Chapter 1457: Chapter 1085: The Super Big Issue

“Notify Tang Shun, Lu Xiaolu, Zhang Zhiwei, and you, follow me to the Nandu Medical University Genetics Laboratory for a meeting, an urgent and important meeting. I’ll contact Lin Lan now.

Lin Lan was also unclear what urgent matter Yang Ping had for calling such an urgent meeting, but she immediately gathered important members of the laboratory to wait in the lab.

The reason the meeting was held in Lin Lan’s lab is because the main task of genetically recombining NK cells with the adenovirus needed to be completed by Lin Lan’s team, whose primary focus is in the field of genetic engineering.

Soon, everyone gathered in the Meeting Room of the Nandu Medical University Genetics Laboratory, wondering what important matter had prompted Professor Yang to call such an urgent meeting.

After everyone took their seats, Yang Ping didn’t beat around the bush; as scholars, they didn’t have time for roundabout ways.

“Today, I’ve gathered you all for this meeting because our research project has made a significant breakthrough,” said Yang Ping.

A significant breakthrough? The new research phase had not even started yet, the NK cells were still being cultured in the lab, and hadn’t been used in any patient’s body yet, so what breakthrough was he talking about?

Yang Ping continued, “The K factor was a serendipitous discovery while culturing tumor cells in the lab, found in the culture medium. We had tried tracing its origins, discovering that there’s no such substance as the K factor in the human body. We searched for the cause but could never find the real reason. I’ve been pondering this issue, and now I have a new discovery, a rather mature hypothesis in my mind. As it’s still a hypothesis, it needs to be verified in the lab.”

Had they found the source of the K factor? Everyone had analyzed it for a long time, failed to find its source, and had to abandon the search, leaving the problem to be slowly dissected later, focusing the majority of their energy on the study of tumor treatment methods surrounding the K factor.

“At the time we were culturing tumor cells, it’s possible that small amounts of immunocytes got mixed into the samples of tumor cells. These immunocytes could not survive in the culture medium of the lab or they died without replenishment. After they died and disintegrated, some fragments were left in the culture medium, and under some unknown conditions, these fragments recombined and formed what we now see as the K factor. This is a hypothesis, to test which, we need to establish a new subject of research, perform genetic analysis of the K factor, then segment them by function and match these segments against fragments from immunocytes to see if there’s an overlap. If there’s a complete match, then it means the hypothesis is valid. Once the hypothesis is proved, we won’t need to focus on the K factor anymore in cancer treatment. Instead, we may recombine certain segments at will, such as recombining them with adenoviruses, creating a brand-new weapon to kill tumor cells.” Yang Ping roughly introduced his hypothesis, ready to write a paper and publish it in the Medical Journal.

Lin Lan immediately became excited. The work of comparing genetic fragments was her specialty. If the project were set up, it would be large in scale, equivalent to conducting a complete and precise analysis of the human body’s immunocytes.

“Technically there’s no issue, this task can be left to us, as long as funding is not a problem,” Lin Lan immediately took on the task.

The technical part wasn’t too complex, it was just a big engineering task to map out the gene chart, then segment these genes by their functions, and finally, compare the two to find identical structural fragments.

“Set it up quickly, no need for approval, just initiate the project. The funds will be allocated from our Research Fund. Make a budget and we’ll immediately allocate it to you,” Yang Ping instructed Lin Lan.

“Tang Shun, Lu Xiaolu, Zhang Zhiwei, Lin Lan, the four Professors, four laboratories working together on a mega project, and that is to combine factors from immunocytes that target tumors, such as tumor necrosis factors with adenoviruses, composing a treatment virus carrying immunocyte weaponry.” The main purpose of this meeting called by Yang Ping was to establish this project, the gene group project was just the beginning of this major project.

At first, the listeners didn’t think much of it, but as they mulled over it more thoroughly, their interest grew. Professor Yang truly had innovative and imaginative ideas.

Previously, all attention was fixated on the K factor, now with the hypothesis unveiling the reason behind the formation of the K factor, many types of K factors could potentially be combined.

Thinking of this, everyone became excited; all recent tumor-related subjects were now interconnected, and Professor Yang had grasped the underlying logic of these studies. If the hypothesis held, the entire research would enter a new phase with a much broader scope of thought.

“What can we do with this?” Professor Zhang Zhiwei asked excitedly.

Yang Ping thought for a moment: “Once the hypothesis is confirmed, the mega project will need a lot of adenoviruses. In this project, your main task is to provide adenoviruses, to systematically and in-depth study adenoviruses, building a system for them, so that when we need them, we can select viruses that meet our requirements.”

“Understood, I’ll start right away,” Professor Zhang Zhiwei was unequivocal.

“Also, make a budget on your part, I want to allocate funds to you. Budget boldly, don’t be tentative. This project is very large, it’s a massive system engineering task.”

Yang Ping cautioned him.

“Should I be responsible for further studying the mechanism of immunocytes in killing tumors? And the interactions between tumors and immunocytes?” Lu Xiaolu proactively asked.

“Yes, that’s the work for your side,” confirmed Yang Ping.

Tang Shun was getting anxious: “And what about me?”

“Your task is to delve deeper into the structure and function of immunocytes,” Yang Ping gave Tang Shun the last task.

“There are many tasks and certainly not enough hands. Everyone go and find some young doctors, those with active minds and plenty of energy, especially those with outstanding College Entrance Examination scores. Recruit as many as you can, we’ll need them later. No matter how many qualified ones there are, we’ll take them all,” Yang Ping ordered Tang Shun.

“Understood, I’ll handle it,” Tang Shun accepted the command.

“Let’s take it step by step, roll up our sleeves and get to work, don’t be afraid to spend money, what research doesn’t cost money? Such a large project will certainly burn through funds, don’t be afraid, our research funding is sufficient,” Yang Ping warned everyone to abandon their previous mentality of working on a small scale.

A mega project like this couldn’t be achieved with a small-time mentality.

“We also need to hire people, we definitely don’t have enough hands.”

Lin Lan, Zhang Zhiwei also brought up their difficulties, taking the opportunity to voice them all.

PS: I’ve been busy these days, for now, I will post smaller chapters of over 2000 words each day. Once I’m less busy, I’ll resume with full chapters of 4000 words or more. Thank you!”