Free Web NovelChapter 63: Chapter 63: The Medical Arms Race
’I still have to figure out a way to get my girlfriend to accept this gift.’
’What’s the point of her sending it to me? I want to video chat with her...’
After a moment’s thought, Jiang He took a picture of the computer and sent it to Little Mihu.
He typed: [Look! My brand-new computer.]
Less than ten seconds later, a reply came through.
Shen Yu: [Huh? A computer? You bought a new computer?]
Jiang He: [Yeah, I just picked it up from the electronics market today. My old one was too slow and couldn’t handle the medical statistics software. It kept crashing when I tried to run data. For my upcoming project, I had no choice but to bite the bullet and get a new one. What do you think? The specs are pretty good, right? It’s brand spanking new.]
Shen Yu: [Oh... I see. It looks really nice.]
Her reply seemed a little dry.
Jiang He didn’t reply.
He minimized the chat window and started to go through some research papers.
About ten minutes passed.
A message arrived.
Shen Yu: [Wow! Dr. Jiang! Guess what!]
Shen Yu: [Zodiac Little Witch just contacted me on QQ out of the blue! She said there was a glitch in their back-end system and they made a mistake checking the data. I actually won! I won the grand prize, the laptop!]
Through the screen, Jiang He could almost picture Shen Yu’s flustered expression as she fabricated this "good news."
’She must have seen that I got a new computer, so she had to admit she won the prize.’
Jiang He smiled and typed: [That’s fantastic! I told you you’ve always had good luck.]
After sending that, he added another message: [That laptop has a built-in webcam. As soon as it arrives, we can video chat directly on QQ!]
Shen Yu’s gloomy mood from her failed gift-giving plan vanished completely. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
’That’s right! With a computer, I’ll be able to see Dr. Jiang!’
At this thought, Shen Yu’s eyes lit up. She replied: [Okay, okay! I’ll let you know the second it arrives!]
Jiang He: [Okay. It’s getting late. Get some rest, don’t stay up.]
Shen Yu: [Yes, sir! Goodnight, Dr. Jiang!]
After ending the chat, Jiang He smiled faintly.
’Played her perfectly, huh.’
’But my girlfriend is so cute, just adorable... In a way, she has me wrapped around her little finger, too...’
He collected himself and refocused his attention on the research papers.
The miRNA project was incredibly difficult. Every second counted.
He glanced at his class schedule. He had Medical Ethics in the morning and a minor elective in the afternoon.
For him, at this point, attending these classes wouldn’t make much of a difference.
So, he simply picked up his phone, found his counselor Brother Sun’s number, and sent him a text message:
[Brother Sun, I’d like to request a day off tomorrow. I need to go to the school library to look up some clinical literature for my new project, and it will take the whole day.]
Less than a minute later, a reply came back: [Okay, your leave is approved. No need to come in to file the paperwork. Go on and get to work.]
Just as Jiang He was about to put his phone down, the screen lit up again. Brother Sun had sent a second text.
[The students who went to watch today said your performance in the semi-finals tonight was stunning. Your speed at the operating table even outpaced the fifth-year interns. I’m really looking forward to your final results! In all the years since our clinical college was founded, no third-year student has ever made it this far in the competition. Keep up the great work! You can do it!] freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
[Thank you, Brother Sun.]
...
「The next morning.」
Jiang He hurried to the library.
As fate would have it, Cheng Xiyao had spawned there again.
She first praised Jiang He’s performance in yesterday’s exam, then asked what he was doing at the library.
Jiang He briefly explained his plans. After listening, Cheng Xiyao eagerly asked, "I want to take the exam next week too. Can I?"
She wanted to join the new project team as well.
Jiang He wasn’t against the idea. With the ring on his hand, his status as a taken man was crystal clear, so he wasn’t worried about Cheng Xiyao getting any other ideas.
So he said, "You can, but the questions will be a bit difficult. If you want to pass, you’ll have to work hard this week."
Cheng Xiyao nodded emphatically. "Okay!"
The two went their separate ways, each to their own tasks.
Jiang He found a computer.
His goal for the day was clear: to ascertain the current cutting edge of international research on circulating cell-free miRNA in peripheral blood.
He typed a few core keywords into the search box and pressed enter.
Not many results popped up.
This was exactly what Jiang He had expected.
At this point in time, the application of miRNA in the field of oncology was just beginning.
Just a few months ago, the Mitchell team had published a groundbreaking paper in PNAS, proving for the first time that miRNA is extremely stable in human plasma and serum, able to resist degradation by endogenous ribonucleases.
This paper announced to the world’s top medical labs: the code for diagnosing cancer was hidden in peripheral blood.
Although no one had yet been able to accurately correlate specific cancer types with specific miRNA expression profiles.
But major labs had already started to make their moves.
It was nothing short of an arms race in the medical world.
Jiang He remembered that the research that truly established the specific miRNA marker panel for early-stage pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma was completed by a top team from Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
And that paper was published in early 2010.
Extrapolating based on the stringent peer-review cycle of top international journals and the lengthy process of collecting massive numbers of samples beforehand...
...that American team must have already begun the substantive experimental phase by now.
The time pressure was immense.
There’s no second place in scientific research.
’I have to beat the Americans to the punch, run the data for this early screening system, and publish it.’
’Only then can I increase my influence and voice in the international medical community, and use that as leverage to secure more resources to conquer pancreatic cancer.’
’Calculating the timeline...’
’I have to finish the final draft and submit it before the end of this year.’
Jiang He began to lay out a plan.
Source of blood samples—that was the first hurdle.
He would not only need Professor Yang Xu to coordinate resources within the province, but also have to contact Xu Wenpei in the Capital City to borrow from the vast sample bank at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
The second hurdle was the experimental procedure.
Jiang He wrote down a long list of reagents in his notebook: Trizol LS extraction solution, specific stem-loop reverse transcription primers, TaqMan probes...
With every name he wrote, he silently estimated the cost in his head.
Although the two million investment promised by Wang Kuan was a huge sum...
...faced with the initial screening with gene chips and the subsequent validation of hundreds of clinical samples with TaqMan probes, he had to budget carefully and waste nothing.
Jiang He worked the entire day, not even stopping for lunch.
He compared and deduced from the current experimental conditions, searching for the fastest viable path.
It wasn’t until evening that a phone call interrupted Jiang He’s train of thought.
It was from Chen Hao.
Jiang He asked, "What’s up?"
On the other end of the line, Chen Hao’s voice was thrilled. "Old Jiang, the results from the semi-finals are out!"
