Over the past four decades, Bik-Kwoon Yeung Tye ’69 has achieved breakthroughs in the field of eukaryotic DNA replication that hold promising therapeutic potential for cancer and other genetic diseases. In 2023, Bik, Cornell University professor emeritus of molecular biology and genetics, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the nation’s highest scientific honors. In her inaugural article, she reflects on her personal career journey, which benefited from her time at Wellesley and a fateful 18-day voyage to the U.S. in 1966.
It was the Hong Kong native’s first trip abroad, and the crossing by sea was also her first lengthy time without a chaperone. “I received a full scholarship to Wellesley and traveled to the U.S. on a ship filled with other college-bound students,” she says. “We stopped at Hawai‘i, Japan. ... It was like a party every day!”
Fellow student Sze-Hoi Henry Tye was also on the ship. They became fast friends, stayed in touch after the trip, married, and are now the proud parents of neuroscientist Kay and entrepreneur Lynne as well as grandparents to five beloved grandkids. (Henry is a distinguished scientist in his own right, specializing in cosmology and theoretical physics.)
A chemistry major, Bik was aided by the late Betty Laning ’44 of her host family, who found her summer jobs at laboratories, including at Boston Children’s Hospital. There she worked with Johannes Meinhofer, a leading peptide scientist, who facilitated additional introductions that led to Bik meeting a primary mentor, Thomas Bewley of the University of California, San Francisco. He galvanized her interest in the complex protein structures that became the focus of her research career.
Bik credits Wellesley with laying a strong foundation. “I am incredibly grateful for the education that Wellesley gave me.,” she says. “I owe my success in my career and family to the values that Wellesley instilled in me. The friends whom I met at Wellesley are still some of my best friends today. The total experience at Wellesley set me up for life.”
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