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according to official records of cook county, illinois, the united states, the well-known chinese molecular biologist jane wu committed suicide at her home in chicago on july 10 at the age of 60. on july 17 local time, jane wu was buried in rose hill cemetery in chicago.

wu ying

wu ying’s death not only shocked her colleagues and friends, but also once again exposed the u.s. government’s continued high-pressure scrutiny of asian scientists.

wang xiaofan, a tenured professor at duke university, believes:"the investigation basically ruined her (wu ying) career."

peer remembrance:

"a true role model and warm person"

wu ying was born on september 23, 1963 in hefei, anhui. she received a bachelor's degree in medicine from shanghai medical university, and then went to harvard university and stanford university for further studies, and obtained teaching positions at several universities in the united states.

she has been the dr. charles luis mix research professor at the feinberg school of medicine at northwestern university since 2005.wu ying is mainly engaged inneurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseasesresearch on the molecular mechanisms of gene regulation,her discoveries on the causes of many neurological diseasesmade outstanding contributions.

ren bing, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the university of california, san diego, believes that wu ying is a "real role model" who is enthusiastic, caring and inspiring to students. ren bing received direct guidance from wu ying at harvard university in 1993. he said that wu ying's teaching opened the "door to a new world" for him and prompted him to choose scientific research as his lifelong career.

andrea crane, a molecular geneticist at cold spring harbor laboratory in new york, recalled that wu ying was a kind, warm and caring person.“she is committed to training the next generation of scientists in the united states and china.”

cheng yifan, a structural biologist at the university of california, san francisco, recalled that he participated in the chicago marathon in 2018, and wu ying gave him a painting as a commemoration of his completion of the race. he still keeps the painting in his office. cheng yifan said: "i really can't believe that such a positive and optimistic colleague has left us. the departure of this talented scientist is a great loss to the scientific community."

he was suspected of being deprived of his scientific research rights during his lifetime

its laboratory has been closed

wu ying dedicated the last 20 years of her career to the feinberg school of medicine at northwestern university. she produced many results for the university and also brought in a lot of research funding.

however, the reporter found that after wu ying passed away, northwestern university did not publish any memorial articles or obituaries, and even deleted wu ying's personal profile page. according to convention, wu ying's personal research results, publications, and funding records should be kept for at least a few years. now searching for wu ying's name on the official website of northwestern university can only find information about another young teacher named jennifer wu.

northwestern university in the united states has repeatedly refused to respond to media inquiries after the incident.it has been reported that wu ying's laboratory was closed during her lifetime.

northwestern university feinberg school of medicine

in the american medical community, laboratory closures mean a complete loss of students and funding sources, as well as inability to access cutting-edge scientific research projects.it is common practice for american universities to be forced to close laboratories after losing research funding if the school does not cooperate in providing rescue funds.even though wu ying had a tenured position, her teaching position at the school would be meaningless after her laboratory was closed.

apa justice, an asian american rights advocacy organization, previously issued a statement saying that the laboratory of a famous chinese neurology and genetics researcher at the feinberg school of medicine at northwestern university had been closed. the researcher died on july 10, 2024.

professor wang xiaofan said:"she (wu ying) is such a dedicated scientist, depriving her of the right to conduct research is like taking away the most important thing in her life."

us scrutiny intensifies

many asian scientists’ careers have been ruined

wu ying's death was not only a personal tragedy, but also aroused the concern of the american academic community. many people were very dissatisfied with the attitude of the us government towards asian scientists.

in the past six years, more than 250 american scientists (most of whom are asian) have been investigated for various reasons. in the end, only three people were convicted of crimes, but 112 scientists lost their jobs.

the most "notorious" of these is the "china plan" launched by the trump administration in 2018, which was severely criticized in the united states for unfairly targeting people of chinese descent and subjecting them to irrelevant excessive scrutiny. in 2022, the plan was officially terminated by the biden administration.

it is reported that the national institutes of health (nih), the main agency of the us government responsible for biomedical and public health research and the main funder of wu ying's research at northwestern university, launched a similar but completely independent investigation project at the same time as the implementation of the "china plan".

the institute's external investigation office declined to say whether wu ying was a target of its investigation, but a person familiar with the matter said they were indeed investigating wu ying. peter zendenberg is a washington-based lawyer who has represented dozens of chinese scientists facing prosecution by the u.s. government. zendenberg said wu ying was once his client.

xue haipei, president of the chinese american federation, said wu ying's death was "a tragic ending to the defunct 'china project,' which once again proves that the project brought unbearable loss of life to many innocent chinese-american scientists."