Chapter 174 - 134: Sequencing Before Dawn
Xu Wenpei stood up from his chair in the study.
He said,
"Bypassing the local CDC and going straight to the express sequencing channel requires a national-level public health alert. You can’t just skip the chain of command based on a few severe cases."
Jiang He quickly reported,
"The patient is forty-two years old with no prior health issues. Within forty-eight hours, he went from a simple fever to widespread bilateral pulmonary consolidation, and his blood oxygen has dropped below 88%. More importantly, his translator is now intubated at the Provincial People’s Hospital, and the housekeeper who cleaned his room is unconscious at City Eighth Hospital. The standard rapid influenza A test came back positive, but high doses of oseltamivir have had no effect."
Xu Wenpei fell silent.
After a moment, he asked again, "Have you confirmed the epidemiological chain?"
"Yes. They all had clear spatiotemporal intersections within a three-day period. The standard procedure now requires the municipal and provincial CDCs to progressively isolate and culture the virus, which would take two to three weeks at the earliest to get a full genome sequence. In three weeks, the tens of thousands of foreign merchants and local residents at the Canton Fair would be enough to spread this virus across the country, or even the world."
Jiang He paused, then said, "I just need you to help me contact a core researcher at the Institute of Viral Disease Control and Prevention to open up that channel. As for the evidence, I’ll produce it myself tonight and send it to them."
"You’ll do it yourself?" Xu Wenpei’s brows furrowed. "Where are you going to get a P3 lab and a sequencer?"
"I’ll handle that. As long as I can get the mutated gene sequence of the key target, I’ll email it directly to you. With a sequence for comparison, we can legally and properly expedite the process."
Xu Wenpei stood by the window, contemplating in silence.
To him, a third-year undergraduate—even one who had published in a top journal—still seemed far too young to be facing a potential pandemic.
’But... I have to help Jiang He.’
"Alright. I know a researcher at the Institute, Shu Yuelong. He’s a good man. If you can produce a sequence fragment proving this isn’t seasonal flu, I’m confident I can persuade him to intervene directly."
"Okay, thank you, Director Xu."
After hanging up, Jiang He turned and walked back to the medical affairs office.
Yang Xu and Ke Zheng were still waiting for him.
Jiang He said, "Professor, I’d like to borrow Professor Sun Changming’s central lab at the oncology institute. It’s the only place in the entire hospital with an ABI 3130xl Genetic Analyzer and a high-standard biosafety cabinet. Also, I need Dr. Ke to immediately perform a deep bronchoalveolar lavage on Mark and give the lavage fluid sample to me."
Yang Xu looked at Jiang He, realizing what his student was about to do.
He was utterly astonished.
Ke Zheng was both shocked and worried. "You’re going to do the nucleic acid extraction and gene sequencing yourself? But you’re just a student! What if there’s a leak or exposure in the lab? That’s against regulations, isn’t it?"
"That’s why I need Dr. Ke to add a lysis buffer containing guanidinium thiocyanate to the sample while still in the ward. Guanidinium thiocyanate will instantly denature the virus’s protein shell, completely inactivating it, while also inhibiting RNase activity."
Jiang He continued, "Once the inactivated sample is sent to the lab, it’s no longer infectious. The procedures in the lab will only require a standard biosafety protection level, so it doesn’t violate any protocols."
Ke Zheng was left speechless by Jiang He’s airtight logic.
Yang Xu finally recovered from his shock.
Tonight, having been in "auto-follow mode" the whole time, he was once again blown away by his student.
Without further hesitation, he stood up and dialed Sun Changming’s number.
It was two in the morning, and the phone rang for a long time before it was picked up.
Sun Changming: "Old Yang? What is it? Even if you’re afraid I’ll steal your wife, you can’t keep me from sleeping, can you?"
Yang Xu: "Changming, I need to borrow your central lab for a night. The PCR machine, centrifuge, fume hood, and the ABI sequencer. I need to use all of it, including the reagent kits in the cold storage."
Sun Changming sobered up a bit. "What’s a hepatobiliary surgeon like you doing with a sequencer? What are you up to?"
"Jiang He needs it," Yang Xu said.
The other end of the line went silent for two seconds.
Then, Sun Changming’s voice filled with delight. "You’ve agreed to let Jiang He join my lab? The boy is teachable after all..."
Yang Xu: "Stop joking. This is serious."
"Ah... serious business? My apologies."
If it had been anyone else, Sun Changming would have definitely asked more questions. But since the person borrowing the equipment was Jiang He, he didn’t press further.
"...Fine. I’ll call security on duty to open the door. Use whatever equipment you need. Just keep a record of the reagents you use so he can deduct it from his own project funds later."
"Thanks." Yang Xu hung up. "The lab is secured. But extracting viral RNA and running a PCR is delicate work. One person can’t possibly finish it all in one night."
"Right. That’s why I’m going to call for backup."
Jiang He took out his phone and opened the group chat for the miRNA early screening project team.
「2:10 AM」
Jiang He: [Everyone, reply immediately when you see this. Assemble at the entrance to Professor Sun Changming’s central lab at the oncology institute in Affiliated Hospital No. 1 within half an hour.]
Less than thirty seconds after the message was sent,
Chen Hao: [Got it! I’ll call everyone!]
Cheng Xiyao: [Getting dressed now.]
Gu Yizhou: [I’m close. I’ll be there in five minutes.]
Lu Xiaolin: [Got it.]
No one asked why. No one complained that it was two in the morning.
「Twenty minutes later, outside the main entrance of the oncology institute’s central lab.」
Six medical students came running up, panting, their faces still heavy with sleep.
Chen Hao had even buttoned his shirt wrong, and Cheng Xiyao’s hair was hastily tied back with a hair tie.
Jiang He was waiting for them at the lab entrance.
Chen Hao asked, "Old Jiang, what’s going on in the middle of the night? Where’s our sister-in-law?"
Jiang He answered simply, "Your sister-in-law is at the hotel. There’s an emergency at Affiliated Hospital No. 1. We need to run a study overnight."