Mobile DNA: Finding Treasure in Junk

21. The brilliant young lady from China

In the fall of 2000, a small, highly intelligent, young Chinese lady came to discuss a potential lab rotation with me. Nuo Yang had recently entered graduate school at Penn in the Gene Therapy program, having just completed medical school in Beijing. I was surprised that Nuo’s command of the English language was quite good for someone who had recently come to the U.S. Later, I learned from her that her GRE scores were outstanding. After I told her about our retrotransposition projects, she said the field was too complicated and difficult for a first rotation, but she would likely return in six months after she had gained some experience. Indeed she did, and after a successful lab rotation, Nuo decided to ...