On May 12, Prof. Yan Xiyun, Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the Key Laboratory of Institute of Protein and Peptide Drugs, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, came to Nankai University and gave a course on The Story Behind the Discovery of the Nanozyme – Coincidence and Inevitability to more than 200 students.

From her own experience, Yan talked about her journey in scientific research. Yan shared that the initial goal was just to achieve the application of detection by combining magnetic nanoparticles and antibodies. The principle was simple and clear, but the experiment found the opposite results. At first, it was mistakenly thought to be the missteps of the students until repetitive verification was performed. As a result, investigative curiosity led to a new research field- Nanozyme. She believes that Nanozyme has been applied to many fields, however, more applications will emerge to solve more practical problems.

Additionally, Yan introduced the discovery, modification and application of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and took Biological Mass Spectrometry of Macromolecules as an example to remind the students and teachers that these seemingly coincident discoveries could not have been achieved without scientific truth-seeking and persistence.

Before the course began, Yan discussed her own research experience with Nankai students. In response to the students' questions, Yan gave her careful and refined answers: I do hope everybody can realize the value it brings in scientific research, and be willing to commit oneself to that career because it will eventually bring good results.

(Reported by Jinming Liu, translated by Meixu Wu, edited by Daniel Stefan and JianjingYun)