Wei Kang didn't know about Cook's anger, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care.
Because at this moment, his full attention is focused on one thing.
A very important event that will leave a lasting mark on the history of science.
After three years of hard research, Sanqing's neuroscience laboratory finally made a major breakthrough.
Drugs that can awaken dormant neural stem cells in the human brain.
Found it!
When Sanqing was developing specific drugs for Alzheimer's disease before, due to technical reasons, it was unable to save the patients' atrophied brain nerve cells. Instead, it could only use temporary treatment methods to continuously eliminate amyloid deposits in the patients' brains, thus Relieve the condition.
This is indeed very effective for some patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. They quickly recovered and were able to live a normal life.
But for some patients with severe neurodegenerative diseases, it is not of much use.
Because the patient's brain nerves have been extensively damaged, it is difficult to return to the previous state and consciousness even if it no longer worsens.
For many family members, this is still an unbearable burden.
What's the point of the patient losing consciousness and memory and living a life like a zombie?
They still have no self, no past, no present, and no future.
Life is worse than death, this is the deepest feeling in the hearts of these family members.
Therefore, over the years, family members of seriously ill patients have not given up, but have persistently petitioned Sanqing Group, hoping to develop a drug that can completely cure the disease.
However, this is so difficult.
The whole world is helpless in the face of this problem and can only continue to explore and try.
At first, scientists were not even sure whether there were neural stem cells in the human brain.
In recent years, some evidence has been gradually found, proving that there are still a small number of neural stem cells in the brain, but they have entered a resting state and cannot be activated.
This is the main reason why the human brain cannot regenerate after damage.
Neural stem cells in the human brain begin to differentiate into neuron cells during the embryonic period, take shape in early childhood, and then gradually grow and develop.
During this period, if it is damaged, it will have a certain ability to repair and regenerate.
Therefore, brain development in early childhood is very important. If you miss this opportunity, you will basically not develop again for life.
Most geniuses emerge during their teenage years because this is the peak period of brain growth and development, with unlimited potential.
Neuron cells in the normal human brain complete development around the age of twenty, and then gradually die.
At this time, there are basically no neural stem cells capable of generating neuron cells.
As people begin to age, this process begins to accelerate, and by the time a person dies, more than half of the brain's neuronal cells have died.
This is why when people get old, their brains will continue to degenerate, lose their memory and thinking ability, and suffer from various Alzheimer's diseases.
Birth, old age, illness and death, in fact, the last three characters all come to the same end by different paths, and they all come down to the same character.
When large numbers of neuronal cells die and are not replaced by glial cells, the brain shrinks.
Therefore, to treat Alzheimer's disease and most other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, the most important thing is to repair damaged neurons and even activate dormant neural stem cells. After all, only neural stem cells can divide New neuron cells.
However, most neural stem cells in the human body have been transformed into mature brain cells, including neurons, glial cells, etc.
There are very few remaining neural stem cells that fall into dormancy, which is also a kind of self-protection. If they do not stay dormant, the result may be complete death.
When neural stem cells become dormant, they cannot regenerate more neurons, and brain damage becomes irreparable.
If neural stem cells are activated, there is a chance that brain neurons can regenerate, allowing brain tissue to return to normal.
Although some lost memories may be irreversible, the patient's disease can be completely cured, and then the patient can return to normal through some methods such as relearning and recalling memories.
In fact, stem cell therapy has become very popular around the world since its introduction, and there are various clinical research directions.
A foreign company is trying to differentiate embryonic stem cells into beta cells capable of secreting insulin to solve the problem of insufficient clinical donors for islet transplantation.
Scientists in Sakura Country also use ips cells (induced pluripotent stem cells) to cultivate a layer of retinal pigment epithelial cells, and then transplant them into eyes with age-related macular degeneration to treat blindness.
These research pioneers are groping in the dark and faltering. They are very likely to fail, but they will eventually provide valuable experience for the clinical application of stem cell therapy.
However, there are also various commercial stem cell treatments that are unregulated and aimed at making money. They ignore the health of patients and provide immature and high-risk treatments. Not only do they fail to cure diseases, but they also cause patients to develop various cancers.
Because stem cells differentiate in different parts of the human body, if the technology is not mature enough, abnormal differentiation often occurs, leading to cancer and the formation of tumors in various parts.
If embryonic stem cells or human brain stem cells are directly transplanted into the brain, they will easily differentiate into gliomas instead of neuronal cells.
In short, with the current level of human technology, the risk of transplanting stem cells for treatment is very high.
It is not impossible to transplant neural stem cells into the brain, but after transplantation, if they cannot differentiate into ideal neuron cells, these transplanted stem cells will turn into a mass of brain tumors.
This is undoubtedly dancing on the edge of a knife with the patient's life.
I'm afraid only Putian hospitals dare to be so desperate.
This is also the reason why Sanqing chooses to activate neural stem cells in the brain.
Safety first, put patients’ lives first.
At this moment, Wei Kang was sitting at his desk, looking at the experimental report in his hand solemnly.
Opposite him sat an excited Chen Yiqing. He put his hands on the table and stared at Wei Kang's fingers as he continued to explain as the paper was turned.
"Foreign countries are indeed very powerful in stem cell research and are at the forefront of the world. I also saw a research report from them a few years ago. In it, they studied the chemical mechanism of the brain of mice and found that the ups and downs of gene expression may affect Awakening neural stem cells from their slumber unlocks the brain's regenerative potential."
"By directly comparing active stem cells in embryos with inactive, quiescent adult stem cells, they found that at least two genes and their associated proteins that regulate viability are involved."
"After in-depth research, they focused on a protein called hes1 that is strongly expressed in adult cells. Under normal circumstances, this protein inhibits the production of a protein called ascl1. Over time, the researchers monitored these two The production of a protein discovered a waveform pattern that promotes the awakening of stem cells and their transformation into neuronal cells in the brain."
"When the researchers knocked out the genetic code required to make the hes1 protein, the cells began to make more ascl1 proteins, which subsequently activated almost all neural stem cells. The key is that the same gene is responsible for both the active and resting states of these stem cells. "Thus, a better understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying different expression dynamics could help researchers turn on dormant stem cells and use them to treat a range of neurodegenerative diseases."
The more Chen Yiqing talked, the more excited he became, waving his hands in the air, constantly strengthening his expression.
"Although this was only a study result in the mouse brain, it gave us strong inspiration. Later, we also detected the same excitation mechanism in the human brain."
"After three years of research, we finally understood the basic principles of the transition between activation and resting states of these neural stem cells, and at the same time developed a drug molecule that can greatly inhibit the relevant basic expressions, thereby activating all neural stem cells."
“At the same time, we also believe that there are similar resting stem cells in other organs. If we continue to study, we should be able to develop drugs that activate stem cells in other organs. This will greatly promote the development of regenerative medicine and the development of new drugs. "
"Currently, this new drug has been successful in mouse experiments. Next, we will conduct toxicological studies and drug kinetic studies, and strive to start clinical trials as soon as possible."
Wei Kang couldn't help but be infected by his passion, with a joyful smile on his face.
"Great, this is great news!"
"Then just keep doing it. Many Alzheimer's patients and their families can't wait."
He put down the experimental report, affirmed the other party's results, and then seemed to have thought of something and couldn't help laughing.
"You can publish a paper first. I think your discovery deserves a Nobel Prize."
"Hahaha, I guess you didn't expect this Nobel Prize to come so soon."
When Chen Yiqing is not talking about work, he is still very steady and generous.
He waved his hand and smiled reservedly: "I really didn't expect it. I'm just walking on the right path. Whether I won the Nobel Prize or not is purely an accident. Compared with my achievements, it is not important at all."
Wei Kang nodded and gave a thumbs up: "You're absolutely right, Lao Chen, your pretense skills have greatly improved now."
Chen Yiqing was stunned for a moment: "Huh? I'm speaking from my heart. It is my lifelong wish to completely overcome Alzheimer's disease. It really doesn't matter whether I am awarded or not."
Wei Kang was completely convinced and said: "As expected of you, Lao Chen, come on, I'm optimistic about you, you will definitely become the greatest neuroscientist in history."
The fine wrinkles at the corners of Chen Yiqing's eyes suddenly bloomed. He adjusted his glasses with some embarrassment and said with a smile: "Mr. Wei, you are so complimentary. How can I compare to you? If I can achieve one-tenth of your achievements, I will be satisfied." .”
As he spoke, he couldn't help but become fascinated and said leisurely.
"The greatest neuroscientist, hey, if I can be called such a respectful person, my life, Lao Chen, will not be in vain."
Wei Kang laughed loudly and said: "Look at you, I obviously want it very much, but you are always tough-talking. You can be more direct in front of your own people."
Chen Yiqing hurriedly shook his hand and said: "I am a reserved person, and I can't learn to listen to people and dragons."
"Okay," Wei Kang tapped his finger on the table and said with a smile, "Hurry up and submit your paper. What awaits you will be a tsunami of cheers and praise, Dr. Chen."
As he spoke, he sighed again: "Fortunately, I didn't ask you to accept the Nobel Prize for me last time. It's better to accept your own award."
Then he shook his head and sighed: "If I had known this, I shouldn't have let you go for the Lasker Award. Let Wen Renlong go. With his virtue, he is probably the last one among you to win the award."
Chen Yiqing smiled and didn't answer.
After a while, he got up and left, going back to work.
Wei Kang looked at another pile of documents on the table and couldn't help but frowned.
After a while, he rubbed his brows and brought it to him.
This is another new drug research and development project.
"Plan for Complete Cure of HIV Virus Infection"
However, the same project has two new drug research and development directions.
They were proposed by Tang Que and Wen Renlong respectively.
The reason is that a month ago, the world's fourth AIDS cured patient appeared.
The "cures" of these four patients all had the same coincidence, that is, they all suffered from AIDS and acute myeloid leukemia at the same time.
So they all chose to receive hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for treatment, and found a donor who carried a rare genetic mutation.
The donor's ccr5 gene has 32 bases deleted, which prevents the ccr5 protein from appearing normally on the cell membrane, which in turn prevents the HIV virus from invading the human body normally, making the carrier resistant to HIV.
This is a modified form of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation that is better tolerated by older adults with blood cancers, reduces the likelihood of transplant-related complications, and also provides relief from AIDS.
As soon as the news came out, the entire medical community was excited.
Because this proves that HIV infection can be completely cured, and CCR5 gene expression is the most critical target.
Targeting this target and using different solutions, drugs that can completely cure AIDS can be developed.
AIDS affects tens of millions around the world, and so far, more than 30 million people have died from this disease in just a few decades.
Although with today's human technology, AIDS has changed from a fatal disease to a chronic disease that can survive long-term medication.
However, it is still the dream of people in the medical industry to completely overcome this problem of the century.
Tang Que was no exception. He immediately wanted to start research and development of new drugs in this area and discussed relevant plans with Wen Renlong.
Unexpectedly, the two soon started arguing over their respective plans and argued with each other for a while.
They all feel that their own plan is the best, as it can achieve the goal of completely curing HIV patients and is widely feasible. In short, they are not convinced by each other.
Wei Kang also had a headache over this. He didn't say much at first, hoping that the two of them would convince each other.
However, the dispute became more and more intense, and both sides were already on fire and unable to step down.
In this case, we can only let the two of them sit in front of him, have a good discussion, and then make the final decision.
"I hope we can negotiate amicably and come up with a plan acceptable to both parties."
Wei Kang sighed and thought to himself.
As the boss, he is the one who makes the final decision.
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