Chapter 207: Show your Qinglong Yanyue Sword
Professor Stapp did not come alone, but brought a whole team. The team lineup is also quite strong, all of them are medical doctors. In terms of academic qualifications, they are much better than Zhang Wei's team.
Medical students have high academic standards. Even after they graduate with a master's degree, they are still doing odd jobs in clinical practice. In the field of scientific research, a doctorate is just a stepping stone, not the kind of doctor who has strong scientific research ability. The team Don't want you.
Northwestern University’s School of Medicine is the top research-based medical school in the United States. Although it is not among the top five in the United States in terms of rankings, the number of people applying to Northwestern University Medical School ranks first in the United States.
The entire Northwestern University School of Medicine can receive approximately 400 million U.S. dollars in sponsorship funds each year, and Professor Stapp alone can receive more than 10 million, which is equivalent to one-fortieth of all funds. , which is enough to prove Stapp’s status in the academic world.
When he met Zhang Wei for the first time, Professor Stapp also showed a surprised expression. He had long heard that Zhang Wei was a young scholar, but when he saw the real person, he was still shocked.
Zhang Wei is much younger than any student Professor Stapp has ever taught.
Studying medicine in the United States is different from that in China. In China, you can directly apply for the clinical medicine major in the college entrance examination. In the United States, you must first complete a four-year university course and obtain a bachelor's degree before you can apply for medical school.
And not everyone with a bachelor's degree can apply for it, because medicine involves biology, chemistry and other fields, so only majors related to these subjects can apply for medicine.
The medical schools of each school will organize relevant examinations, and the content of the examinations is also different. Of course, if you have connections and a letter of recommendation, you can get into medical school without taking an exam.
In other words, the youngest medical student in the United States is 22 years old, which is two years older than the current Zhang Wei.
For an average medical student, if he wants to become a doctor, it will take him four years, plus two or three years for a master's degree in medicine, and four to six years for a doctor of medicine, which means the time it takes to train a doctor of medicine. , it takes about eight to ten years, plus the first four years of undergraduate studies, it takes twelve to fourteen years.
In China, eight years of clinical bachelor's, master's and doctoral studies are enough. If you finish five years of clinical studies and take the master's and doctoral studies, it will take about two more years. Generally speaking, it takes It saves some time compared to the United States.
However, China has standardized training for resident doctors, which actually does not save many years of time, and the training is just like a cow, which is much harder than American doctors.
The other thing is to study medicine in the United States. If you are really good, you can apply for graduation in advance.
For example, Anthony Fauci, the famous epidemiologist in the United States, who is known as the "American Zhong Nanshan", took only four years from the time he entered medical school to study medicine and received his doctorate in medicine. A genius.
These doctoral students brought by Professor Stapp are not as gifted as Fauci, although they are all outstanding and are all about thirty years old.
Looking at the 20-year-old Zhang Wei in front of them, Stap's team members all showed envy and jealous expressions, but other than that, they were a bit dignified.
Genius scientists are most likely to be weirdos. They may have some weird hobbies, which may make them difficult to get along with!
After Zhang Wei and Professor Stapp exchanged a few words, they began to discuss the follow-up research on IPS cells.
"I have already drawn up several plans for follow-up research on IPS cells. However, due to lack of manpower, I originally planned to only select one or two to carry out. Now that I have Professor Stapp, it seems that I can carry out more research in several directions. Study it." Zhang Wei said with a smile.
Zhang Wei’s words are tantamount to telling Stapp that he still has to take control of the research. In other words, to study those contents, you have to listen to Zhang Wei.
Professor Stapp had a smile on his face, but he was a little unhappy in his heart. A scholar of his level came with funds. Of course, he needed to take the lead in research. How could he completely let Zhang Wei has the final say!
So Stapp said: "As for the research direction, I actually have several very potential ideas, which I think are of great research significance."
Stapp replied, Obviously, he did not intend to listen to Zhang Wei. He wanted to control the direction of his research on his own.
Zhang Wei took out a folder, handed it to Stapp, and then said: "Professor Stapp, you might as well take a look at this research plan first, maybe you will be interested in it."
Stapp frowned slightly. He had already expressed that he would conduct research and development according to his own plan, but Zhang Wei still gave him a research plan. Was he not intending to give him face? Do you have to follow your scientific research direction?
However, out of politeness, Stapp still took the folder, opened it and read the contents.
As soon as he saw the project expression, Professor Stapp's expression became serious. He quickly read the content and then took a breath of air.
"How about it? Professor Stapp, you should be interested in this project, right?" Zhang Wei asked with a smile.
"How far have you progressed in the research mentioned above?" Stapp asked immediately.
“The theoretical demonstration has been completed and the experimental plan has been drawn up. If you are interested in this project, I can give you the prepared experimental plan.”
Zhang Wei continued: "Professor Stapp, I know that you are an expert in neurons. You are interested in IPS cells. You probably hope to use IPS cells to generate neuron tissue to treat related diseases.
But you also know the current defects of IPS cells. c-Myc is an oncogene, so IPS cells have a great risk of carcinogenesis and cannot be used for clinical treatment.
So I think, I just proposed this research direction to reduce the risk of cancer so that IPS cells can be used in clinical trials faster. I think you will be interested.”
Among the four genes Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc used by Zhang Wei to induce IPS cells, c-Myc is a well-known oncogene.
Many medical examination institutions have launched the c-Myc gene testing project. When it first appeared, the test was worth 10,000 to 20,000 per time. Later, more and more people were doing this test, and the price came down. Now it is This inspection can be done within a thousand dollars.
It is also because the induced gene of IPS cells contains the oncogene c-Myc, so the induced IPS cells have a great risk of causing cancer, which is a sure thing.
Therefore, other cells differentiated from such IPS cells will naturally carry a great risk of cancer. Then it cannot be applied in clinical treatment.
For example, Professor Stapp's research project hopes to use IPS cells to generate neuron cells to replace damaged or degenerated neurons in humans, thereby treating diseases.
But if the generated neuron cells can cause cancer, there will be no way to treat the disease.
The patient has Alzheimer's disease, which means he has some dementia. If he is taken good care of, he can live for ten years.
After using your neuron therapy, I’m not sure whether Alzheimer’s disease was cured or not, but I got cancer. I was supposed to live ten years, but ended up only living three to five years. I’m a fool. Use this method to cure diseases!
Even if this method can cure Alzheimer's disease, it is not cost-effective to suffer from cancer. The pain caused by cancer is no less painful than Alzheimer's disease.
Therefore, if IPS cells want to be applied in clinical medicine, the problem of cancer risk must first be solved.
Regarding this, later research has found a solution. Future scientific research teams will first replace retroviruses with adenoviruses, thus reducing the risk of cancer.
Later, plasmids were developed as gene carriers. Later, scientists used transcription factor proteins to achieve the induction effect, directly abandoning gene induction, thus solving the problem of cancer risk.
What Zhang Wei has come up with now is a research plan to reduce the risk of cancer caused by IPS cells.
For Professor Stapp, this plan is too tempting!
Stapp is willing to bring funds to join the group simply to obtain first-hand research results on IPS cells and pave the way for his neuron research plan.
Now Zhang Wei's research plan to reduce the risk of cancer is simply tailor-made for him!
Stapp himself had to admit that the research plan proposed by Zhang Wei was indeed more meaningful than the research directions he had previously imagined.
What's more, according to Zhang Wei, he not only has a research plan, but he has even thought of the experimental plan. This is equivalent to, you originally planned to make a sea cucumber and millet porridge, but someone came up with a new plan, saying that it was like making a Buddha jump over the wall, which directly crushed your plan. If Buddha jumps over the wall to eat, who will hold on to the millet porridge and not let go?
And they have even prepared all the ingredients for making Buddha Jump Over the Wall for you. Just waiting for you to cook, they ask you if you can cook it?
Stapp is not a fool. He has this all on his lips, how could he not do it!
The biggest advantage of scientists is that they do not make excuses and are willing to bow to the facts. Scientific research is all about seeking truth from facts. If someone else's plan is better than mine, then I will follow your plan.
So Professor Stapp immediately said: "Mr. Zhang, I am very interested in your research plan, and I am also willing to cooperate with you on this plan."
Stapp Next to him, several disciples had shocked expressions. They didn't expect that Stapp would give in! This mentor, who is usually very strong, made concessions so easily. This is not in line with the mentor's personality!
In the research plan Zhang Wei handed over, what shocking content did it have that could make Stapp make a 180-degree turn and compromise in an instant?
Are there any nude photos of Stapp in it?
Even if there are nude photos, it doesn’t seem to matter, right? As for Americans, few care about omissions.
What's more, Stapp is also a professor of medicine. What has the doctor never seen? For doctors, having a bare butt is no big deal!
It is no exaggeration to say that even if Professor Stapp takes off his clothes and stands in the classroom, he can use his own body as a teaching tool to teach students a day's course.
At this time, Stapp handed the research plan to the disciples around him.
Several disciples opened it and showed surprised expressions.
The research plan proposed by Zhang Wei is indeed more meaningful than what they discussed before.
He is indeed a genius scholar! The research direction alone can complete the dimensionality reduction attack on them.
At this time, Zhang Wei continued: "Since Professor Stapp has the intention to cooperate, after we sign the contract, I will give you the proposed experimental plan."
"Mr. Zhang, could you please reveal a little bit about the direction of your experiment?" Professor Stapp then asked.
Zhang Wei knew that Stapp still had doubts about him. This was the bottom line! After all, they brought money into the group and spent a million dollars, so they have to see the bald man before making a fuss.
“It seems that we need to reveal more information to win the trust of this old man!” Zhang Wei smiled helplessly and began to explain:
“I am using reversal now. The virus is used as a vector to introduce the induced gene into the target cells, so I plan to improve it in two aspects, one is the vector and the other is the induced gene.
I think I can try to use other vectors. Things, such as plasmids. As for induced genes, we can also use genes directly, such as transcription factor proteins. "
Stapp nodded suddenly. At this point, It seems that Zhang Wei really has the goods in his hands and is not just trying to fool himself.
After realizing this, Stapp stretched out his right hand: "Mr. Zhang, I wish us a happy cooperation!"
...
Next, Zhang Wei and another scholar, Another research direction was discussed, which is to use liver and gastric cells to generate IPS cells.
In previous experiments, Zhang Wei used mouse fibroblasts as hosts. If other cells can be used to generate IPS cells, then the research on IPS cells will have a leap forward. The role of sex.
Coupled with Sam's ongoing research on the reproductive capacity of IPS cells, Zhang Wei has launched three research projects on IPS cells in one go.
Of course, there are many things that can be followed up on the great treasure of IPS cells, many of which can bring breakthrough developments to medicine, but Zhang Wei feels that there is no need to bring them out at this time.
At this stage, it is better to conduct more theoretical research. The applied research that can truly bring economic value must be left to Tsinghua University after returning to China.
......
The man with gold-rimmed glasses walked into his office with a gloomy expression, and then closed the door hard. The loud sound when closing the door could be heard in the whole building. .
"Secretary Wang, what's going on? Why are you so angry?" someone asked.
"I was reprimanded by the leaders above! Please pay attention. If you have something to report, please wait. If you report to work today, you will definitely get into trouble." Secretary Wang replied.
“I thought I was going to a meeting, but I didn’t expect that I was going to be scolded!”
“I was going to a meeting, but I can’t be scolded during a meeting? I was scolded in front of so many people at the meeting. You must be embarrassed about this! Can you be happy?”
“This is a bit serious. It means that the superiors are also very angry.”
"It's not because of that Zhang Wei! He was the one who published a paper before and didn't give us a signature. Didn't his scientific research funding be stopped at that time? As a result, he went to the United States and produced some cell research results. , said to be able to overcome all diseases and allow humans to live to be 200 years old.”
"I have also heard about what you are talking about. Many newspapers have published it in the past few days, saying that our country cannot retain top talents. That is all kinds of reflection!"
"Follow-up report Didn’t you read that some media went to Tsinghua University to interview this matter? Tsinghua University was definitely not willing to take the blame, so it exposed the matter of our lack of funds to the media. It took a lot of effort for our Publicity Department to suppress the matter.
And I heard that Qingdao University also went to complain to the higher authorities. People said that this was supposed to be the result of our Chinese scientific research, but it ended up being given to the Americans because of funding. Taken away. It suddenly rises to the level of national interest!"
"Then this is a serious matter! Then we have to take responsibility, right?" The troublemaker said with a look of horror.
"What are you afraid of? If the sky falls, a tall man will hold it up!" Secretary Wang pointed to the office with gold-rimmed glasses and continued:
"The person inside who can sit in this position must have two skills. He made a review at that time and expressed his position, saying that our fund review process was too complicated, and he would immediately hold a meeting to improve the process after he came back."
"Brilliant, if the funding review process is cumbersome, it's just a matter of work and business, not personal grudges." It's a violation of discipline. You'll have to work hard to improve in the future!"
Secretary Wang nodded with a smile, and then said: "Besides, there are no ordinary people who can sit in that office! We won’t lose our reputation because of a few quarrels with the media!”
“So, this matter should be considered in the past?”
"It's over! The superior leaders are so busy and have so many things to deal with, how can they have time to pay attention to us every day." Secretary Wang said confidently.
“But what if that Zhang Wei produces several important scientific research results again? Maybe the media will report it again, Tsinghua University will file a complaint again, and the higher-ups will think of this again! What is the word? Here comes the Sword of Damocles. "The Sword of Damocles? Did Shaolin Temple pay you for advertising? It's called the Sword of Damocles!" The secretary corrected him and then said:
"Scientific research is not Chinese cabbage. How can it be available every month! It will probably be the year of the monkey and the month of the horse when Zhang Wei comes up with the results again!"
(End of Chapter)