Dr. Jane Wu, a prominent neuroscientist at Northwestern University, was widely regarded as a dedicated scientist and mentor. Her premature passing on July 10, 2024, created a huge vacuum in the scientific world and brought attention to the difficulties encountered by American scholars, especially those of Asian heritage.
Dr. Wu was a well-known pioneer in molecular biology and neuroscience who committed suicide in her Chicago home at the age of sixty. At Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine, she was the Dr. Charles L. Mix Research Professor, where she oversaw groundbreaking studies on regulatory RNA-binding proteins and RNA splicing. Her research played a critical role in expanding our knowledge of neurodegenerative illnesses such amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and frontotemporal dementia.
Wu, who was born in Hefei, Anhui province, China, in 1963, started her education at Shanghai Medical University, from where she received her degree in 1986. She studied cancer biology for her PhD at Stanford University, then conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University. Before joining Northwestern University in 2005, Wu spent ten years in academia at Washington University in St. Louis.
Molecular biologist and cancer researcher Dr. Bing Ren said that Dr. Wu influenced his professional path. When he first met her in 1993 at Harvard, she motivated him to pursue a career in molecular biology by teaching him the fundamentals of the science. Wu was a "true role model" who was kind, kind, and inspirational, according to Ren, who is currently a professor at the University of California, San Diego.
Notwithstanding her accomplishments in her line of work, Dr. Wu's career has encountered substantial obstacles lately. Her study was mostly funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which also initiated a contentious campaign at the same time as the China Initiative, which targeted scientists suspected of having unreported links to China. More than 250 scientists—the majority of whom are Asian in ethnicity—were found to have concealed funding or research overlaps in China, which cost them their jobs and severely hampered their careers. Although it's still unclear if Dr. Wu was specifically the focus of these inquiries, a source revealed that she was being watched closely.
Whether Dr. Wu was a targeted target was not disclosed by the NIH Office of Extramural Research. However, the lab of a well-known Chinese-American researcher at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine was closed after her death, according to advocacy organization APA Justice. Wu's career was essentially destroyed by the investigations, according to colleagues, including Dr. Xiao-Fan Wang, a respected professor of cancer research at Duke University. This opinion was shared by other members of the scientific community.
Dr. Wu also participated in China's Thousand Talents Program, a government effort to entice leading US scientists who were born on the US mainland to return to China, either permanently or temporarily. The NIH's inquiries of foreign meddling began to center mostly on this program. It's still unclear if Wu's involvement in this initiative led to the criticism she received.
Dr. Wu was recognized for her scientific accomplishments as well as her generosity and commitment to mentoring the next generation of scientists in China and the US. Wu's co-organizer of a scientific conference, Dr. Adrian Krainer, a molecular geneticist from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, characterized her as a kind mentor who was totally committed to her job and pupils.
Concerns over racial profiling and the effects of government probes on Chinese-American scientists have also been brought up by Dr. Wu's passing. The head of the nonprofit group United Chinese Americans, Haipei Shue, highlighted the program's human cost by calling Wu's passing a "tragic coda to the now-defunct China Initiative."
Her colleagues and the larger scientific community are in sorrow following her demise. The University of California, San Francisco structural biologist Dr. Yifan Cheng remembered a special occasion when Wu received a printout of Banksy's artwork, Girl with Balloon, from her after he finished the Chicago Marathon in 2018. The present, a memento of their final meeting and the passing of a gifted scientist, was preserved by him in his office.
Dr. Wu was buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago on July 17, 2024. Northwestern University has not responded to multiple inquiries regarding her death, and her profile page on the medical school’s website has been removed, along with her publication and grant records.