Chapter 118: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (5)

Chapter 118: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (5)

Rosaline? Park Dong-Hyun asked.

Yes.

As Young-Joon nodded, Jung Hae-Rim interrupted from beside them.

We didnt give it the name, but I think it is from Rosalind Franklin.

Really?

Rosaline Franklin is the one who took a picture of a DNA crystal with X-rays, right?

Yes, thats right.

We dont know in detail either, but apparently, there was a female scientist who volunteered to come to the Life Creation Department. Crazy, right? Apparently, she came because she wanted to make an organism.

Because she wanted to make an organism?

Yes. And she probably named the artificial cell she made Rosaline v1.0.

Hm

Weve never seen her either. We dont know her name. There were many other artificial cell candidates when she was working, but after Principal Cheon came in, they were all wrapped up except for Rosaline. They just took the one that had the highest potential and studied it to death. Thats why they ended up only doing Rosaline.

I see.

But from what I heard from Principal Cheon, she always talked about Rosalind Franklin, saying that she discovered the structure of DNA but died before being rewarded, and she felt bad for her.

...

So maybe Rosaline came from Rosalind Franklin?

Do you happen to know her name?

No. Weve never seen her. You should ask Principal Cheon.

Alright.

Park Dong-hyun, who was listening to Jung Hae-Rims explanation, interrupted.

I dont know why she named the cell Rosaline, but Principal Cheon also told us Rosalind Franklins story. So we are very attached to the name Rosaline as well.

Really?

Rosalind Franklin was not just an unlucky person. She faced extreme discrimination.

Discrimination?

There is still some sex discrimination in science, but it was way worse back then.

Michael Wilkis was awarded the Nobel Prize along with Jamie Anderson and Francis Crick. It was for his contribution to the identification of the structure of DNA. He was a colleague of Franklins, but they were not on good terms. Dark Lady was what Michael Wilkis called Franklin; it was a slang referring to women with darker hair and skinwomen who were not traditionally beautiful. Wilkis hated Franklin and was condescending to her, and he treated her like she was his subordinate. Sex discrimination was extreme at Kings College in Britain, her workplace, as it followed the tradition of the Church of England. It wasnt easy for women to obtain a degree, and Franklin had to eat with students as she could not enter the facultys cafeteria.

The courage to carry out ones research through such systematic discrimination and contempt is not something that an ordinary person can do, said Park Dong-Hyun.

...

That was similar to us, the Life Creation Department. Thats why we all liked Rosaline.

Young-Joon slowly nodded.

I didnt know there was a story like this behind Rosalines name.

Principal Cheon will tell you more about it if you ask him, Jung Hae-Rim said.

Alright. Thank you.

Oh, sir.

Park Dong-Hyun stopped Young-Joon, who was about to leave.

I saw a few people from Celligener earlier during the lecture.

Really?

Yeah. There seemed to be about ten people including Doctor Song.

I see. Well, they were part of developing the pancreatic cure and they made Cellicure, so maybe they are more confident and interested in developing anticancer drugs.

I guess immunotherapy is a hot topic in the anticancer field.

I should say Hi if I run into them. Thank you for letting me know.

It would show incredible synergy if these two technologies combined. Song Ji-Hyun wanted to confirm this possibility with Professor Kakeguni.

Professor, I have a ques

The moment she was about to ask, someone hopped onto the stage. It was Young-Joon.

Great lecture, professor, he said to Kakeguni.

Thank you for listening.

Professor, the content you just presented is what you will be evaluated on, right?

Thats right.

It was definitely powerful. Dendritic cells have not been the main targets when developing anticancer drugs because the immune cells that actually attacked the cancer cells were T-cells. However, dendritic cells were sort of like the commanding officers that gave T-cells orders. This anticancer treatment was targeting dendritic cells to enhance the fighting ability of T-cells.

I see that it is difficult for you and Doctor Oliver to share the Nobel Prize because the technologies you developed are contradictory.

Yes.

Young-Joon thought for a moment. The technology Oliver developed was outstanding, but

With technology like this, I believe that you will be able to surpass Doctor Oli

Great lecture.

Someone spoke from the back of the room. Song Ji-Hyun, who hadnt left the lecture room yet, turned to where the voice was coming from. She was shocked when she saw who it was. It was Jamie Anderson.

How come biologys living fossil is here?

Song Ji-Hyun had never seen him in person before. She took a step back without even realizing. Now that she looked at it, the three people standing here were a Nobel laureate, a Nobel Prize nominee, and Young-Joon, who was surely going to receive the Nobel Prize sometime in the future.

She wanted to leave the tension, but her curiosity won. She was so curious as to what kind of conversation the three of them would have together. Song Ji-Hyun quietly listened to their conversation from an awkward distance.

Jamie Anderson approached Kakeguni and Young-Joon.

Can immune cells that were activated by this method kill solid tumors for sure, Doctor Kakeguni?

It was effective on breast cancer when we tested it, Kakeguni replied.

Any side effects?

There were a small number of patients who developed rashes as a side effect because the immunity became too strong.

Jamie Anderson smiled.

You know the technology that Doctor Oliver made, right?

The immune checkpoint inhibitor

Thats right.

Oliver was the inventor of the immune checkpoint inhibitor in immune cells.

When someone had cancer, the immune cells would search for the cancer cells and try to destroy it. If the cancer cells were in a tumor state, the immune cells would be embedded into the tumor, like a beehive; the immune cells were stuck on the tumor tissue as they were trying to destroy it.

However, a large portion of those immune cells were known to be inactive. They werent destroying the cancer cells, but just staying still with their activity stopped.

What was making immune cells, which had come all the way to the tumor to destroy cancer cells, so stupid? This was a long-standing mystery in the scientific community.

The truth that was revealed at last was extremely shocking. Cancer was so clever that it was creating a signal that ordered immune cells to stop working. As such, the immune cells that got close to the tumor received that signal, became inactive, and just stood there.

What Oliver designed was an antibody that disrupted the inactivation signal the cancer cells sent. The immune cells were able to continuously attack the cancer cells in patients who received this antibody, and they had succeeded in erasing cancer as well. The greatest part about this technology was that it had no side effects.

Increasing the activity of immune cells, and stopping its inactivation, Jamie Anderson said. They look similar from a glance, but they are different in terms of side effects. The latter is much more stable, since we are only talking about this in cancer cells.

Professor Kakeguni, you might have better luck next time.

Kakeguni gulped.

Jamie Anderson said, Theres nothing you can do; the technology that Doctor Oliver developed has no side effects.

It seems like thats how its known.

Rosaline sent Young-Joon a message.

[Synchronization Mode: Observe the hyperprogression mechanism in cancer cells that occurs when using immune checkpoint inhibitors. Fitness consumption: 8.5.]