Chapter 161: Ebola (4)

“Wait,” Michelle said. “We have to wait for one more person.”

“One more person?”

Young-Joon turned and glanced at Michelle. That was when a bald man with a large physique walked into the conference room.

“Hello.”

Michelle, the ministers, and the members of the committee greeted him. The man approached Young-Joon and held out his hand.

“I’m Phillip Kadena, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nice to meet you.”

Young-Joon shook Phillip’s hand.

“I should have printed out more,” Young-Joon said as he looked at the paper with the virus’ genome map.

“It’s alright. Please go ahead with the meeting. Don’t mind me,” Phillip said.

“I have it memorized, so you can look at this, sir.”

Young-Joon gave Phillip the document.

The scientists read their own copy of the document. A few of the papers had tens of thousands of characters making up an incomprehensible alphabetic code, such as ATGGTGCTACCA... This was the DNA sequence of the entire genome of the Ebola virus.

‘He memorized this...?’

Phillip flinched. Michelle looked at Young-Joon, baffled. She knew that the DNA sequence was important, but to memorize it? It was like a math genius had memorized pi for fun.

“But why did you bring the DNA sequence with you?” one of the scientists asked. It was Nizar, a vaccine scientist from the WHO’s office in Congo.

Nizar was one of the experts in vaccine research. He was very confused by the DNA sequence that Young-Joon had brought.

Nizar said, “We have to start with obtaining blood serum if we want to make a vaccine. We need to make a standard serum and get a baseline level of antibodies to validate the vaccine candidates.”

“I know. We need a vaccine, but we’re working on that separately.”

“Separately?”

“At A-Bio.”

“Then what is this?”

“Traditional scientists would draw serum first to develop a vaccine during an epidemic, but I have a different idea,” Young-Joon said. “A vaccine is a sure thing, but it takes the long way around. That’s because vaccination is for the uninfected.”

“...”

“As long as a vaccine is a preventive agent that is used on the uninfected, it’s unlikely that citizens in an outbreak area will be willing to be vaccinated, especially if they are less scientifically educated.”

“Hm...”

It was a painful but undeniable point for the Congolese government.

“And since Ebola is a highly lethal disease that has become more contagious with anthrax as a new route of infection, we can’t develop a vaccine at a leisurely pace because there will be deaths while we develop it. We need a frontline response that is faster than a vaccine.”

“Then are you saying that this is to create a cure, not a vaccine?” Nazir asked.

“Yes.”

“But are we starting with the DNA sequence? Laying it out like this...?”

Michelle looked down at the document again while listening to Nazir’s question.

ATGGTCTACCA... GTTGA.

The paper was full of irregularly repeating letters of the four alphabets, A, T, C, G. There were eighteen thousand nine hundred fifty-nine characters. What information could they get from this?

The DNA sequence was a cryptic recipe for creating biomaterial. The letters didn’t mean anything to the human eye, but they had meaning to the cell. It was like a computer language, like 1010111001... All that was different was that DNA had four letters instead of ones and zeroes. As such, the DNA sequence only had meaning if the identity of the biological material coded by DNA was interpreted through a computer and several experiments, then refined.

Imagine a developer walking into a program coding meeting with a stack of ones and zeros. It was natural for Nizar to be baffled.

‘That’s what I thought at first.’

Michelle turned to face Young-Joon. Then, he began explaining.

“This is a combination of the DNA of the five previously discovered strains of Ebola virus.”

“Five?” one of the scientists asked.

“Yes. The genomes of the viruses that were found in each region were a little different from each other. Zaire Ebola, Tai Forest Ebola, Sudan Ebola... This is the data from all of them,” Young-Joon replied. “This is similar to the standard blood serum, which is the average of the blood serum in recovered people. These are the standard genes of Ebola.”

“...”

“After I arrived in Congo, I immediately went to visit the Ebola patients with Doctor Michelle. I separated the Ebola virus from their blood,” Young-Joon said. “And then I had an employee who came with me send the new DNA of Ebola to A-Bio. We have two hundred DNA analysis machines there, and we can get results in a couple of hours if we use that to process it. The data we got from it is on page two.”

Everyone went to the next page. There were nineteen thousand characters of the DNA sequence on the second page as well.

“There’s a difference between pages one and two. If you use a DNA contrast program, you can see the difference. Right here.”

Young-Joon pointed to the twelve thousand two hundred ninety-fourth character in the DNA sequence.

“There are thirty-nine changes in the DNA sequence.”

The recipe for designing the biomaterial had changed.

“The type of amino acids have changed, and as a result, the structure of one biomaterial has slightly changed as well.”

“...”

“This is the point of evolution. That change in the DNA sequence evolved the virus. The evolved Ebola then infected anthracis,” Young-Joon said. “I used a protein folding simulation program to analyze this mutation. I artificially created a mutated protein containing this point with a computer.”

Young-Joon ran the program on his laptop. A virus that looked like a parasite appeared. Young-Joon zoomed in on the screen. The result of the mutated DNA sequence was on the surface; it was a receptor with a new structure, and it was a light brown color.

“This is the mutant receptor we found. It’s what the Ebola virus evolved to have. This part is what allows it to make contact with the cilia of the anthracis, open the virus shell, and get inside.”

“...”

Nizar was so shocked that he was at a loss for words.

‘He found the target to develop a drug.’

Nazir did not know this was possible. It would have taken weeks for them to find the mutant receptor in the complete virus. But Young-Joon had picked it out at once by comparing the DNA sequences. Nazir could see how A-Bio was able to produce so many amazing drugs one after another.

‘This guy has a completely different way of doing science.’

He was like Columbus crushing the bottom of an egg and standing it upright. While other scientists were fumbling around to find the center of gravity, Young-Joon had just extracted the results he needed.

“And there’s hopeful news,” Young-Joon said to the scientists, who were frozen.

“What is it?” Phillip asked.

“It’s actually easier to treat this Ebola virus. It was difficult to find a weakness in the old virus because it was so tightly structured, but we can target the receptor in this virus.”

“H-How?” Nizar asked in excitement.

Young-Joon smiled.

“It will be obvious if you hear it. What do you think it means that this mutant receptor can merge with the cilia of anthracis?”

“Pardon?”

“Look on page three.”

The committee went to the next page. There was another DNA sequence map and a simple schematic of a protein.

“This is the tip of the anthracis cilium,” Young-Joon said. “We will attach a substance that promotes the destruction of DNA.”

“...”

“The mutated receptor can merge with the cilia of anthrax. Similarly, it will also react with the cilia of this treatment as well. Then, the DNA-destroying substance will remove the DNA of the virus,” Young-Joon said. “When we administer the treatment, the virus will be quickly eliminated from the patient’s body. That’s it.”

“...”

Silence filled the room. This was too far outside the box of conventional science. For scientists, research was something that they had to do hands-on. It was about repeating multiple experiments to extract data and slowly building a crude map. However, this was like a genius military strategist explaining his tactics before a war. And as Young-Joon explained, victory loomed in the distance.

“... But will it really go as planned?” Michelle asked.

“It will. Let’s not start blindly, but let’s design this treatment first and start testing it on animals.”

“What I’m asking is whether we will be able to make a substance that mimics the cilia of anthracis.”

“It’ll be possible,” Young-Joon said.

He had already asked for Nicholas’ help. Young-Joon asked him for some of the research A-Gen had done on anthracis in the past. Nicholas said he would send them as soon as he organized them, so it should be here by tomorrow morning at the latest. If he had that, all he had to do was just find the most optimal method to isolate the end of the cilium with Rosaline.

“And since this is an urgent matter, it will be best to obtain only the essential data and begin clinical trials,” Young-Joon said.

“Oh, I see. We will prepare it,” Nizar said nervously.

“But this won’t be enough to eradicate Ebola,” Young-Joon said.

“What?”

“This is just stopping the Ebola virus that has infected someone’s body. If it can multiply through anthrax, it will create a constant epidemic. It’s not enough to treat a few patients here.”

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Then a vaccine?”

“Yes. And since Ebola and anthracis are having serious effects on the environment as well as people, we have to deal with that as well. We’re going to be very busy.”

“Doctor Ryu,” Phillip interrupted.

“Yes.”

“I don’t know much about biology, but I have a feeling that we will be able to get through this crisis unscathed with you leading the committee.”

“...”

“I will give you full authority as a special advisor to this disaster response committee. Please work with Doctor Michelle to save Congo.”

“Of course. Don’t worry.”

* * *

On the way out after the meeting, Young-Joon was shocked at the scene in front of him. It was because of the shouts from protesters and eggs being thrown at Phillip’s vehicle that had taken off before Young-Joon.

“What is that...?” Young-Joon asked Michelle, who was sitting beside him, in surprise.

Michelle sighed.

—Remove the illegal government!

—I refuse the manipulated vote count! Do the election again!

—The leadership change belongs to Commissioner Pauro!

The crowd’s shouts even banged on the Young-Joon’s limousine window.

“Leadership change? What are they talking about?” Young-Joon asked.

“The Congolese government has never changed leadership through voting in the sixty years since its independence from Belgium,” Michelle said. “This land called the heart of Africa, a country as big as Western Europe with eighty million people, has so much potential, but its government is unstable. The leadership has always changed with civil wars and assassinations.”

“... But I think they’re talking about how the voting was manipulated.”

“President Phillip was the first person to be voted into power,” MIchelle said. “But during the election, there was an unfair voting process for the opposition party.”

“Unfair?”

“A city with a population of two million people couldn’t vote. The previous government stopped them.”

“What? Why?”

“Why do you think so?”

Michelle smiled bitterly.

“It was because Ebola was going around. The infection could have spread rapidly during the crowded voting process.”

“...”

“Of course, the crowd is saying that Ebola was a superficial reason. They are saying that President Phillip made some sort of agreement with President Kabilie, who ruled for eighteen years, to keep cities with high support for other opposition parties from voting.”

“I see...”

“This fight isn’t going to be easy. The Ebola virus is so complexly tangled up in this country that it’s going to be difficult to deal with.”