长城中文学校与美国华人生物医药科技协会大费城分会（CBA-GP）合作，于2024年5月11日（周六）举办＂Into the Life Sciences” 一日科普活动，这项活动面向未来有志于生物、医学、制药等行业的高中学生，此次活动分别组织同学们前往两所费城当地的研究型生化医药公司Blumberg Institute 和Frontage Laboratories, 聆听专家讲解生命科学知识，前沿技术介绍及展望，并与专业人士交流互动关于专业高等教育，就业，职业发展的话题。
上午参观Blumberg Institute，研究所创始人 Tim Block博士介绍了1960年代科学家Blumberg博士发现乙肝病毒，并研制乙肝疫苗的经历，Blumberg博士并因此获得1976年诺贝尔生物与医学奖。Tim Block博士谆谆教导，作为科学家，好奇与大胆是首要的素质，年轻人应该对各种已知的和未知的事情感兴趣，并积极亲自探索，验证自己的猜想。
Yanming Du博士随后具体介绍了新药开发的概念，思路，和规范程序。近代世界先进医药成就多是建立在前人的累积成果之上，不断地改进，优化药物具有意义，容易取得丰硕的成果，对患者而言，治疗效果和经济性都可以大大改善。杜博士和同事带领同学们参观了实验室，介绍了常用仪器，示范了一些实验操作，深感科学上的每一步成果，都是通过辛勤的实践工作而得，而不是通过幻灯片PPT演示，和电脑程序计算即可获得。
下午在Frontage Laboratories参观，王东梅博士热情地接待了同学们，她 是Frontage Laboratories 全球项目部门负责人，所领导的部门将其他实验或生产能力不足的实验室的新开发药物按照美国FDA（食品与药物管理局）的标准持续完成后续全部的研发工作，直至获得FDA批准并生产上市。作为事业和家庭双成功的华人精英，王博士除对工作，科研，职业发展做了有建树的发言，还对家庭，青少年的学业，事业规划深入讲解。王博士的系统讲述了医药业的全局构成，上百个细分科目和实验生产测试门类，丰富的知识为同学们前所未闻，同学们深刻了解到美国的医药行业实力雄厚，开发新药科研水平高，是具有广阔发展前景的行业。
社会是丰富多彩多种多样的，科学研究领域和产业商业范畴更是博大精深，科学与产业结合，产生各种岗位，科学地配合，协调运作才能源源不断的地产出改善人类社会的新产品。成千上万种职业需要各类人才，同学们应该积极地走出课堂，接触实实在在的社会事务，开拓视野，提高认知水平。
活动后同学家长反响良好，还有同学事后写了活动记录，从同学的角度报道了活动过程。从今后学校还将继续组织系列活动，参观费城本地大学生化实验室，生物化学公司，医药研究生产机构等。
美国华人生物医药科技协会大费城分会（CBA-GP）
https://cba-usa.org/about/chapters/cba-gp/ 为此次活动提高大力支持，深表感谢。
Frontage Laboratories生物医药研发公司 (Exton PA)：https://www.frontagelab.com/
Blumberg Institute 医药研究所 （Dolyestow PA）https://www.blumberginstitute.org
长城中文学校 www.greatwall.org 万应杰 文字稿 梁清 摄影
Author: Hannah Tong, 16yrs
As a high school student, I’m always looking for opportunities to expand my knowledge, and with college slowly approaching, I’ve been searching for new ways to gather experience in the fields I’m interested in. My curiosity for medicine has grown exponentially since I was a child, and my search for more hands-on and inclusive healthcare opportunities led me to sign up for the “Into the Life Sciences” event held by Great Wall Chinese School and the Chinese Biopharmaceuticals Association held on May, 11th, 2024.
Our first visit was to the Blumberg Institute in Doylestown, where we were able to meet the fantastic Dr. Block and Dr. Du. Dr. Block was the founders of the Blumberg Institute, a center dedicated to researching and developing a treatment for hepatitis B as well as other pharmaceutical drugs. Dr. Block first introduced us to the institute’s history and notable accomplishments, including a Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Dr. Blumberg, the scientist who discovered the Hepatitis B vaccine and also a close colleague to Dr. Block. It was a really interesting conversation as I learned about the history of hepatitis B, how prevalent it is among Asian and African communities, and how in the 1980’s it wasn’t treated as a big concern or considered at all by bigger pharmaceutical companies. After his speech, Dr. Du presented to us the fascinating evolution of drugs from the beginning research and testing stages to when they become FDA-approved and placed on the market. Not only was the process much more complicated and expensive than I originally thought, but it also involved a lot of care and trust between the patients and the developers. It was an absolutely amazing way to see a little bit more into the biotech industry on a smaller scale.
Our next visit was to Frontage Laboratories in Exton, where we met Dr. Wong, the Executive Vice President and Global Project Manager for Frontage Laboratories. She gave us deep insight into the different careers and branches of the pharmaceutical field, as well as offering us some great advice about internships and summer planning in high school and college to help us secure our future professional lives. Afterwards, we were able to see their state-of-the art labs, where new drugs were being developed and tested every day, and we got to learn more about the new technologies developed and the improvements made to the pharmaceutical industry.
This was a truly rewarding experience that has expanded my knowledge in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. It has definitely influenced me as a prospective healthcare student, as I have learned a great deal about how the industry functions. This was a great opportunity, and I hope to be able to participate in more events like this in the future!
