The next day, in the Shangdu Life Sciences Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Around seven o 'clock in the morning, five or six male and female employees were wiping the tables and chairs in a conference room while taking advantage of their free time to chat on the Internet.
As it was not yet time to go to work, the crisp laughter of girls could be heard from time to time in the conference room, bringing a hint of liveliness to the quiet and solemn research institute.
It was not until half past seven that everyone wiped away the dust that had fallen in the conference room and began to clean the windows and railings.
"Why aren't you done yet?"
At this moment, a middle-aged man in a suit rushed in with an urgent expression. "Hurry up, this conference room will be used at eight o 'clock!"
"Leader, don't worry, we can finish cleaning before eight o 'clock." A young girl replied with a smile, "Why are you in such a hurry?"
"What do you know?"
The middle-aged man looked even more anxious. "I just received news that the director and the deputy director are coming to this conference room. Don't you know that the director has a habit of arriving ten minutes earlier?"
Everyone was startled and hurriedly sped up their actions.
Just as the middle-aged man was getting anxious and was even about to roll up his sleeves, there was a sudden sound of footsteps behind him.
The middle-aged man turned around subconsciously and saw a young man in a white shirt walking over. "Excuse me, is this conference room 3?"
"Yes, and you are?" The middle-aged man saw that the young man looked unfamiliar and realized that he was not from the institute. He subconsciously glanced at the work ID on the young man's neck.
Chen Chen?
Never heard of him...
"I'm the speaker of this conference." The young man named Chen Chen glanced inside. "Can I go in now? I'd like to prepare in advance. "
"Oh, sure, please come in..."
The middle-aged man quickly stepped aside and watched the young man walk to the podium skillfully and began to adjust the projection equipment. He could not help feeling a little surprised.
It was the first time he had seen such a young face standing on that podium. Moreover, this time, the director had personally come to support him.
Everyone who was cleaning the conference room glanced at the young man curiously and did not dare to continue chatting. Their hands moved a little faster and the conference room was cleaned up in less than ten minutes.
The middle-aged man secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at the podium one last time and saw that the young man was still examining the PowerPoint with a serious expression. He gestured to everyone and prepared to leave the conference room.
However, just as he was about to leave silently with everyone, his heart suddenly tightened.
In the hallway, the dean and a large group of academicians were walking toward them.
"Let's go!" The middle-aged man hurriedly roared at everyone, and the group quickly left.
A few minutes later.
Inside the venue, a group of men in work clothes with different expressions entered in a single file. Although the speech had yet to begin, these people were still sitting quietly in their seats, displaying excellent manners.
This group of people were not students, but a group of middle-aged and elderly people who were over 50 years old. Some of them were even over 60.
However, unlike ordinary middle-aged and elderly people, everyone here was at the top of the academic world, and a few of them were even world-renowned figures.
These people were basically the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The others were also senior management personnel like Wang Luo.
What Chen Chen had to do was to convince this group of top elites in the academic world. Only when these people acknowledged the feasibility of Chen Chen's proposal, would they be able to answer to the authorities and Professor Wang Xi would agree to go abroad for treatment.
Seeing that the venue was already full, Chen Chen bowed slightly and began to speak in a drawn-out manner.
"The so-called Alzheimer's disease is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that mostly occurs in middle-aged and elderly people. On average, there are 5 to 8 cases of Alzheimer's disease out of every 100 people over the age of 60. As the world ages, this number is only increasing exponentially.
"Unfortunately, more than half of the world's people don't understand this disease. Against the backdrop of global medical advancement, Alzheimer's disease has become the only disease that has seen an increase in mortality in the past decade."
As Chen Chen spread his hands, the large screen behind him began to display reports from various newspapers and periodicals.
The data in these reports was shocking.
"Alzheimer's disease, which I'll abbreviate as AD, I'm sure some of you know it like the back of your hand. After all, there are only two main complications: Aβ protein deposition and tau protein mutation.
"However, it wasn't until we delved deeper into it that we discovered that the clues were extremely complicated. Behind these two complications, there are countless factors at play, like an endless number of tangled threads..."
Chen Chen pointed to the screen behind him. "To date, the most in-depth discovery in the academic world is probably the microglia. As a type of immune cell in the brain, experiments have proven that when activated, microglia can effectively engulf Aβ protein and abnormal tau protein, thereby inhibiting the symptoms of AD.
"However, at the same time, these immune cells are a double-edged sword."
Chen Chen turned around and several research reports were displayed on the screen behind him. "Recent studies have shown that not only do microglia engulf abnormal proteins, but they can also secrete a substance called apolipoprotein E, also known as ApoE."
"The gene responsible for the secretion of ApoE has three isoforms, ApoE2, ApoE3, and ApoE4. Each person's body is divided into two groups of this protein gene, and each person can only have one or two of them."
A list automatically appeared behind Chen Chen. "In other words, in everyone's body, the probability of your gene combination is about one in six."
"ApoE originally helped to remove Aβ deposits, but in subsequent research, scientists found that E2 was more effective than E3, and E4 had the opposite effect, which would exacerbate Aβ deposits."
"Having an E4 gene increases the risk of AD by three times. If the gene sequence in your body is [E4], the risk of AD will increase by three times.
/
Congratulations, your risk of developing AD is 12 times higher than the average person. "
Following Chen Chen's words, there was a whisper of discussion in the audience.
"Microglia not only have an effect on Aβ protein deposition but also on the mutation of tau protein."
Chen Chen spread his hands. "Mutations in the phosphorylation of tau protein will cause entanglement of neuronal fibers, which leads to the death of nerve cells. But how does this death occur?"
"Current research results show that this kind of death may still be caused by microglia. When they attack those entanglements, they will damage nearby neurons. At the same time, the APOE4 secreted by microglia will also amplify the toxic effect of tau protein on neurons."
"Therefore, after genetic identification of the patient, can we restrict or activate microglia according to the patient's genes?"
Chen Chen guided patiently. "And my Blacklight Biotechnology Research Center is launched on this basis."
Several old men in the audience looked at each other and nodded approvingly.
Chen Chen uploaded the information and photos in his hand to the projector. "In the complications of AD, there is always inflammation. In recent research, people found that a cytokine called IL-1β can cause an inflammatory response and the increase of IL-1β cytokine is due to the sharp decline of the TOM1 protein...
"The paper published in PNAS confirms this point of view. After the expression of TOM1 decreased, the Aβ protein in the brains of mice with AD model did increase and the cognitive ability of these mice also declined.
"Therefore, during the experiment, I used gene overexpression to activate the TOM1 protein gene, which greatly improved the condition of the experimental subjects."
Chen Chen uploaded the experimental materials one by one. "You can think of TOM1 as the brake structure of a car. In the brain of AD patients, this brake has failed and what we need to do is to repair this brake at the molecular level."
Everyone's expression changed when they heard this.
"Through the first two methods, we have temporarily suppressed the condition of AD, but if we don't find a solution, the result can only be a tragedy. So, what we have to do next is to eliminate the deposition.
"Therefore, the third project of our research center is Solaneuzumab, which is developed by Eli Lilly and Company. This is a monoclonal antibody that targets the Aβ peptide chain. It prevents it from depositing and polymerizing, and can eliminate it from the human brain."
"Of course, this is not enough, so we have the last and most important process — through 'induced pluripotent stem cells' to create autologous neural stem cells and at the same time activate the G2 resting stem cells in the human brain.
"Through this method, we can restore the brain of AD patients again. Even if it can't be restored to its original state, it can be restored by more than half."
Following Chen Chen's words, photos and evidence of animal experiments appeared on the screen. The audience finally could not help but discuss in low voices.
"I will publish these results in Cell in the future. If you're interested, you can contact me. I can provide you with detailed data."
With that, Chen Chen turned off the projector, turned around, and walked off the podium.
"Clap clap clap clap..."
There was a burst of applause.
Seeing this, Chen Chen could not help but recall the scene of Professor Wang Xi lecturing him back then.
More than a year ago, he was still sitting in a university class, listening to Professor Wang Xi's rambling, constantly instilling some forward-looking ideas into his group of students.
At that time, the lifelong goal of many people was probably to become an academic big shot like Professor Wang Xi in twenty or thirty years, right?
However, he did not expect that in just over a year, he was standing in a position almost equal to Professor Wang Xi.
Still, this was only the beginning...
Chen Chen thought silently.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
