岁月如梭，现在回想起来已经是近十年前的事情了。吾友曹亮博士离开港大回美国打拼，他名下一位由我担任共同导师的博士生经过一番曲折转到我的实验室。工作一段时间后，竟然发现此位女士业务水平实在不济。举两个例子，此人不明白何为DNA的互补链，我请一位擅长用普通话与她沟通的同事为她详细解释了40分钟，她满怀谢意地说这次终于明白了。可是第二天她回来又说，她还是不明白。她是做EB病毒及NF-kB方面工作的，有一天我发现她实在不明白我在说什么，就问她是否明白EBER是什么，她回答说不就是一种抗原吗，我只能无语。我认为她在世界上任何地方都不够格读分子生物学专业的研究生。然而，她之所以得到港大的录取，很大程度是因为她取得过英国威尔斯大学(University of Wales)的哲学硕士(MPhil)学位。威尔斯大学医学院在英国排48位，还不算是很差的学校。这位女士如何能够顺利取得该校的哲学硕士学位，我实在感到好奇。我于是再三催促该校院长和系主任，最后收到了一封由她的硕士研究生导师署名的推荐信。该信全文隐去身份后照录如下：

Dear Prof. Dong-Yan Jin,

I understand that Mrs H has applied for a post in your laboratory. I am happy to provide this reference for her.

 Mrs H joined my laboratory sometime in 1993 to work on a research project involving analyses of factors regulating protein secretion in bacteria. When Mrs H joined the laboratory she had little or no experience of the molecular biological techniques required for the project. Within a few months Mrs Hong mastered many of the essential DNA handling and cloning  techniques and significantly advanced the work on protein export in Escherichia coli. Mrs H created a variety of mutants of an artificially secreted proteins in order to decipher the signal(s) that influence the export rate of the protein. Subsequently she sequenced the various clones and established the relationship between the nature of the signals and observed rates of protein secretion. Mrs H's  work has embodied a spectrum of modern molecular biology involving microbial-related work, subcellular fractionation, enzymology, immuno-screening, PCR, heterologous gene expression and, importantly, DNA sequencing. In addition to her main streamline of research, Mrs H actively involved herself in several other minor projects in the laboratory related to development of the 'pink' recombinant bacterium.

 Mrs H is an  industrious person who is genuinely dedicated to any task she undertakes. She has a major papers to her credit which is about to be submitted for publication. I have found Mrs H to be an organised person who not only meticulously approaches any of the assigned task but with dedicated care and attention. She keeps a careful record of all her work which is easy to follow and comprehend. Mrs H will make an ideal colleague in whom one can have confidence and reliability of any undertakings assigned. I found her industry and commitment to success in terms of scientific achievements were of the highest standards. The maturity that Mrs H shows in her scientific judgements belies the limited amount of experience that she has had in a sophisticated, laboratory based subject. Indeed it is a sobering (and exciting) prospect to predict what she will achieve if she has the opportunity to remain in contact with her science.

 I am pleased to confirm that Mrs H was awarded an M Phil of the University of Wales for submission of thesis on influence of the mature region of a protein on the rate of protein secretion.

 Mrs H is an admirable, approachable character (with a good sense of humour) who has got on well with everyone here.

 

I strongly recommend her to you.

 

M (Dr)

Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

University of Wales