Xiaowei Zhuang was born to two university professors in China: her mother was a mechanical engineer and her father as a physicist. She sometimes watched her father do research at home, and credits her parents with sparking her curiosity and encouraging her to explore.
She became very interested in the molecular basis of life, going on to pioneer an imaging method that allows scientists to see microscopic cellular structures. Awarded the 2021 Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, Zhuang has been said to “make visible the invisible,” paving the way for a better understanding of the spatial and functional organizations of molecules and cells.
Zhuang is professor of chemistry and chemical biology and the David B. Arnold Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, and she is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her awards include the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and a MacArthur Fellowship, among many others.
Zhuang believes that immigrants’ diverse backgrounds help foster scientific findings. “People who grow up in a different culture, they think differently, they have a different approach to things,” she said after receiving the 2020 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science. “So actually, it’s the best way to advance science.”
She is thankful that she is able to do her multidisciplinary work in the United States. “The scientific environment of this country is really great,” she said. “You feel the freedom of doing whatever you want. The sky is the limit.”
