Chapter 336 - 229: Preprint Goes Online

Chapter 336: Chapter 229: Preprint Goes Online

Everyone erupted into another round of cheers.

"This is incredible! SOB..."

"Who dares to question us now?!"

"Apologize, Yi Xiangwan!"

"I kneel in worship. Orz."

"You’re all incredible! And Jiang He is the most incredible of all! The king of kings!"

"We really did it! Lin Yue, say something, Lin Yue!"

"HELL YEAH!!!"

"I still feel like I’m dreaming. Somebody pinch me... Ow! Good one, senior. Ah, much better. It’s not a dream."

"I, I, I, I, I... We... we r-really... d-did it!"

The young people embraced and cheered.

The winter of ’08 was destined to go down in history.

Because a group of young people, in a lab as crude as this, had accomplished a feat magnificent enough to be recorded in the annals of world medical history!

Jiang He couldn’t help but look at the computer screen again.

’The amplification curve really is perfect...’

’Thank goodness, thank goodness.’

’I didn’t let everyone down.’

The smile at the corners of his mouth gradually faded. He said:

"Everyone, hold on a second. The plagiarism incident just happened. We’ve learned our lesson. Before we officially publish, we have to secure ownership of this discovery."

Wang Xiaoqing nodded quickly. "Right. What’s your plan?"

"Professor Wang, I need you to organize everyone to compile the core data. Format it into the most concise English paper possible. I want to post it on an international preprint server tonight."

The medical world at this time didn’t have a preprint platform as established as arXiv in physics.

The dedicated biomedical preprint server, bioRxiv, wouldn’t be founded until 2013.

Fortunately, Nature had launched Nature Precedings last year, a service specifically for archiving work in the life sciences.

They could post it there.

Wang Xiaoqing waved her hand. "Alright everyone, let’s get moving! We can’t let anyone steal this from us this time!"

Everyone answered in unison, "Right!!!"

This was the best thing about Jiang He’s team.

They were all handpicked, and every single one of them was a good, kind person.

So there was no chance of an internal leak at this critical juncture...

The team immediately sprang into action.

Jiang He, meanwhile, stepped out to call Minister Lin.

Inside the provincial department building, Lin Zhenhua was still working overtime.

As the year drew to a close, the province’s various medical performance indicators were all looking outstanding.

This was especially true for the early prediction model for severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) that Jiang He had developed, which had been a resounding success after its pilot program at Affiliated Hospital No. 1.

This success had earned him, the Minister, a great deal of credit with his own superiors.

His career prospects were bright, so naturally, he had been in an excellent mood lately.

When he received Jiang He’s call, he softened his tone.

He was afraid he might accidentally sound too harsh with this precious talent of his.

"Ah, Jiang He, what’s with the call at this hour?"

"Minister Lin, we’re at the lab. We just finished the qPCR amplification for the last batch of serum samples."

Lin Zhenhua thought for a moment. "Serum samples? You mean that batch of very-early-stage pancreatic cancer samples that Professor Gu brought back?"

"Yes."

"And what were the results?"

"Out of fifty samples, we saw highly specific overexpression in almost one hundred percent of them. Minister Lin, the early screening model works. We can detect pancreatic cancer at least two to three years earlier than before."

Lin Zhenhua: "?"

He sat there stunned for two seconds.

Then he shot to his feet!

He stood up so fast that his vision momentarily went black.

He quickly grabbed the armrest of his chair and sat back down.

He said, "Say that again?"

Jiang He: "Minister, we did it."

Lin Zhenhua’s breathing grew heavy. "Are you sure? There’s no problem with the data?"

Jiang He: "The data is solid."

Lin Zhenhua shot up to his feet again.

It had been a long time since he’d felt his heart pound like this from hearing good news.

He walked to the window, glanced back to make sure no one else was in the office, and then, with a series of WHOOSHes and HAHs, performed a set of military boxing exercises.

He was so excited because he knew exactly how significant this project was!

This was a medical breakthrough in the truest sense of the word—a breakthrough that would carve China’s name into the history of world medicine!

WHOOSH! HAH! HEH! YAH!

Minister Lin felt that right now, he was absolutely... ra! di! ant!

Jiang He: "...Uh? Minister? Are you still there?"

Lin Zhenhua said, "I’m here, I’m here! Attaboy... Attaboy! You didn’t just call me at this hour to share the good news, did you? You’re worried about a repeat of the plagiarism incident, aren’t you?"

"Yes," Jiang He admitted freely. "We’re preparing the preprint now and will upload it tonight."

Lin Zhenhua: "Uploading a preprint is the right move. And don’t just post it—post it with fanfare! Jiang He, you go ahead and shout this from the rooftops!"

Jiang He was slightly taken aback.

Lin Zhenhua explained, "The more you try to hide it, the easier it is for people to pull strings behind the scenes. It’s actually better to announce it and publicize it early."

"I understand."

"Leave the patent office to me. I’ll contact my superiors right now and prepare the materials. You just focus on getting the information out there. The country will have your back on the rest!"

He hung up the phone.

Lin Zhenhua performed another set of boxing exercises.

He only stopped when he was flushed and warm all over, muttering to himself:

"Jiang He and his team did it... They actually, really did it!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

...

Since the decision was made to go big,

the news spread super-duper fast...

Jiang He finished the preprint overnight and uploaded it.

Shortly after, Yang Xu received a direct call from Wang Xiaoqing.

Wang Xiaoqing: "Old Yang, we finished testing the serum. Guess what?"

As a master of showing off himself, Yang Xu immediately sensed a thick, potent wave of flexing coming his way.

’—Damn, don’t tell me they actually did it?’

But he truly found it hard to believe.

Although he knew Jiang He’s project had been progressing smoothly,

without the actual serum test results, no one could know for sure if it would succeed.

That’s why he had remained skeptical before. But now...