Cultivating creativity in research: lessons from twenty years in Harvard

HKBU’s Research Office hosted a Research Mixer bringing together scholars and students to hear Professor Timothy Mitchison, Hasib Sabbagh Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School and Visiting Fellow at HKBU’s Institute of Creativity (IoC).

In a talk titled “20 Years in a Systems Biology Department: A Personal View of Quantitative Biology Research”, Professor Mitchison traced his path from undergraduate studies at Oxford to co-founding the Institute for Chemistry and Cell Biology at Harvard — one of the first such institutes in an academic setting — and reflected on how systems and quantitative biology have evolved.

He explained that biology is shifting from only using equations that track change over time to also using probability and machine learning to make sense of messy, real data. Still, the goal is the same: understand the actual mechanisms — how things work inside cells. He showed that simply reframing a question can turn a complex problem into a clear experiment. New “single-cell” methods, which read gene activity in one cell at a time, can reveal rare cell types that do important jobs. Big data approaches that spot which parts of proteins change together can even predict protein shapes. Yet the floppy, disordered parts of proteins remain hard to understand, and solving them will require fresh ideas and careful experiments.

Turning to artificial intelligence, he discussed large language models as scholarly co-pilots for search, protocols, and mentoring. His counsel was pragmatic: verify claims, demand citations, keep ethics explicit, and complement predictive “black boxes” with experiments that explain. 

Professor Lyu Aiping (right), Vice-President (Research and Development), presents a commemorative souvenir to Professor Mitchison in recognition of his special visit.

In his welcoming remarks, Professor Lyu Aiping, HKBU’s Vice-President (Research and Development), celebrated Professor Mitchison’s enduring ties to HKBU as a 2022 Honorary Graduate and IoC Visiting Fellow, and reaffirmed the University’s commitment to interdisciplinary research, talent development, and academic excellence.

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