Ralf Jauch: A German scientist whose roots are in China
- By Huang Yi & Li Yuan
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E-mail China Today, July 17, 2017
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Ralf Jauch (first right) instructs his students to do experiments. [Photo/China Today] |
Jauch and his team have achieved a lot in the four years since he joined the GIBH. They garnered Larysa Pevny Award for Excellence in SOX Research in 2014. They won financial support for a surface project from the National Natural Science Foundation of China; they received funding for an international cooperation project from the Ministry of Science and Technology; and they got financing for a provincial support project from Guangdong Province – a total of RMB 7 million.
Jauch has published 50 research papers which he has either authored or co-authored, many of which have appeared in world-renowned academic periodicals including Nature, Stem Cell, Nucleic Acid Res and EMBO. His work on multi-potential stem cells' early differentiation theory has been widely recognized in the academic world.
Jauch is very busy with the responsibilities inherent in leading a research team. Hand in hand with good ideas and exciting projects come certain logistics worries, such as funding, cooperation partners and facility access.
Even with all these attention-demanding issues though, Jauch is dedicated to the personal management of his team. "Jauch has devoted much time to team building. In the weekly meeting of our research team, every member takes turns reporting on their progress. Given that our team members come from different countries including Germany and India, our working language is English, which gives our team an international atmosphere," one of Jauch's team members told China Today.
A bridge for China-Germany academic exchanges
According to Jauch, human creativity brings vitality to science, and scientists should be cautious of received opinions and also maximize existing resources and technologies worldwide. "All the countries dominant in the world's science and technology are testament to this," Jauch said.
Jauch is devoted to promoting academic exchanges between China and Germany, in particular cooperation and exchanges between Germany's top academic organization, the Max Planck Society and the GIBH. On several occasions he invited experts from the Max Planck Society to attend seminars in Guangzhou. As a result of Jauch's hard work, the Max Planck Society and the Guangzhou Institute established a joint research center for regenerative biology and medicine.
Over the past four years, Jauch has invited six German postgraduate students to carry out research work at his laboratory for their graduation thesis projects. He has also helped Chinese students go and study in Germany. "All these exchanges have helped us generate new ideas and have been a lot of fun for participants," Jauch said.
"Studies on stem cells and genes have not only brought people new concepts and technology, but have had a huge impact on biopharmaceuticals and all of society," Jauch said. "I hope my team can better understand the gene control process and make progress in lab-growing cells and organs. I hope our research work can help with applications of this field, in line with ethics, for example, producing specific cells via man-made transcription factors in test tubes," he added.
As a German scientist with his roots firmly in China, Jauch holds that the burgeoning economy of Asia presents plenty of opportunities for German scientists. He believes Germany should attach more importance to their exchanges with Asia, in particular China – this trend of increased exchange with China is developing worldwide and looks to be of great significance.
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