10: Chapter 10 Favor or Doubt?

Chen Youhua answered fluently, with almost no hesitation.

"Cells will continuously and uncontrollably form a large number of lamellipodia, but the direction is disordered, lacking effective coordination.

This causes the cells to spin in place or engage in ineffective, directionless crawling, which actually leads to a significant drop in overall migration efficiency.

This is because normal migration requires the precise spatiotemporal activation of Rac1 at the cell's leading edge, as well as maintaining a delicate dynamic balance and front-to-back coordination with RhoA and Cdc42.

Constant activation breaks this balance and coordination."

The admiration in Professor Zhang's eyes grew stronger. He proceeded to ask several more questions, covering the impact of microtubule dynamic instability on organelle transport, the mechanism of specific kinesin inhibitors, and even the key biophysical and chemical signaling factors that might need consideration for the artificial scaffolds guiding stem cell differentiation that Chen Youhua had just mentioned.

Chen Youhua answered them one by one with clear thinking and rigorous logic. He didn't just answer accurately; he sometimes even bridged the topics to relevant literature findings or technical challenges.

His answers were devoid of flowery language, consisting only of precise concepts and deductions based on deep understanding.

The Q&A lasted for over ten minutes.

The smile on Professor Zhang's face became increasingly evident, and he finally nodded in satisfaction.

"Excellent! Youhua, your knowledge base, depth of understanding, and thinking ability have truly impressed me.

You don't seem like a freshman who just started three months ago at all."

He paused and looked at Chen Youhua, his tone becoming serious.

"You mentioned just now that you want to join my project group?"

Chen Youhua met Professor Zhang's gaze and answered clearly without any hesitation.

"Yes, Professor Zhang.

I am very interested in your research on the dynamic regulation of the cytoskeleton, especially its exploration in diseases and potential applications.

Although my current abilities are limited, I am willing to learn from the most basic tasks. I hope to have the opportunity to study in your laboratory and participate in whatever work I can handle."

Professor Zhang looked at the young man before him, who had a calm gaze, a sincere attitude, and a restrained sharpness, and pondered for a moment.

It was indeed rare for a freshman to enter a lab directly, but the potential and thirst for knowledge shown by this student made him feel it was worth making an exception.

"Alright."

Professor Zhang finally nodded and broke into a smile.

"Next Monday at 2:30 PM, come directly to my office to see me.

I'll text you the address later.

We'll have a chat first and see which areas you can start participating in."

"Thank you, Professor Zhang! I'll definitely be there on time!"

Chen Youhua felt a sense of relief. His face remained calm, but a faint, almost imperceptible light finally flashed in his eyes.

The door to his target laboratory had finally opened a crack for him.

His goal was simple: to work hard like a beast of burden on Professor Zhang's project first and accumulate practical experience.

Every concept and definition summarized in biology textbooks requires a vast amount of experimentation to support it.

And how to prove them through experiments requires designing rigorous experimental processes and protocols.

Just a single experimental step that can improve results requires a massive amount of labor, with people dedicating their youth, and even their lives.

It requires vast sums of money to be burned away just to obtain those cold, rigorous strings of numbers.

The bitterness and hardship involved, the repetitive experiments day and night—words can hardly describe it.

And he needed to stand on the shoulders of countless predecessors, relying on himself and the system to carve out a path.

Life went on as usual.

Chen Youhua seemed to have returned to those plain, tedious, and lonely days.

Every day was mostly spent reading cutting-edge literature; if there was something he didn't understand, he'd go back to his books.

Anyway, the memory granted to him by the system was there, so he might as well make use of it.

Furthermore, this kind of accumulation could be described as terrifying once his main knowledge framework was complete.

Next was the constant stuffing of all sorts of deeper knowledge into it.

Like an endless sponge, Chen Youhua continuously absorbed knowledge points from various branches of biology.

Time flew by in this atmosphere of attending classes and self-studying in the library.

The Monday Professor Zhang mentioned—which was today—had arrived.

Although he said he was willing to give him a chance...

...almost everyone in the university's Biological Sciences major knew.

Everyone gets into a lab, but the operations at the undergraduate level are basically child's play.

Without a certain practical foundation or hands-on ability, you wouldn't even get the chance to be a beast of burden.

As for those cutting-edge projects, the equipment and various materials used—a single mistake could have Chen Youhua packing his bags and leaving in a hurry.

But the path must be taken step by step; he was still just a freshman.

He certainly couldn't miss out on undergraduate-level experiments.

Mastering the use of every instrument, the operation manuals, how to use them to their full potential, and all the rigorous operational steps—that's what a lab beast of burden truly needs to master.

Theory is one thing, the lab is another; if he didn't perform well in the lab next, it would definitely be over.

Chen Youhua arrived at Professor Zhang's office early as agreed.

However, the awkward thing was...

...the door at the address was locked, and Professor Zhang wasn't there.

He could only stand in the hallway with his book, reading while enduring the scrutinizing gazes of various passing teachers.

After quite a while, Professor Zhang appeared at the elevator entrance carrying some books.

Seeing Professor Zhang, Chen Youhua felt a sense of relief.

Professor Zhang pointed at him, perhaps unable to recall his name.

Chen Youhua stepped forward and took the initiative to speak.

"Professor Zhang, my name is Chen Youhua. I'm a freshman in the Biological Sciences major. We spoke last Wednesday afternoon."

Professor Zhang, with books tucked under one arm and a stainless steel thermos in the other hand, looked him up and down and nodded.

Then, he opened the door and walked into the office.

Chen Youhua followed him inside.

Professor Zhang sat down in his chair, took a slow sip of tea, and then spoke.

"Student Chen Youhua, you're only a freshman, and freshmen will eventually enter the lab for practical work. Why are you so eager to join a lab project now?"

Chen Youhua fell silent for a moment after hearing this.

Because this question was difficult to answer.

Should he say directly that he had a system? Even if he weren't immediately dismissed as a lunatic...

Should he say he looked down on university experiments and wanted to do meaningful projects to accumulate experience as soon as possible?

He would surely be seen as a restless and impulsive young man.

Finally, Chen Youhua spoke.

"Because I've almost finished learning the university's theoretical knowledge and have been reading relevant literature lately. But theory remains just theory until it enters the lab. So, I want to get into the laboratory as soon as possible to combine theory with practice and improve myself."