On September 8, 2009, Professor Bruce Alberts from the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, and Editor-in-Chief of Science Magazine, visited ION. Prof. Alberts has served two six-year terms as the President of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and is one of the original and current contributing authors of "Molecular Biology of the Cell", a preeminent textbook in the field of molecular and cellular biology, now in its fifth edition.

In the morning, Prof. Alberts gave an exciting lecture entitled "Biology past and biology future: where have we been and where are we going?", hosted by Prof. Mu-Ming Poo. More than 350 scientists and students from ION, other SIBS Institutes and universities around Shanghai attended the talk, completely packing the auditorium. Prof. Alberts started by talking about his experiences of success and failure as a research scientist, because he believes that it is important for students not only to learn from success stories, but also from making their own mistakes. Prof. Alberts continued with a discussion of insights into molecular biological advances that he has gained from writing "Molecular Biology of the Cell", including the importance of protein machines, complex feedback loops and biochemical sub-compartments without membranes, as well as prospects for the future of molecular and cellular biology. The talk was followed by many questions regarding advices for young scientists and future directions in molecular biology, which Prof. Alberts answered in detail and depth.

In the afternoon, Prof. Alberts and the Science Magazine Team held an informal discussion with ION faculties. Following a brief introduction by Prof. Poo, a discussion was held on how to improve and broaden science education and how to make Science Magazine more accessible to the Chinese audience. Faculty members also had a chance to further discuss with Prof. Alberts about future directions in molecular biology.