Genius of the Rules-Style System

Yan Xuelin thinks he is reasonable. He is the director of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences and will definitely support the scientific research projects there.

Some basic scientific research projects cannot be completed solely with funding from the Research Foundation. Some scientific research projects are not within the scope of projects supported by the Foundation at all, and even the application cannot be approved. Research-based research requires funds from the institute. support.

In fact.

The R\u0026D funding of scientific research institutions is mainly divided into two parts, one is the funding allocation supported by the state, and the other part is the support of the institution.

Funding support is a big part of the institute. It is precisely because there are many scientific research results that the institute receives funding for scientific research every year.

This part of the funding is for scientific research institutions to use freely.

Although this is what happened, Yan Xuelin felt depressed that several researchers got together and publicly said, 'The research institute has a lot of funds, if it is not enough, just ask the institute for it'?

That tone sounded like he wanted to 'steal' the research institute's funding.

If the institute's funding is deprived, it is deprived. It's not a big deal. When many laboratories are short of funds for projects, they will consider applying for other projects separately and ask for some funds to support the original project.

This is the ‘hidden rule of funding’ in scientific research institutions.

Although it doesn't sound very good, at least the starting point is good. The purpose is to raise funds for research. However, it is restricted by rules and must find ways to circumvent the rules.

But no matter what, it is really unjustifiable to blatantly "cheat" the funds of the institute and say it out loud and still be heard by him.

Yan Xuelin felt very humiliated, especially when they pretended not to see him and kept talking to themselves about not using the money.

"These guys..."

"It's too much!"

Yan Xuelin took a deep breath, adjusted his mentality, walked in with a stiff smile, and then asked about the project to be done.

If it were any other laboratory, he would have turned around and left, writing the matter down in his mind.

Zhao Yi Laboratory...

Ahem.

As the leader of a research institution, you must be generous to scientific researchers. Being ignored is nothing. The important thing is to provide scientific research support.

Yan Xuelin reminded himself.

Others couldn't pretend anymore, so they awkwardly greeted Yan Xuelin, and then talked about the projects they wanted to apply for.

"Neural signal transmission!"

The name pretty much explains it.

Neurology is an important branch of medicine, and nerve signal transmission is the basic research of medicine, but its importance and influence can even be said to surpass medicine.

At the same time, the analysis of nerve signal transmission is also considered to be one of the medical problems that humans cannot overcome in the short term. Its complexity and difficulty can even be equal to that of brain analysis.

"If the mystery of neural signal transmission can be cracked, human beings will have a leapfrog understanding of themselves."

"That will be a revolutionary progress in medicine and a revolutionary progress in science."

"It could easily change the world..."

These are the original words of world-renowned medical expert Ben Molden.

For nearly a century, science has been trying to understand nerve impulses, the way nerve signals are transmitted.

For example, when you step on a thumbtack, it only takes less than a second for the brain to receive a pain signal. The signal travels along the nerve fibers at about thirty meters per second.

Sixty years ago, nerve transmission researchers mastered the technology of measuring the potential difference between the inside and outside of a cell membrane and discovered that when signals are conducted along nerves through electrodes, the membrane potential changes dramatically within milliseconds.

Two British scientists, Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley, discovered that when neurons are excited, sodium ions flow from outside the cell membrane into the cell membrane, and then potassium ions flow from inside the cell membrane to the outside of the cell membrane, causing the membrane to The potential returns to normal.

Their Hodgkin-Huxley model became a cornerstone of neuroscience, for which they won the Nobel Prize.

The success of Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley seems to mean that humans have cracked the way of neural signal transmission, but in fact, the complexity of neural transmission far exceeds the scope of the Hodgkin-Huxley model.

For example, touch, vision or other perceptions all rely on nerve signal transmission.

If it is just a single change in membrane potential, it will certainly not allow humans to have so many perceptions. The method of nerve signal transmission, the way signal transmission and the brain obtains and analyzes information are all problems that humans have yet to overcome.

Over the past sixty years, many people have questioned the theoretical results of Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley, or have hoped to supplement the methods of neural signal transmission.

For example, neurobiologist Kazuji Tasaki is a skeptic of the Hodgkin-Huxley model. He is famous in the neuroscience community for discovering the jump conduction of action potentials in the nodes of Ranvier, and made a challenge in 40 years. Traditional experiment: dissect a crab leg, expose a bundle of nerves, then use a microscope to carefully place a small piece of reflective platinum on top, then illuminate the platinum piece with a beam of laser, and measure the reflection angle of the laser. It detects whether the width of the nerve bundle changes slightly as an action potential passes through it.

He and his then postdoctoral researcher Kunihiko Iwasa made hundreds of measurements.

A week later, the data clearly showed that as action potentials passed through, the nerve bundles slightly widened and then narrowed, all within milliseconds.

Although the amplitude of the deformation is very small, and the surface of the cell membrane will only rise by about seven nanometers, this phenomenon is completely consistent with the rhythm of the passing electrical signals, confirming Tasaki's speculation for many years -

The theories proposed by Hodgkin and Huxley were not necessarily correct.

Kazuo Tasaki believes, "The nerve signal is far more than just an electrical signal, it is also a mechanical signal. If you only use electrodes to measure nerve cells, you will definitely miss a lot of important information."

Kazuji Tasaki lived to be ninety-eight years old, but there was no other progress in his research. Many people in the medical field believed that his discovery was not the essence of neural signals, but just a by-product of neural electrical signals.

same.

Famous German neuroscientist Heinberg also believes that nerve transmission cannot be just electrical signals. He admires Kazuo Tasaki, but he has found another way to explain experimental phenomena.

He believes that "mechanical waves, changes in optical properties and transient thermal effects originate from the lipid neuronal membrane rather than from the protein and carbohydrate fibers beneath the membrane."

Hemberger immediately began his own experiments - compressing artificial cell membranes to study their response to mechanical shock waves.

His research yielded some important findings: The oily lipid molecules that make up cell membranes are normally fluid and oriented in random directions, but are prone to phase transitions (the process by which substances change from one phase to another).

As long as the cell membrane is gently squeezed, the lipid molecules will immediately condense into a highly ordered liquid crystal state.

Based on these experimental results, Hemberger deduced that nerve impulses were mechanical shock waves that propagated along the nerve cell membrane.

When the shock wave propagates, it squeezes the liquid cell membrane molecules into liquid crystals, releasing a little heat during the phase change process, just like water turning into ice. Then, when the shock wave passes, the cell membrane will change back to the liquid state again and absorb the heat. The process takes a few milliseconds, a brief phase change that slightly widens the cell membrane, just as Tasaki and Iwasa observed when they shined laser light on a platinum sheet.

From Hodgkin and Huxley to Kazuji Tasaki and Heinberg, and later many medical scientists, neuroscientists, and even physicists, they all studied nerve impulses, hoping to decipher the mysteries.

Therefore, until now, there are many theories about nerve signal transmission in the world. Some even believe that the human body's neural network is just a collection of cell membranes, and it is ordinary cells that really play a role in perception.

etc.

The same is true domestically.

If you are looking for papers on neural signal transmission, you only need to open the search website and you will find many related experiments, conclusions and reasoning. It seems that every researcher can design relevant experiments and write a paper based on the relevant conclusions. Can use this to express 'characteristic' inferences.

but……

More than 99% of experimental studies and inferences have no meaning in the understanding of neural signal transmission. Most of them are like different people watching "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and saying something from different angles. It seems that they can still say something. It makes sense, but no one knows what the original author Luo Guanzhong thinks. Most of the analysis is meaningless.

Research on neural signal transmission is conducted both domestically and internationally.

Yan Xuelin was naturally very relaxed.

After hearing the explanations of several researchers, he thought about it carefully and asked, "Are you really trying to defraud funds?"

"of course not!"

"We really intend to do research, Director Yan. Look at our laboratory... it would be a waste not to do high-end research."

"Zhao Yi said he wanted to do this. No matter what you do, I will follow Zhao Yi."

"Me too."

"me too!"

Yan Xuelin nodded as he listened.

The project of 'nerve signal transmission' can almost be equated with 'fund fraud', but Zhao Yi is still trustworthy.

In addition, Zhao Yi probably doesn’t care about a small amount of funding. He can probably easily get approved for any amount he wants to apply for.

In the end, Yan Xuelin nodded, "You apply for the project first and see how much funding comes out. If it's not enough, the institute will definitely support it."

"No matter how different it is, I support it!"

Yan Xuelin gritted his teeth and said the last sentence.

The institute's funds are indeed very generous, and it can even equip each laboratory with high-end equipment, but the investment in scientific research is a bottomless pit, and it can be filled in no matter how much money is saved.

“Then apply!”

After Yan Xuelin spoke, Zhao Yi also made a decision, "Apply first, then take a look and make preparations if you don't have work on hand."

"I wasn't kidding just now. If you do it, you have to do it well. This is a basic and big project, and we have to produce results!"

"good!"

"no problem!"

"From today on, I will be obsessed with this project!"

Several researchers expressed their opinions one after another.

They are all very excited and looking forward to it, because with Zhao Yi taking the lead in the project, they all feel that there is hope for it, no matter how difficult it is.

Neural signal transmission is a very difficult basic scientific research project. We do not seek to completely crack the neural signal transmission method. Even if there is only a small amount of results, it will definitely be world-class.

soon.

Zhao Yi's laboratory submitted an application for the "Neural Signal Transmission" project to the National Research Foundation.

After that, it was all about waiting.

After receiving the project application, the National Research Foundation will review it for about a week. If the project is approved, the National Research Foundation will specifically inquire about the R\u0026D plan and determine the participating personnel, and then make appropriate funding allocations based on the situation.

Zhao Yi has confirmed the neural signal transmission project and is very much looking forward to it. He is still thinking about the problem of blind people in his mind, but he also knows that even if the research has results, it will not be possible in the short term to allow blind people to see the outside world with the help of equipment. extent, because it will be a disruptive technological revolution.

Scientific and technological revolution cannot be achieved by a research project.

Every progress in the cracking of neural signal transmission can be said to be revolutionary, and he still has expectations for the research itself.

For example, the most advanced neurological research abroad can allow blind people to easily distinguish transmitted numbers through brain wave transmission.

For example, a transmitted electrical signal is ‘3’.

Through the electrical signal transmitted to the brain, the blind person knows that the transmitted number is '3'. It sounds very simple, but it is very difficult to do it, and it is even said to be a fantasy.

This is one application of the study of neural signal transmission.

"The first step is to at least reach this level."

Zhao Yi doesn’t know what results will be discovered in the first step, but he hopes that the research can first catch up with the international advanced level.

Then, go beyond.

What will happen after transcendence is also very worth looking forward to.

That may be uncharted and advanced territory.

…

National Research Foundation.

Program applications are being processed by the Medicine Program Review Team.

Their way of working is to regularly classify similar project applications, and then discuss and make decisions in a unified manner.

The medical research project meeting has just ended, and it is now the peak period for project applications. The medical project review team is very busy. There are dozens or hundreds of applications for basic medical research.

Among them, there are up to six similar applications for the study of neural signal transmission.

"Institute of Biomedicine, Zhao Yi Laboratory..."

"Zhao Yi? Academician Zhao?"

"The list of researchers submitted also includes Li Ming, Ai Lixin, Zhang Wei, Zhu Qi..."

"The professional title is researcher!"

"Five researchers, including Academician Zhao, applied for this kind of 'fund fraud' project together... let the leader make the decision!"

Several members of the medical review team discussed, immediately submitted the project application information to their superiors, and then continued to process subsequent applications.

The next item is still about neural signal transmission research. The applicant is the "North Central Medical Affiliated Laboratory", and the person who submitted the application is Deng Bingcheng, director of the laboratory and neuroscientist.

"The Affiliated Laboratory of Zhongbei Medical University is also a large medical research center."

"Deng Bingcheng, neurology expert."

"He wants to do research on neural signal transmission? It must be 'cheating funds', but it shouldn't be feasible to refuse directly, right?"

"Let's do this. We'll call him back first and ask him to make a detailed application report. If the report is formal and detailed, we will then approve a grant of 50,000 or 100,000 yuan..."

"Almost, that's enough!"

"OK!"

"That's it!"