Surgery Godfather

Chapter 2172: Chapter 1427: Unified Theory (Part 2)

Yang Ping put down his pen, turned around to look at Manstein. "These instructions have always been there, never lost. They’ve just been locked away. What we’re doing isn’t creating new mechanisms; we’ve found the method to unlock them."

Manstein looked at the densely packed words and diagrams on the whiteboard, his heartbeat began to speed up. If Yang Ping was correct, the applicability of this unified theory would go far beyond spinal cord injury. All diseases involving tissue degeneration and damage, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, myocardial infarction, cirrhosis, diabetes, and even aging itself, might be due to the unopened instructions, or they were opened incorrectly.

"Professor, might stem cell theory and three-dimensional directional gene theory be parts of this unknown theory?"

"Yes!"

"How do we prove it?"

"Using Chen Jianguo’s data, we’ve already observed functional recovery in him and have seen the activation of primitive cells, as well as the presence of double-cortin positive cells in the cerebrospinal fluid. Now, further proof is needed to show that his recovery isn’t random or localized, but follows the chronological and spatial pattern of embryonic development. Sensory recovery moves from top to bottom, motor recovery goes from proximal to distal, from trunk to limbs, from large muscles to small muscles. This is the order of embryonic development, and it’s the order we’ve observed. If this sequence is consistent among all patients, then it’s not coincidence—it’s a pattern."

Manstein quickly jotted this down in his notebook.

"Also," Yang Ping continued, "we need to conduct a crucial experiment on animal models. We will block key directional signals during embryonic development, like netrin, slit, ephrin... and see if primitive cells can still be activated. If repair stops after blocking the signals, it will prove that repair truly mimics development."

Manstein paused his writing and looked at Yang Ping. "Professor, this experiment will take quite some time and require lots of animals. Funding... I need to apply for some in Germany."

"I’ll handle the funding; you focus on the experiment."

"Professor, our team is a bit understaffed, you have to give me more people."

"I’ll allocate a team from our laboratory."

"Moreover, professor, you are the leader of this research plan. Right now, I’m just an executor. Although spinal cord injury research was my project, now clearly the project has escalated."

Manstein closed his notebook and stood up.

"Professor, stem cells and three-dimensional directional genes should be unified at the base. Do you really believe this is a verifiable scientific question now?"

"It’s a scientific question! Verifiable indeed. I’m planning to propose a hypothesis now."

"Let’s write it in the review, in black and white. If it’s correct, future researchers will follow this path. If it’s wrong, they’ll know it’s a dead end. Regardless, it’s valuable."

Yang Ping thought for a moment, walked to the desk and turned the review manuscript to the last page where "Future Outlook" was still blank. He picked up a pen and wrote:

"We speculate that the regulation of stem cell differentiation and the three-dimensional spatial guidance of cells share a common molecular mechanism at a fundamental level. This mechanism, responsible for coordinating ’what cells become’ and ’where they go’ during embryonic development, is sealed in adulthood but can be reactivated under proper signal stimulation, mediating post-injury tissue repair. Proving this hypothesis will be the next significant scientific question in this field."

He handed the manuscript to Manstein. "Take a look."

Manstein took it and read it over, then added a line at the bottom: "If this hypothesis holds true, then by reactivating embryonic development programs, we might not only repair spinal cords but nearly all human tissues and organs."

Yang Ping looked at this line, silent for a moment. "Are you sure you want to make such a bold prediction?"

"Definitely! Science needs bold predictions, as long as they can be falsified."

The next day, Yang Ping sent the initial draft of the review to Tang Shun, Lu Xiaolu, and others, asking for their feedback. He didn’t ask "Is this theory correct," but rather, "If this theory can be proven, what kind of evidence do we need?"

Such a grand theory is difficult to study with just one team, so Yang Ping decided to put forward a hypothesis and let the world research it with interest.

Soon, he published the preliminary hypothesis in the Medical journal.

Responses followed in the subsequent days; some questioned it, some were excited, some were cautious, and some said outright "You’re thinking too far ahead; publish the current data first." Yang Ping thoughtfully read each email, extracting valuable opinions and putting them on the whiteboard. There were more critical views than anything, which somewhat reassured him—a theory without criticism is either a truth or nonsense.

A week later, Yang Ping received an unexpected email. The sender was the chair of the International Stem Cell Research Society, an elderly scientist who had worked in the stem cell field for thirty years. The email’s title was succinct—just one word: "Theory." The body was equally brief, only three sentences:

"Professor Yang, I read your paper. The speculation you wrote on the last page, if true, will completely change the direction of stem cell therapies. I’ve decided to dedicate all my laboratory resources for the next five years to verifying this speculation. If you have time, I’d like to come to China to discuss it with you face to face."

Yang Ping forwarded this email to Manstein with a note: "The response to our hypothesis is very positive."

Manstein quickly replied: "It’s not ’ours,’ it’s ’yours,’ it’s your speculation, I’m merely the executor."

Yang Ping didn’t reply to this message; he knew Manstein was sincere. This German never tried to steal credit; when M7 stood up, he said it was Yang Ping’s theory, when M21’s tissue section came out, he said it was Yang Ping’s hypothesis, and now someone wants to invest five years of resources to verify it, he still says it’s Yang Ping’s. Sometimes Yang Ping feels Manstein doesn’t seem like a typical German; Germans are usually very sensitive about credit allocation, who cited whose paper, who proposed a concept, who should be listed as an author—all this needs to be clearly distinguished. Manstein truly thinks Yang Ping is the real leader and acknowledges that he couldn’t have proposed such a theory himself.

That night, Fritz was on night duty in the animal room. He sat next to M7’s cage, a book in his hand, and the light from the desk lamp fell on the pages and on M7’s sleeping face. M7 walked thirty-two steps today, setting a new record. In its dream, it kicked its hind leg again, and Fritz reached to lightly touch its head across the cage.

"M7," he said in German, "do you know you are witnessing history? You don’t know, you only know how to walk."

Fritz turned a page of the book, the light from the lamp swayed briefly, and M7 kicked its hind leg again in the dream, even more forcefully than before. Fritz smiled, a small smile, with just a slight rise at the corner of his mouth.

In the rehabilitation training room, Chen Jianguo was still standing, without a therapist or Sister Li, just by himself. He held onto the parallel bars, standing for five minutes instead of three. Standing a little longer each day, progressing a little each day. He didn’t know what embryonic development programs were, nor did he know about the unified regulation of cell differentiation and migration. He only knew one thing: his legs were a bit stronger today than yesterday, and that is the ultimate test of all theories.

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