The Science Fiction World of Xueba

After confirming the next cooperation plan, Pang Xuelin, led by Shi Yi, visited the laboratories and departments of West Lake University.

At present, Westlake University is divided into three colleges: School of Life Sciences, School of Science and School of Engineering, with biology, biomedical engineering, pharmacy, physics, mathematics, chemistry, basic medicine, computer science and technology, electronic science and technology, and optics. Engineering, materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering and other first-level disciplines.

The total number of faculty and staff in the school exceeds 400, and there are more than 1,000 PhD students.

The teaching staff are basically doctorates from prestigious universities with overseas backgrounds. They are all young, with an average age in their early thirties, which is the age most likely to produce results.

For Pang Xuelin's arrival, these people seemed very pleasantly surprised.

Especially after learning that Pang Xuelin will be the honorary chairman of the board of directors of Westlake University, and that the school will cooperate with Jiangcheng Institute for Advanced Study and Qiantang Laboratory, I am even more excited.

After all, Pang Xuelin's reputation is well known, and everyone knows that following this big boss is rewarding.

Moreover, they have been eyeing the various experimental platforms that Qiantang Laboratory is building for a long time. The cooperation between West Lake University and Pang Xuelin gave them the opportunity to join Qiantang Laboratory.

For Pang Xuelin, the cooperation with West Lake University will undoubtedly bring the talent reserve of West Lake University under his command, and it will also play an even more powerful role in the future development of Qiantang Laboratory.

At noon, Pang Xuelin, Shi Yi, and Qian Zhongning had a working meal together in the cafeteria.

Qian Zhongning and the others left one after another because they had their own jobs, while Shi Yi sent Pang Xuelin to the school gate.

At this moment, Pang Xuelin smiled and said, "Professor Shi, are you interested in cooperating?"

"cooperate?"

Shi Yi was taken aback for a moment, and said, "Professor Pang, haven't we already started working together?"

Pang Xuelin said with a smile: "I'm not talking about this kind of cooperation between institutions. What I mean is that we cooperate in scientific research."

"Scientific research cooperation?" The expression on Shi Yi's face became a little weird: "Professor Pang, do you also do research in the field of biology?"

Pang Xuelin nodded with a smile, and said: "Our Qiantang Laboratory plans to build a biological science platform, covering structural biology, cell biology, stem cell research and cell therapy, neurology and behavioral biology, developmental biology, biological Informatics, immunobiology and immunotherapy, epidemiology, nutrition, metabolic biology and metabolic diseases, aging and degenerative diseases, cancer research, botany, microbiology and other fields. I hope you can be our Qiantang The director of the laboratory's biological center, focusing on the research on the structure and function of biological macromolecules such as proteins, RNA, and sugar polymers..."

Pang Xuelin knew Shi Yi quite well.

Shi Yi's greatest achievement was when he was at Tsinghua University, he analyzed the structure of the key complex of eukaryotic messenger RNA spliceosome through cryo-electron microscopy, and revealed the active site and molecular mechanism.

There are mixed opinions on Shi Yi's achievement from the outside world. Some people think that he is opportunistic and has taken advantage of the right time, place and people. After joining Tsinghua University, he has money and resources, and he encountered the cryo-electron microscope. .

But Pang Xuelin is very aware of the difficulty of this achievement.

In fact, the splice body is one of the most important differences between eukaryotes and prokaryotes, and its status in molecular biology is no less than that of ribosomes.

The spliceosome is also a larger, more variable and complex giant molecular machine than the ribosome.

Humans' understanding of the spliceosome is actually very late.

In the early 1990s, humans basically knew nothing about it, and the research on the spliceosome entered its peak in the 1990s.

However, scientists soon became dissatisfied with the indirect knowledge of the spliceosome through biochemical methods, hoping to understand its molecular structure.

At the beginning of the 21st century, people have been trying to understand the structure of the spliceosome through various methods.

Unfortunately, before 2010, cryo-electron microscopy was still quite immature, and X-ray crystal diffraction technology was helpless for such a huge and changeable complex.

Therefore, until 2010, human understanding of the spliceosome was still very superficial.

However, after experiencing the revolution in the field of cryo-electron microscopy from 2010 to 2014, Shi Yi was born in 2015 and published the first high-resolution spliceosome structure, which greatly promoted human cognition of the spliceosome and set off a new wave of research. An upsurge in resolving the structure of the spliceosome.

Moreover, according to Pang Xuelin’s knowledge, in the competition to analyze the structure of the spliceosome, Shi Yigong’s rivals included Reinhard Lührmann from the Max Planck Institute in Germany and Kiyoshi Nagai from Cambridge. .

Lederman is recognized as a master in the field of spliceosomes.

He created a lot of spliceosome proteins. He also proposed spliceosome purification methods at different stages, and solved several early low-resolution spliceosome structures.

His subordinate Hogg Stark is also one of the pioneers in the field of cryo-electron microscopy, and several data processing methods for cryo-electron microscopy were proposed by him.

Such a combination of scientific research is frightening.

But they were not the first to solve the high-definition structure of the spliceosome.

Not to mention Kiyoki Nagai in Cambridge, who himself is not only one of the pioneers in the field of spliceosomes, but also an expert in crystallization.

The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge is a sacred place for structural biology. The data processing software developed by MRC has single-handedly promoted the development of cryo-electron microscopy.

However, they were not the first to solve the structure of the spliceosome.

From this, we can see Shi Yi's level.

Even in a sense, his selection for the Nobel Prize is even higher than that of Kirton Walker.

Shi Yi pondered for a moment, then smiled wryly: "Professor Pang, I am fifty-five years old, and I have been out of the front line of scientific research for some years. When we were in Tsinghua University a few years ago, we used cryo-electron microscopy to explore the structure of biological macromolecules such as proteins. structure to understand the basic principles of the work of biomolecular machines. In fact, this is why I am obsessed with structural biology, which allows us to truly explain biological phenomena from the perspective of physics and chemistry. Just think of countless nanomachines working day and night It makes people feel obsessed to start DNA expression, transcription, and protein production. For me, understanding nanobiological machines based on the basic principles of physical chemistry is the most fascinating place to do structural biology. Discovering drug targets is nothing more than It's just a bonus of knowing life..."

"But here, let me tell the truth. Over the years, we have used cryo-electron microscopy to analyze the structures of many biological macromolecules. Some people even said that I, Shi Yi, plus cryo-electron microscopy and Tsinghua University, are equal to S. If you want to say that this kind of work is important, It is very important, but if you say it is not important, it is the same thing. Now that cryo-electron microscopy technology has matured, any doctoral student who has been trained can complete this job, and I will do similar research again. It’s not too big, at best, it’s just an extra research migrant worker on the front line.”

Pang Xuelin laughed and said, "Professor Shi, who said that I am going to use a cryo-electron microscope to study the structure of biological macromolecules?"

"Using a cryo-electron microscope..."

Shi Yi suddenly came back to his senses, stared at Pang Xuelin with wide eyes and said, "Professor Pang, you mean you have a new method?"

Pang Xuelin nodded and said, "Atom probe tomography, have you heard of it?"

Shi Yi was slightly taken aback, then frowned and said, "I know this, but this technology seems to be mainly used in the field of materials science, right?"

Pang Xuelin smiled and said: "Our Qiantang Laboratory is developing dynamic atom probe tomography technology on the basis of atom probe tomography technology. Atomic structures and their structural changes in femtoseconds to microseconds, and then clarify the three-dimensional structures and functions of biological macromolecules such as proteins, RNAs, and sugar polymers. This technology is still in the development stage, and is currently mainly developed by Yang Heping and Anderson. White is in charge, we need a top structural biologist to participate in the analysis and editing of the Atom Probe Tomography data software..."

Shi Yi took a deep breath, trying to suppress his excitement.

He is well aware of the significance of Pang Xuelin's work.

Throughout history, many important discoveries have been based on human observation.

However, in some fields beyond the reach of technology, it is extremely difficult to obtain pictures, which also hinders human beings from further understanding of nature.

In 2017, the Nobel Foundation awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Jacques Dubochet from the University of Lausanne [UUReading 00ks] in Switzerland, Joakim Frank from the Columbia University in the United States and Richard from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. De Henderson (Riderson), for "the development of a cryo-electron microscope capable of determining the high-resolution structure of biomolecules in solution."

With the efforts of these three scientists, cryo-electron microscopy came into being.

Scientists can "freeze" biomolecules and observe them like never before.

Electron microscopes have long been thought to be unsuitable for viewing biomolecules because the powerful electron beams can destroy biological materials.

But in 1990, Professor Chad Henderson successfully used an electron microscope to display three-dimensional images of proteins, down to atomic resolution. This breakthrough demonstrates the potential of electron microscopy for biomolecular imaging.

Professor Joachim Frank made the technology universally applicable.

Between 1975 and 1986, he developed an image processing method that could reveal a clear three-dimensional structure by analyzing and merging blurry two-dimensional images from an electron microscope.

Professor Jack Doubuchett added water to an electron microscope.

Liquid water evaporates in the vacuum of an electron microscope, disintegrating biomolecules.

In the early 1980s, Professor Jack Doubuchett succeeded in vitrifying water - cooling water so rapidly that it could freeze around biological samples.

In this way, the biomolecules retain their natural shape even in a vacuum.

It is precisely because of the continuous efforts of scientists that cryo-electron microscopy can be applied on a large scale in the field of biology.

The dynamic atom probe tomography technology mentioned by Pang Xuelin is undoubtedly a new generation of microscopic observation technology after cryo-electron microscopy.

According to the observation level of atom probe tomography technology, they can even observe the movement of biological macromolecules from the atomic level. In this way, human beings can use this technology to complete the dynamic analysis of the structure and function of most biological macromolecules.

This is many times higher than the current cryo-electron microscopy technology.

If it can be done smoothly, it will be worthy of a Nobel Prize.

Not to mention, after this kind of equipment is developed, it will promote biology.

"Professor Pang, can I meet Yang Heping and Anderson White? I want to chat with them."

"Of course. It just so happens that I want to chat with Lao Yang and the others about the specific design plan of the dynamic atom probe tomography technology."

Pang Xuelin laughed and said, "Professor Shi, get in my car."

More than an hour later, Pang Xuelin and Shi Yi arrived at the Qiantang Laboratory in the east of Binjiang and met Yang Heping and Anderson White.

After the four exchanged pleasantries for a while, Pang Xuelin began to explain to them the technical realization route of the dynamic atom probe technology.

Shi Yi, Yang Heping, and Anderson White also saw Pang Xuelin's ability for the first time.

In the past, there were many legends about Pang Xuelin from the outside world, but in the eyes of outsiders, there is always a feeling of looking at flowers in a fog.

There is only a rough idea of ​​the degree of Pang Xuelin's "genius".

But today, when they came into contact with Pang Xuelin for the first time, they felt that Pang Xuelin was extraordinary.

As an ordinary person, when the technical design of such a new concept of equipment is first started, there will definitely be many immature places, which need to be improved step by step.

Pang Xuelin is different. His understanding of the dynamic APT technology has completely exceeded the expectations of the three. Every technical difficulty and every implementation plan of this technology is beyond their imagination. Pang Xuelin explained to them in detail over again.

And they recorded and listened to Pang Xuelin's explanation again and again.

It's like returning to the college classroom of the year.

When the final plan was presented in front of them, even they themselves were a little unbelievable.

Because Pang Xuelin gave a very mature and perfect design plan, as if Pang Xuelin seemed to have seen this plan before.

In this regard, whether it is Shi Yi or Yang Heping, they can only sigh that there are really geniuses in the world.

Seeing that the three of them looked very excited, Pang Xuelin decided to strike while the iron was hot and eat dinner in the conference room.

It was not until ten o'clock in the evening that Pang Xuelin had finished explaining the dynamic APT technology.

Whether it is Shi Yi, Yang Heping or Anderson White, they have already filled a whole notebook.

"Okay, let's stop here today. The general principle of the dynamic APT technology is like this. If we want to really make it, we still have a lot of work to do. Lao Shi, tomorrow I will send Wang Zhi from Xinghuan Technology Ma'am, go to West Lake University to find you, and then we will sign the agreement directly. As for Qiantang Laboratory, you can report next week, and then the dynamic APT technology will be handed over to you, Lao Yang and White to solve."

Shi Yi hadn't recovered from the excitement of the discussion just now, and said with a smile: "Professor Pang, don't worry, I'll come to report in a few days."

The same is true of Yang Heping and Anderson White. They can also feel that the emergence of this technology is likely to change the entire world.