Chapter 246 - 164: The Experiment Officially Begins

Chapter 246: Chapter 164: The Experiment Officially Begins

Jiang He got off work early today.

As for the situation at the hospital, he’d let the bullets fly a little longer.

He was heading back to the university to push forward his research project.

His paper on severe acute pancreatitis was already submitted. The next main event was the miRNA early screening project.

If they could pull this off, it would be a "nuclear weapon" that could truly shake the world. More than that, it was the obsession that had driven him in both his past and present lives:

—to conquer pancreatic cancer, starting with ultra-early, precision screening.

On the bus back to Southern Medical University, Jiang He sent a message to the project team’s QQ group.

"Everyone, lab meeting in one hour."

The laboratory.

When Jiang He walked in, everyone was already seated, looking well-behaved.

"Boss," Yi Xiangwan said. "Aren’t you supposed to be at work? How come you’re back so soon? No welcome dinner or anything?"

"No dinner, but they did assign me fifteen critical care beds."

"What, fifteen? Is Affiliated Hospital No. 1 working new hires like cattle now?"

"It’s fine. Don’t worry about the hospital. I called you here today because the several hundred frozen serum samples we collected have all arrived. As of today, the miRNA early screening project is officially entering the wet-lab phase."

At his words, everyone’s expression instantly turned serious.

Having worked with Jiang He for so long, they knew exactly how important this project was.

Jiang He took a stack of printed A4 paper from his bag and handed it out.

"This is the experimental protocol I’ve put together over the past two days. Take a look."

They took the packets and began to read.

Jiang He said, "I’ve told you all before how much potential this project has, but today, I have to give you a warning. The process is going to be extremely tedious and full of setbacks."

"Simply put, we need to find tumor-associated miRNA in blood. Right now, the commercial extraction kits for serum miRNA aren’t mature enough, so we have to use the most basic methods."

Jiang He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and picked up a marker to draw a simple flowchart.

"Step one: RNA extraction. This is the most time-consuming part, and it’s what you’ll be repeating every single day for the next few months."

"We have nearly six hundred serum samples on hand. I want you to use the Trizol LS reagent method for extraction. Serum itself contains large amounts of RNase, so if we don’t lyse the cells quickly, our target RNA will be completely degraded."

"Remember a few key points."

"First, you need an absolutely nuclease-free environment. Our pipette tips and EP tubes must be treated to be RNase-free. Every day, before starting, spray the benchtops with RNaseZap and then wipe them down with DEPC water."

"Second, the phase separation after adding chloroform. After centrifugation, when you aspirate the upper aqueous phase, your hands must be perfectly steady. It’s better to aspirate a little less of the aqueous phase than to accidentally suck up any of the white protein layer in the middle. If it gets contaminated, all your subsequent data will be garbage."

Tang Pei diligently took notes on his copy of the protocol. "Boss, what happens after extraction?"

"After extraction, we move on to reverse transcription, or RT, and real-time quantitative PCR, or qPCR."

Jiang He wrote a mathematical formula on the board.

"This is the formula for relative quantification. But because miRNA is so short—only about 22 nucleotides—traditional random primers can’t be used for reverse transcription. So, before the RT step, we need to add a poly(A) tail, or use specific stem-loop primers."

"For now, we’ll use the basic tailing method. I’m assigning all these long, repetitive, foundational extraction and library construction tasks today. You’ll work in pairs, in shifts. Within one month, I want to see the cDNA libraries for all six hundred of these samples completely built. Understood?"

Gu Yizhou nodded seriously. "No problem, Boss. Leave it to us."

Jiang He looked at the protocol in his hand and suddenly thought of Vice Dean Zhang Sui.

Zhang Sui had been a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

’Back in 2008, the world’s leading researchers in the field of circulating miRNA biomarkers were the teams at several of Harvard’s affiliated hospitals, and the oncology team at Johns Hopkins.’

’They are my project’s biggest international competitors.’

’If I want to be the first to publish the standard in a top international journal, sometimes data alone isn’t enough.’

’If I could leverage Zhang Sui’s professional network at Johns Hopkins—for instance, by making him one of the corresponding authors to communicate with our international peers...’

’...then this paper would face far less resistance when submitted to *The Lancet Oncology* or the *New England Journal of Medicine*.’

’But that’s all for later.’

’But your own work has to be solid first. I need to get the data before thinking about any of that.’

Jiang He snapped out of his thoughts.

"Alright, gloves on. I’m going to walk you through a demonstration of the extraction for the first batch of samples. Everyone, pay close attention to the details of my procedure."

For the next two hours, the lab was a hive of activity.

Teacher Jiang was meticulous, his instruction incredibly thorough.

Adding Trizol LS, adding chloroform, setting the centrifuge to four degrees.

The students watching him didn’t even blink.

They had done research with Jiang He several times now, and they were already starting to carry themselves with the steady confidence of veteran lab techs.

Once the demonstration was over, Jiang He placed the samples in the -80°C ultra-low temperature freezer.

"Follow this procedure exactly. Do ten samples tonight for practice. I’ll come check your purity data after my shift tomorrow."

"Take ten."

Break time.

Cheng Xiyao grabbed a few bottles of water from a cabinet and passed them around before hurrying over to Jiang He, pulling out a notebook.

"Boss, I wanted to give you a progress report."

"The cervical ectropion project?"

"Yeah, it’s going great! Whenever I didn’t have class, I went to three universities in Yangcheng University City and collected four hundred valid survey responses. And you won’t believe the results."

"Shocking?"

"Yes, it’s horrifying. Of those four hundred female students, nearly ten percent had been diagnosed with ’severe cervical erosion’ at an off-campus private clinic. And of that group, a staggering seventy percent received antibiotic drips, microwave therapy, or even LEEP surgery. They spent months of their living allowance to treat a disease that doesn’t even exist. Many of them even developed a severe psychological burden from it, feeling... dirty."

"What’s your next step?" Jiang He asked.

"I’ve already contacted an associate professor in the OB/GYN department at Affiliated Hospital No. 1. She’s very interested in my survey data and has agreed to advise me on writing a literature review."

Cheng Xiyao looked up, her face full of excitement. "Boss, once the review is done, I plan to break it down into a long, easy-to-understand article for the general public. I’ll post it on the Southern Medical University newspaper and BBS first. We need to let every female student know that cervical columnar ectopy is a normal physiological phenomenon!"

"Sounds good. For a popular science article, make sure the language is accessible. Use fewer technical terms and more analogies. You can show it to me when you have a draft."

"Alright! Thanks, Boss!"

Cheng Xiyao was overjoyed.

’This is my very own project,’ she thought.

’And it could help so many people!’

Yi Xiangwan sighed from the side. "Sister Xiyao’s drive really puts me to shame. Hey, guys, how about I tell a joke to lighten the mood?"

All eyes turned to him.

Yi Xiangwan began: "A new dwarven castle was completed! They invited a famous human architect to critique the stunning, peerless creation. ’A very nice design,’ the architect said. ’I’ve seen the model. Now, where’s the actual building?’"

"..."

"..."

After a moment of dead silence, Chen Hao couldn’t take it anymore. "Brother Gu, get your boy Yi Xiangwan under control."

Gu Yizhou immediately grabbed a stool as if to throw it. Yi Xiangwan yelped and begged for mercy, and only then did the room erupt in laughter.

Watching the group of young people joke around and roast each other in the lab, Jiang He couldn’t help but smile.

’The university is a great place.’

’It’s great to be young.’

’There’s no backstabbing, no deception.’

’Everyone works toward a common goal, sweating it out in the lab. When they get tired, they tease each other. Even a god-awful joke can instantly liven up the stuffy atmosphere.’

’Sunny, positive, and full of good vibes.’

’Working with people like this just feels good... It makes me feel young again.’

...

「Affiliated Hospital No. 1, 9:30 PM.」

Meng Shiyu sat in front of a computer, fingers flying across the keyboard.

That afternoon, before Jiang He left, he had told Meng Shiyu not to bother correcting the medical records and to just go home and rest.

But Meng Shiyu had other ideas.

’I don’t know what kind of backup plan Jiang He has,’ he thought. ’But I have to believe that finishing these fifteen medical records according to the requirements can only be a good thing. That way, if his plan fails, I can at least provide some cover.’

’Xiangya people have backbone.’

’Teacher Jiang has helped me so much. I have to repay him somehow.’

’So what if it’s fifteen full admission histories and first-course records? It’s not like I never pulled all-nighters writing charts back at Xiangya. Who hasn’t seen Orange Isle at four in the morning?’

Checking lab reports, correcting timelines, reformatting terminology...

It was, of course, an exceedingly tedious job.

Eleven P.M.

By his own effort, he had corrected all fifteen medical records.

The quality control officer would be back tomorrow, but now Meng Shiyu wasn’t the least bit worried.

’Let’s see what excuse the Medical Affairs Office can possibly use to mess with Teacher Jiang tomorrow!’

He slumped in his chair for five minutes before sitting up straight again.

The work was done, but the matter wasn’t over.

The Medical Affairs Office’s actions today had been too strange. Jiang He might not care, but since Meng Shiyu had chosen to hitch his wagon to Jiang He’s star, he had to figure out what the enemy was planning.

Before the troops move, intelligence must lead the way.

The Medical Affairs Office had a general duty office responsible for scheduling and emergency dispatch.

Meng Shiyu knew one of the clerks there, Xiaoli, so he headed over to find him.

...

"Brother Li, you’re on duty again tonight?"

Xiaoli turned around. "Xiaomeng? What’s up?"

"Nothing much. Just went downstairs to buy a pack of areca nuts and thought I’d drop by to see you, Brother Li."

As he spoke, Meng Shiyu casually walked over, pulled a packet of areca nuts from his pocket, tore it open, and offered one.

"Here, Brother Li. A little something to keep you awake."

Xiaoli casually took it, popped it in his mouth, and started chewing.

After a moment, he nodded. "The good stuff. It’s got a kick."

"You know it." Meng Shiyu popped one into his own mouth and pulled up a chair to sit beside him.

He made small talk about video games for a bit, then let out a seemingly casual sigh.

"Brother Li, I won’t lie, I’ve had a rough day. What’s Director Ma from our Medical Affairs Office up to? Not only did he dump fifteen beds on Teacher Jiang, but the quality control officer came to our department and chewed us out, telling us to fix the records overnight. Teacher Jiang is good-natured and didn’t say much, but a small fry like me can’t handle this kind of pressure."

Xiaoli gave Meng Shiyu a sidelong glance. "Xiaomeng, let me give you a piece of brotherly advice. For the time being, you’d best keep your distance from that Jiang He of yours."

Meng Shiyu put on a naive expression. "Why, Brother Li? Didn’t Teacher Jiang just score a huge success? Even the dean praised him."

"What good is that?! You think it was a coincidence the quality control officer came to check the records today? It was all a setup. Jiang He stood up to the officer this afternoon, and the matter has already been kicked up to the new Vice Dean Zhang!"

Xiaoli sighed, then continued.

"Director Ma went to report to Vice Dean Zhang’s office this afternoon. The Vice Dean was furious!"

"Tomorrow at three P.M., there’s a hospital-wide quality control meeting! All department heads and head nurses have to attend. On the surface, it’s about establishing new rules and cracking down on paperwork..."

"...but in reality, it’s aimed squarely at Jiang He! Ma Huaide is going to use Jiang He’s ’blatant violation of medical regulations and refusal to comply’ as ammunition against him at the meeting tomorrow!"

Meng Shiyu asked anxiously, "Brother Li, is... is this set in stone?"

"Set in stone."

Xiaoli patted Meng Shiyu’s shoulder, his tone heavy. "Ah, Xiaomeng, you’re new here. When elephants fight, it’s the grass that gets trampled. Tomorrow’s meeting is going to be an absolute bloodbath. You’d better watch out for yourself."

"Ah, yes, of course."

Meng Shiyu walked out of the duty office.

His mind immediately started racing.

’I originally thought that if I helped Teacher Jiang fix the records, it would solve the problem. Now I see I was being too naive.’

’Ma Huaide doesn’t care whether the records are corrected or not. What he wants is Jiang He’s ’attitude’ of resisting orders. He’s using that as a pretext to attack.’

’How is Jiang He going to handle the hospital-wide meeting tomorrow?’

’This won’t do.’

’I need to dig deeper into this. I have to find a way to help Jiang He.’