Chapter 31: Probiotics (1)

What are drugs? If someone answered that it was to treat diseases, they would be half right. The concept of drugs encompassed the prevention of diseases as well. Young-Joon was going to continue the line of research on the treatment of neurological disorders using stem cells, but he had to start something in the healthcare field now at the latest since this could take a long time.

The keyword in the center of healthcare was probiotics. There were almost one thousand five hundred kinds of microorganisms living in the gut, and they had almost one hundred fifty times more genetic material than one person.

The huge amount of biomaterials that are expressed from their genetic material are released in the form of microspores, then reabsorbed into the human body. They are sent to various places through the blood.

It would be strange to think that they wouldn’t have an effect on the body. It was pretty well-known to the public that

Helicobacter pylori

, one of the microorganisms that lived in the stomach, could cause stomach cancer in some people. That was why hy Co., Ltd, a Korean yakult company, made Helicobacter Project Will, saying that it was a probiotic drink that would destroy that.

Helicobacter pylori

was the most famous one, but there were reports about microorganisms in the stomach and cancer every year. One of the most recent papers found that proteobacteria and actinobacteria species could cause pancreatic cancer.

It really showed that gut microorganisms could really drive or suppress cancer. It was not the only reason for cancer development, but it seemed certain that it was an important reason.

These discoveries hadn’t been studied deeply enough or become widely known. That was why there weren’t many people who bought probiotic products even when new ones were made, and it wasn’t as good for profit from the company’s perspective. Just in terms of money, developing a new anticancer drug could be better for profit short term.

But shouldn’t scientists who fight for the health of humanity show the potential of probiotics to the public and supply the market with an excellent product? In terms of preventing diseases, it could be an item that contributes more to human health than stem cells.

“...And A-Gen’s profit on probiotics has continuously gone down after the release of Roche’s Active Lactobacillin,” Young-Joon said.

Five scientists from the Health Food Department, including Choi Myung-Joon, cleared their throats in embarrassment as they read the chart Young-Joon was presenting.

A joint department meeting was happening in the meeting room of Lab Six. From the Life Creation Department, Young-Joon who proposed this meeting, Koh Soon-Yeol and Park Dong-Hyun, who both have experience with probiotics, and Department Head Cheon Ji-Myung were in attendance.

The Health Food Department was much bigger and had around twenty people, but there was Choi Myung-Joon, Seo Yoon-Ju, and three new people here as they specialized in probiotics.

Young-Joon said, “To be honest, I don’t think it’s the Health Food Department’s fault that we lost our share in the market. There isn’t much of a difference between our product and Roche’s right? It’s more of a failure in marketing rather than the scientists.”

“But we could have beaten Roche if we developed a better probiotic product,” Cheon Ji-Myung added.

“But probiotics have been developed to their fullest. There isn’t much we can do now.” Choi Myung-Joon made excuses as if he was letting his frustration out.

“Like Doctor Ryu said, our product is similar to Roche’s, right? It’s because we have developed it as far as it can go. The scientific community has analyzed one thousand of the gut microorganisms in the body. There aren’t any better products.”

Young-Joon shook his head.

“There are definitely problems in our existing product. If we find a solution to that, it will become a better product.”

“What problems?”

“First of all, the biggest problem: even if you take probiotics, your gut microorganism composition doesn’t change very easily. It’s because the ones that already exist are too strong and too high in number.” Young-Joon explained.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Gut microorganisms were like the old guards; the ones that established themselves first killed and drove out the ones that came later on. Because of this, the gut microorganism composition did not change easily even if one took a lot of probiotics.

“Actually, among the recent papers published in

Cell,

one proposed that most probiotics get discharged as is because it is difficult to get rid of the microorganisms already established there. It’s hard to establish them in the gut if we don’t use probiotics customized to the individual.”

Seo Yoon-Ju suddenly raised her hand.

“So I was thinking. What if we make probiotic formula for infants? I have proposed that idea for a long time. What do you think, Doctor Ryu?”

Infants who were just born do not have any microorganisms in their gut because the uterus of a mother is a sterile environment. There were many microorganisms in a woman's vagina, but they could not easily invade the uterus. Basically, humans were first introduced to microorganisms from the moment of their birth. As such, the best plan would be to help beneficial microorganisms to establish themselves during early age.

“But that is dangerous,” Young-Joon disagreed.

“It’s a good plan, Scientist Seo, but it could be harmful to give them probiotics, a large amount of bacteria, because they have a weak immune system. Even if they are beneficial.”

“Then we don’t really have a good plan,” Choi Myung-Joon said.

“So, like the old plan, we’ll have to use probiotics for a long time and make them fight for their place in the gut.”

“Or we can use antibiotics to destroy the existing microorganisms in the gut. It’s violent, but theoretically possible,” one of them from the Health Food Department added.

Young-Joon interfered in their conversation, “Don’t do that. Maybe we should change the bacteria strain.”

“The strain?”

The scientists all stared at him with wide eyes.

“There is a strain called

Clorotonis limuvitus.

Let’s use that.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a bacteria that usually resides in volcanic soil. There should be a lot in the soil near Mount Sinabung, one of the volcanoes in the Sumatra islands in Indonesia.”

Young-Joon had looked up this information beforehand with the name of the strain.

“No strain can match

limutivus

in terms of its advantages to the human body, but it also has excellent intestinal viability, so it can destroy other microorganisms and establish itself. We don’t have to use harsh methods such as antibiotics.”

“...”

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

“You want to use bacteria living in volcanic soil as probiotics?”

“It will be the best strain. Let’s reduce all

Lactobacillus

types in our existing product by two percent, and include eight percent of

Clorotonis limuvitus.

”

“...”

‘There he goes again. Doing something weird.’

Park Dong-Hyun stole a few glances at Young-Joon. Putting bacteria that live in volcanic soil into a person’s intestines was no different than just eating dirt. They were not more surprised because Young-Joon was the one saying it, and it had an unreasonable level of persuasion because he said it. Well, Park Dong-Hyun was going to support him anyway, but he was a little worried, to be honest.

For everyone else, Seo Yoon-Ju asked, “Doctor Ryu, is that true? How do you know that?”

Young-Joon made up an excuse.

“

Clorotonis limuvitus

is a strain of bacteria I kept in mind after hearing about in a microorganism conference when I was a student. No one has tried it as an intestinal microorganism, but I think it will be effective according to the papers I’ve seen on it.”

Seo Yoon-Ju still looked like she could not accept it.

“But Doctor Ryu, that

limuvitus

thing or whatever. It’s a strain that has never been known as an intestinal microorganism, right? That means that it hasn’t been found in a healthy person’s gut during studies. Will it really be safe and effective?”

“That’s because the concept of healthy people is based on citizens of developed countries. We just didn’t know about it because there hasn’t been much research done on non-Western people since science was a Western-centered subject. For example, if you analyze the gut microorganism composition of people living in long-living villages in Nepal or Tibet, you will find a lot of this strain. We could also use this in marketing, saying that it’s usually found in residents of long-living villages.”

Everyone from the Health Food Department in the meeting was at a loss for words. They just stared at Young-Joon in shock.

Young-Joon said, “Well, if you can’t believe me, you don’t have to do it. We’ll pay the fee, so just let us borrow your facilities. We can set it up ourselves.”

“No! Let’s do it together!” Choi Myung-Joon shouted urgently.

It was obvious that people would have reacted like this when he first brought up iPSCs. They would have all listened to him in bewilderment, wondering what the hell he was talking about.

But Young-Joon probably mentioned it because it was something that he could do.

‘Of course I have to get on this first-class wagon. We have an incredible driver.’

“Please let us be part of it,” Choi Myung-Joon said once again.

“Alright. But our Life Creation Department has never studied microorganisms before. So I was wondering how the Health Food Department obtains new microorganisms?” Young-Joon asked.

“If it’s a registered strain in the ATCC or KACC, we buy it from there. If there isn’t a vendor, we contact labs who are selling it and get it there. If we can’t do that, we go there ourselves and get a sample.”

“They probably won’t sell it at places like the ATCC because it’s such a unique strain. There should be some foreign labs that are studying

limuvitus

, so we’ll have to contact them to get it,”

“We will begin that part. We have connections to labs that study microorganisms in major universities,” Choi Myung-Joon said.

“Sir! I found it!”

As soon as Choi Myung-Joon finished his sentence, Seo Yoon-Ju, who was sitting next to him, shouted with her phone in her hand. She showed him her phone screen.

“This is the excel file of the list of microorganisms we got from the lab from University of Madras in India. It’s here,

limuvitus

.”

“Good. We will make sure to get this,” Choi Myung-Joon said.

As they were a team who had originally worked on probiotics, they definitely had good infrastructure and plenty of sources to get the bacteria strains. If Young-Joon did this all by himself, it would have taken him at least a few weeks to find a lab that studied

limuvitus

.

“Then please purchase that. We will start experiments as soon as they arrive. And we will collaborate with Celligener, a venture company, for this project.”

“Celligener?”

“Yes. They work on probiotics as well, and they have a new coating technology. This product will be completed only if we use that technology.”

“Of course. We will prepare a meeting.”

Young-Joon got up from his seat. As he left, Jung Hae-Rim appeared.

“Oh! Director Ryu. You were here.”

“...Please just call me Young-Joon. I haven’t even been appointed yet...”

“I heard that I have to look good to you because there will be a lot of competitors.”

“Dong-Hyun-sunbae told you that, right?”

“Yes.”

Jung Hae-Rim covered her mouth and giggled. Young-Joon stared at her with a disapproving look and found Koh Soon-Yeol walking past them.

“I wonder if Soon-Yeol-sunbae will be alright,” Young-Joon said.

“Why?’

“We’re going to work with the Health Food Department because of probiotics. I’m ambivalent about their department, so it doesn’t matter to me if we work together since they have a good infrastructure and network, but even if Soon-Yeol-sunbae got his apology and money for the clothes, I’m worried that it will be emotionally exhausting...”

“Huh? You haven’t heard the news?” Jung Hae-Rim asked with wide eyes.

“What?”

“Soon-Yeol and Yoon-Ju are dating.”

“

Cough

!”

Young-Joon’s saliva went down the wrong way because he was so surprised. He began coughing.

[Starting to normalize breathing.]

[Relieving irritation of submucosal receptors.]

“They’re dating?”

That news was the most shocking thing Young-Joon had heard recently.

“The money Yoon-Ju gave to Soon-Yeol for his clothes was originally for her trip to Tokyo. But apparently, Soon-Yeol heard that and asked her to go to Tokyo for him and get a Kohaku figurine for him at Akihabara. But then, Yoon-Ju went to Akihabara and opened her eyes to a whole new world. She became a fan immediately and broke up with her boyfriend who she wasn’t on good terms with. Then, she actively pursued Soon-Yeol, saying that he was cute when you looked at him closely...”

“Holy shit...”

Now that Young-Joon thought about it, Seo Yoon-Ju was looking at Koh Soon-Yeol with lust. He did not imagine this plot twist.

Jung Hae-Rim said, “You live to see such weird things, right? Soon-Yeol is actually quite a charming person. Even now, Soon-Yeol is the one giving her a chance. Apparently, he only smiles a couple times when they talk about Kohaku.”

She giggled, then suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, right! Young-Joon, there are reporters outside. I actually came here to tell you that. You said you were doing an interview in the afternoon today.”

“Yes. I’ll be back.”

After the release in

Science

and CNN, Korean reporters were calling A-Gen every day and asking for interviews. It was fun at first, but now, it was burdensome and tiring.

‘I’ll do this one and then decline any other ones.’

* * *

On Friday evening, when the

Science

special was published and before Young-Joon had the joint department meeting, Choi Yeon-Ho, the CEO of Celligener, called Song Ji-Hyun, who had just come back from her break, into his office when she was experimenting. He showed her Young-Joon’s

Science

paper and interview. Her eyes widened.

“Doctor Song, is this the A-Gen scientist you mentioned before?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“He was the one who requested a meeting with us to work on probiotics together, right?”

“Yes.”

With his fingers on his lips, Choi Yeon-Ho stared at the young man’s face that was on the interview page. Song Ji-Hyun had told him that he was a scientist who worked on stem cells in the Life Creation Department or something like that. And she said that he had asked her to work together in creating a new probiotics product.

‘How good could a person who works on stem cells be at microorganisms?’

Choi Yeon-Ho had just laughed it off when he heard that from Song Ji-Hyun. He didn’t know how good he was at microorganisms, but he did something huge in stem cells.

‘Well, I didn’t know he was this good. It’s a completely different thing now...’

Induced pluripotent stem cells—it was an incredibly ingenious and revolutionary thing. The fact that he differentiated it into optic nerves was huge as well, but it took him less than two months to get results in animal experiments with that.

‘Is he human?’

It didn’t seem like a person as talented as Young-Joon would not know what he was talking about. He must know something about probiotics, and he would have asked them to collaborate on a project because he knows how to do it.

“This person. What kind of person is he?” Choi Yeon-Ho asked.