Chapter 176 Carry out metaphysics to the end
The members of the project team have signed a confidentiality agreement. No one else knows how far Zhang Wei’s gene editing has been achieved, but the school has approved an experimental fund for Zhang Wei The news cannot be concealed.
Not only the Department of Biology, but also other departments at Tsinghua University know that the school has allocated a sum of money specifically for Zhang Wei’s gene editing project.
Experimental funding has always been very tight. When the school allocates funds, it always avoids the rabbits and the hawks. For large projects such as gene editing, since the school is willing to allocate funds, it means that Zhang Wei has already Early results have been achieved.
To be able to produce preliminary results in such a short period of time has made the school willing to catch rabbits. This has exceeded many people's expectations, so many people have begun to inquire about Zhang Wei's project. What step has the process reached.
...
In the cafeteria, Senior Brother Liu was immersed in cooking when he heard footsteps ringing from his ears. Someone was carrying a dinner plate and sat directly opposite Senior Brother Liu.
Senior Brother Liu looked up and saw that it was Professor Su who came.
"Professor Su, why are you here to eat!" Senior Brother Liu hurriedly greeted.
Tsinghua University has a special faculty restaurant, and there are many types of dishes. The meat and vegetables are nutritionally balanced, so professors do not need to eat together with students.
Now Professor Su comes to eat in an ordinary restaurant. Any fool can guess that he must have other motives.
“I’m tired of eating in the faculty restaurant, so I have to change my taste occasionally!” Professor Su chuckled, and then said: “Xiao Liu, I heard that you plan to return to your hometown after graduation? Are you planning to go to a company to engage in scientific research? , or go to university to do academic work? "
"I think I am more suitable for academic work. I have a stable job in the university and have vacations. It is much easier than in the enterprise." Senior Brother Liu answered.
"Academics are good. Although the income is not as much as in the enterprise, the work pressure is much less." Professor Su then asked: "Are there any suitable schools currently?"
" I have contacted a few and are still negotiating about the benefits. Generally speaking, the benefits from better schools will be worse, and the benefits from worse schools will be better." Senior Brother Liu answered.
"Your hometown is in Shaanxi, right? In Shaanxi, Xi'an Jiaotong University is still very powerful, and Northwestern Polytechnical University is also good. These two universities are the first choice. Northwest Agricultural University's location is a bit off," Professor Su said.
"What you are saying is that if you are the first choice, you must go to Xi'an Jiaotong University, but it is more difficult there and you need academic results to get good treatment." Senior Brother Liu said.
"I am relatively familiar with the leaders of Xi'an Jiaotong University. The head of the biology department there is still my junior brother! Let me write you a letter of recommendation, and then give it to my junior brother. Say hello. Maybe I can improve your treatment!" Professor Su said.
"Really? Thank you so much, Professor Su." Senior Brother Liu stood up and was about to bow.
“It’s easy!” Professor Su chuckled, and then said: “Speaking of academic achievements, you are currently engaged in gene editing in Zhang Wei’s project team. If you can really do it, you will most likely have to do it again. Published in three major journals, isn’t this academic achievement already achieved! By the way, what is the progress of your project now?”
"Well!" Senior Brother Liu hesitated for a moment, then said: "We have signed a confidentiality agreement regarding the project progress, and it is really difficult to disclose it to the outside world."
"We also signed a confidentiality agreement? This Zhang Wei, Are you afraid that others will steal his scientific research results? They are all in the same department, so what?" Professor Su's face suddenly darkened.
Although Professor Su was talking about Zhang Wei, the gloomy look on his face was deliberately staged to show Brother Liu.
Of course Senior Brother Liu also understands what Professor Su means. People are going to write you a letter of recommendation. This letter of recommendation is clearly not written for you. Why don’t you reveal some information?
No matter how effective Professor Su’s recommendation letter is, it is better than nothing! Moreover, China is originally a society of favors. Maybe Professor Su’s favors can really have some effect?
This is a matter that involves your future job. You must not deal with it carelessly. It is good to gain a little more benefit. Thinking of this, Senior Brother Liu decided to reveal a little more.
So Senior Brother Liu said: "The preliminary demonstration of this project we are doing has been completed. Judging from the results, it is feasible. Zhang Wei also took the experimental report and went to the school to apply for follow-up scientific research. "I know all what you said, and I also know that the funds have been approved! And a lot of them have been approved. The school will not give this much funding to ordinary projects. This shows that the school attaches great importance to this project.”
Professor Su’s tone still did not soften, obviously indicating that he was not satisfied with the information provided by Senior Brother Liu, and he needed Senior Brother Liu to tell him something he didn’t know. .
Senior Brother Liu had no choice but to continue: "I feel that Zhang Wei is quite confident in this project. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a sure shot!"
"Nine times out of ten?" Professor Su frowned fiercely. Such an idiom should not come from the mouth of a scientific researcher.
"So Zhang Wei must have a clear idea for subsequent research?" Professor Su asked immediately.
"He said he has a clear idea, but I always feel that it is a bit mysterious!" Senior Brother Liu said.
“Xuan?”
“I said it’s the Xuan of metaphysics, not the Xuan!” Brother Liu then explained: “In fact, when doing preliminary demonstrations, the results can be obtained so quickly. It’s quite metaphysical.”
"Metaphysics? Why metaphysics?" Professor Su asked subconsciously.
"Do you know there is a saying, called three six nine, go out?" Senior Brother Liu asked.
Professor Su suddenly showed a puzzled expression: "Going out three or sixty-nine times, does this have anything to do with scientific research?"
"I don't think it's okay either! But it does. It’s a relationship!” Senior Brother Liu said with an innocent face.
“Where are all this?” Professor Su became more and more confused.
Senior Brother Liu continued to explain: "Let me give you an analogy. It's like you went out early this morning and met a fortune teller on the roadside who told you that you can pick up money if you go east. Then you walked east. I really found money.”
“I’m afraid this kid has done too many experiments and is stupid!” Professor Su’s eyes suddenly turned weird when he looked at Senior Brother Liu.
However, Professor Su continued to ask: "Now that you have completed the preliminary demonstration, Zhang Wei is also very confident in this project, so the follow-up experimental arrangements should be in place!"
"Yes." Senior Brother Liu nodded, and then said: "Tomorrow morning, the entire project team will collectively go to Yonghe Temple to offer incense!"
Professor Su frowned: "Go to Yonghe Temple to offer incense!" Fragrant? Why?”
"Zhang Wei said that Yonghe Temple is more spiritual." Brother Liu replied.
“The Lama Temple is more spiritual, and the whole capital knows it! I’m asking what does offering incense in the Yonghe Temple have to do with your project, not whether the Yonghe Temple is spiritual or not!”
“ Going to the temple to burn incense must be to pray to the gods, so that our project will succeed as soon as possible!”
Professor Su suddenly fell into silence. After more than half a minute, he calmed down and asked: "Is this the metaphysics you are talking about?"
Senior Brother Liu nodded honestly.
"You are engaged in scientific research, so you can be considered scientists after all, right?"
Senior Brother Liu nodded again. "Then you still go to the temple to offer incense? What on earth is Zhang Wei doing? Doing scientific research depends on worshiping gods? Could it be that his previous scientific research results were all produced by going to the temple to offer incense?"
“Zhang Wei said, we must believe in the wisdom of our ancestors.”
“That’s bullshit about the wisdom of our ancestors. This is feudal superstition!” Professor Su continued angrily: “If there is no one in the temple, If you can get scientific research results if you smell fragrance, then what else should you do scientifically? "
"Professor Su, please calm down, didn't you say that the end of science is metaphysics?" Senior Brother Liu persuaded.
"Zhang Wei said it again? These are all crooked theories!"
"This sentence was said by Einstein!"
Professor Su: "… …”
……
Zhang Wei took all the members of the project team to offer incense at the Lama Temple, which soon spread throughout Tsinghua University, and overnight it became the number one in Wudaokou!
A scientific researcher, instead of doing scientific research at home, goes to the temple to burn incense and worship Buddha and pray to gods?
The key is that Shangxiang is a top scholar who has made several achievements!
This is like the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. When the winner was giving his speech, he suddenly took out a cross consecrated by a Mahayana Buddhist Taoist priest, and then began to thank God, Buddha, and Immeasurable God for giving me Nobel Prize. Bell Prize.
Leaving aside whether Nobel himself will climb out of the coffin and drop two bombs on you, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will definitely slap you twice on the ear first.
After the news came out, the attention paid to Zhang Wei's project was better than eating the fragrant melons from Yonghe Lama Temple.
Zhang Wei himself is also very satisfied with this wave of operations that carry metaphysics to the end.
Now that everyone is paying attention to the incense burning in Yonghe Lama Temple, Zhang Wei can also hide in Chencang and concentrate on experiments.
In the laboratory, Zhang Wei began to arrange the next stage of experimental tasks:
“We have experimentally confirmed that CRISPR-Cas9 can cut gene fragments, so what will happen next in our experiments? The goal is to make CRISPR-Cas9 a tool for gene editing.
So how can we make CRISPR-Cas9 work for us? The solution I thought of was to use gRNA, which is guide RNA. Guide RNA is a non-coding RNA that can carry out gene transcription but cannot be translated into proteins.
Such characteristics are very suitable as a gene editing tool. If we can use guide RN to guide the Cas9 protein to the characteristic sequence of DNA, then the Cas9 protein can cut the target DNA.
So next, our experimental direction is to find a way to fuse CRISPR-Cas9 into a gRNA sequence. Once the two are fused, we have genetic scissors. ”
“So how should we fuse CRISPR-Cas9 into a gRNA sequence? "Someone asked immediately.
Others also had confused expressions on their faces, obviously having no idea about it.
"Cas9 is a protein produced by short palindromic repeats such as CRISPR. We only need to transcribe the short palindromic repeats of CRISPR into a piece of RNA. I temporarily call it CRISPRRNA.
Then we fuse CRISPRRNA into gRNA, so that as long as the gRNA enters the gene sequence, Cas9 protein will be produced to complete the cutting of the gene sequence." Zhang Wei did not hide it and directly stated the experimental idea.
After listening to Zhang Wei’s experimental ideas, the three doctoral students were the first to react, and then looked at Zhang Wei in shock.
After a while, the other four graduate students finally came to their senses. They were surprised and looked at Zhang Wei with admiring expressions.
“How did he come up with this kind of experimental idea? No wonder he was able to publish an article in Science! I don’t think I might be able to come up with this kind of experimental idea in my lifetime. I really want to cut off his head. Open it and see what's inside!" Senior Brother Liu couldn't help but sigh.
When engaging in scientific research, the most important thing is to find the right direction. As long as the direction is correct, results will be achieved soon. But if the direction is incorrect, a lifetime of research will not yield results.
Those top scholars who do scientific research projects only provide an experimental idea, and the specific execution is left to their subordinates. He is only responsible for taking a look at the results, and then formulating the next stage based on the results. How to do the experiment.
However, providing experimental ideas is precisely the most difficult and core step in the entire project.
Even if all roads can really lead to Rome, there are still short and far ones. What’s more, in the process of scientific research, there may be only one road that can lead directly to Rome, and other roads are wrong.
The person who guides the way must judge which path to take based on his own knowledge, his own experience, and the feedback from the previous journey. They have to determine whether they took the wrong road, and if so, which fork in the road they took, and which road they should change to!
The experimental ideas provided by Zhang Wei are the methods provided in the paper.
The Nobel Prize-winning expert led his team to study for so many years and conducted so many experiments before he found the correct experimental idea. How could ordinary scholars think of it so easily! If these PhDs and masters could have thought of it, they would have become Nobel Prize winners!
So when Zhang Wei proposed this experimental idea, the other four people in the project team were all shocked!
This feeling is probably like when Cao Cao's ministers were thinking hard about how to weigh an elephant, Cao Chong had already rowed over in a boat. After Cao Chong finished weighing the elephant, the officials realized belatedly that they could still do this! Why didn't I think of that!
……
It is not a simple matter to form a piece of CRISPR RNA. The transcription of the CRISPR sequence, the processing of the precursor CRISPR RNA, and the generation of mature CRISPR RNA all need to be precisely controlled within the cell to ensure its effectiveness.
Zhang Wei doesn't need to worry about experiments. The seven people under him are all good at experiments. Zhang Wei only needs to wait for the results.
And this experiment is a mature technology. As long as the idea is right, the results will definitely come out if you do it a few times.
After the experimenters worked day and night, the team successfully overcame the not too difficult difficulty of CRISPRRNA.
The next step is to determine the cutting point.
Even when cutting pork, it is important to cut along the texture of the meat, not to mention gene editing. It is impossible to cut just anywhere. You have to find the cutting point before editing.
If you can't find this cutting point and cut it randomly, let alone whether it can be cut off, this genetic sequence will definitely be cut into pieces.
In fact, according to standard experimental procedures, finding the cutting point of the gene sequence is a task that must be done before gene editing. You must find the target sequence of the gene before cutting.
Just like when you go to the vegetable market to buy meat, before the meat vendor cuts the knife, he will first ask you how many kilograms of meat you want to buy and whether you want it to be fat or lean. You said you wanted two kilograms of lean meat, but the butcher cut up ten kilograms of fat meat for you, but you definitely didn’t want it.
The same is true for gene editing. If you are not sure which gene to edit, why are you talking about gene editing?
But Zhang Wei deliberately put this step at the end to keep the project confidential.
As long as you don’t know how to find the cutting point, the technology of genetic scissors cannot be considered to exist.
This is like, although I have taught you how to sharpen a knife, how to butcher a pig, and how to cut meat, as long as I don’t tell you how many kilograms the customer wants to buy, you can’t use the knife!
Then the core competitiveness is still in my hands! Whether the meat can be sold or not is up to me.
(End of this chapter)