Chapter 338 - 229: The Preprint Is Online

Chapter 338: Chapter 229: The Preprint Is Online

The family saw it all.

With each passing day of his meticulous care, their resentment gradually gave way to forgiveness.

"Thank you," Xu Chen said softly. "The granulation tissue is forming nicely. We can consider removing the tube in a few days."

Guo Chengyu’s brother sighed, his tone finally softening.

"Thank you for your hard work, Dr. Xu."

Those two words, "Dr. Xu."

Especially coming from Guo Chengyu’s brother.

It made Xu Chen want to cry in that instant.

To him, this was an incredibly important sign of forgiveness.

Then, Xu Chen nodded firmly.

Just then, the door to the hospital room was pushed open a crack, and Meng Shiyu frantically beckoned to Han Yuan and Xu Chen.

Han Yuan put down the medical tray, walked over, and asked in a low voice, "What’s up?"

"Big news! Jiang He and his team did it! The early screening for pancreatic cancer—it works!"

Han Yuan’s eyes flew wide open, and he instinctively glanced back at Xu Chen.

Xu Chen’s hand, which was dressing the wound, froze mid-motion.

He had heard Meng Shiyu’s words loud and clear.

After a moment, he nodded. "That’s Brother Jiang for you. With him, it was a sure thing."

With that, he carefully picked up a fresh dressing and placed it over Guo Chengyu’s wound.

Then he straightened the sheets and meticulously checked the gradations on the drainage tube.

When he stopped gazing up at the mountain peak and instead focused on each step right in front of him...

Xu Chen was not far from becoming a truly great doctor.

...

By the next morning, the news had reached the Capital City.

Zheng Liyan was reviewing proposals for next year’s National Natural Science Foundation of China projects.

A frantic knock sounded, and his PhD student burst in, clutching a stack of freshly printed A4 paper.

"Elder Zheng, you have to see this! It’s from the team at Southern Medical University First Affiliated Hospital. The first author is Jiang He!"

Hearing Jiang He’s name, Zheng Liyan immediately put down his pen.

Jiang He had left a very deep impression on him.

From his perfect score in the South China Region competition to his simulation of the posterior-approach surgery, the young man had defied convention time and time again.

Taking the printout, Zheng Liyan put on his glasses, his eyes landing on the title.

"Establishment and Validation of a Serum Diagnostic Model for Very Early-Stage Pancreatic Cancer Based on Specific miRNA Biomarkers."

Zheng Liyan’s brow furrowed instantly.

Even for a titan of the field like him, his first reaction to the title was:

’Impossible.’

’Biomarkers for very early-stage pancreatic cancer? Countless top laboratories around the world have poured billions into this and haven’t found so much as a whisper of a lead, and Jiang He managed it with a ragtag team?’

’Or is the whole world just one big ragtag operation?’

But Zheng Liyan did not rush to dismiss it.

In his position, he knew better than to make snap judgments.

’I’ll read it first,’ he decided.

"Double chloroform extraction combined with glycogen co-precipitation?"

"A clever way to avoid protein contamination in the interphase."

Zheng Liyan’s gaze sharpened, and he quickly flipped through the pages.

Fifty very early-stage serum samples provided by Charite Medical School, Germany.

Perfect purity of over 1.95.

Logarithmic amplification curves showing perfect specificity after thirty-five cycles.

Zero false positives. Zero false negatives.

After reading the final page, Zheng Liyan took off his glasses.

Once this preprint passed peer review and was officially published, how many people would be left in ecstatic awe?

Countless patients, once doomed to die from late-stage pancreatic cancer, would now have a chance to intervene two or three years earlier—a chance to live.

Now *this* was a major medical breakthrough!

"This kid... this kid!"

Zheng Liyan stood up and began pacing back and forth in his office, muttering under his breath.

"Incredible. You actually did it. You actually did it!"

The PhD student stood to one side, his own heart pounding with excitement.

This was a breakthrough achieved by a fellow countryman from China; he felt a sense of shared glory!

...

The midday sun cast a perfect light over the Southern Medical University campus.

After uploading the preprint late last night, the team had gone out for a celebratory dinner that lasted long into the night.

For the first time ever, Jiang He had been plied with alcohol until he was completely drunk.

The alcohol had finally managed to stop the resident workaholic in his tracks, sending him back to his dorm to sleep soundly until noon.

With the timestamp on the international preprint server now active and a PCT patent filing acceptance notice from the provincial department, the matter was finally settled.

Of course, Jiang He’s phone hadn’t stopped buzzing.

Messages of congratulations poured in from all kinds of people.

After all, many people had doubted Jiang He and his team before this.

They thought Jiang He was too young, his team too grassroots, and the task of developing a very early-stage screening method impossible.

But now, all that doubt had vanished into thin air.

Everyone had to reassess the twenty-one-year-old and form a new opinion of him.

This was Jiang He’s moment of vindication.

Jiang He looked at the screen full of congratulatory messages, his expression serene.

He replied to each one with humble grace.

Then, he saw a message from the provincial department asking him to come by today if he had the time.

They had already arranged for staff to meet with him and coordinate the itinerary for his upcoming trip to Baltimore.