Chapter 177 Genius’ Brain
“Give me a copy of all the spectral data of CRISPR-Cas9-cut gene fragments. All of them, including the preliminary experimental data.”
Zhang Wei took out a USB flash drive and handed it to Senior Brother Liu.
"Why do you suddenly need to look at the data? Didn't he only look at the results before!" Senior Brother Liu was a little confused, but he still took the U disk and copied the data to the U disk.
When he came to his computer, Zhang Wei looked at the experimental data carefully, with a smile on his face.
The cutting points of genetic scissors are actually already included in these experimental data.
The cutting point of CRISPR-Cas9 technology is a short gene sequence composed of three nucleotides, which contains one arbitrary nucleotide and two guanines. This cutting point is called the pre-meta Area sequence adjacent motif, abbreviated as PAM in English.
PAM serves as an important recognition signal, helping the Cas9 protein to confirm the correctness of the cleavage site. Without the correct PAM sequence, the Cas9 protein will not cleave efficiently.
In the previous experimental data of Zhang Wei’s project team, the cutting points are all PAM sequences of an arbitrary nucleotide plus two guanines, so Zhang Wei only needs to summarize based on the experimental data to conclude Result.
Now that everything is ready, you just need to fill in your experimental data and you can publish a paper!
...
Zhang Wei took the paper and came to Meng Heming's office.
The last time Meng Heming saw Zhang Wei was when he was applying for project funds. Now when he saw Zhang Wei looking relaxed and content, he instantly realized something.
"Zhang Wei, why are you here? Could it be that the project has been completed?" Meng Heming asked.
“It’s done, it’s a success!” Zhang Wei nodded.
Meng Heming's heart suddenly tightened. This project is a new gene editing method. It can be considered a big project in any national scientific research institute.
For such a large project, the three words "successful" are even more heavy, enough to arouse countless reveries.
"You mean, the gene editing technology using CRISPR-Cas9 you mentioned last time has been successful?" Meng Heming confirmed subconsciously.
"Yes, what else? If the technology fails, do I have the nerve to say 'success'?" Zhang Wei nodded.
“In other words, you have developed a new gene editing technology?”
"Look what you said, when we set up the project before, didn't we just say that we would create a new gene editing technology!"
"Did it happen so quickly?" Meng Heming showed an incredulous expression and murmured He said to himself: "This is a new gene editing technology!"
"When I do scientific research, I always pay more attention to efficiency." Zhang Wei said proudly.
"Is this called efficiency? We all call this incredible!" Meng Heming snorted coldly, stretched out his hand, and continued: "Let me see the experiment report!"
"Experiment There are too many reports, and they are printed out in such a thick pile that I haven’t even had time to sort them out!” Zhang Wei gestured with his hand.
"There is no experimental report. Why don't you give me a report!"
"Although the experimental report has not been compiled yet, I have written the paper. You can just read the paper!" Zhang Wei said and took out the paper. A few pages of A4 paper.
The paper is only four to five thousand words, plus some experimental data and charts, which is only three or four pages of content, which is much less than the experimental report.
"What did you say? Have you finished writing the paper?" Meng Heming blinked, feeling that this scene seemed familiar.
"It took me three days! This time it was really three days. In order to write this paper, I missed the subject one exam." Zhang Wei replied.
The last nucleoside modification project seemed to be like this. The experiment was just completed three days ago, and the paper was written three days later.
"Wait a minute, when you were writing your last paper, didn't you take the test for subject one? Are you kidding me?" Meng Heming asked.
“I didn’t pass the exam last time.” Zhang Wei said with an embarrassed look.
“You can write high-level papers, but you failed in subject one?”
“Forget it, I took the exam three times, bad luck, and missed by one point each time. Director Meng, you Do you know anyone at the traffic police? Can you show me the back door?”
"How about I pay you two hundred yuan at my own expense and wait for you to find a scalper when you take the next exam?" Meng Heming snorted coldly and educated him: "Irregular driving will make my relatives cry. You still have to take the driver's license seriously. "I passed."
"Understand, there are thousands of roads, safety is the first one!" Zhang Wei said and pointed to the paper: "Director Meng, why don't you take a look at my paper first?"
"Okay! Sit down and wait for a while. If you want to drink tea, you can pour it yourself. Don't be polite to me." Meng Heming said, lowering his head and reading the paper.
The title of the paper is "AProgrammableDual-RNA-GuidedDNAEndonucleaseinAdaptiveBacterialImmunity". It is simple and clear. You can tell what this paper is about at a glance.
After reading it for the first time, this paper is really well written! The logic is clear, the layers are clear, and the wording is accurate. In terms of quality alone, it is also a rare high-level paper.
"In just a few months, Zhang Wei's paper writing skills have improved a lot! The last paper on nucleoside modification was not as good as this one."
Meng Heming continued After reading it for the second time, this time he began to carefully read and analyze the content of the paper.
The last time Zhang Wei came to Meng Heming to ask for funding, he had already explained the principle of genetic scissors, so when Meng Heming saw the paper, he was not shocked like last time. Instead, he could analyze the paper calmly. content.
The paper initially described the working principle of CRISPR-Cas9 and other contents, which Meng Heming had already understood, and in his opinion, there was nothing new.
What really attracted him was the idea of merging CRISPRRNA into guide RNA, which was the idea of using genetic scissors for human use.
"Genius! What a genius idea! Since you can't control the protein Cas9, then control the RNA fragment that generates this protein, and then let the RNA generate the protein to achieve the purpose of cutting the gene fragment! Zhang Wei's mind is filled with What? You can think of such a method!"
Meng Heming took a breath. As a top scholar in the country, Meng Heming has also been engaged in scientific research all his life. He knows very well what is the most critical and core thing in a scientific research project.
As far as the genetic scissors project is concerned, the core of the project is not the principle of genetic scissors, nor is it about finding a protein like CRISPR-Cas9 that can cut genes, but how to use genetic scissors.
In this project, other research can be regarded as preliminary exploration. Only the application method of genetic scissors can be regarded as a real research result. As long as this result cannot be achieved, the genetic scissors project will be considered useless.
Based on Meng Heming’s understanding of molecular biology, finding a method for applying genetic scissors will require countless experiments, repeated overturning of plans, and countless failures. This process may take several years. , even more than ten years. And Zhang Wei actually found the application method of genetic scissors in such a short period of time!
Obviously, this is not the result of repeated failed experiments, because it is impossible to conduct multiple experiments in a short period of time.
The only explanation is that Zhang Wei thought of it himself!
He used his wisdom and brainpower to figure out how to use genetic scissors!
Engaging in scientific research requires a large amount of knowledge accumulation, patient and meticulous experiments, and years of experience, but in the final analysis, scientific research still depends on brain power.
The difference between you and Einstein is not that he can recite Newton's three laws better than you, nor that he did a better light pressure experiment than you, nor that the equations he cited in his calculations are more advanced than you, but that he loves Einstein's brain could think of the theory of relativity, but your poor little brain couldn't.
This is the difference between geniuses and ordinary people. What geniuses can think of, ordinary people can't think of!
At this time, Meng Heming, looking at Zhang Wei's paper, felt like an ordinary person looking up to a genius!
The method of using genetic scissors introduced in Zhang Wei's paper may be figured out by ordinary scholars after hundreds of failed experiments.
But for a genius, there is no need for hundreds of experiments. All it takes is a flash of inspiration to find the way to the end.
"Genius, this is a real genius, no, a super genius that is rare to see in a century! Einstein back then was nothing more than this!"
The next second, Meng Heming's expression suddenly looked disappointed. .
“Our Department of Biology at Tsinghua University is so virtuous and capable that we can have a genius scholar like Zhang Wei! With the level of our Department of Biology at Tsinghua University, how can we be worthy of such a genius!”
< br>This is just like you have appointed Zhuge Liang as a servant, of course you feel happy in your heart.
But you are Yan Baihu. You want territory but no territory, you want troops but no troops, you want fame but no fame, and your own attributes are still poor. Do you deserve Zhuge Liang?
Even if the surrounding princes want to rob Zhuge Liang, they will have to kill you!
Meng Heming sighed lightly, then patiently continued to read the paper, followed by the experimental verification process.
"Have all the experimental data been retained?" Meng Heming asked.
“Don’t worry, repeated tests have been done and videos have been recorded.” Zhang Wei replied.
"If the test can be repeated and there is video evidence, then there will be no problem." Meng Heming nodded and continued to read the rest of the content.
The last two paragraphs respectively discuss the potential applications of gene scissors technology in gene editing and gene therapy, and summarize the future research directions of gene scissors technology.
"This paper is well written, Zhang Wei. The level of your papers has improved greatly compared to a few months ago!" Meng Heming commented.
“Maybe this paper performed better, maybe the next paper did not perform well and the level dropped back!” Zhang Wei said with a smile.
Zhang Wei also knows that even in the three major journals, it is uncommon to write papers of this quality. It is impossible for me to always copy such high-quality papers. Maybe next time I meet a Nobel Prize winner whose paper is mediocre, the quality of the paper will deteriorate again.
Meng Heming then said: "I will report to Principal Gu now, and you will sort out the experimental data as soon as possible."
"Are you going to welcome Sinopharm and the three academicians to come and accept the results of the genetic scissors? Do you want me to make a PPT as a reporting material?" Zhang Wei asked.
"There is no need to rush to do the PPT. Academicians don't have time to come to us every day. We ask you to prepare experimental materials for the Intellectual Property Center to apply for a patent!"
Meng Heming's voice After a pause, he continued: "This is a brand-new gene editing technology. I am thinking that this patent will definitely be easier to sell! Maybe your living expenses for the rest of your life will be covered!"
...
In the cafeteria, Senior Brother Liu, who was immersed in cooking, saw Professor Su again.
"Professor Su, do you have something to do with me?" Senior Brother Liu continued: "You also know that our project has signed a confidentiality agreement, and I cannot disclose the content of the project."
Professor Su took out A note was handed to Senior Brother Liu, and at the same time he said: "Yesterday, I had a phone call with the leader of Xi'an Jiaotong University and explained your situation. The other party still has to give me some face. When you return to your hometown, you can contact this leader directly. This is his contact information."
Professor Su folded the note and pushed it in front of Senior Brother Liu.
Senior Brother Liu struggled internally for more than half a minute, and finally picked up the note, carefully put it into his pocket, and then said:
"The experimental part of our project has been It’s completed. According to Zhang Wei, the project is progressing very successfully. The next step is to write the paper. In the past two years, I have not been to the laboratory and I have not seen Zhang Wei. I guess he is busy writing the paper as usual! In terms of progress, I estimate that it will take a month at the earliest to write the paper.”
"One month at the fastest?" Professor Su showed a contemptuous expression.
“After all, this is a new gene editing technology. One month is a bit short, but Zhang Wei’s brain is very bright. Maybe he can really come up with the first draft in one month.”
Senior Brother Liu thought he said one month was too short, and Professor Su didn’t believe it.
"Xiao Liu, you are boring like this!" Professor Su said dissatisfied.
Senior Brother Liu was stunned for a moment, showing an expression of confusion. Professor Su continued: "Zhang Wei's paper arrived at Principal Gu's yesterday afternoon, and then people from the Intellectual Property Center came over. I guess they have started preparing materials and applying for a patent now!"
< br>
"What? The paper has been written? This is impossible! It has been less than a week since we finished the experiment. How can we write a paper in such a short time!" Senior Brother Liu said with a look of surprise.
“You really don’t know?” Professor Su felt that Senior Brother Liu’s reaction was very genuine and did not look like he was lying.
“I didn’t even see the paper! If Zhang Wei really wrote the paper, why should he show it to us first? We are members of the project team, and we did all the experiments. !" Senior Brother Liu continued.
“You really haven’t read the paper?” Professor Su was also surprised.
"Do you really have a paper?" Senior Brother Liu asked.
"The news from the Intellectual Property Center is that there is indeed a paper and it can be published at any time, otherwise they would not be preparing to apply for a patent." Professor Su nodded and asked: "You really don't know about the paper? ”
Normally, after the paper is written, the purpose must be given to the members of the project team. Everyone should check for omissions and fill in the gaps together, and discuss what content in the paper needs to be revised.
For someone like Zhang Wei, he would hand it in directly after writing the paper without showing it to the members. This was also the first time that Professor Su had encountered him.
The next second, Professor Su felt a cold air rising from the opposite side, and Senior Brother Liu's face was already full of anger.
“Oops, I seem to have stung a hornet’s nest!”
Professor Su felt nervous and quickly added: "Xiao Liu, don't be angry. Zhang Wei is still young. He has never done a project before, so he may not know the rules."
"Even if you don't know the rules, But you have to give us a look at the paper! We did the experiments and wrote the experimental reports. Even if we don’t have any credit, we still have to work hard! No, I have to go find Zhang Wei! Ask for an explanation!”
Senior Brother Liu stood up angrily.
(End of this chapter)