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The CUSBEA (China–United States Biochemistry Examination and Application) program was implemented during the 8 years between 1982 and 1989, with a total of 422 Ph.D. students selected and placed in over more than 90 top universities in the United States (1-3). The original aim of this program was to train bright young Ph.D. scientists in the field of Biochemistry and molecular biology, with an expectation that they will eventually return to China to promote research and education in this and related areas. As a CUSBEA fellow of 1985 (Class IV), I put forth this article to express my great appreciation to those people involved, especially in remembrance of late Prof. Ray Wu, the initiator of the CUSBEA program who suddenly passed away on February 10, 2008. On a personal opinion basis, Professors Ray Wu and Xiaocheng Gu were the two who played the most important roles in implementing the CUSBEA program. Dr. Ray Wu, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell University in New York, was a prominent scientist who pioneered techniques to determine DNA sequences, publishing the first paper in this field as early as 1968 and later designed a novel location-specific primer-extension strategy for DNA sequencing in 1970 (4-6). This scientific finding was recognized by Nobel laureate Dr. Fred Sanger as the first breakthrough in determining the nucleotide sequence of a DNA molecule, several years before the dideoxynucleotide method of DNA sequencing was invented (7, 8), which brought Sanger a second Nobel Prize in 1985. Dr. Ray Wu also made a remarkable contribution in developing methods of recombinant DNA technology and served as editor or co-editor for nine volumes of Recombinant DNA series in Methods of Enzymology from 1979 to 1993 (Volumes 68, 100, 101, 153, 154, 155, 216, 217, 218). Dr. Wu also served as department chair (1976–1978) of the Section of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology at Cornell University. His great scientific achievements were the credential that earned him utmost respect in the scientific community and such an excellent prestige paved way for him to convince both the China and the US side to implement the CUSBEA program. With great effort, Professor Wu convinced the Chinese Government to officially start the operation of the CUSBEA program in 1981. The Chinese Ministry of Education then asked Peking University to manage this program. The president of Peking University at that time, Prof. Longxiang Zhang, a biochemist himself, then asked Prof. Xiaocheng Gu (who was the vice chair, and later served as chair, of the Department of Biology) to serve as the coordinator of this program. One reason at least was that Prof. Gu spoke fluent English. Prof. Gu managed the CUSBEA program for a period of eight years between 1982 and 1989, a time when such advanced technologies as internet or mobile phone were not yet heard of and the two countries depended mostly on telegraphs or hand-written letters to communicate with each other. Her dedication to this program was undoubtedly greatly appreciated by all the CUSBEA fellows. Professors Xiaocheng Gu (left) and Ray Wu (right) The CUSBEA Program was established at a time when China just reopened to the outside world and suddenly realized that it was lagging behind, especially in the field of science and technology. The establishment of formal diplomatic relationship between China and United States in 1979 and the restoration of the Chinese higher education in 1977 might be considered as the two main conditions that instigated the implementation of such training programs as CUSPEA (China–United States Physics Examination and Application), CUSBEA, and CGP (Chemistry Graduate Program), through which talented Chinese students were selected and sent to the United States for Ph.D. training in physics, biology, and chemistry, respectively. The CUSPEA program, masterminded by Prof. Tsung-Dao Lee, a Chinese-born Nobel Laureate in physics working at Columbia University, was the first implemented among the three. A total of ∼1,500 students were sent to top US universities for Ph.D. studies in these three fields. The students through this CUSBEA program did not take in TOEFL and GRE exam (Neither were available for the Chinese Students in those days), instead they were selected through a designed procedure, which in short goes as below. From an outlined graduate programs in selected Chinese institutions a few top students would be selected among the entering classes of graduate students (e.g., I was selected by Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences) in that particular year to take part in a two-section written exams: The first section was Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (in English and composed by a group of professors at American universities). The second section was English, which comprises of reading, writing and listening. About half of the participants would pass the written exams and be interviewed by professors representing the participating universities in the US side. Such interviews were conducted in Beijing (For students of North China) and Shanghai (for those from South China) respectively, usually by two professors together with their wives. The interview part was challenging for the Chinese students, most of whom had never had a chance to meet any foreigners. Those who were fortunate enough to pass both stages of selection were sent for an intensive English program at Guangzhou English Language Center (GELC) located in Sun Yat-Sen University, Canton, China, where the students were taught by teachers from the United States (I remember that our English teachers were themselves graduate students of UCLA). During this period, the students applied for Ph.D. programs of 5–6 assigned institutions from the participating universities (including prestigious ones as Harvard, Yale, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, etc.). This was of course a two-way selection process. The total number of students eventually selected during each of these eight years were as follows (according to the record, ref. 1): 55 in 1982 (Class I); 62 in 1983 (Class II); 59 in 1984 (Class III); 61 in 1985 (Class IV); 58 in 1986 (Class V); 28 in 1987 (Class VI); 50 in 1988 (Class VII); 49 in 1989 (Class VIII). Prof. Keith Moffat (Cornell) Prof. Manfred Karnovsky (Harvard) Prof. Gerald Feigenson (Cornell) A total of six professors came to China to conduct the interviews over the eight years of the CUSBEA program. Prof. Manfred Karnovsky from Harvard Medical school and Prof. Keith Moffat from Cornell University conducted the interviews for Classes I, II, and VI; Prof. Gerald Feigenson from Cornell conducted it for Class III; Prof. David W. Allmann from Indiana University School of Medicine conducted it for Classes III, IV, V, and VII; Prof. Richard Gumport from University of Illinois conducted it for Classes IV, V, VII, and VIII; and Prof. Woodland Hastings from Harvard did it for Class VIII. It is fair to say that the fate of many Chinese students was determined by these interviews. It is also sad to say that Profs. Manfred Karnovsky and David Allmann had left us forever. They will be remembered by all the CUSBEA fellows for their efforts to open the new door for all of us. Prof. David W. Allmann (Indiana) Prof. Richard Gumport (Illinois) Prof. Woodland Hastings (Harvard) CUSBEA Class I (82) CUSBEA Class II (83) CUSBEA Class III (84) CUSBEA Class IV (85) CUSBEA Class V (86) CUSBEA Class VI (87) CUSBEA Class VII (88) CUSBEA Class VIII (89) Twenty years after the end of the program, all of these 422 CUSBEA fellows have finished their studies and are at various stages of their career. Many of these fellows become very successful scientists and professors in prestigious universities or similar positions in research institutes. At least more than 79 of the CUSBEA fellows have been promoted to full professorship positions (see Table 1). Among these, at least five (Min Han of Class II, Xiaodong Wang and Yishi Jin of Class IV, Liqun Luo of Class VI, Duojia Pan of Class VIII) have been selected as investigators of the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute, one (Xiaodong Wang of Class IV) was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, and one (Junying Yuan of Class I) was elected as fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Some of the CUSBEA fellows have decided to work in the industries or clinical medicine and have earned their prominent positions as well (see Table 2). Through this partial survey, it is clear that many of the CUSBEA fellows have achieved good success in their career in China, the United States, or elsewhere. In the past decade or so, the impressive development in China has attracted an increasing number of these CUSBEA fellows to return to their motherland for a career. They are taking professorship positions in a few prestigious institutions (see Table 1). In a sense, many of these CUSBEA fellows, in particular those returned to China, are making their contributions in promoting the development of biological science in China. Their contribution will become more obvious when we see it in years to come. I have to emphasize that the information in Tables 1 and 2 have to be considered partial at best for the following reasons. First, information of the current status of about half of the CUSBEA fellows are unavailable to me. Second, I would not consider myself as qualified to write a historical article as this, which would for sure required professional treatment of the information. I thus have to apologize to many of the CUSBEA fellows whose information is not listed in the two tables. It was somehow controversial a couple of years ago on whether the CUSBEA Program achieved its original goal of training high level researchers for China. With an increasing number of these fellows returning to China, and many more making their contribution while working in another country, people might view the effect of this program quite differently in the future. To all the CUSBEA fellows, I would like to say, whatever you choose to do and wherever you choose to stay, let s work hard to achieve the most and the best. The author is very grateful to the kind help provided by Prof. Xiaocheng Gu from Peking University in preparing this article.
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