星期一下午我第二次去聽了 POLLY MATZINGER 的講座。她真是一個非常特立獨行的女科學家。記錄一下。
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Matzinger
POLLY MATZINGER 是從一個不同尋常的職業生涯 ( 根據她的簡曆 ): 包括在丹佛的一家花花公子俱樂部的花花公子兔女郎，酒吧女招待，爵士音樂家，木匠，訓狗者和科學論派教徒 (1952 年興起的一個新的宗教教派，美國著名影星 TOM CRUISE 就是這個教派的 ) 開始走向科學的。 1974 年她在經曆了斷斷續續的學校生活，從事了各種工作以後，最後在一個加州大學戴維斯分校教師們經常去的酒吧裏做女招待，在這裏她遇見了大學野生動物課程的頭兒 ROBERT SCHWAB 教授，教授注意到她的才華，勸說她走上了科學的道路。
在她早期發表的文章中，在實驗醫學雜誌上的一篇文章中，她與 GALADRIEL MIRKWOOD 是共同作者。後來發現 MIRKWOOD 是她的一隻阿富汗獵犬，據她所述和其他的共同作者一樣參與了研究。 MATZINGER 說從此她是主要作者的文章就被這個雜誌禁止了 “ 直到編輯去世 ” 。在到外地進行科學報告的時候，有時候她根據場合把頭發染成綠色。盡管她近年來發表的文章不再有狗作為共同作者，她仍然是一個很熱心的牧羊犬訓練者；她和她的兩隻博德牧羊犬 CHARLIE 和 LILY 在2005 年愛爾蘭 TULLAMORE 世界牧羊犬決賽中參與了代表美國參賽的隊伍。
目前 POLLY MATZINGER 是國立過敏性疾病和感染性疾病研究院的部門主管 ( 她的實驗室被叫作鬼魂實驗室) ，她的威脅模型已經成為很多免疫學家的一個重要的參考要點，許多學習免疫的學生的靈感； 在她近年來的理論論著中可以看到，這一模型自1994 年宣布誕生以來，已經經曆了許多細微的修改。
對很多人而言她是科學精神及其開放性的一個代表。
Polly Matzinger took to science from an unusual background career path which included (according to her C.V. ) stints as a Playboy Bunny at a Playboy Club in Denver , a bar waitress , a jazz musician, a carpenter , a dog trainer and a Scientologist . In 1974 Polly Matzinger had dropped in and out of college for years and worked at various jobs before ending up waitressing at a bar frequented by faculty from the University of California, at Davis and here she met Professor Robert Schwab, the head of the university's wildlife program who noticed her talent and persuaded her to take to science.
In one of her first publications, she coauthored a paper with Galadriel Mirkwood for the Journal of Experimental Medicine [1] . It was later revealed that Mirkwood was her Afghan Hound which according to her was as much involved in research as many other coauthors. Matzinger says that papers on which she was a major author were then barred from the journal "until the editor died". When travelling for scientific talks, she sometimes dyes her hair green for the occasion. Although no dogs have been coauthors of any of her recent papers, she is an avid sheepdog trainer, and, with her two Border Collies, Charlie and Lily, was on the team that represented the United States at the 2005 World Sheepdog Finals in Tullamore Ireland.
Polly Matzinger is now a section head at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (her lab is called the Ghost Lab) and her Danger Model has become an important reference point for many immunologists and an inspiration to many students of immunology; it has undergone various minor modifications since its birth announcement in 1994, which can be seen in her more recent theoretical writing.
To many she stands as a symbol of the scientific spirit and its openness.
