两个从事科研的美籍华人回国发展的

故事

作者：ChinaGate  于 2014-1-15 贝壳村

美籍华人回国发展有许多方式，可以全身海归，也可以向中国贡献自己的在美学到的技术。后者是否妥当，看看这两个美籍华人的故事。

2013年11月25日－26日，应华南农业大学国家植物航天育种工程技术研究中心（以下简称“中心”）主任的邀请，美国农业部（USDA）严文贵博士来 “中心”开展学术交流和考察活动。

25日，严文贵博士在科技楼三楼会议室做了题为 “Mining Elite Genes from Global Rice Germplasm Bank in USDA-ARS”（从美国农业部全球水稻资源库中挖掘有利基因）的学术报告，农学院、资环院以及“中心”师生参加，座无虚席。

报告会上，严文贵博士就如何构建水稻核心种质资源库和微核心种质资源库、如何从全球水稻资源库中挖掘有利基因等研究进行阐述，报告深入简出，内容详实。

严文贵1955年出生于四川广安。中国国务院侨办第二届海外专家咨询委员会委员。

1981年获得四川农学院农学学士，1984年获得四川农业大学植物遗传育种学硕士，1992年获得美国阿肯色大学植物遗传育种学博士。

1985-1987年四川农业大学讲师，1988-1989美国加州大学戴维斯分校访问学者，1993-1995美国阿肯色大学博士后，1996至今美国农业部农业研究服务署国家水稻研究中心遗传研究员, 从事资源，遗传，育种等领域的研究，自2002年任资源研究室主任。

发明杂种优势利用的新育种技术：这一技术应用分子遗传学的最新成就，结合育种学，杂草科学和遗传工程，使杂交水稻进入一个新的里程。此发明于2000年率先获得美国专利，然后陆续获得中国、菲律宾等近十个国家和地区的专利；    组织国际力量，研究水稻资源：整理美国水稻品种资源库，此库包括源于116个国家的二万多个品种。组织美国国内近二十个单位以及中国、日本、加拿大，巴西、阿根廷、孟加拉等国家和国际水稻研究所的科学家，分别从不同的角度进行研究；通过资源研究，挖掘特殊基因：已经从美国的资源库中挖掘出抗稻瘟病、直穗病，耐纹枯病，耐冷害，稻米颜色，稻米低砷含量，高铁含量，高柱头外露率，高产和优质等有利基因，这些基因的图谱定位和连锁分子标记，供给育种家培育新品种；提供遗传种质，促进全球合作：根据各国各合作者的研究目标，提供研究材料和技术咨询。已在美国和欧洲各国正式学术刊物上发表论文74篇，出版各种会议摘要89篇。

现担任美国德州农工大学，阿肯色大学和密苏里大学, 中国科学院成都生物研究所，浙江大学，四川农业大学和四川农科院客座教授；中国农业科学和澳大利亚植物分子生物学编委；国际‘理论和应用遗传学’，‘分子育种’，‘作物科学’，‘农学杂志’，‘植物育种’等数十种学报审稿员；美国农学，作物和土壤学联合会国际委员会（2008-2009）和少数族裔委员会（2007-2008）主席；北美华人土壤和植物学协会秘书长（2008-）；美南地区中国专家联合会阿肯色分会会长（1998-2000），四川农业大学海外校友会秘书长（2006-）。

严文贵博士从中国回到美国不久就于2013年12月13日被控自美国堪萨斯州一所研究设施窃取种子，转交给访美的中国代表团，触犯阴谋盗取商业机密罪。涉案者为已入籍美国的中国水稻遗传学家严文贵博士，另一人是农业科学家张伟强（音译）。

如果罪名确立，张伟强与严文贵最高将在美联邦监狱坐牢10年，罚款25万美元。

严文贵曾是美国农业部设于阿肯色州的戴尔帮佩国家水稻研究中心的水稻遗传学者。张伟强则是堪萨斯州一家生物药学公司的农业种子培育员。

张伟强把公司培育的种子取走，带回自己的堪萨斯州寓所。中国访问团结束访美准备返国时，海关人员搜查其行李，发现失窃的种子装在信封及临时制作的容器中。

左为张伟强，右为严文贵（图片来源：华尔街日报）

Two Agricultural Scientists from China Charged with Stealing Trade Secrets U.S. Attorney’s Office December 12, 2013 District of Kansas (316) 269-6481 KANSAS CITY, KS—Two agricultural scientists from China have been charged with trying to steal samples of a variety of seeds from a biopharmaceutical company’s research facility in Kansas, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today. Weiqiang Zhang, 47, Manhattan, Kansas, and Wengui Yan, 63, Stuttgart, Arkansas, are charged with one count of conspiracy to steal trade secrets. The victim in the case—identified in court records as Company A—has invested approximately $75 million in patented technology used to create a variety of seeds containing recombinant proteins. The company has an extensive intellectual property portfolio of more than 100 issued and pending patents and exclusive licenses to issued patents. Zhang and Yan are charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas. An affidavit in support of the complaint alleges that on August 7, 2013, agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection found stolen seeds in the luggage of a group of visitors from China preparing to board a plane to return home. While in the United States, the group had visited various agricultural facilities and universities in the Midwest, as well as the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Stuggart, Arkansas. According to the complaint: Zhang and Yan, both natives of the People’s Republic of China living lawfully in the United States, arranged for the Chinese delegation to visit the United States in 2013. Previously, the two had traveled to China at the same time in 2012 to visit a Crops Research Institute. Some of the people they met in China were members of the Chinese delegation that visited the United States in 2013. Zhang, worked as an agricultural seed breeder for Company A since 2008. Stolen seeds were delivered to members of the Chinese delegation during the delegation’s visit to the United States July 16 through August 7, 2013. Yan, who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a rice geneticist at the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center, picked up the Chinese delegation from a motel in Stuggart, Arkansas, on July 22, 2013, and took them to the center. Seeds similar to what were found in the delegation’s possession as they left the United States in August 2013, were also found in Zhang’s residence on December 11, 2013. If convicted, Zhang and Yan face a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The Little Rock Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas City Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Rask is prosecuting with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Arkansas. In all cases, defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The indictments merely contain allegations of criminal conduct.