Super Genius DNA

Young-Joon was about to take a sip of his coffee, but he raised his head to look at Nicholas Kim.

“The cartels? I haven’t heard anything in particular,” Young-Joon said.

“Something is off, Doctor Ryu. The work you are doing right now is heavily threatening the livelihood of those companies. A-Gen included, but we’re affiliated with you, so… Anyway, you haven’t received any calls from those transnational pharmaceutical companies?”

“They did contact me to do business together at the IUBMB.”

“What did you say?”

“That I would consider it.”

“Did they contact you after that?”

“Roche and Pfizer contacted me. We’re going to have a business meeting soon, and I haven’t heard from Schumatix yet.”

Nicholas tapped his lip, then said hesitantly, “I recently heard a few things about Schumatix.”

“Schumatix is making a next-generation hospital in India.”

“It’s the first I’m hearing of this.”

“To be exact, Schumatix has a hospital they sponsored in India, and they are going to renovate the facilities to make a next-generation hospital.”

“Why are they not doing that in Switzerland or the U.S., where they have their headquarters, but in India?”

“... That’s the part that bugs me, Doctor Ryu. The glaucoma treatment is being commercialized soon, right?”

“Yes.”

“You’re making it into a kit, right?”

“There are two products: one is a stem cell and optic nerve production service done at A-Bio, and the other is a stem cell production kit that can make it.”

“Can you tell me a little bit more about the kit?”

“To use the glaucoma treatment, you have to extract the patient’s somatic cells and put a few types of genes into it using a virus. You also have to add a few genes when you differentiate it into optic nerves,” Young-Joon explained. “It’s easier than you think if you have the virus, but making the virus is quite fussy. So, we are going to make the virus and sell it as a stem cell creation kit. The somatic cell will differentiate automatically if you put a single drop of the virus solution in it.”

“Hm.”

“We are only going to supply the product to verified biological experiment agencies. After creating stem cells and optic nerves, we are going to verify them with a technology like FACS and use it to treat patients at hospitals associated with them.”

“You’re saying that you are going to link biological experiment agencies all around the world with their local hospitals because there aren’t a lot of hospitals that have technicians to carry out the optic nerve differentiation, right? And you’re going to supply the kits to make the differentiation more convenient?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a good idea, but don’t do it,” Nicholas said. “Let’s only make stem cells and optic nerves under your supervision and only use the treatment at A-Bio’s hospital. There will definitely be people from pharmaceutical cartels that challenge the safety of that kit.”

“Our research shows that the kit is completely safe. And we used a lot of stem cells and optic nerve cells produced by the kits in the clinical trial. And if there really is a safety problem that wasn’t identified in the clinical trial, it would be right to dispose of the product. If that happens, I will dispose of all of it,” Young-Joon said.

“That’s not what I am saying, Doctor Ryu. You know what kind of people the pharmaceutical cartels are, don’t you?” Nicholas said like he was frustrated. “They might sabotage you even worse than anything you can imagine. They might test the kit, artificially produce negative results, then attack you with it.”

“They could,” Young-Joon said.

“And you are still going to use that kit? Then, what if you only do it in places within your scope for now? You can take your time supplying the product to the world with the kits, right?”

Young-Joon took a sip of his coffee. There was a moment of silence. Nicholas was staring at Young-Joon with worry in his eyes.

“Thank you for your consideration, but Mr. CTO…” Young-Joon said. “My enemy is not Schumatix, Roche, or Pfizer.”

“...”

“The enemy that I have been fighting against since I was an undergraduate student who didn’t know much, even before joining A-Gen and going into graduate school, was disease itself.”

“Phew…”

“If I take a step back because I’m afraid of the pharmaceutical company’s sabotage and limit this new technology that I can supply worldwide to Korea and A-Bio, it will reduce the risk to my company,” Young-Joon said. “But it’s not like that risk goes away.

“Patients from all over the world will share that risk together. A-Bio’s hospital in Korea. If we limit treatment with limited space and manpower, patients will have to wait a long time, fly long distances, and they are going to need more time and money. Eventually, the number of people who cannot receive treatment will rise exponentially as you go towards developing countries.”

“But Schumatix will definitely sabotage you,” Nicholas said.

“Then I will just fight them with science,” Young-Joon said. “I will accept it if their attacks are reasonable, and if there is a problem with it, I will just destroy it with clear evidence and knowledge. I don’t know how to take the long way or lay low to protect other’s livelihoods. Isn’t that the principle of learning and the right thing to do?

“There is only the truth and advancement in science. If there are any side effects on society that occur in the process of advancement, it should be taken care of, but I don’t think that includes the livelihood of Schumatix or Roche.”

Nicholas massaged his eyes with his hands like he was getting a headache.

“I heard that you lost your younger sister to liver cancer.”

“That’s right.”

“I think that has become a source of trauma for you, causing you to be obsessive. You can’t treat all patients this quickly. Even if there is a shortcut, you have to know how to go the long way if that path is dangerous. You have to be more careful about doing significant work that might improve the medical community,” Nicholas said. “Doctor Ryu, how many pipelines do you have for stem cells?”

“Glaucoma, Alzheimer’s, spine, bone marrow, cartilage, skin, organoids. A total of seven.”

“You started too many things at once. You probably made that many enemies. If backed up into a corner, a mouse will bite the cat.”

“If those mice transmit diseases or eat away at our future food source, I will gladly get bitten and fight them.”

“You are determined.”

“You know me.”

Nicholas suddenly smiled.

“Alright.” He nodded. “I don’t care what anyone says, but I like your unwavering personality. I’m just worried that it will destroy your future, Doctor Ryu.”

“Thank you. But don’t worry too much. I’m fine.”

“Alright. If you have difficulties, please tell me. I’m not as smart as you, but I know how dirty this industry can be, more than you. I will definitely be of help.”

“Thank you.”

After Nicholas left, Young-Joon leaned back in his chair.

—I really cannot understand you.

Rosaline said.

—If you are worried about the harm that the pharmaceutical cartels will do to you, there is a much easier way.

“What is it?”

—I’ll design a few viruses for you, and then you can go meet the company’s board members and infect them. They’ll end up in a long-term coma. They will not think of touching you if their management collapses. It’ll be hard for them to even keep their company running.

“... No, don’t do that…”

—It’s not like we’re killing them, right? We just have to let them lay down for a few years. We can wake them back up after you dominate the pharmaceutical industry, right?

“How can you say something so crazy and insane as if you’re saying that you want to grab burgers for lunch today?”

—I have analyzed your morals and ethics for a long time. In my opinion, this is not unethical. This is the fastest choice for the improvement of universal health, and it is safe because we are not taking their lives. And since they will not be criticized by the shareholders if they are sick and laying in bed, unable to run their company, it will give them a reason for their loss. It’s a win-win for both.

“I don’t have the right to do something like that. It’s not like they caused me harm or anything.”

—There’s a possibility they will, no? If police run into an extremely agitated criminal, they will subdue them and put cuffs on them to take away their freedom of movement. That isn’t considered immoral to you, right? It is the same thing.

“It’s a no, man.”

—Then what are you going to do? I can stop them if they attack you directly, but they might attack you more politically.

Rosaline said.

—If I was the CEO of a multinational pharmaceutical company and my livelihood is being threatened by you, I would find a problem with your kit, like Nicholas said.

“They will do something like that.”

—If I were them, I would cause a problem with the patient. After causing a fatal eye disease, I will say that it was a side effect from your treatment kit.

Young-Joon put down the coffee he was drinking.

“I hope they don’t go that far, but there is a possibility they will do that.”

—Maybe.

“They might prove that there was no problem with the administration of the treatment itself by using a renowned doctor, and sabotage me by saying that my kit is the problem.”

—I would do that if it was me. What are you going to do?

“If they mess with the patient, I will show them hell. But I can’t make all the directors brain dead even before they do anything just because I think they are going to commit a crime. I have my own way. I’ll hide a counter-attack in the kit, so don’t worry.”

—Aha. Are you going to do something like revealing that it was caused by Schumatix when a patient gets a fatal disease like cancer?

“No. A patient will not get hurt,” Young-Joon said.

* * *

After Carpentier joined the company, the progress of the study had risen sharply. In just a month, numerous tissue regeneration experiments based on stem cells had quickly progressed. Results had started coming out one by one as he took charge of the spine and bone marrow.

But surprisingly, the work that had the fastest progress was organoids, the hardest one.

“As you said, we three-dimensionally grew four types of epithelial cells and an intestine stem cell at the same time,” Cheon Ji-Myung presented at the meeting. “We had some trouble with getting the right ratio and the gene expression level, but these are the results.”

He went to the next slide. There were pictures of circular cell structures. It looked like a dandelion. People who didn’t know much would wonder what kind of intestine looks like this, but Young-Joon looked at it interestingly.

“We created the endoderm first by promoting TGF-ß signaling. Then, we created the stomach structure by treating the FGF4 and WNT3A,” Cheon Ji-Myung said. “I will explain each cell in the picture in order. This is the enterocyte, over here and here are goblet cells and the enteroendocrine cell. And the cells on the outside are intestine stem cells.”

Cheon Ji-Myung explained the pictures in order.

“They are still the size of my thumbnail. This can’t replace the small intestine, but theoretically, we can use this to cultivate artificial small intestines if grown in large quantities.”

“But it will cost a lot of money to do that, right?”

“There is still the question of whether we can grow this into an organ with current technology, but even if we can do it, the materials for growing them would cost an astronomical amount of money,” Cheon Ji-Myung said.

“It’s fine. It’s a big deal that you made an organoid in the first place. It’s already worthy as the front page of Nature. Good work,” Young-Joon replied. “And this doesn’t need anything like a clinical trial. The research is done if you successfully created organoids. Doctor Cheon and our organoids team, good work. From now on, we will use this organoid in the next-generation’s hospital to precisely diagnose patients with Crohn’s or tumors in their small intestines and treat them.”

“Haha, thank you. We almost died while making it, but it feels rewarding.”

“Was it really hard?”

“We stayed up for days. It’s difficult enough to differentiate and grow one cell, but to tie five different types of cells together and grow them simultaneously to create a 3D structure was… I don’t know. It was a very, very creative attempt to put it really nicely.”

“Haha, it was crazy, I admit it. To be honest, I didn’t think you would do it this quickly.”

“It’s because you designed the strategy for us.”

“It’s still an amazing speed, even considering that.”

“A lot of world-class scientists joined the company, so we have to work hard to not get fired,” Cheon Ji-Myung said playfully. “Anyway, sir, give us a lot of bonuses since we all worked hard.”

“Of course. I will give you a vacation as well. And when you come back, let’s try making the next organoid.”

“The next organoid?”

“Let’s increase the difficulty a little and try liver organoids,” Young-Joon said.

The life kind of drained out of Cheon Ji-Myung’s face.

“Yes… We will do that.”

“Don’t spend the night and overwork yourselves. You have to take care of your team’s health for the long run,” Young-Joon said. “Oh, and Doctor Cheon, please write a paper that you succeeded in creating organoids. You can be the first author and please distribute the order of authors to your members. I will leave it to you.”

“Okay. I will enter you as the corresponding author.”

The first author was usually the front-line scientist who did the experiment, but the corresponding author was the project’s supervisor and manager. If the first author was a graduate student, the corresponding author would be the professor.

“Alright. You should send it to Science. It will be on the cover since it’s big,” Young-Joon said.

“I didn’t think I would ever write the cover of Science,” Cheon Ji-Myung said with a giggle.

“Yes. if there aren’t any other papers.”

The manuscript for the paper was still being written, but the news that they had succeeded in creating a small intestine organoid swept through the company and spread a sense of motivation.

“Let’s steal the cover of Science,” Carpentier said during his meeting with the spinal regeneration team. “I sincerely congratulate the organoid team’s performance, but we can’t fall behind, right? Let’s work hard and yield good results. Regeneration of the spinal nerve can go up against organoids. If we see results in mice experiments, we could be able to surpass organoids. Then, the Science cover is ours.”

Carpentier chuckled.

“It’s like archery…” Doctor Goo Chan-Yeol said.

“Archery?”

“It’s a sport that Korea is proud of, and the competition to choose the national team is more intense than the Olympic gold medal match.”

“I don’t watch archery, so I don’t know. Anyway, we have made good progress on our project, so let’s work hard and have it out.”

But the competitor for the cover of Science was something no one expected, and it was a much more powerful result than organoids or spinal regeneration.

[A-Bio finished with Phase Three of the glaucoma treatment.]

[The first-ever stem cell therapy to be commercialized.]

[A-Bio, the center of the stem cell treatment market.]

Just overnight, a huge amount of news poured out. The glaucoma treatment was finished with the third phase of its clinical trial. They had treated about a thousand patients. Now, it was facing commercialization.