Chapter 107

Li Yuanpei's build was on par with Fang Ziye's, but he was a bit taller, his complexion slightly darker, his face full of pockmarks, as if it already held a lifetime of stories.

In his current expression, there was also a mix of haste and pallor.

Li Yuanpei wasn't any special name, nor did he have any special identity; it was purely through his own effort that he had added two SCI papers, and one of them was even a Zone 2 paper — all of this was Senior Brother Li's own effort, without any feeding from a teacher.

If Fang Ziye didn't have that one paper Yuan Weihong gave him, in front of Li Yuanpei, even the tool articles Jie Han produced would be the younger brother.

Naturally, Li Yuanpei's basic articles were helped by his Senior Brother. Where would Li Yuanpei have so much time to do experiments?

The Chinese Academy of Sciences divides SCI zones based on the journal's three-year average impact factor: Zone 1: top 5%; Zone 2: 6%~20%; Zone 3: 21%~50%; Zone 4: bottom 50%.

A Zone 2 article is in the top twenty percent of average impact factor of all SCI journals globally — note, this is global!!

A basic Zone 2 article isn't something that can be watered out casually.

Actually, if you go by the number of Zone 2 journals and the total number of papers each journal has published over ten years, it might still be less than one percent of all physicians in Eastern Han combined.

In other words, 99% of doctors may not be able to publish a Zone 2 original article — this isn't alarmist talk, nor is it deliberately inflating Li Yuanpei's weight and effort; it's a fact that can speak for itself.

But Fang Ziye had no way out either; he could only silently watch his Brother Pei, his thoughts and gaze complex, and turn toward his own bench.

Everyone's life resume and life experience are their own. Li Yuanpei's Master's supervisor was a PhD supervisor, Teacher Deng Yong — he rode quite a few conveniences!

"Are you wearing a bit little today?" Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu walked side by side toward the laboratory, and seeing Luo Tingzhu rubbing her hands, he asked.

"A little. The weather forecast I checked when leaving lied." Luo Tingzhu didn't evade, just sped up her steps. "Senior Brother, let's walk a bit faster."

Cold doesn't matter; once we get inside the experimental building it'll be fine, there's air conditioning there.

Just like when studying before, cold didn't matter; after class ended, just wear more tomorrow — after all, Grandma was old then, her legs and feet inconvenient.

In high school when it was cold, I'd just burrow deeper into the quilt, and only when monthly break came could I go back and bring more clothes……

Fang Ziye at this moment didn't put on airs; he just took off his down jacket and gave it to Luo Tingzhu, playing the gentleman.

This weather is really cold!

Near Donghu, the wind blows with no buildings to block it.

Very quickly, the two jumped up the steps of the laboratory building, then Fang Ziye went two steps ahead and slipped Luo Tingzhu in through the door crack.

Luo Tingzhu stomped her feet inside, her lip color slightly pale.

"Are you unwell? Want to go back first?" Fang Ziye asked.

Luo Tingzhu swayed left and right like a penguin: "No need, Senior Brother, inside the laboratory building it's not cold."

Luo Tingzhu herself didn't act delicate, even though she was currently in her physiological period.

Fang Ziye didn't say much either, pressing the elevator's up button, and said: "Junior Sister, next month I'll be half-detached; if you have anything on the experiment side, you can all throw it to me."

"Okay! ~" Luo Tingzhu thus nodded……

In the research group, there was new money; even though it hadn't come down directly yet, both Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu now had money to do experiments.

The money left in Yuan Weihong's Youth Fund for animal experiments could temporarily not be saved so strictly; later it could be supplemented with the hospital's research project funds.

Before, they didn't dare move, afraid they couldn't get the money, and then at year-end settlement they'd have to pay the material companies, lest they get into legal disputes.

But with money, they can definitely run a tab first.

Just arriving at the laboratory, Luo Tingzhu opened her double-shoulder backpack, took out a notebook, on which was very meticulously planned the several tens of thousands she could currently mobilize, roughly what things to buy, all recorded on it.

Fang Ziye was the same; experiments need advance planning. Previously Yuan Weihong's remaining experimental equipment, like pipette tips, had already been consumed to exhaustion and needed replenishment, so Fang Ziye followed the corresponding template Luo Tingzhu had already prepared, began planning, then submitted to the material company to have them deliver to the laboratory doorway.

On this point, many gene companies' service is very thorough. As long as the address is detailed enough, same-day arrival is possible, unless the consumables you need are extremely numerous.

Only Luo Tingzhu still asked: "Senior Brother Fang, are the consumables you buy from Squeeze Gene expensive? The company Senior Brother Sun usually contacts seems a bit pricey; I checked online."

"Let me see." Hearing he could save a bit of money, Fang Ziye also took it to heart.

Money saved can do more experiments — this is very critical.

Spend generously where it should be spent, save where it should be saved.

Moreover, because he was going to be half-detached for a month, Fang Ziye planned to put all his knowledge points this month into experimental operation, striving to add points to Basic Experimental Operation to Level 4, so that in the subsequent three months, while in half-detached state, Fang Ziye could do more experimental operations.

Further improve success rate.

Level 3 Basic Experimental Operation proficiency can compare to an Academic PhD; Level 4 is estimated to be at least a senior Associate Researcher level, right?

After all, five hundred knowledge points.

Associate Researcher is a research title; generally after PhD graduation one can smoothly enter as Research Intern, even during PhD one can be rated as Assistant Researcher.

The Researcher title series includes Research Intern, Assistant Researcher, Associate Researcher, Researcher.

Served as Research Intern for 4 years or more, or obtained Master's degree and served as Research Intern for 2 years or more, or obtained Doctorate, and possesses solid basic disciplinary knowledge and professional knowledge, can independently conduct research work; then one can obtain Assistant Researcher title!

If Fang Ziye were willing, next year he could consider going to evaluate for an Assistant Researcher title.

"Seems to be a bit cheaper; bulk discount — how about we order together, then split the bill by quantity?" Fang Ziye asked.

Luo Tingzhu then said: "No rush for now; I'll go ask the other Internal Medicine Senior Sisters, see if their side has cheaper and decent-quality consumable companies……"

"Then I'll go ask too." Fang Ziye thought a bit, also planning to exert his connections.

After all, before the hospital's research funding allocation comes down, the research funds left on Yuan Weihong's group are only around two hundred thousand — can't use them recklessly.

Whether one animal experiment can be done for around two hundred thousand, Fang Ziye can't judge for now.

……

Fang Ziye did things with proper handover; the first handover was to his next Master, Teacher Deng Yong.

Lest it be like last time, where he was long absent from the department without reporting to Teacher Deng Yong, who then nagged about where he went. Fang Ziye explained to Deng Yong!

Teacher Deng Yong said: "I know, Li Professor already contacted me. Ziye you also have to work hard, strive to contribute more to our team."

"Although I've stepped down from the Ward Director position, it just so happens to give me more time to rush forward again. Let's see if this year there's a chance to get an 863 out……"

"Huh? Master." Fang Ziye froze.

"This kind of thing you don't need to mind; this is something me and Hong Zili Associate Professor, and your Master, have to consider together. You'll be in the lab, half-detached for several months — good, I've remembered it." Teacher Deng Yong seemed full of vigor.

Coming out of Teacher Deng Yong's Chief Physician office, Fang Ziye's face was full of puzzlement.

The Director's Office isn't exclusive to the Ward Director; all Chief Physicians can go there to rest.

The second matter to settle properly was to brief Jin Hongzhou.

Jin Hongzhou couldn't be found in the department, but Fang Ziye found him in the Emergency Department, currently running an emergency consultation, and explained the general situation.

Jin Hongzhou nodded: "Alright, rest assured. Wei Ge already explained it to me. No problem, half-detached is half-detached — our ward isn't short on bed-management doctors."

Fang Ziye hurriedly explained: "Zhou Ge, I'm talking about the department's joint dislocation handling. You might need to coordinate with the other Senior Brothers or Fellow Trainees."

Jin Hongzhou suddenly realized, nodding: "Understood!"

"But I'll remember you." For Fang Ziye's sensibleness, Jin Hongzhou genuinely felt he was reliable.

He does things with proper measure, comes and goes with proper handover — tell me, with a subordinate like this, do you trust him or not?

Once all this handover was done, Fang Ziye's main task plan for the first half of January took shape.

First, the writing, verification, and pre-defense of the graduation thesis.

Yuan Weihong arranged two pre-defenses for Fang Ziye: one inviting Associate Professor Xie Jinyuan and Qin Geluo, the other inviting Professor Deng Yong and Associate Professor Hong Zili, serving as Fang Ziye's mock defense committee members to review his defense process and content, scheduled for January 8 and January 18 respectively.

However, Fang Ziye arranged three smaller pre-defenses for himself, on January 5, January 10, and January 15.

For the one on the 5th, Fang Ziye only invited his own small master's school — Lan Tianluo and Jie Han — to record video so he could review the pre-defense process himself.

Whether he was nervous, whether there were expression mistakes, whether there was unfamiliarity with data or other aspects in the thesis — the two, acting as the defense committee, would question parts they considered important.

The one on the 10th, Fang Ziye invited more people.

At this point, the advantage of connections showed — among all the big masters, anyone not on duty, including Luo Tingzhu, except Senior Brother Sun Shaoqing, was willing to come out and help correct a thing or two.

The one on the 15th, Fang Ziye didn't invite Fellow Trainees and classmates; he invited attendings like Jin Hongzhou and Li Nuo, and also notified his Master — equivalent to forming a young defense team to ensure absolute foolproofing.

Of course, for the defense announcement, besides online announcement for one month, there also had to be poster announcement.

On this point, Fang Ziye was very certain it would be handled by Jie Han and Lan Tianluo; they would then, together with Li Yuanpei leading several other Fellow Trainees, put up both Sun Shaoqing's and Fang Ziye's defense posters under the Surgical Building for a week of public display — Fang Ziye saved worry on this.

The second matter, naturally, was Fang Ziye continuing experiments step by step.

Fang Ziye had both near-term and long-term planning for his research roadmap. The experimental content Fang Ziye needed to complete was the link in the near-term plan.

Based on the HK2 and Giant Cell Tumor of Bone from the National Natural Science Youth Fund his teacher secured, but he would add many things into it.

1. Metformin + HK2.

Its own concentration's quantitative regulation of HK2 and further influence on the biological characteristics of Giant Cell Tumor of Bone.

3. After adding Metformin to the culture medium, whether the expression level of HK2 and mRNA expression level in Giant Cell Tumor of Bone are affected, compared with standardized HK2 and mRNA levels.

4. The link between Giant Cell Tumor of Bone's glucose metabolism and HK2 — does it affect subsequent glucose metabolism pathways and product formation? What about Metformin?

2. Longitudinal comparison of the degree of influence on glucose metabolism and osteosarcoma biological characteristics between HK2 and the LDH pathway.

This is all the experimental content Fang Ziye is about to apply for a Provincial Level 1 Project to complete.

Naturally, Fang Ziye also had to do some planning for the experimental content of the next formal General Program Fund Yuan Weihong would apply for.

Mainly adding siRNA into the HK2 pathway.

Small interfering RNA or silencing RNA — siRNA interference technology, as a new type of gene silencing technology, with advantages of high efficiency, high specificity, low toxicity, etc., developing new targeted drugs using siRNA interference technology has become a key development direction in the pharmaceutical research field.

This way, it's equivalent to Yuan Weihong's Youth Fund project pathway deepening by two layers, and with preliminary research in place, applying for a General Fund has a significant chance.

The third matter is the meta-analysis Fang Ziye is currently writing — it must be finalized and submitted before the defense. And this step's priority still ranks first.

Because the first two matters, Fang Ziye's preparation is already quite sufficient — equivalent to just following corresponding steps — but the meta-analysis paper is a test of his own thesis writing foundation.

Although Fellow Trainees can help, if he can avoid asking for help, he still needs to hone his own capability. He can write it himself first, then let them revise and review, but cannot rely entirely on others — this is a scientific researcher's basic literacy.

Do things one by one, eat rice one mouthful at a time.

……

On January 5, after Fang Ziye's first pre-defense convening two Fellow Trainees was completed, the two asked two relatively sharp questions, and Fang Ziye didn't want to answer either.

From Fellow Trainee Jie Han: "Classmate, if I tell you that silencing the HK2 gene would kill a normal person, does your project have any significance?"

Fang Ziye actually had the answer in his heart.

Big Brother, this is basic experiment, it's exploration, not verification, not truly opening up some tumor targeted drug — if you insist on considering all situations, ninety-nine point nine five percent of all projects worldwide could be shut down, what the hell are we doing...

But Lan Tianluo's question was relatively sharp, yet very sincere.

"Classmate, have you considered how many times the difference in utilization efficiency is between the bypass pathway of glucose metabolism and the direct pathway of glucose metabolism? Would this affect tumor cell biological characteristics?"

Fang Ziye also answered.

But the answer doesn't need these two to review — playing a ball!

This Lan Tianluo, simply fails to convey meaning — I didn't talk about glucose metabolism bypass pathway, why are you dragging this in?

HK2, Giant Cell Tumor of Bone, the orthodox pathway of glucose metabolism — you should ask about this.

But considering Lan Tianluo is from the Mathematics Department and is sensitive to data, Fang Ziye bypassed him.

After arriving at the laboratory, Luo Tingzhu said: "Senior Brother, I found a company on my end — recently culture dishes are on special sale, New Year's Day promotion, each dish fifty cents cheaper than usual, culture bottles two yuan cheaper."

"Is quality guaranteed?" Fang Ziye asked.

Low price is good, but culture dishes originally cost two or three yuan, culture bottles are more expensive, some ten-odd or twenty yuan.

"Non-operational contamination compensated, breakage replaced. Mainly clearing inventory."

"How many?" Fang Ziye asked.

Generally a pack is about twelve, a box about two hundred forty.

"200 boxes!"

"Still can't buy that many — bring culture dishes."

"Right, Tingzhu, I'll also switch to micropipette tips from now on, no more pipettes." Fang Ziye touched his nose, giving this instruction.

"Yes Senior Brother, pipettes are too expensive, two or three yuan each, not cost-effective."

"When operation volume is large, it's still relatively cost-effective." Luo Tingzhu always felt Fang Ziye's team did experiments too extravagantly, could be more meticulous and calculating.

"If we could find a batch of cheap reagents that would be great — reagent costs are actually the big head." Fang Ziye sighed.

Luo Tingzhu said: "No problem, Senior Brother, some reagents — the larger Internal Medicine labs are rich and generous, I can go use tubes to draw some over."

"But the requirement is that we help them do some experiments."

"That works too. Some reagents are ridiculously expensive, so it's equivalent to us earning extra income. We can do it."

"But look carefully at the experimental process. If it's some especially complex flow cytometry, running several hundred at once, then we definitely won't do it." Having finished his instructions, Fang Ziye opened his computer and started writing his paper.

Actually he could write at home too, but home was very cold, and he'd have to turn on the stove or the air conditioner.

The atmosphere in the laboratory was excellent, warm and comfortable, and he could go check on cells or do experiments anytime — very suitable for handling learning.

Luo Tingzhu, for her part, put away her work notebook.

This notebook was one she specifically used for non-experimental data recording, a sort of important-matters-handling notebook.

"Senior Brother, I'm heading to the Training Room first." As Luo Tingzhu spoke, she quietly slipped a rice cake and two pieces of chocolate to Fang Ziye from her snack pack, then ran off first.

Fang Ziye was already immersed in his work, so he didn't reply.

As Luo Tingzhu walked toward the exit, she kept thinking to herself: taking advantage of Senior Brother Fang's half-detached status, I definitely have to catch up to him...

(Chapter End)