Surgery Godfather

Chapter 2258: Chapter 1466: Major Breakthrough

Eight o’clock in the morning, the Institute.

As Yang Ping walked into the building, he saw Tang Shun standing by the elevator, holding a stack of printed documents. His expression was a bit strange, as if he had good news to share but was hesitating whether to say it.

"Professor, Weber didn’t go home last night."

Yang Ping frowned slightly, "Did he stay up again?"

"He didn’t quite stay up," Tang Shun walked alongside him, "He intended to, but Manstein forcibly sent him home last night."

Yang Ping quickened his pace, walked through the corridor, and pushed open the door to Weber’s laboratory.

Weber was not there.

On the lab bench, petri dishes and reagent bottles were neatly arranged, the eyepieces of the microscope still open, and the notebook beside it was flipped to the most recent page, densely filled with data. Yang Ping walked over and glanced at those records. The handwriting was somewhat sloppy, but each number was written clearly, with timestamps, operation steps, observation results, all meticulously noted.

Yang Ping said nothing. He continued to flip through Weber’s notebook, page by page, with every timestamp scrupulously recorded. The last page was marked 5:23 AM, reading: "Homogenate group neuron differentiation ratio 32.7%, control group 5.1%, significantly different (p<0.001). Hypothesis preliminarily validated, needs replication."

Yang Ping closed the notebook, standing for a while in front of the lab bench.

"Did he finish it?" Tang Shun asked.

"He finished it." Yang Ping handed the notebook to Tang Shun, "The preliminary data is impressive, the differentiation ratio of the homogenate group is over six times that of the control. Arrange someone to help replicate it, and let him rest well."

"Okay."

Yang Ping walked out of Weber’s laboratory and headed down the corridor to his office. As he passed Manstein’s office, the door was ajar, and the sound of keyboard tapping came from inside. He peeked in, seeing Manstein at his computer, a series of mass spectrometry data peaks on the screen, his fingers typing on the keyboard at twice the usual speed.

"Manstein." Yang Ping opened the door and walked in.

Manstein looked up, with an expression of excitement akin to that of an explorer discovering the entrance to a treasure.

"Professor, I reanalyzed the mass spectrometry data of the eight spinal injury patients last night," Manstein stood up, turning the screen towards Yang Ping, "Look here, the expression level of the unknown factor is highly correlated with the expression levels of three other proteins, correlation coefficients all above 0.8. It’s not a single protein at work, but a signal network, a complete molecular machine."

Yang Ping leaned closer to the screen, observing the densely packed scatter plots and correlation coefficients. Each dot represented a patient; the horizontal axis showed the expression of the unknown factor, and the vertical axis showed the expression of another protein. The dots clustered tightly around a slanted line, like beads threaded onto a string.

"What are these three proteins?" Yang Ping asked.

Manstein pulled up another page, detailing the three proteins. Yang Ping read through line by line, his brow furrowing tighter, not due to problems, but because the information aligned too well with his hypothesis.

The first protein is a transcription factor known to regulate the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells. The second protein is a cell surface receptor known to mediate intercellular signal transmission. The third protein is an extracellular matrix protein known to provide scaffolding and pathway guidance for cell migration.

"Different modules of the repair program." Yang Ping spoke slowly, "The first is an execution module, directing the stem cells; the second is a communication module, transmitting the activation signal; the third is a navigation module, guiding where the cells should go. Three-dimensional orientation, stem cell differentiation, apoptosis activation of K Therapy, it’s all here."

Manstein nodded vigorously: "I thought the same. These three proteins and the unknown factor form a tightly coupled signal network. If any of them falters, the repair program is affected. It explains why similar injuries lead to different recovery rates, not because the unknown factor is lacking, but because the network efficiency varies."

Yang Ping sat down opposite Manstein.

"If we can find a way to activate the entire network," he said, "instead of focusing on just one protein, the effect could be much better."

"Exactly!" Manstein’s eyes lit up, "Like playing the piano, you can’t just press one key; you need to play chords. Individual proteins are notes, while the entire network is the music."

Yang Ping said, "That’s a good analogy. Organize your findings and present them at the afternoon meeting. Also, map out the interactions between these three proteins and the unknown factor in a pathway diagram; we need a clear model."

Manstein pointed to the lower right corner of the computer screen, where a software interface was loading, "Already working on it. I’m using new pathway analysis software that can visualize the interaction relationships between proteins. It should be ready by noon."

The phone vibrated lightly, Yang Ping glanced down, it was an email from Sisi.

"You guys continue, make sure to rest; I’m replying to an email." Yang Ping stood up and returned to his office.

He opened the computer, clicked on Sisi’s email; it was a revised review article, with a small line added under the title: "Professor Yang, I have supplemented the three papers you mentioned, and also revised the parts on microglial and macrophage markers. Please review."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!