Thank you, Jiao Tong University

Posted by Sten Westgard, MS

In November, while I was visiting Shanghai, I had the pleasure of talking to the 3rd year students of medical biochemistry at Jiao Tong University. These were students who had not yet started their first placement in a laboratory. So they were innocent and pure, untainted by the poor practices that are often taught to new employees by the previous generation of technologists. It's rare that I get this chance to help students learn the right practices from the very start, rather than try to get them to un-learn a set of bad habits.

I'm sure it was a bit of a strange experience for the students, having a strange American with a last name they've read about in their textbooks, telling them an entirely different story about what happens in the laboratory. But I appreciated their willingness to hear me talk about the practical challenges that lie ahead of them.

Special thanks to Director Ni, who not only helped arranged the guest lecture, but also gave me an Honorary Visiting Professor award.

I hope I gave the students some useful advice about their future careers. Thank you again, Jiao Tong University.