They’re all reborn, what’s wrong with being a little more almighty?

Chapter 158 Zhang Wei takes me to win the Nobel Prize

Before today, if someone told Meng Heming that he could write a high-level paper that could be published in an authoritative journal in three days, he would not believe it even to death.

But now, the facts are before our eyes. No matter how outrageous it is, Meng Heming can only believe it.

The key is that during these three days, Zhang Wei also took the driver's license test for one day. In other words, he only had two days to actually write the thesis!

Even if you don't eat, sleep or go to the toilet, two full days are equivalent to 48 hours. Can you write a paper of this level in just 48 hours? Meng Heming can only explain it by his talent.

"Don't compete with geniuses, otherwise you will feel uncomfortable!" Meng Heming comforted himself silently.

It took more than a minute for Meng Heming to regain his composure. He let out a long sigh and said, "Zhang Wei, your English skills are good. It seems that your job as an exchange student has not been in vain!"

"Don't just look at my English proficiency, please give me some advice on how I wrote my paper!" Zhang Wei said.

"The content of the paper..." Meng Heming smiled slightly awkwardly. You can't say that I can't give guidance on this paper!

So Meng Heming had no choice but to answer: "It's written very rigorously!"

"Don't you have any questions?"

Zhang Wei went on to explain: “The first advantage is safety. The mRNA vaccine only uses the genetic sequence of the virus to produce antigens. The vaccine does not carry viral components, so there is no risk of infection.

Compared with traditional inactivated vaccines, although the virus is inactivated and loses its ability to cause disease, it still carries the risk of infection. Since infection will occur, there will inevitably be serious adverse reactions.

Effectively speaking, the antigens produced by the organism's own cells are definitely more capable of stimulating the rapid and effective operation of the immune system than foreign antigens.

Thinking of this, Zhang Wei continued: "Director Meng, why don't you take a closer look, just in case you can find some problem!"

But since Zhang Wei had already mentioned the content of the last page, even though it was completely unattractive to Meng Heming, he still read the last paragraph patiently.

"I've watched it for the fifth time!" Meng Heming thought to himself.

"Director Meng, I noticed that you only read the first few pages over and over again. You haven't read this last page yet!" Zhang Wei continued.

Of course, there is no concept of mRNA vaccine in this era, so when Meng Heming saw the mRNA vaccine, his first reaction was, what is this?
With Meng Heming's academic level and experience, he instinctively felt that this mRNA vaccine should be a very powerful thing, but after all, this was a concept that had never appeared before. Meng Heming was only vaguely aware, but could not immediately understand the meaning of the mRNA vaccine. .

"mRNA vaccine?" Meng Heming was suddenly confused when he saw this concept.

As a scholar, the focus is of course on scientific research results. As for the future application of scientific research results, it is not very attractive.

The third advantage is that the vaccine development cycle and production speed will be faster. Traditional inactivated vaccines require the virus to be cultured first, then inactivated, and then made into a vaccine.

Zhang Wei then explained: “The vaccines we have used in recent years are mainly inactivated vaccines, which first cultivate viruses or bacteria in vitro, and then inactivate them through physical or chemical methods, so that they lose their pathogenic ability but retain their antigens. sex.

The second advantage is effectiveness. The mRNA vaccine allows the organism's own cells to produce antigens to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. Traditional inactivated vaccines use the antigenicity of the virus to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies.

"Your scientific research results have been introduced very clearly in the paper, and the experimental data are also sufficient. I have no problem!"

When the fire-extinguished pathogen or its parts are injected into the human body, it can stimulate the body's immune system to produce antibodies and immune memory against the pathogen, thereby achieving the purpose of preventing disease.

That is to say, inactivated vaccines trigger the body's immune response by injecting into the human body a pathogen or part thereof that has lost activity but retains antigenicity.

"It's a little different from what I imagined! Shouldn't it be a thesis defense? There are no questions!" Zhang Wei thought to himself.

After Zhang Wei reminded him, Meng Heming realized that he hadn't read the last page about the future application directions of nucleoside modifications yet!

"I understand the principle, but what are the advantages of the mRNA vaccine you are talking about compared to the traditional inactivated vaccine?" Meng Heming asked immediately.

The mRNA vaccine will be a brand-new vaccine. Its principle is to inject viral mRNA fragments into human cells, and the cells will generate corresponding proteins, or antigens, based on the viral mRNA fragments. Antigens stimulate an immune response and produce corresponding antibodies. "

The mRNA vaccine only needs to master the genetic sequence of the virus to quickly complete the development and production process. At the current level of science and technology, it is not difficult to analyze the genetic sequence of the virus.

If you encounter a virus that mutates quickly, the mRNA vaccine can respond faster and produce a vaccine in a short time. In comparison, the cycle of inactivated vaccines is much slower. "

"In other words, this mRNA vaccine will be a safer, more effective, and faster vaccine? If it is like what you said, there is no need for the inactivated vaccine!"

Meng Heming said, frowning slightly. He was thinking about whether what Zhang Wei said was in line with scientific principles. Zhang Wei continued: "I think inactivated vaccines will definitely continue to exist for at least a few decades. After all, compared with inactivated vaccines, mRNA vaccines also have many shortcomings.

The first is that a new vaccine has just been born, and we don’t yet know whether or how many adverse reactions it will have or what the immune response will be. Therefore, a large number of clinical trials are needed to verify safety and effectiveness.

Secondly, the transportation conditions will definitely be harsh. mRNA is a single-stranded ribonucleic acid that is inherently unstable, easily degraded and has a short half-life. If the temperature is too high, the mRNA cannot remain stable and the vaccine will be ineffective. "

"If you want to keep single-stranded ribonucleic acid in a stable state, you have to go to minus 70 to minus 80 degrees! Such environmental conditions are too harsh." Meng Heming said.

"Yes, that means that the mRNA vaccine must rely on a specialized cold chain system to be transported and stored. Even for short-term storage, a freezer is required.

There are many poor countries in the world with imperfect infrastructure. These countries do not have the ability to transport and store mRNA vaccines, so they are unable to use mRNA vaccines on a large scale. Inactivated vaccines remain their only option. "

Meng Heming lowered his head slightly and continued to think about the feasibility of the mRNA vaccine.

It is not difficult to obtain the genetic sequence of a virus. Once the genetic sequence of the virus is obtained, designing and optimizing the antigen sequence is just a matter of doing a few more experiments.

Once the antigen sequence is available, it can be directly inserted into plasmid DNA, and then using phagosomal RNA polymerase, mRNA can be produced in large quantities.

As long as the mRNA of the antigen sequence is available, there should be no problem in producing an mRNA vaccine.

In other words, at a technical level, there are almost no obstacles to producing mRNA.

But the key is how to ensure that the mRNA vaccine is effective!

Theoretically, it is reasonable to allow the mRNA carrying the viral antigen gene sequence to enter cells, produce antigens, and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. Any college student in the biology department can understand it.

But foreign mRNA itself cannot pass the immune system, so how can it enter cells, produce antigens, and stimulate antibodies?

Zhang Wei's nucleoside-modified mRNA technology obviously solves this problem. mRNA can break through the immune system and enter cells, making mRNA vaccines a reality.

After figuring this out, Meng Heming's expression suddenly became enlightened.

"Vaccine, why didn't I expect that the technology of nucleoside modification of mRNA can be used to make vaccines! A new vaccine will be safer, more effective, and most importantly, faster!
Oh my god, if an mRNA vaccine can really be made, the entire immunology of mankind will change! "

At this moment, Meng Heming suddenly realized that the core content of the entire paper was not the technology of nucleoside modification of mRNA introduced earlier, but the future application direction in the last paragraph.

Simply looking at the technology of nucleoside modification of mRNA, although it is a breakthrough, it is not outstanding. It may be a bit reluctant to go to the three major journals.

But if the mRNA vaccine is added to the pie, then the value of this paper will definitely be Nobel Prize-level!
A safer and more effective new vaccine means that vaccine technology will enter a new era, and humans will have more powerful tools to prevent and treat infectious diseases.

A shorter vaccine development and production cycle means that when humans face major public health security threats, they can respond faster. Every day saved may save tens of thousands of lives!
What's more, new vaccine technology will inevitably promote the overall development of human medicine and provide strong impetus for biotechnology. Related fields such as medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, etc. will all benefit.

If this is really successful, it can be regarded as a scientific research achievement that promotes human development and progress. The Nobel Prize will be a matter of time.

More importantly, this is a scientific research result closely related to medicine and can directly save people's lives.

Staying alive is the most basic desire of human beings, but any theoretical research related to "save my dog's life" is always easier to win the Nobel Prize.

Meng Heming can even imagine that one day in the future, when mRNA vaccines, like inactivated vaccines, begin to benefit mankind on a large scale, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will inevitably fall on Zhang Wei.

Thinking of the Nobel Prize, Meng Heming suddenly felt an unreal feeling.

"Am I dreaming? The Nobel Prize will fall on our Department of Biology at Tsinghua University? Can I still get a Nobel Prize in my life?"

According to the rules, Meng Heming must be signed as a second author on Zhang Wei's paper. But now Meng Heming felt that he might not be able to afford this second author!

The second author of the Nobel Prize paper, what kind of bad luck must he have to find such a big leak!
Not to mention being the second author, even if he just signed his name on the paper, Meng Heming would wake up laughing in his dreams.

The next second, Meng Heming's eyes softened when he looked at Zhang Wei.

This person in front of me is an ancestor!
wrong! Even my ancestors are not so close, and they would not take me to win the Nobel Prize!
Zhang Wei felt that this look seemed familiar to him.

"Does this Director Meng also want to be my father-in-law?"

(End of this chapter)