Chapter 629 Subtle Anatomy
With the introduction of Tang Shun settled, Yang Ping felt much more relaxed.
In this way, the stem cell laboratory has members who do basic research, and many tasks will be much easier to carry out.
In the system space laboratory, Yang Ping's experiments have continued, and he will use the appropriate time to go in and continue the laboratory almost every day.
Regarding the substances that induce the directional differentiation of stem cells, Yang Ping continued to collect them, used cryo-electron microscopy to distinguish and record them one by one, and then conducted reverse experiments to confirm. A lot of the work was of a trial-and-error nature. Without the support of strong interest, it would be difficult to convert boring materials into The work was done soundly and impressively.
Interest drives Yang Ping to work selflessly in the system laboratory, doing all kinds of complicated work with relish.
Some repetitive tasks, such as single-layer cell slicing of muscles, were left to the robotic arm by Yang Ping.
Although the robotic arm can only work according to Yang Ping's arrangements and has no subjective initiative, it is still good as a coolie. At least it can complete the assigned tasks meticulously according to Yang Ping's arrangements.
Muscle cells, also known as muscle fibers, are long cylindrical multinucleated cells with a length of 1-40 mm and a diameter of 10-100 μm. A muscle cell contains dozens or even hundreds of nuclei.
How are these muscle cells organized into muscles and how are they connected to each other?
Then how do structures such as nerves, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels shuttle through them? How many layers are there in nerves, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels? What cells are made of each layer? How are these cells connected?
This is the subtle anatomy of muscles that Yang Ping currently wants to understand.
In system laboratories, in addition to time being very cheap, these robots are also cheap labor because they can be added as needed.
The laboratory seemed busy but orderly, with numerous robotic arms doing their own work.
The light microscope and electron microscope pictures of the muscle sections are all stored in the computer, and then the computer is used to reconstruct the three-dimensional fine anatomy of the entire muscle.
These basic tasks are extremely tedious, but they are also very important. Every link cannot be careless.
If a muscle is sliced into a single cell layer, at least more than 20,000 slices can be made in the sagittal and coronal planes considering only the muscle cells, but millions of slices can be made in three sections when considering blood vessels, nerves and lymphatic vessels.
Yang Ping, who had millions of slices, did not just let the computer read the pictures, but read them one by one in person so that he could have a clear idea.
In the human movement system, muscles are more complex than structures such as bones, ligaments, and tendons. If the fine anatomy of muscles can be analyzed, then structures such as bones, ligaments, and tendons can naturally be analyzed.
How to slice muscle of a single layer of cells and how to construct a detailed anatomy? Yang Ping figured out a set of methods through a large number of sections and compositions. He summarized this method and then applied it to real-life experiments, thus reducing trial and error. time.
In scientific research, a lot of time is wasted on trial and error, but trial and error is a necessary process.
Why are some senior companies in each technology industry able to form monopolies? For example, why are some of the world's pharmaceutical giants able to form monopolies, making it difficult for latecomers to surpass them? The most important thing is that their scientific research databases include countless success and failure data. Emerging Companies have invested heavily in research and development of drugs that these big companies may have tried wrongly decades ago.
Therefore, the longer this kind of company lasts, the more experiments it has, and the data whether it is successful or failed is extremely valuable. These are core secrets and an important part of determining the technical threshold.
For other companies, such as some high-end steel manufacturing companies, the formulas for manufacturing materials are data accumulated through decades or hundreds of years of trial and error, which cannot be surpassed in a short time.
Therefore, in high-tech industries such as materials, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, it is difficult for those who catch up later to surpass the former. Unless a technological revolution occurs and the track is changed, there will be no overtaking in corners.
After coming out of the system space, Yang Ping wrote down his summary of experiences based on his memory. These are extremely precious things that have been tested countless times by trial and error.
The work of slicing muscle monolayer cells is handled by the Digital Medicine Laboratory of Nandu Medical University. They have gained rich experience in building digital humans.
When this team completed the digital human, they selected the body of a young man from 20 donated bodies, and used sub-millimeter grinding technology to cut the body into thin slices of less than 0.2 mm from head to toe. Into 8972 pictures, more than 20 scientific researchers, working day and night, processed more than 200,000 pictures, each picture has a resolution of 4040*5880, and then used these pictures to build a digital human.
The difference is that the current muscle slicing requires much higher technology than before to achieve a single layer of cells, and more pictures are processed. The number of slices processed in one direction alone is hundreds of thousands or millions of pictures.
Moreover, in each picture, the cells need to be distinguished. If it is a known cell, it is necessary to figure out which type of cell it belongs to; if it is an unknown cell, it is necessary to figure out what kind of cell it is, and it must be presented separately for further research.
The task of directional cultivation of stem cells into muscle cells is completed by the stem cell laboratory of Sanbo Hospital. It not only needs to differentiate into muscle cells, but also into cells that make up nerves, cells that make up blood vessels, cells that make up lymphatic vessels, and a complete muscle. All cell types involved need to be capable of targeted culture.
After completing these two tasks, the following steps began to diverge into two routes, one is biological 3D printing technology, and the other is gene expression control technology.
The bio-3D printing technology is handled by the laboratory of Ruixing Medical Company, while the gene expression regulation is handled by the genetics laboratory of Nandu Medical University.
The whole process requires division of labor and cooperation among multiple units. If it were not for the full cooperation of Sanbo Hospital and Nandu Medical University, it would take a year and a half to contact and coordinate the cooperating units.
The resources invested in this project are huge, and the future is uncertain. Yang Ping was deeply moved by the decisive and firm support from Sanbo Hospital and Nandu Medical University.
Chen Zhi from Ruixing Medical is a master's student majoring in bioengineering. This outstanding graduate student is studying for a doctorate from Nandu University of Technology in his spare time. He is very talented in the research and development of medical instruments and medical equipment. Under Huang Jiacai's instruction, Today, he is organizing a team to develop a new biological 3D printer.
The existing bioprinters in the world cannot print a real muscle. The muscles currently printed in the United States are just a pile of muscle cells with some functions. They have no nerves or blood vessels, and the connections between cells are not complete. simulation.
Every step of Yang Ping's project starts with basic research, which is very difficult. It's not known how long it will take to produce results.
The risk of scientific research is that when human, financial and material resources are invested, it is not known when the results will be produced, and the results may not necessarily be produced.
This is why no one is currently willing to invest in basic research.
And basic research is the most important. Without a foundation, other applied research is like a building on the beach, being torn down by others at any time.
Yang Ping organized the experience gained in the system laboratory into data, formed experimental guidance, and handed the data to Song Zimo.
Song Zimo looked through this experimental guide. The experimental route plan written in it was very clear, and the specific methods were also extremely detailed.
But this only provides experimental guidance for the first stage—obtaining the genealogy of the inducing substance.
Of course, there is only experimental guidance for the first phase, and Yang Ping himself has not completed the second phase of the experiment.
After Song Zimo finished reading, he looked at Yang Ping who was leisurely opposite.
Talent is an insurmountable mountain.
For such a complicated experiment, it was Yang Ping's first time coming into contact with the field of stem cells, and he was able to figure out a clear route. "Have you ever done research in this area before?" Song Zimo couldn't help but wonder.
Forget it, this kind of question is redundant.
It took him just a few months to get the spinal external fixator. Sometimes he really suspected that the professor he was working with was an alien. One day, he asked him to have a head CT to see if there were any differences in the internal structure.
——
"Professor, what projects can I participate in?"
Robert has been paying attention to this matter for a long time. He also wants to participate in such a large project. Even if it is assigned to a small branch project, it will be very good.
From multi-ligament reconstruction of shoulder and knee joints, to reconstruction of anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments in children, to the development of some medical devices, and the recent spinal external fixator technology, Yang Ping has been singing all the way, and his scientific research capabilities are absolutely rare in the world.
Robert has keen professional judgment. He believes that Yang Ping's stem cell-based muscle cultivation project will definitely achieve a breakthrough. It is only a matter of time.
Taking the Yang Ping train was something Robert had always longed for.
Yang Ping himself knew that he would definitely not be allowed to participate in core projects. Good relations were good relations, and some things involved the future foundation of the country in science and technology.
Currently, foreigners are not allowed to visit many of the cutting-edge biological technologies in the United States, including stem cell research projects, and a strict confidentiality system is implemented.
For example, stem cell directional differentiation technology, how to obtain inducing proteins, what are the inducing proteins, how to match the proportions, external conditions such as temperature for inducing differentiation, and scaffolding technology for stem cell differentiation. These are all laboratory secrets.
Just like the engine technology in the aviation industry, it will never be sold or open to the public.
However, branch projects can involve Robert, which can expand the reach of the project.
Yang Ping thought about it. Robert majored in sports medicine and could participate in peripheral projects, such as cartilage research.
"Analyze the structure of articular cartilage, slice a single layer of cells, and use the slices to reconstruct the three-dimensional fine anatomy of the cartilage. The cartilage I mean includes the subchondral bone and a large amount of cancellous bone connected to the cartilage."
Yang Ping assigned the research on cartilage to Robert, which was Robert's dream. If Yang Ping's research achieved a breakthrough, then the project Robert participated in would also be revolutionary.
In the future, patients with cartilage damage can directly use the patient's cells to clone cartilage and transplant it to fill the damaged area. It will be exactly the same as the previous cartilage, and there will be no rejection reaction.
"That's it. Professor Wei follows his lead and I'm responsible for the research on the fine anatomy of articular cartilage." Robert successfully boarded the ride.
"What about me?"
August was not to be outdone.
"You do research on the subtle anatomy of the intervertebral disc."
August is a specialist in spine surgery and is naturally assigned tasks related to his specialty.
The fine anatomy of the intervertebral disc is much more complex than that of cartilage.
At present, the most cutting-edge method for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation is artificial disc replacement. However, due to various reasons, the effect of artificial disc replacement surgery is not ideal, and there are many complications.
If the human body's own intervertebral disc can be copied in the future and then implanted into the intervertebral space, it will be much better than artificial disc replacement.
"When you do microanatomy research on the intervertebral disc, don't limit it to the intervertebral disc, but study the upper and lower endplates of the vertebrae and the vertebrae near the endplates, and study them as a whole." Yang Ping told August.
This is to pave the way for future applications. Bone-to-bone healing is the easiest and most reliable healing in the human body, while the healing of other tissues and bones is much more difficult.
If cartilage transplantation is performed in the future, it would be foolish to simply transplant cartilage and let the cartilage and bone heal.
If the transplanted cartilage is designed into a cartilage-bone complex and the bone serves as the healing interface, things will go much smoother.
In the same way, if an intervertebral disc transplant is performed in the future, it will be almost impossible to allow the intervertebral disc to heal with the upper and lower cartilage end plates.
If you make a complex: a complex containing some vertebrae, upper and lower cartilage end plates, and intervertebral discs.
The problem of graft-recipient combination becomes the easiest and most reliable bone-to-bone healing.
Although it is just an additional sentence, it points out different research directions.
August understood the value of adding this sentence, so everyone rushed to ride on Yang Ping's coattails. Sometimes one sentence from him could point the way and avoid a lot of trial and error.
These projects given to Robert and August are peripheral research and downstream projects of Yang Ping's project. Yang Ping cannot distract his energy for the time being. Let them do it. Not only can he maintain contact with the world's top scientific research forces, Without losing control of the core technology of the subject.
That is to maintain cooperation while maintaining one's own dominance.
Just like building an airplane, you should focus on core technologies such as engines, and leave other projects to others as appropriate. You don't have to research and manufacture anything yourself.
This is called globalization and international cooperation.
The essence of globalization and international cooperation is: I am the boss and you work; I eat meat and you drink soup.
Whether it is research on cartilage or intervertebral discs, once successful, it will be a huge breakthrough.
Robert and August are very happy to take on this task, and they are confident that they will succeed under Professor Yang's guidance.
Moreover, not everyone can have the opportunity to be part of such a big project with Professor Yang.
Robert and August immediately took action and began drafting a project plan in their minds.
Professor Yang already has a mature method for obtaining fine anatomy. They just need to follow it, which can shorten the research time.
(End of chapter)