Chapter 811: Amino Acid Derivatives

The next day.

Inside the Moon Palace experiment cabin.

Professor Stephen stood in front of a group of researchers. He had dark circles around his eyes. He raised the thesis in his hand and spoke without energy.

“I’m sure you have read this thesis… I will not repeat what was written in the thesis. Just out of curiosity, I want to know who is Dr. Z?”

The six people in front of him were muddled. Professor Stephen spoke again.

“I’m sorry, but Dr. Z has to be among the seven of us… No, six, because I know I didn’t write it. Ian, was it you?”

Ian looked at the thesis and shook his head. He said, “No, it’s not me, why would I publish an anonymous thesis? This might be a Nobel Prize-level discovery, who wouldn’t want their name attached to this?”

The X-0172 bacterial invasion was considered a global ecosystem crisis. Anyone that solved this problem would undoubtedly be regarded as a hero to all of humankind. They might not win a Nobel Prize, but they would definitely be nominated.

Professor Leslie glanced at Professor Zhao Shuxuan and made eye contact.

“Z… Isn’t that the first letter of your name?”

“Forget about it.” Professor Zhao shook his head and said, “It’s not me… Why would I stay anonymous?”

Most people would gladly put their name on this thesis. The seven researchers had no idea why this person decided to stay anonymous.

All of the seven researchers in the experiment cabin looked at each other.

Finally, Professor Ian shrugged and looked impatient.

“Okay… It looks like Dr. Z is not with us. Anyone with a sane mind would want their name attached to this thesis.”

“This is ridiculous,” Professor Leslie said in disbelief. “Without having access to the X-0172 bacteria, how the hell did they find out the bacterial spores mechanism?”

The experiment cabin went quiet.

Obviously, Professor Leslie wasn’t the only one perplexed by the problem.

“This sounds ridiculous, but I think we can try Dr. Z’s method… Our research idea is to find a way to prevent X-0172 bacteria from producing spores, right?” Professor Ian looked at the thesis and shrugged. He then looked at the other researchers in the cabin and said, “It seems like Dr. Z has the same idea as us.”

Zhao Shuxuan nodded and said, “I think it’s worth a shot.”

Professor Leslie nodded. “I’m fine with it.”

Professor Stephen leaned against the porthole and said, “I was planning on doing that anyway.”

Professor Ian snapped his fingers.

“Four people agree, more than half the votes… Okay, it’s settled.”

…

Normally speaking, repeating an experiment was more difficult than doing the experiment the first time.

A lot of important research results in the field of modern biology came from coincidences. Even if someone ordered the same set of reagents, the same equipment from the same manufacturer, the experiment could still yield different results.

Not to mention that photoshop technology had become more and more powerful. If an undergraduate student couldn’t repeat an experiment, they would often just photoshop the experiment images.

Therefore, repeatable experiments had become one of the most important indicators of a valuable experiment.

Professor Stephen believed that Dr. Z’s proposal was going to work.

Because the words in this arXiv thesis resonated with his academic mind.

“The X-0172 bacteria can survive in the harsh environment of Mars. It is difficult to kill it using ordinary methods. We have to find its weakness.”

“What is its weakness?”

“Being able to survive on Mars gives it an advantage for facing extreme environments, but at the same time, it is also a disadvantage.

“It hasn’t fought with other microorganisms for survival, so it must be weak against other microorganisms.

“So the key to solving the problem is to find a bio-pheromone that can deceive the X-0172 bacteria… Jesus, why didn’t I think of that?”

Professor Stephen muttered to himself. He stared at the ceiling, lost in his own thoughts.

Actually, this was only a research idea.

If Stephen had more time, he might have come up with the research idea.

But that wasn’t the main point.

What was puzzling was that even though Dr. Z thought of this research idea, how did Dr. Z calculate the molecular formula of the amino acid derivative that blocked the formation of the X-0172 spores?

Can this stuff even be calculated?

I thought this had to be deduced from thousands of trial and error experiments?

This was something beyond his understanding of biochemistry.

Professor Stephen looked at the amino acid derivative molecules on the computer screen as he scratched his beard. He had no idea how Dr. Z did it.

Suddenly, the experiment cabin door opened. Zhao Shuxuan floated in.

Professor Stephen looked at Professor Zhao and asked, “What’s the result like?”

Zhao Shuxuan: “The three patients have been injected with the synthetic amino acid-like derivatives. We are still observing the effects.”

Professor Stephen sighed.

“Looks like we just have to wait now.”

Time quickly passed by.

There was no sunrise or sunset in the space station, and time passed by quickly.

Professor Stephen kept yawning. He was starting to get a bit bored when the experimental cabin door suddenly opened.

Before he could say anything, Professor Leslie floated in with an excited look on her face. Leslie spoke.

“We observed an increase in metabolic levels in colonists 1 and 2! The spore content in the metabolites was significantly reduced! No allergic reactions occurred either!”

She took a deep breath, and her voice trembled as she spoke with excitement.

“The amino-acid derivatives work!

“We did it!”

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