Prof. Harvey Lodish, member of the US National Academy of Sciences and former president of American Society for Cell Biology, visited Zhejiang University on May 20. During his visit, he not only delivered a lecture on how hematopoietic progenitor cells make the decision to proliferate or differentiate, but talked with Global Communications of ZJU about his insights as a top scientist in biomedical engineering and as a mentor who has provided advice for numerous students.