时间：2022-09-11 12:13:20
Virologist Chen Hualan is not exactly an interviewer’s dream. Reticent and living in relative seclusion， Chen rose to fame after being named in prominent UK science journal Nature’s 2013 list of the year’s most important people.
The magazine described Chen as a “front-line flu sleuth” for aiding China in quelling an outbreak of H7N9， a strain of avian flu that spread in China in early 2013， claiming many lives. As director of China’s National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory at the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute， the only authorized institution in evaluating the influenza virus in China， Chen， 45， chose to keep a low profile， and shunned publicity.
“You should care about avian flu， not about me，” she told NewsChina.
Actually， Chen’s name was already well known to global virologists circle by early last year. In a bid to find new means with which to fight the flu pandemic， she engineered new hybrid strains of avian flu in the laboratory， which proved transmissible from human to human. Her research was published online by Science， another prominent journal， in May 2013， igniting controversy as scientists worried that with her new strains of bird flu， Chen may have opened up a can of worms.
Play with evil
Since the first case of human H5N1 infection was reported in Hong Kong in 1997， its death rate has averaged 60 percent even deadlier than SARS. Fortunately， although the virus is lethal， it is not easily transmissible between humans. Chen was trying to find the reason behind this phenomenon， in the hope of uncovering new ways to cure the epidemic that had dealt significant damage to a number of countries.
Chen’s research team created 127 hybrids assortments of different viruses by mixing gene segments from H5N1 and H1N1， the human avian influenza strain that swept the world in 2009， in every possible way. Five of the hybrids demonstrated airborne transmission between guinea pigs kept in neighboring cages.
For Chen’s work， Ron Fouchier， a prominent virologist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam， said the 127 hybrids produced by Chen constituted a heavy workload requiring a tremendous patience. The research was completed by 13 researchers who conducted a twoyear study on 250 guinea pigs， 1，000 mice and 27，000 infected eggs a daunting task for scientists with their financial and time constraints， Fouchier said.
Fouchier had conducted a similar experiment two years ago， albeit on a smaller scale， as had the world’s leading influenza scientist Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The two scientists submitted their papers to Nature and Science respectively in 2011 showing that a few mutations in H5N1 could become airborne， which had made the virus transmissible between ferrets.
Due to the level of detail in the two papers， the US bio-security panel National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity intervened in its publication due to concerns that core data could fall into the hands of terrorists. The incident sparked a worldwide debate on the ethics of such research， and it was not until 2012 that the two papers were published.
However， Chen Hualan’s experiment went a step further， and consequently her findings engendered stronger controversy concerning bio-security and research ethics on a global scale. Chen received both praise and criticism， and was bombarded for synthesizing “deadly”influenza strains that could be lethal if not properly handled.
Professor Simon Wain-Hobson， a well-known virologist at France’s Pasteur Institute， was enthusiastic about Chen’s findings. However， he called the research “dangerous” and questioned both its worth and Science’s decision to publish it.
Another prominent figure in the academic circle， Lord May of Oxford University， former president of the UK’s Royal Society， has criticized Chen’s study for making what he called unnecessary and dangerous steps， and said global health could be at risk were her new strains were to be accidently released.
“They claim they are doing this to help develop vaccines and the like. In fact， the real reason is that they are driven by blind ambition with no common sense whatsoever，” Lord May told the UK newspaper The Independent. He said the history of containment in laboratories like Chen’s was not reassuring， and called Chen’s work of creating dangerous human-to-human transmissible viruses “appallingly irresponsible”.
Persistent and outspoken， Chen fought back to defend her academic reputation. “This is beyond the academic capacities of [Lord May]， and I do not think he has a good understanding of the virus study，” she told NewsChina. “If the words had come from a virologist， I would probably be somewhat concerned.”
Low profile
The outbreak of SARS in 2003 proved a turning point in public health and disease control in China. Since then， great attention has been focused on the prevention of infectious diseases and fundamental research. Chen’s study on bird flu was given priority， entitling her to government backing while at the same time exposing her to mounting pressure.
Chen’s laboratory， at “P3” level， the second highest security level in China， is hidden away in a quiet old building in the city of Harbin， in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. She spends nearly every day in the laboratory conducting experiments or tutoring her students.
“Research and thesis publication fascinates me，” she said. “My main work， however， is to study epidemics， provide accurate evaluations and advise policymakers before determining prevention methods and making vaccines.”
“It is still a sore point for me if the bird flu epidemic is not effectively controlled， regardless of whether or not I shot to fame after publishing some paper in an academic journal.”
Like many other scientists who enrolled in higher education after the Cultural Revolution （1966-76）， Chen’s entry into the world of virology research happened by sheer chance. She was admitted to study veterinary science after being rejected by the medical school at Gansu Agriculture University in Lanzhou.
Born in rural Gansu Province， Chen cherished the belief that education and fate are inextricably linked， and realized that earning a college diploma was one of the few routes by which to scale the social ladder. She spent seven years in Lanzhou before getting her PhD at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing in 1997. After spending two years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US working on her post-doctoral research， she came back to China with her two-year-old son， leaving behind promising prospects and her husband， who was also engaged in post-doctoral studies.
After landing a job at Harbin Veterinary Research Institute in 2002， she dove head-first into research on bird flu. In an interview with State broadcaster China Central Television on her motivation to come back， Chen answered without hesitation： “In the US it was only a job， but in China it is the work of a life-long obsession.”
Early last month， there were another four human cases of H7N9 reported in China， and Chen’s group shifted their emphasis from H1N5 to H7N9. “It is much easier for human beings to be infected with H7N9 than H5N1， but we know less about H7N9.”
Chen is speeding up her research on H7N9 she said she is more than ready to meet doubts and challenges that loom ahead.