Chapter 14: Year-end Seminar (1)

Although Jung Hae-Rim spoiled the big news, the Life Creation Department was quite shocked when they heard that Young-Joon’s experiment succeeded on Monday morning.

Park Dong-Hyun saw the growth of the embryonic stem cell colony in the plate, and all he could do was admire it with his mouth wide open. He looked like a primitive person who had just discovered fire.

Koh Soon-Yeol, on the other hand, froze when he saw the dish and left the room, mumbling something to himself with his Kohaku statue in his hand.[1]

Then, he quietly whispered to Young-Joon about an hour later when they ran into each other, “Um, Ryu Young-Joon-kun, are you from the future?”

“What?”

“Are you from the future? So like, I was wondering if you’re from a hundred years into the future, but you rolled off a cliff or something and ended up here.”

“... I’m not.”

Although, Young-Joon did have an all-knowing dictionary about molecular biology rather than future knowledge in his head.

Young-Joon gathered pictures of the embryonic stem cell colony. The pictures were automatically taken in one-hour intervals over the weekend; it was good evidence for morphological changes in cells. However, he needed more evidence that these were embryonic stem cells that had dedifferentiated from a normal cell line to an embryo cell line.

Young-Joon said to the team, “We’re going to get really busy from now on. Could all of you help me? The presentation is on Friday, right? We have to get data to prove that these are really embryonic stem cells before then.”

“W-what should I do? RT-PCR?” Park Dong-Hyun asked.[2]

“Yes. After I extract all the RNA from the cells first, could you reverse transcribe it and do exome sequencing on it?”

“Then, I’ll analyze the DNA methylation,” Jung Hae-Rim added.

A bunch of technical terms began flying around in the room. Everyone began working together right away.

These people hadn’t produced any significant results for a while and were doing nothing but beating a dead horse, but it wasn’t because they weren’t skilled. All of them were experts; they all knew exactly what they had to do, and had the brains to do it.

Young-Joon nodded in satisfaction.

“Thank you. I’ll leave it to you two. Then, I will work on differentiating this embryonic stem cell into a muscle cell. It’s going to be perfect if we can do that.”

The cell was currently an embryonic stem cell, but it was originally a kidney cell. Young-Joon had made it into an embryonic stem cell, and now he was going to differentiate it into a muscle cell, a completely different cell type. If Young-Joon succeeded in doing that, no one would be able to object; it would be irrefutable data.

However, Park Dong-Hyun stopped Young-Joon as he was about to begin his experiment.

“No. You need to make the presentation data, Doctor Ryu. And you have to file for a patent. Please go consult a patent attorney. Soon-Yeol!”

“Alright.”

Koh Soon-Yeol raised his head.

“Please differentiate this cell into a muscle cell. No one will be able to say anything if we succeed at that.”

“

Ore ni makasero!

” Koh Soon-Yeol replied.

“What does that mean?”

“Leave it to me!”

“...Thank you. Let’s finish this and get the Award for Exceptional Performance.”

Young-Joon left it to Koh Soon-Yeol and began working on the presentation material.

Even if the experiment went perfect, he needed an explanation for it; he needed to be able to explain why he chose SOX2, cMyc, OCT4, and KTF4 as the genes for dedifferentiation and what their specific functions were.

Of course, this wasn’t completely necessary. Some anticancer drugs that people took had unclear mechanisms as well; they just took it because it was effective. Still, it was definitely better if the mechanism had a clear explanation.

Young-Joon began to write explanations for the four genes. Of course, he was using his fitness and just copying down what Rosaline’s status window was telling him to do.

‘The gene SOX2 controls the expression of another gene called DKK1 to control the Wnt signaling pathway; it maintains the ability of an adult stem cell to differentiate...’

Young-Joon left space for data that he didn’t have yet and just wrote down the explanations. He added pictures of the cell colony and finished the slides one by one.

* * *

For three days, Park Dong-Hyun, Jung Hae-Rim and Koh Soon-Yeol stayed late at work on their own. It was the process of completing the data of a successful experiment. It was hard, but thinking of how the lab directors and the executive managers of the other departments would react when they presented this crazy data at the seminar gave them strength.

“I got the methylation data.”

The first to come was Jung Hae-Rim. She sent Young-Joon an excel file and ran over to explain every single detail to him.

“I compared the methylated areas of the DNA. The first data set is the data from actual embryonic stem cells made from an embryo in Japan six years ago, and the second data set is from the induced pluripotent stem cells you made, Ryu Young-Joon.”

Simply put, it was a comparative analysis of data to prove that what Young-Joon made were really embryonic stem cells, which had been created before.

“It’s the same,” Young-Joon said to Jung Hae-Rim.

“I know, right? Doctor Ryu! It’s amazing! Everything lines up with nothing out of place! Insane!” Jung Hae-Rim shouted in an excited voice.

“Doctor Ryu!”

That was when Park Dong-Hyun ran into the room.

“I got the data from the RT-PCR. It’s a collection of the expression levels of genes. We analyzed a hundred thousand types of RNA made from twenty thousand types of genes.”

“How is it?” Young-Joon asked.

“I sent you an excel file. Pull it up.”

When Young-Joon opened it up, a graph showed up, just like what Jung Hae-Rim sent him.

“I mapped it on the total RNA database, and look. The first data set is from embryonic stem cells from a real embryo, and the second data set is yours, Doctor Ryu. Exactly the same, right?”

“Yes.”

“You succeeded.”

“Oh my...”

The three of them were silent for a moment. Park Dong-Hyun gulped.

“Doctor Ryu, how did the patent filing go?”

For the past few days, Young-Joon was preparing to file a patent while making the presentation material. He had already requested it to the patent law office that manages Lab Six and finished the paperwork.

“I already did it. There’s nothing for me to do at the moment, and I’m just waiting for a call from the office.”

“Alright. Doctor Ryu, what are you going to do?” Park Dong-Hyun asked Young-Joon.

“Pardon?”

“If you present an item like this, it’s not just going to be the Exceptional Performance Award. You’re going to be either promoted or transferred to a new department, probably the Stem Cells Department.”

“I won’t transfer. I don’t want to move since I just got here. Personally, I want to be promoted and get a bonus. I want to have a team dinner or something.”

“A-Gen does a lot of bad things, but they give a lot of bonuses to employees who show results. But from what I think, this technology is something that could change the trend of medicine in ten years. I don’t know how the management and lab directors of A-Gen will see it, but I think that your bonus is going to be as much as your salary.”

“Woah...” Jung Hae-Rim exclaimed.

“Should we split it?” Young-Joon asked.

Jung Hae-Rim quickly turned over to Young-Joon.

“What do you mean? You did everything, Doctor Ryu.”

“The only reason I can present is because you guys made the data.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

Park Dong-Hyun explained, “The bonus is what you get individually, and another bonus will be given to our department separately.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Just organize the data well. Call me if you need any help on anything,” Park Dong-Hyun said to Young-Joon.

“So, what happened to differentiating with the muscle cell?”

“Hm... Koh Soon-Yeol is practically living in the lab,” Park Dong-Hyun told the others.

“But I don’t think it has worked.”

“That’s the hard evidence we need...”

* * *

Friday morning, the grand conference room of Lab One in the A-Gen headquarters was busy with preparations for the seminar.

Usually, scientists wore casual attire at work; how could they carry out experiments while wearing suits and dresses? Shorts and tights were forbidden as they did not protect against hazardous reagents if they splashed onto them, but a lot of people wore t-shirts and jeans as well.

However, everyone wore formal clothing today. The year-end seminar: it was the most important and the most tiresome day for the scientists at A-Gen.

Click.

Kim Hyun-Taek and the scientists of Lab One came in through the door.

“Hello, sir!”

Scientists from different labs came up to him and tried to greet him first.

Kim Hyun-Taek was acknowledged by others as the best scientist at A-Gen, and he was extremely powerful. There was a good chance that he would become the next CTO when the current one, Nicholas Kim, retired. He was just a lab director right now, but everyone thought that he would rise to a position where he would control and manage all the labs of A-Gen in a few years.

Of course, the Anticancer Drug Research Department, one of the best departments in A-Gen, was behind Kim Hyun-Taek’s success; they were A-Gen’s key players, like Messi or Ronaldo. They were responsible for all the achievements of Lab One, and they carried all their other departments.

The item that they developed this time was also incredible; in collaboration with the Mobile Diagnostic Device Research Department, they had created a diagnostic system that could diagnose stomach cancer early. With one drop of blood, it could analyze the DNA and determine whether someone had stomach cancer or not. It had an accuracy level of ninety-two percent, and a sensitivity level of ninety-six percent. They needed to make it more precise, but it was still pretty efficient.

They hadn’t even presented yet, but the news spread. The Anticancer Drug Research Department and the Mobile Diagnostic Device Research Department were receiving everyone’s attention and envy.

“Oh? Where did you get the coffee?”

Lead Scientist Hyun Mi-Ju, who came in a little late, asked Senior Scientist Kim Hyun-Seok about his coffee.

“It’s at the entrance,” Kim Hyun-Seok replied.

“Is it good?”

“I think they got it from Starbucks. It tastes like Starbucks.”

“It’s not my favorite, but I should grab a cup. There’s a bit of time before the seminar starts, right?”

“Lab Six isn’t even here yet. Go grab one.”

Hyun Mi-Ju ran into Park So-Yeon as she walked into the conference hall. She was a Scientist of the Mobile Diagnostic Device Research Department who dated Young-Joon. She had a small and pretty face; she was called the prettiest one in her department from the moment she joined the company. She usually did not wear makeup when she worked, but she took her time to put makeup and perfume on today.

“So-Yeon, you look nice today for the seminar,” Hyun Mi-Ju said to Park So-Yeon when she saw her.

“Haha. It’s one of the only opportunities for me to wear a skirt.”

“You contributed a lot when we developed the stomach cancer diagnosis system. I’m sure you’ll be rewarded something big this time.”

“I really hope so. But it only happened because you and the Anticancer Drug Research Department pinpointed the cancer gene markers well.”

Hyun Mi-Ju poured herself a cup of coffee.

“But So-Yeon, do you know if Lab Six is here yet?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Isn’t Young-Joon there?”

“...”

“Is it awkward or anything when you see each other? It hasn’t been long since you guys broke up, right?”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I did anything wrong.”

“The Life Creation Department... I wonder how much they will get criticized today. I’m worried for them.” Hyun Mi-Ju spoke with a chuckle. She was saying that she was worried, but it looked like she kind of enjoyed it.

“I just hope it doesn’t get too hostile in there. But doesn’t Lab Six have a well-performing team as well?”

“The Health Food Department? They’re Lab Six’s hope.”

“What do they do there?”

“They do a lot of stuff, probiotics and vitamins and other things. But it’s okay. Whatever they bring, it’s not going to be as good as the stomach cancer diagnosis system. The Exceptional Performance Award is either going to go to Anticancer or the Diagnosis Department.”

“Hm. There’s a rumor that the Anticancer Department has another card up their sleeve other than the stomach cancer diagnosis system.”

Hyun Mi-Ju covered her mouth and laughed as Park So-Yeon asked.

“I wonder. I’m not too sure.”

Click!

The main entrance of the conference room opened, and a group of scientists walked in. They were scientists from Lab Six.

1. Kohaku is an anime character from

Dr. Stone

. ?

2. RT-PCR is a laboratory technique that is used to measure the amount of a specific RNA. ?