看了网上关于王晓东和傅新元讨论和评论， 不由感触良深。 在为王晓东道贺的同时， 也为傅新元鸣不平。 他们在生命科学中都做出了重大贡献， 但遭遇却大不一样。 其中的一个不可忽视原因是他们和美国导师的关系。 这在很大程度上影响到他们是否在美国科学界被认可。
王晓东所做的工作，和他原来的导师 Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein) 没有竞争关系， 故得到他们的大力推荐和支持，加上王晓东自己的努力，有了今天的 科学界的承认。 傅新元则始终和他原来的导师 James Darnell (Rockefeller University，who got Lasker Award and National Medal of Science 2002) 头碰头的竞争，其结果可想而知。虽然傅发现STAT的工作是在Darnell实验室完成的, ９２年他离开洛克菲勒大学后，先是在纽约西奈山医学院，然后在耶鲁大学，独立开展工作，傅发表了大量的首创性的论文，对STAT细胞 信号通路的发现和功能性研究，贡献巨大。但他越做得好，和Darnell 的冲突则越尖锐。这是一种利害冲突，想躲都躲不掉，除非傅放弃他这方面的研究。
这也是许多已进行独立研究华裔科学家在美国所面临的一个共同的问题。不仅仅要做好科学研究，而且要和美国科学界的权势人物搞好关系。华裔学者往往做科学比他人强，但关系学远不如美裔和犹太裔的学者，常常受人欺侮，好的工作也得不到应有的承认。经常哑巴吃黄连。一旦和有关权威搞坏关系，后果不堪设想。你和大多数华裔学者谈谈，他们都会告诉你不少他们切身的不公平的例子。
历史上最典型的一个例子是１９９３年 诺贝尔奖 给了 Richard J Roberts 和Phillip A Sharp 却忘了华人学者 LT Chow. Chow 的论文发表在１９７７年的 Cell (see below). 她当时已完全独立工作，做了最重要的工作, 用电子显微镜发现 mRNA splicing。但是她的独立工作却不被承认。 另外的一个例子是有关大家熟知的吴瑞先生。众所周知， 吴瑞先生对中国的生命科学的发展有重大影响。但很多人大概不知吴瑞先生在科学上的一个最重要的贡献：建立第一个测定DNA序列的方法。但是DNA Sequencing 的诺贝尔奖1980 年授予了Walter Gilbert 和 Frederick Sanger， 只字不提吴瑞先生的最早的贡献。
造成这种情况的一个原因，是华裔学者仍缺乏影响力，没有关键性的发言权。 James Watson 在他的给诺贝尔奖委员会的推荐信中，只字不提 Chow 的对splicing 发现的独立贡献。 吴瑞先生的贡献大概也被蓄意忽略。 再想想有多少华人学者能写有影响力的综述文章，能组织大型国际会议，进入所谓的 inner circle 呢？许多早期到美国留学，已或的初步成功的学者，有很多人会感到他们的贡献没有得到应有的承认，或在所在的美国学校里，被不公正的对待。华裔学者往往必须付出更多，更加小心，能委曲求全，能忍，才能生存下去。像傅新元敢和Darnell头碰头的竞争的人是很少数。
美国是一个可以做科学的地方，也可以施展你的科学抱负。同时我们必须认识到，华裔学者在美国科学界面临一种不公开的的非公平竞争。
可悲的是，不明真相的部分华裔学者和学生，不知保护自己信誉的重要性，在知名华裔学者倍受打击的情况下， 不仅误信不实流言，反而加入冷嘲热讽，十分令人遗憾。 什么时候我们能知道自己的共同利益所在， 并积极地加以保卫呢？
１．
Chow LT, Gelinas RE, Broker TR, Roberts RJ An amazing sequence arrangement at the 5' ends of adenovirus 2 messenger RNA. Cell. 1977 Sep;12(1):1-8. .
The 5' terminal sequences of several adenovirus 2 (Ad2) mRNAs, isolated late in infection, are complementary to sequences within the Ad2 genome which are remote from the DNA from which the main coding sequence of each mRNA is transcribed. This has been observed by forming RNA displacement loops (R loops) between Ad2 DNA and unfractionated polysomal RNA from infected cells. The 5' terminal sequences of mRNAs in R loops, variously located between positions 36 and 92, form complex secondary hybrids with single-stranded DNA from restriction endonuclease fragments containing sequences to the left of position 36 on the Ad2 genome. The structures visualized in the electron microscope show that short sequences coded at map positions 16.6, 19.6 and 26.6 on the R strand are joined to form a leader sequence of 150-200 nucleotides at the 5' end of many late mRNAs. A late mRNA which maps to the left of position 16.6 shows a different pattern of second site hybridization. It contains sequences from 4.9-6.0 linked directly to those from 9.6-10.9. These findings imply a new mechanism for the biosynthesis of Ad2 mRNA in mammalian cells.
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Ernest Jay, Robert Bambara, R. Padmanabhan, and Ray WuDNA sequence analysis: a general, simple and rapid method for sequencing large oligodeoxyribonucleotide fragments by mapping* Nucleic Acids Res. 1974 March; 1 (3): 331–353Section of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA
Several electrophoretic and chromatographic systems have been investigated and compared for sequence analysis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides. Three systems were found to be useful for the separation of a series of sequential degradation products resulting from a labeled oligonucleotide: (I) 2-D electrophoresis†; (II) 2-D PEI-cellulose; and (III) 2-D homochromatography. System (III) proved generally most informative regardless of base composition and sequence. Furthermore, only in this system will the omission of an oligonucleotide in a series of oligonucleotides be self-evident from the two-dimensional map. The sequence of up to fifteen nucleotides can be determined solely by the characteristic mobility shifts of its sequential degradation products distributed on the two-dimensional map. With this method, ten nucleotides from the double-stranded region adjacent to the left-hand 3′-terminus and seven from the right-hand 3′-terminus of bacteriophage λ DNA have been sequenced. Similarly, nine nucleotides from the double-stranded region adjacent to the left-hand 3′-terminus and five nucleotides from the right-hand terminus of bacteriophage φ80 DNA have also been sequenced. The advantages and disadvantages of each separation system with respect to sequence analysis are discussed.
