141: Chapter 141, Second Stage

The prosthetic limb project officially entered its more challenging second stage.

Chen Youhua, who was enjoying some leisure time after the delivery of the fusion optimization, was caught by Li Wei and invited to a small conference room.

"What's the new difficulty this time?" Chen Youhua asked casually, putting down his book.

Li Wei shook her head.

"It's not a difficulty. It's just that we, the team leaders, are holding a phase planning meeting. Could you come and listen to the report, or... offer some directional advice?"

Chen Youhua smiled helplessly. "Alright, I'll listen."

He had indeed entrusted the daily management of the laboratory and the project's progress entirely to Wang Zhe and Li Wei.

Given the depth of the project, he felt that the specific guidance he could provide was limited. It was better to let the team explore on their own; after all, they had the enlightenment to fall back on.

The conference room was small and only seated five people.

Chen Youhua, Wang Zhe, Li Wei, as well as Team Leader Xiao and Team Leader Song.

Biological experimental procedures are complex. From material synthesis and cell culture to signal acquisition and algorithmic processing, every link requires specialized supervision, while the general direction is decided collectively by the team leaders.

Chen Youhua found a seat in the corner, making it clear that he was there only to listen, not to speak.

As the project's actual executive lead, Li Wei spoke first.

"Everyone, the core goal of our first stage."

"Achieving stable and natural control of the prosthetic limb by artificial neurons has been fully verified on three experimental monkeys."

"This proves the feasibility of our core technology and path."

"Now, the project has officially entered the second stage."

She looked around at everyone and said.

"The key objective of the second stage is to solve the problem of safe, efficient, and large-scale connection between artificial neurons and the human body's native nerves."

"The human nervous system is incredibly complex, with neurons spread throughout the body, numbering in the billions."

"We cannot perform surgery like we did on the monkeys, cutting open and manually connecting nerve fibers one by one."

"This is neither realistic nor scalable."

Li Wei drew a diagram on the whiteboard.

"We need a method with high biocompatibility that can autonomously or semi-autonomously establish efficient neural pathways."

"This is not only an engineering challenge but also the key to determining whether our technology can leave the laboratory and benefit millions of people with disabilities. Please, feel free to speak your minds."

The conference room was silent for a few seconds.

Team Leader Xiao Bowen pushed up his glasses and spoke first, his tone sharp.

"I believe the final solution must move away from the surgical model."

"We need to give the connection process a certain degree of intelligence and autonomy."

"Just like... just like the slime mold networks in nature searching for nutrients."

He walked to the whiteboard and drew a few winding lines.

"My idea is to use special organisms that have been genetically engineered to have high directional chemotaxis and neural affinity."

"Inject them at the nerve stumps and the target artificial neuron interface."

"Then, let them explore on their own, growing and finding each other along the natural path of the nerve bundles, eventually autonomously establishing a stable neural signal transmission channel."

"This process can be compared to building a miniature, automated neural repair network within the biological body."

Xiao Bowen's idea was bold and full of frontier biological imagination.

But everyone present knew the complexity of the biological field; this plan sounded great, but the actual operation would be hellishly difficult.

Just ensuring that those genetically engineered slime molds wouldn't grow incorrectly, wouldn't trigger an immune storm, and could precisely find the target and form effective connections—every step was a huge challenge.

Team Leader Song Yi frowned; his thoughts leaned more towards pragmatism and feasibility.

"Our current goal is to achieve a breakthrough within controllable time, cost, and risk; I fear this is the most complex and difficult path."

He paused and looked at Li Wei and Chen Youhua.

"I believe we should prioritize a relatively mature and risk-controllable technical route."

"For example, developing a highly miniaturized, highly biocompatible nerve bundle interface."

"Through precision surgery, implant the micro-interface into specific positions of the nerve bundle, and then stably connect the interface on the artificial neuron side with it at the physical and electrochemical levels."

"Although this also requires surgical intervention, it is much more efficient and controllable than manually suturing every single nerve fiber."

"We can first focus on solving the reliability, long-term stability, and signal fidelity of this interface."

Xiao Bowen immediately retorted.

"Team Leader Song, your plan is essentially just doing interface conversion; it doesn't really solve the core problem of neural regeneration!"

"Moreover, the implantation of micro-interface arrays is traumatic in itself, and long-term stability, rejection, and signal attenuation are all major issues! More importantly,"

He emphasized his tone.

"Funding! Engineer Wang, Engineer Li, we have already used up more than half of our funding in the first stage!"

"If we divert our energy to test several routes in the second stage, what will we do if none of them work, or if progress is slow, and the subsequent capital chain breaks?"

Seeing that the two team leaders were about to argue, Li Wei quickly smoothed things over.

"Stop! We are here to discuss technical feasibility."

"Funding issues and risk assessments are not the focus of today's meeting; we will evaluate them separately after the meeting!"

Li Wei turned to Xiao Bowen, affirming his innovation but also pointing out the realistic obstacles.

"Team Leader Xiao, your concept of biological self-organizing connections is very forward-looking and is likely one of the ultimate forms of neural repair in the future."

"However, at this stage, introducing engineered organisms with growth and autonomous pathfinding capabilities into the human body is almost impossible to pass biological safety assessments and ethical reviews."

"Our goal for the second stage must be strictly limited to using the already prepared artificial neuron structures to safely and effectively connect to native nerves."

"It cannot involve cultivating or growing new cellular organisms inside the human body."

Her words basically negated the short-term feasibility of Xiao Bowen's plan.

The conference room fell silent again.

The physical interface plan had huge challenges, and the biological self-organization plan was temporarily blocked due to safety and ethics.

It seemed to be at a stalemate.

At this moment, Wang Zhe, who hadn't spoken much, spoke up. His thinking leaned more towards integration.

"Engineer Li, Team Leader Xiao, Team Leader Song, do you think we could broaden our thinking a bit?"

He walked to the whiteboard.

"Can we modify the outer structure or surface properties of the artificial neurons to give them extremely strong specific recognition and active linking capabilities? Let them only have compatibility with specific types of human neurons?"

He gestured.

"For example, at the amputation site, we can centrally process and control the main nerve bundle interfaces."

"Then, inject a large number of these specially modified, compatible artificial neurons into the tissue gaps in the target area."

"Using their own properties, let them act like magnets, automatically searching for, approaching, and finally establishing effective connections with the scattered terminal neurons that we cannot surgically reach."

Xiao Bowen and Song Yi's eyes lit up.

"This method... seems good!"

Li Wei smiled and looked at Chen Youhua, who seemed to be daydreaming in the corner.

"Youhua, what do you think of Wang Zhe's idea?"

Chen Youhua had been resting with his eyes closed. Hearing this, he raised his head, scanned everyone, and finally landed on Wang Zhe, nodding.

"Semi-autonomy? That works."