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Serendipitous Discoveries in Biomedical Sciences (Revisited)
1Biology Department, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. ylee7@jh.edu.
Abstract:
Serendipity is to come across a nice coincidence or to discover something unexpected. Also, it is to look for something and happen to find something of value other than what you are looking for. In simple, it is to seize upon good fortune by a random chance. I described examples of serendipity in scientific discoveries in the glycoscience field and their background in the 2011 publication of MICC-3 under the title "Serendipity in scientific discoveries: some examples in glycosciences." We have learned that the progress in the scientific field has been remarkable, and many discoveries have been made, including some discoveries by serendipity. In this chapter, I filled the gaps in serendipitous discoveries in the biomedical sciences left by the MICC-3 as follows: (i) the discovery of intramolecular lactonization of sialic acids, (ii) the discovery of ancient Chinese script (), (iii) the discovery of oriental beauty oolong tea, and (iv) Yamanaka's Nobel Prize-winning discovery of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Finally, the planning for serendipity was discussed.
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