Surgery Godfather

Chapter 2181: Chapter 1431: Handshake (Part 2)

In the following month, the institute entered an unprecedented busy state.

Weber’s German team came with three people: a postdoc specializing in stem cell culture named Hans; an associate professor in electrophysiology named Eva; and a doctoral student in bioinformatics named Lina. They brought two boxes of reagents, a portable electrophysiology recording device, and a complete set of three-dimensional culture protocols established by the Weber laboratory.

Hans was a young man in his early thirties, blond, wearing glasses, and spoke quickly with a heavy Bavarian accent. On his first day in the laboratory, he locked himself in the cell room for six hours and came out to tell Manstein, "The temperature fluctuations in your CO₂ incubator are quite large. I’ve adjusted it, and now it’s stable at 37.2 degrees."

Manstein was taken aback, "You adjusted our incubator?"

"Yes, I looked at the records. Over the past two weeks, the temperature fluctuated between 36.8 and 37.5 degrees, which is not good for the stem cells. I replaced the temperature control module, and the old one is on the desk. You can keep it as a backup."

Manstein looked at the old temperature control module on the desk, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Eva was completely different. She was a woman in her fifties, with short hair, very serious, and spoke slowly and deliberately. She was responsible for the electrophysiological recordings and appeared punctually every afternoon in the animal room to perform motor evoked potential tests on M7. She never spoke to M7, but she would bring a grape, placing it beside the cage and leaving right after the test. M7 seemed to like her very much; whenever she came, it would reach out its hand, but she never held it.

"I don’t establish emotional connections with lab animals," she explained, "That’s a principle."

But Manstein noticed that every time after her tests, she would tidy up M7’s cage, smooth out the bedding, and straighten the food dish. These actions were subtle, but she did them with great care.

Lina was the youngest, twenty-six, wearing round glasses and always carrying a laptop. She was responsible for integrating data from both the Chinese and German sides to establish a unified database. She spent two weeks digitizing the past three years of experimental data from Yang Ping’s team, annotating time, batch, operator, and quality control standards.

"Your raw data is well-preserved," she told August, "but the metadata is incomplete. For instance, this Western blot, I know the day it was done, but I don’t know the gel concentration, electrophoresis conditions, and development time. These are crucial for reproducibility."

August scratched his head, "We didn’t pay attention to these before."

"No problem. From now on, record each experiment using this template." She handed over an Excel sheet with over thirty fields, encompassing everything from "Experiment Date" to "Room Temperature and Humidity."

August looked at the chart, impressed by her thoroughness.

"Data is the foundation of science," Lina adjusted her glasses, "Without a solid foundation, nothing you build on top will stand."

The first month of collaboration was full of friction.

The biggest disagreement was on experimental design. The Weber team preferred to conduct extensive pilot tests to explore conditions before formally starting; the Chinese team, in charge of the project, preferred rapid advancement with adjustments along the way. These differing styles clashed, and meetings often got heated.

"Your plan lacks enough pilot tests, the risks of failure in formal experiments are too high," Hans pointed at the flowchart on the projector.

"We don’t have three months for pilot testing," the leader of the Chinese team argued back, "Patients can’t wait."

"But a failed formal experiment wastes even more time and resources."

"We’ve operated like this for the past three years, and our success rate isn’t low."

"That’s luck, not methodology."

Yang Ping sat silently beside them. After their argument, he spoke: "Hans, how soon can you complete your pilot tests?"

"Two months, if everything goes smoothly."

"Can you compress it into one month? We’ll provide double the manpower and equipment."

Hans thought for a moment, "Okay, but I need complete control over the experimental design, with your team only executing it."

"No," Yang shook his head, "The experimental design must be jointly decided by both parties. But in execution, you can take full charge, and we’ll cooperate."

Hans looked at Weber, and Weber nodded.

"Alright, one month."

Similar negotiations happened daily. Eva insisted that all electrophysiological tests be conducted at fixed times because the animals’ circadian rhythms would affect the results; however, the animal room’s schedule was fixed and couldn’t be adjusted solely for her. In the end, both sides compromised: Eva changed her test time to ten in the morning, and the animal room moved M7’s feeding time forward to eight-thirty to ensure M7 was in an active state during testing.

A month later, the data from the first batch of joint experiments came out.

The results exceeded everyone’s expectations.

In the joint treatment group, activating the original cells before transplanting exogenous neural stem cells resulted in a motor function recovery score forty percent higher than the sole activation group and sixty percent higher than the sole transplant group. More importantly, histological analysis showed a significant increase in neuronal regeneration in the damaged areas, with a notable reduction in glial scar area.

Weber stared at the bar chart, clenching his fingers on the desktop.

"This is synergy," he said, "One plus one is greater than two."

"It’s not just greater than two," Manstein added, "It’s greater than three. Look here, the axonal regeneration distance in the joint group is twice that of the sole transplant group, indicating that the activation of original cells altered the microenvironment, making it easier for exogenous stem cells to survive and differentiate."

"The inverse is also true," Eva pointed at the electrophysiology data, "Exogenous stem cells provide immediate neurotrophic support, preventing apoptosis of original cells during their critical post-activation window. The two systems support each other."

The meeting room was silent for a long time. Then Weber suddenly stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and drew a diagram, two circles with an overlapping area labeled "Synergy."

"For the past fifty years, we’ve been debating whether endogenous repair or exogenous transplantation was more important. The stem cell faction claims transplantation is the key, while the neurotrophic faction argues protection is the core, and the gene therapy faction insists regulation is crucial. We’ve quarreled for decades, each holding our ground."

He turned around, looking at everyone in the meeting room.

"Now I understand. The answer isn’t ’which is more important,’ but ’how to make them work together.’ Like an orchestra, it’s not about which instrument sounds best, but how they all harmonize. The secret lies in the unified theory hypothesized by Professor Yang."

Yang Ping nodded, "Professor Weber is right. But the mechanism of this ’collaboration’ is still far from understood. Why is the effect of joint treatment so good? What signals are being exchanged between the original and exogenous stem cells? Are they cytokines? Exosomes? Or direct cell contact?"

"That will be our next step," said Weber, "Hans, you’ll be in charge of isolating the conditioned media from the joint treatment group for proteomics. Eva, you’ll continue with electrophysiology to examine the neural circuitry reconstruction characteristics in the joint group. Lina, integrate all the omics data to find pathways."

He paused, looking at Yang Ping, "Professor Yang, what about your team?"

"We will continue to optimize the original cell activation protocol," Yang Ping said, "At the same time, I plan to initiate a prospective observation to verify the safety and efficacy of this combined approach in primates."

"M7?"

"Yes, M7. It has waited long enough."

Immediately after, the institute held a plenary meeting attended by everyone from both the Chinese and German sides. Yang Ping projected the results of the joint experiment onto the wall and explained them one by one. During the exciting parts, his voice trembled slightly.

"Comrades, what does this result mean? It means we might have found an entirely new path. It’s not substitution, but awakening; not transplantation, but synergy, a higher-order mechanism that makes all our previous theories seem like small, fragmented glimpses. Whether or not this path will succeed, we still don’t know. But at least, we’ve proven that two seemingly contradictory directions can come together."

Weber stood up and said something in German, which Manstein translated: "Professor Weber said, he’s been conducting research for fifty years, won the Nobel Prize, but has never been so excited as he is today. Because today, he sees the future of science, not just the future of one person, one team, one country, but the future of all those willing to set aside prejudices and work together sincerely."

Applause broke out in the meeting room, starting sparsely, then growing increasingly enthusiastic.

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