Du Biao came to the door of the laboratory and was about to push the door in when he heard bursts of laughter coming from inside.
He paused, stopped outside the door, and listened quietly.
"I finally found out why the sows were aborting."
"Damn, I know why too."
"What's your reason?"
"I did genetic analysis and found that some of the eggs' own PERV virus infection genes still existed, so the resulting embryos also contained the PERV virus, and then the embryos disappeared halfway through development."
"Then you didn't remove the nucleus of the oocyte?"
"Yes, maybe when the nucleus was removed, it was not complete enough and some gene fragments were left behind, which then infected the embryo."
"It's easy for you to solve this. Just clean it up when removing the nucleus. I was in a bad situation. My embryos were infected with other viruses in the sow in the uterus."
"Hey, do you want to find a cleaner sow?"
"That's right. You have to start all over again. It's really hard."
"By the way, will our entire army be wiped out this time?"
"No, Xiao Gao's sow is fine."
"It seems that he is the hope of the whole village. The results of this experiment will depend on him."
"Tsk, tsk, what did Xiao Gao do to the sow, why should his be fine?"
"Then you'd better ask yourself what you did to the sow and why your sow keeps miscarrying."
"Aren't you the same? Hahaha~"
Listening to these words, Du Biao knew what happened.
It turns out that almost all the cloning experiments done by the students failed.
Only one succeeded.
When the name Xiao Gao fell into his ears, he instantly thought of a tall and thin figure.
This student really loves learning and has good practical skills. It is not surprising that he can become the last hope of the laboratory.
Seeing that everyone was almost finished discussing, Du Biao coughed lightly, opened the door and walked in.
I saw everyone gathering together around a pig pen, observing the only remaining sow inside.
The sow has gained a lot of weight, the black pattern on her back is no longer obvious, her belly is bulging, her head is buried in the trough, and she is drinking milk.
"Teacher Du is back."
As soon as he came in, the students heard the movement, looked back, and hurriedly said hello.
When Du Biao saw all this, he knew what was going on and asked with a smile.
"I heard there was something wrong with your experiment."
"If you have any problems, just tell me and we can solve them together."
The students looked at each other for a long time, and all their eyes fell on Xiao Gao.
Xiao Gao, a tall and thin man wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he hesitated.
"Teacher, do you know about the pregnancy and postpartum care of sows?"
"This..." Du Biao was speechless.
How could he, a professor of cell biology, understand the postpartum care of sows?
What I usually study here and there are sliced cells under a microscope.
If he hadn't received this new project of xenogeneic organ transplantation, his research would not have anything to do with pigs.
Xiao Gao saw that the teacher's face became a little unhappy and waved his hands hurriedly.
"Teacher, it's okay. We can just study this ourselves."
Seeing that the student was so sensible, Du Biao suddenly felt guilty.
I have rarely stayed in the laboratory in the past six months, and I have not been very dedicated to teaching students.
Now that the students are encountering difficulties in their experiments, I can't do much to help them. I feel really ashamed of the students.
He couldn't help but sigh and said: "Let me be my teacher. I know Professor Wang from the veterinary medicine department next door."
"He knows a lot about the treatment and care of all kinds of common animals. I went to him to learn from him."
Xiao Gao nodded repeatedly and showed a happy smile.
"That's great. Now my embryos are the only ones left alive in the laboratory. I'm wondering what I can do to get through the past few months and raise the piglets safely."
Du Biao nodded and smiled, finally regaining a hint of confidence in being a good example to others.
"Don't worry, leave everything to your master."
****
"This pig fetus is about to be born. Has the genotype been checked?"
"After checking, it was really surprising. The surrogate sows had PERV virus genes, but the fetuses were 100% free of PERV."
"It is simply a miracle of life. This time the virus in the sow did not infect the fetus."
"Most of the minipigs used in the laboratory have been gene-edited, which may have removed part of the PERV virus gene."
"It makes sense, but it doesn't explain why the virus in my sow can infect the fetus."
"Perhaps this is the legendary power of maternal love?"
"You might as well say it's metaphysics."
"It has nothing to do with metaphysics. Nature is so magical and full of all kinds of anomalies. Otherwise, there would be no such thing as genetic mutation."
"Mini pigs are just fine. There is no need to modify genes to limit their growth. Their organs are naturally similar to humans and primates."
"I'm still a little worried about the condition of the fetus after birth. There are too many genetic modifications. God knows what the impact will be."
"Xenotransplantation is like this. It requires large-scale genome engineering. In addition to knocking out PERV, which is relatively easy, it also needs to insert a large amount of human DNA into the genome of the donor pig. It is really unavoidable."
"Fortunately, we have Sanqing's gene editing tools, otherwise it would be difficult to knock out large fragments of DNA and complete our experiment."
"Have you ever studied computer programming? I have taken some elective courses in C++ and Java. When I was knocking out the pig cell genome, I felt like I was writing code."
"Me too, it's all object-oriented programming, encapsulating RNA, and then modifying the DNA code accordingly. It feels like the hand of God."
"If this continues, we will become coders of the new era, but we are coding biological organisms."
"Thank God, we are currently only genetically modifying animals, and it has not yet reached humans."
"I have a hunch that this kind of thing will happen sooner or later in the future. Do you dare to say that in some corner of the world, no one is secretly modifying human genes?"
"The ethics committee will not let this happen. Even the genetic modification of animals is subject to restrictions and cannot be done at will. Modification of the brain and germ cells is strictly prohibited."
"Don't think so bad, haven't you noticed? The field of xenotransplantation will develop very well in the future. As long as you have a little ability, it will be easy to find a job after graduation."
"Of course, after we finish this experiment, even if you want to join Sanqing, you can do it, let alone other biotechnology companies."
"If my senior brother hadn't proposed this emerging project in the first place, it would have been difficult to publish a paper just by following my tutor."
"My mentor has been led away by my senior brother. I also want to hug him tightly and follow him from now on."
In the daily chat among the students, time passed quickly, and soon it was time for the sow to give birth.
The mini pigs used in the experiment are different from ordinary domestic pigs. After improvement, their development time is much faster.
In addition, the embryos are artificially implanted. Compared with domestic pigs, which often give birth to more than a dozen, the number is only half, and they can obtain sufficient nutrition for development in the mother's body.
Therefore, in less than 70 days, six piglets were born healthy.
In the first moment, it was divided among the students who wanted to be parents.
However, there are only 6 piglets and 8 students who want to be parents, which is not enough points at all.
In the end, except for Xiao Gao who got a cub without any dispute, the other seven people could only decide the piglet's ownership by drawing lots.
The fat boy and the pony-tailed girl unfortunately lost the election.
The two troubled brothers and sisters were so angry that they couldn't help but complain about Xiao Gao.
"Xiao Gao, why didn't you put in more embryos?"
"Hey, if I had known that only your sow could give birth, I should have given up all my embryos to you."
Xiao Gao also looked aggrieved and shouted that he was wronged.
"It's really not my fault. I originally implanted 10 embryos, but who knew that 4 of them died midway and were all absorbed by other embryos."
"My embryonic mortality rate is quite high. To be honest, my sow didn't miscarry. I feel incredible."
"It seems that you are the chosen one."
The fat boy said sourly. After speaking, his nose twitched, his mouth curled up, and he almost cried.
Xiao Gao couldn't bear it, so he patted his plump shoulder and said with great pride:
"It's okay, you can help me raise the cubs, I don't mind."
"You..." The fat boy thought for a long time, then pinched his nose and agreed.
The pony-tailed girl also found another girl. The two talked for a long time and happily became a godmother.
The matter was finally resolved satisfactorily. The next step was to wait for the piglets to mature and then transplant the organs into the baboons.
During this period, while everyone was carefully raising piglets, they were also studying the reasons for embryonic development failure.
Scientific research is like this. Failure is not terrible. As long as we sum up experience and lessons and continue to improve the next experiment, we can greatly improve the embryo survival rate.
More than 2 months later, the piglets, which were palm-sized when they were born, have grown to about 10 kilograms and have matured.
The size has also become similar to that of a dog, but it is fatter. It looks chubby, white and pink, and very cute.
Looking at these six healthy and lively piglets, even Huang Qin couldn't help but be filled with emotion.
"Worldwide, at least 40 different genes can be edited in pigs. We have edited 36, and with the knockout viruses, we are almost close to this number."
"The piglets with such deep gene editing can actually grow up healthily. To be honest, even I was surprised."
"Students, you have worked hard. You have worked hard to raise these 6 little pigs. Without your efforts, there would be no results today."
This is true. After the embryo was implanted in the sow's uterus, he rarely came to the laboratory to provide guidance. The specific work of raising the cubs was left to each student.
After all, he was too busy to raise pigs.
Now that the students are able to complete their work so well, it shows that they have put in all their hard work.
Only with such dedicated work can we reap fruitful results.
"Even an animal organ transplant operation is very complicated. I have contacted the animal experiment center and they are ready to start the operation in the afternoon."
"Choose a pig, do various inspections, and bring it over in a moment."
Huang Qin looked at the six genetically modified pigs, nodded with satisfaction, and carefully gave some instructions.
The students cheered instantly, showing smiles like rain after a long drought.
"It's great. After almost a year of experiments, I finally waited for this day."
"I'm going to have a transplant soon. I'm so excited just thinking about it."
"Hey, these are all babies we have worked hard to raise. We would be reluctant to choose anyone."
"Then how about drawing lots?"
"It can only be this way."
Huang Qin looked at the smiling faces of his classmates, and a smile appeared on his face.
He understands everyone's mood at the moment.
After so long hard work and continuous overcoming difficulties, we finally reached the critical step.
Who can not be excited, who can not look forward to it.
Even he is no exception.
Even more than these classmates, I am looking forward to the results of this operation.
****
Kunming, Animal Experiment Center.
A group of 10 people put on surgical clothes, masks, hats and gloves, and under the leadership of Dean Liu, came to the operating room.
In addition to Huang Qin and eight classmates, Du Biao also rushed over to participate in this historic moment.
Fortunately, the operating room is large enough to accommodate so many people without feeling crowded.
Everyone gathered around the operating table and watched quietly.
Lying on it was a grinning, unconscious baboon.
As for the pig as the donor, it had been anesthetized and was lying on an operating table not far away.
Two kidney transplant surgeons stood in front of the operating table with serious faces.
They expertly examined the bodies of the baboons and pigs and read out all the parameters.
"Receptor: One female baboon, weighing 20 kilograms."
"Bilateral native nephrectomy, as well as islet cell resection, were performed before receiving xenograft."
"Serum creatinine index...glycemic index...other renal function parameters..."
"Donor: Selected 36-GE pig, growth period 76 days, 15 kg, female."
"Insertion of 21 human immune regulatory and complement inhibitory genes including CD55, CD46, HO1 and CD47."
"Inserting two human anticoagulant genes, TBM and EPCR."
"Insert 4 humanized kidney genes."
"Insert an insulin expression gene."
"Deletion of 2 porcine carbohydrate antigens."
"Deleting GGTA1, GalNT2, CMAH and other 6 genes that can cause acute rejection."
"Does not express red blood cell antigens and is a universal donor for any blood type."
"Kidney function is normal, BUN19, creatinine 1.3, assessed within 30 days before kidney donation."
"Porcine endogenous retroviruses and other viruses, shown negative."
"Next, immunosuppressive induction will be used on the recipient prior to transplantation."
The surgeon in charge said in a deep voice, and without any slowness in his movements, he slowly injected the immunosuppressant into the baboon's body.
Everyone looked serious, and after hearing such detailed data, they only nodded slightly.
Even Dean Liu, who was always good at talking, was in no mood to talk and focused all his attention on the surgery.
In the beeping sound of the monitor.
The belly of the pig was cut open and the pancreatic islet cells were transplanted into the baboon.
Both kidneys were also taken out one after another and transplanted one after another.
The ureter and bladder were sutured successively, followed by the blood vessels.
After the vascular anastomosis is completed, remove the vascular clamp.
After 5-10 seconds, the pale kidneys were quickly perfused and their original blood color returned.
At this point, the surgeon finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"The transplant was successful, with both kidneys reperfused quickly and showing good color and filling."
"Hyperacute rejection has not occurred yet, and the overall performance is good."
"The next thing depends on how long it takes to produce urine." (End of chapter)
