first to publish work on constructing human blastoids, which the journal Science named one of its top ten scientific breakthroughs of the year. In 2024, the International Society for Stem Cell Research awarded him its Outstanding Young Investigator Award.
He gave a straightforward explanation for leaving. More and more active researchers in the field of stem cell embryo models are in China. Many of the postdocs he trained in Texas had already returned to China and gone on to excel in positions across the field. He said plainly that China has established a clear advantage in human embryonic development, stem cell-derived embryo models, and organ models.
My take is that this has nothing to do with sentiment; it comes down to the ecosystem. For a lab head, where one’s peers are isn’t a matter of loyalty—it’s a practical consideration. You need to be able to recruit postdocs, have people who understand your research when you discuss it, and have a supply chain nearby for equipment and reagents. You go where the concentration is highest.
People in crypto should find this logic familiar. Projects move their servers, teams relocate, and money follows liquidity. We’ve seen plenty of this over the past few years. Scientists and capital are solving the same problem, and their answers take the same form.
A Stanford University study that tracked the issue for more than two decades found that the number of Chinese-born scientists leaving the United States rose from about 900 in 2010 to 2,621 in 2021, with two-thirds returning to China. I’m not sure whether the study used consistent definitions throughout, but the overall direction is not in dispute.
After arriving, he plans to establish a laboratory in stem cell embryology and chimera biology. Dozens of PhD students and postdocs are joining one by one. The lab already has a name, but the university hasn’t said when everyone will be in place.
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#吴军 #西湖大学 #人才回流 #Scientist
In mid-October, news from Westlake University sent stem cell scientist Wu Jun trending online. In September this year, the 49-year-old had already joined Westlake University full time as a Chair Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in its School of Life Sciences. Just before returning to China, he had been promoted to tenured full professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in the United States. He joined as an assistant professor in 2018 and became an associate professor in 2023. In eight years, he covered the ground that takes many people half a career.
When his former institution heard he was leaving, it made a sincere effort to keep him and even considered offering him a new compensation package. He politely declined. An interview published by the South China Morning Post on October 15 included this detail: Wu was sitting in a temporary office at Westlake University, with unopened luggage still on a cabinet. In his own words: “I had already decided to return to China. No amount of money could have kept me.”
Pay attention to the order of events. He made his decision first; the retention effort came later. He wasn’t fired, nor was he lured away by an astronomical offer. He chose to leave on his own at the most secure point in his career.
His academic credentials are formidable. In a 2017 study of human-pig chimeric embryos, his team injected human stem cells into pig embryos and became the first in the world to reach the threshold of integrating human pluripotent stem cells into early pig embryos. In 2021, he was the first to publish work on constructing human blastoids, which the journal Science named one of its top ten scientific breakthroughs of the year. In 2024, the International Society for Stem Cell Research awarded him its Outstanding Young Investigator Award.
He gave a straightforward explanation for leaving. More and more active researchers in the field of stem cell embryo models are in China. Many of the postdocs he trained in Texas had already returned to China and gone on to excel in positions across the field. He said plainly that China has established a clear advantage in human embryonic development, stem cell-derived embryo models, and organ models.
My take is that this has nothing to do with sentiment; it comes down to the ecosystem. For a lab head, where one’s peers are isn’t a matter of loyalty—it’s a practical consideration. You need to be able to recruit postdocs, have people who understand your research when you discuss it, and have a supply chain nearby for equipment and reagents. You go where the concentration is highest.
People in crypto should find this logic familiar. Projects move their servers, teams relocate, and money follows liquidity. We’ve seen plenty of this over the past few years. Scientists and capital are solving the same problem, and their answers take the same form.
A Stanford University study that tracked the issue for more than two decades found that the number of Chinese-born scientists leaving the United States rose from about 900 in 2010 to 2,621 in 2021, with two-thirds returning to China. I’m not sure whether the study used consistent definitions throughout, but the overall direction is not in dispute.
After arriving, he plans to establish a laboratory in stem cell embryology and chimera biology. Dozens of PhD students and postdocs are joining one by one. The lab already has a name, but the university hasn’t said when everyone will be in place.
$BTC $ETH $TAO
#吴军 #西湖大学 #人才回流 #Scientist