Illustrated guidebook published for Chinese biomedical scientists and students

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 20 Aug 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Of the half million students from foreign countries studying in the United States, the largest proportion originate from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. China is among the top six countries of origin of foreign-born scientists and engineers employed in the U.S. Like many similar institutions, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the world-renowned center for cancer and genetics research in Long Island, New York, has benefited greatly from this influx of talented Chinese students and postdoctoral fellows. Now Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press has published a book and a talking website intended to build confidence among Chinese speakers in the specialized English language terms required for work in biomedical research laboratories.

"An Illustrated Chinese-English Guide for Biomedical Scientists" was written by scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Maryland, Weidong Wu, Yuh-Chin Huang, Xinchao Wang, and James Samet. Frustrated by frequent interruptions to laboratory discussions caused by confusion over the meaning of common scientific terms, they conceived the idea of a portable, practical, look-up guide much like the field guides to birdlife invented by Roger Tory Peterson. Their book has two main components: illustrations of laboratory equipment used for tasks like measuring, culturing, and separating; and a list of technical terms commonly used in laboratory life. Each tool and term is named in both simple and complex Chinese. The book also contains useful travel information for visitors to the U.S. And on an associated website (http://chinese-english.cshl.org), each of the English terms used in the book can be listened to, as an aid to learning pronounciation.

Dr John Inglis, Executive Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, comments: "We were delighted when Dr Samet and his colleagues approached us with the idea for the book, which we are confident will be a very valuable resource for scientists from China and Taiwan. The Director of the Beijing Genomics Institute, Huanming Yang, describes it as a wonderful tool for learning gene technology. And we are fortunate to have partnered with a leading Chinese publisher, Science Press of Beijing, to bring the book to the many scientists in mainland China who wish to improve their English skills. The publication of this book is one of several ways in which Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is planning to expand its educational activities in China at this time of exceptional hope and promise for the scientific community there."

"The Illustrated Chinese-English Guide for Biomedical Scientists" is now available for $39 (hardcover) and $25 (paperback) from http://www.cshlpress.com.

About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (http://www.cshlpress.com) is an internationally renowned publisher of books, journals, and electronic media, located on Long Island, New York. It is a division of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an innovator in life science research and the education of scientists, students, and the public. For more information, contact 516-422-4005.

Contact: Ingrid Benirschke
benirsch@cshl.edu
619-275-6021
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory