Born in Shanghai, Jin grew up in the centre of the city, close to Cheng Huang Miao, the City God Temple of Shanghai. Every day, after dinner, her mother would take her walking around the city to admire the architecture of the area. When she was 15, the government decided to reconstruct that part of the city and the family relocated to the suburbs. Although she is nostalgic about home, Jin is extremely positive about the Netherlands. She says, ‘Here the sky is very blue and there are a lot of trees. It’s really clean and natural. In Shanghai, it’s crowded and the air is polluted.’
Jin enjoys drawing in her spare time and credits her grandparents for her love of Chinese opera. She says, ‘It’s colorful and impressive, and the music is traditional Chinese. Usually young people don’t like it, but I listened to it growing up, and now I enjoy it more and more.’
Jin completed her bachelor of science at Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2003. She also acquired her masters at the same university and was awarded the Delta scholarship to study in the Netherlands. In 2005 she completed her second masters in polymer chemistry and biomaterials at the UT under Professor Johan Engbersen. It was during this time that she met Chao Lin, a first year PhD student, researching polymer systems for gene delivery. As their relationship commenced, Jin began working on a research project funded by the Dutch Program for Tissue Engineering (DPTE), for her own PhD. The couple registered to be married at the Chinese embassy in The Hague in January 2008 and returned to Shanghai for their wedding ceremony in June 2008. Lin completed his PhD in April 2008 and returned to China in March this year to join the faculty of Tongji University in Shanghai.
When it was announced earlier this year that Jin would be a recipient of the Chinese Government Award, she was surprised. ‘Usually students in the fourth year of their PhD, and with many publications win this award. I applied in my third year. Having the confidence to try, I think, helped me win.’ Jin claims her supervisors, Professor Jan Feijen and Dr. Piet Dijkstra, were instrumental in lifting her research to a higher a level. She also collaborated with Liliana Teixeira from the tissue regeneration group under Dr. Marcel Karperien.
Jin’s research involves the development of injectable hydrogels for the regeneration of cartilage tissue. Due to its lack of blood vessels, cartilage has a limited ability to self-regenerate. Jin is developing a hydrogel that will ultimately contain the patient’s own healthy cartilage cells. This will be injected at the injured site where cell regeneration can take place in situ. She explains, ‘We use a polymer that is biocompatible with the human body and add a cell suspension containing healthy cartilage cells. At this stage the polymer solution is still liquid. If it is injected, the cells would diffuse into the surrounding tissue and it would fail to regenerate new cartilage. So we add an enzyme which acts as a catalyst, and an oxidant, such as hydrogen peroxide, which causes cross-links between the polymer chains. The liquid then turns into a hydrogel, keeping the cells at the defect site. It also acts as a temporary matrix for the cells to grow. Eventually the polymer will degrade and new tissue will replace the scaffold.’
So far, Jin’s hydrogels have been incubated in cell culture mediums. Her next step is to further their development for clinical applications on humans. While she is still working on her thesis and completing her experiments, Jin has her eye on the future. ‘I would like to have a post-doc position after this. I still want to learn more things. I hope one day I can become a famous chemist or scientist, like Marie Curie.’
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| Cao Xueqin |
Favorites:
Author: Cao Xueqin
Book: Dream of the Red Chamber
Place in the Netherlands: Enschede, It’s quiet and natural
Food: ice cream and chocolate
Drink: iced tea
Saying: April showers bring May flowers
Animal: beautiful fish
