Chapter 286 - 191: When in Trouble, Find Jiang He

Chapter 286: Chapter 191: When in Trouble, Find Jiang He

Back at Southern Medical University.

Jiang He said nothing, single-mindedly focused on the project.

In the lab, even Yi Xiangwan had stopped telling jokes, a clear sign of how serious the situation was.

But this was good in a way. Their efficiency was very high.

The progress bar for the miRNA early screening project was advancing rapidly:

15%... 18%... 21%...

’If only wooing a girl came with such a clear progress bar,’ he thought.

However, scientific research is never completely smooth sailing, especially when Jiang He wasn’t around.

That afternoon, Professor Wang was overseeing the reverse transcription and PCR amplification stages.

A problem arose:

The amplification curve from the quantitative real-time PCR was chaotic. Worse, the melting curve showed several messy double peaks.

Cai Zhuoqun sighed. "Severe non-specific amplification. We have primer-dimers."

Chen Hao, who was standing by, also looked a little dejected.

Basically, a curve like this meant the entire batch of data was useless...

Cai Zhuoqun asked, "Professor Wang, what do you think we should do?"

Wang Xiaoqing analyzed the situation. "The free energy of the stem-loop structure is too low, making the conformation overly stable. Under the current reaction system, the conventional method of increasing the annealing temperature is useless."

Cai Zhuoqun nodded. "So do we need to redesign the primer sequences? But if we do, it will cost us a lot of time."

Wang Xiaoqing frowned.

She couldn’t think of a good solution right away.

Her first instinct was to adjust the magnesium ion concentration in the system, or redesign the nested PCR primer structure to fundamentally solve the non-specific binding.

But it seemed either method would require a significant amount of time for new trial and error.

Just then, Jiang He returned.

He sensed the tense atmosphere and asked casually, "What’s wrong?"

"Old Jiang, we’ve hit a snag. The amplification curve is a mess. Primer-dimers and non-specific amplification are masking the real signal. Professor Wang is trying to figure out how to adjust the primer structure."

Jiang He walked over, glanced at the results, and said calmly, "Go get a bottle of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide)."

Everyone stared, stunned.

Wang Xiaoqing also turned to look at him.

Jiang He explained, "This primer set has a GC content over 65%, so it’s prone to forming complex secondary structures. This is quite common. Redesigning the primers is too much trouble. Just add DMSO to the PCR reaction system to a final concentration of 5%."

Cai Zhuoqun was taken aback. "DMSO? An organic solvent?"

"Yes. DMSO effectively disrupts the hydrogen bonds between base pairs. Then, lower the annealing temperature by 1.5 degrees and run it."

The team immediately started to do as Jiang He said.

Although many didn’t grasp the principle right away, even Professor Wang, the newest member, knew one thing for certain:

In this project team, listening to Jiang He was never the wrong move.

And as it turned out, Jiang He’s solution was correct once again.

Expressionless, Wang Xiaoqing crumpled up her scratch paper and tossed it into the wastebasket.

Chen Hao couldn’t help but curse inwardly: ’That was so fucking cool.’

The problem Professor Wang had been racking her brain over, Old Jiang had solved with a single glance just moments after walking in.

What did that even mean?

’Who’s the teacher and who’s the student here?’

Jiang He, on the other hand, didn’t think it was a big deal.

In his past life, he had studied this set of problems related to early pancreatic cancer screening countless times.

It would have been strange if a situation he couldn’t solve had appeared.

...

「The next few days」

Life became a straight line between the lab and the dormitory.

Blink, and a whole day would pass.

Trizol lysis, centrifugation, supernatant extraction, reverse transcription, machine amplification.

The steps were tedious and repetitive.

But every time they fine-tuned the parameters and got a clearer amplification curve, the entire team would erupt in cheers...

「Mid-month.」

Jiang He had just finished his work when he got a call from his teacher.

"Jiang He, don’t forget. The commendation ceremony at the provincial department is at nine tomorrow morning."

Jiang He hesitated. "Teacher, the lab is at a critical stage right now. About this ceremony, maybe I should..."

"No. You have to come this time."

"Is it that important?"

"Very important. And not just you. Bring everyone from your SAP experiment team."

"What for? Why bring them?"

"You’ll know when you get there. Remember, dress sharp tomorrow."

Yang Xu hung up right after he finished speaking.

Jiang He narrowed his eyes slightly.

Although he had been buried in the lab recently and hadn’t inquired about what his teachers were specifically orchestrating, hearing Teacher Yang’s tone and connecting it with the fact that even team members like Chen Hao had to attend...

’It seems the counterattack my teachers have prepared is going to be explosive.’

He pushed the lab door open again.

Everyone was still busy at their respective stations.

Jiang He clapped his hands. "Everyone, stop for a moment."

They all looked up at him.

"I’m very satisfied with our progress. We’re much faster than I expected. So, the entire project team will take tomorrow off. Everyone get some proper rest."

As soon as he said that, Chen Hao grew anxious. "Old Jiang, we can’t rest!"

"Yeah," Lu Xiaolin stood up too. "I’m not tired. We should strike while the iron is hot, finish running the data, and slap this paper out there. That’s the best counterattack!"

Although Cheng Xiyao didn’t speak, her determined gaze made it clear she also agreed with not taking a day off.

Everyone had been holding it in for too long.

Jiang He smiled, his tone gentle. "Experiments take time. If the string is pulled too taut, the data is more likely to be flawed. Listen to me, everyone rests tomorrow."

Then, he turned to Chen Hao. "Also, the members who participated in the initial construction of the SAP prediction model will come with me to the provincial department tomorrow morning for the commendation ceremony."

Chen Hao froze for a second. "We’re going too?"

"Yes, Boss Yang gave the order himself. I’m guessing the higher-ups have some special award or announcement for us. So, everyone dress a bit more formally tomorrow."

"Chen Hao, especially you. You’re not allowed to wear Crocs, okay?"

...

「Ten p.m., in the men’s dormitory.」

Jiang He and Chen Hao were putting together their outfits for the next day.

As a clinical undergraduate still living in the dorms and a newly admitted, fast-tracked doctoral student, overly formal attire like suits were clearly not in their wardrobes.

After fussing for a while, Jiang He settled on a white t-shirt paired with black straight-leg jeans.

Chen Hao put on a similar outfit, but after staring at himself in the mirror for a long time, he felt something was missing.

Suddenly, Chen Hao’s eyes lit up.

"Old Jiang! Yes! Why don’t you wear that!"

"Wear what?"

"You know... the white coat with the gold embroidery! It’s so cool!"

The corner of Jiang He’s eye twitched. "No."

"Come on! Just think, the event at the provincial department tomorrow will be full of big shots. You’ll make an entrance wearing that golden battle robe. It’ll be so cool and impressive!"

"Don’t say another word."

Chen Hao pouted. "You have no taste."

Anyway, after they were ready, the two took a photo together and sent it to Xu Juan.

Jiang He then asked casually, "By the way, I asked you to find out what Teacher Shen has been busy with lately. How’s that going?"

Chen Hao replied, "Oh... that. I forgot to ask. I’ve been so busy with experiments these past couple of days, my brain’s all foggy. Next time, definitely next time."

Jiang He stared at Chen Hao suspiciously. "For real?"

Chen Hao insisted, "For real!"

Although Jiang He didn’t press further, his intuition told him the guy was definitely hiding something.

Meanwhile, Chen Hao appeared calm on the surface, but inwardly, he was panicking like crazy.

Because he had, in fact, already gotten in touch with Xu Juan.

The two of them had exchanged an absolutely explosive piece of core intelligence.

Namely: Old Jiang was planning to formally propose to Shen Yu when he went to the Capital City at the end of the month.

And the intelligence from Xu Juan’s side was: Shen Xiaoyu was preparing to take the initiative and propose to Jiang He when he came to the Capital City at the end of the month.

The crucial part was that both parties involved thought their own plan was seamless and perfect.

This was, in a word, an epic-level case of mutual devotion.

Xu Juan and Chen Hao had hit it off immediately over the phone.

They agreed to help the star-crossed lovers pull off a super-duper-shocking "proposal-in-proposal" at the end of the month.

For the sake of this grand plan, Chen Hao couldn’t even look at Jiang He naturally now, terrified he might accidentally let the secret slip.

Chen Hao swallowed hard and prayed silently in his heart:

’Hopefully, tomorrow’s commendation ceremony will let Old Jiang completely resolve this whole shitty plagiarism mess with the Americans.’

’Otherwise, if he goes to the Capital City with all this trouble on his mind, it’ll totally ruin the atmosphere for the proposal.’

"Old Jiang, get some sleep," Chen Hao said, clearing his throat twice before climbing into his bunk. "We’ve got a big event to attend at the provincial department tomorrow."

Jiang He glanced at his phone. Shen Yu still hadn’t sent her goodnight text.

He replied to Chen Hao, "You go ahead and sleep."

Then he kept looking at his phone, waiting for Teacher Shen to message back.

They had to be on the phone with each other, listening to the sound of the other’s breathing, before they could fall asleep peacefully.

’When can I finally hold Teacher Shen while we sleep for real?’

’I really want that to happen soon.’

’Then, making a baby can be put on the agenda, right? Heh heh, just thinking about it makes me happy...’