188: Chapter 188 Prosthetics Project Completed?

After staying in the tea room for a while, Chen Youhua returned to the dormitory.

Pushing open the door, the familiar scent of old books and paper wafted toward him, completely stripping him away from the outside world.

He took off his slightly restrictive suit jacket, draped it casually over the back of a chair, loosened his collar, and sank deep into the single sofa that had accompanied him for a long time, letting out a long, weary sigh.

The room was very quiet, save for the occasional chirping of birds from outside the window.

The presentation was a success, the paper had been submitted, and the follow-up arrangements with the principal had been initially finalized...

For a moment, those pressing matters that required his immediate attention had all vanished.

This sudden sense of vacuum left him feeling a bit... dazed, even somewhat at a loss.

The sudden relaxation after high-intensity operation was actually something hard to get used to.

The prosthetic limb project... how was it going?

Only then did Chen Youhua suddenly remember that since setting the second-stage goal of semi-autonomous neural linking last time, he hadn't checked on the specific progress for two whole months.

As this thought arose, the fatigue accumulated in the sofa cushions seemed to dissipate instantly.

He stood up, changed into a comfortable old jacket, headed out again, and walked straight toward the Biological Science Building.

Pushing open the door of the A-705 Laboratory, he didn't stop and walked straight toward the internal cell manipulation area.

Li Wei was concentrating on operating a micro-manipulator under a high-power microscope, the brilliant and complex fluorescent images on the screen reflected on her focused face.

"I'm back."

Chen Youhua's voice broke the silence of the laboratory.

"How is the second stage? Do we have any ideas for the semi-autonomous linking of the interface? I've been thinking lately that perhaps we could borrow a bit from the turbulence model of the Navier-Stokes Equation..."

Li Wei didn't look up immediately; she just slowly straightened her back from the microscope and raised a hand to rub her aching neck.

She turned her swivel chair around, her face devoid of any particular expression, only glancing at Chen Youhua with a look that mixed exhaustion and helplessness before giving him a very clear eye-roll.

Chen Youhua: "...?"

"Great Scientist Chen, have you finally remembered that you still have a biological laboratory and a project that we've almost finished on our own?"

Chen Youhua was choked by these barbed words, not understanding for a moment where this sudden anger came from.

"Did something go wrong?"

Li Wei sighed and spoke as if both complaining and reporting on her work.

"The second stage? Well, thanks to you and your precious enlightenment, the second stage is almost wrapping up."

"Wrapping up?"

Chen Youhua's pupils constricted instantly, his brows furrowing tightly, his voice filled with disbelief.

"What did you say? Which second stage? The large-scale linking one? It's only been two months! How is that possible? This is a completely new path with no precedent to follow..."

He found it hard to believe for a moment.

The second stage of the prosthetic limb project had entered the deep-water zone of research; this was an entirely new field where there were no stones to feel for while crossing the river.

But the current pace of progress had completely exceeded his expectations, even surpassing his perception of the team's capabilities.

Seeing the rare, genuine surprise on his face, Li Wei's slight resentment seemed to dissipate a bit, and a faint, imperceptible curve even appeared at the corners of her mouth.

She picked up the thermos next to her, took a sip of water, and then said slowly.

"It's just been within the last half month. I originally wanted to report the milestone results to you, but when you came back, you were busy preparing for that world-shaking presentation. How would we dare disturb you with our little biological experiments?"

She paused, her tone becoming a bit more serious.

"Besides, the progress was indeed much smoother than expected, so I thought it wouldn't be too late to tell you once we had more solid results."

Chen Youhua took a deep breath and calmed down; he knew Li Wei wasn't someone who spoke without cause.

"What exactly happened? Tell me from the beginning, the details."

Li Wei put down her water cup and signaled for Chen Youhua to follow her.

She walked to an incubator connected to several biological signal monitoring devices and pulled up a set of complex data streams and cell imaging maps.

"Following the general direction of semi-autonomy previously set by Wang Zhe, we tackled the challenges together with enlightenment."

Li Wei began to explain.

"The biggest obstacles were biocompatibility and precision docking."

"enlightenment analyzed massive amounts of proteomics and cell signaling data, screening several membrane proteins with high specific expression on the surface of human motor neurons as anchors. Then,"

She pointed to an exquisitely structured artificial neuron model on the screen, marked with fluorescence.

"We genetically modified the artificial neurons so that their membrane surfaces express ligand proteins that can specifically recognize and bind to those anchors. It's like equipping them with unique, self-homing docking keys."

Chen Youhua stared intently at the screen, rapidly digesting the information.

"But that wasn't enough,"

Li Wei continued.

"Even if they dock, the key is how to avoid immune rejection and fibrous encapsulation after long-term implantation."

"enlightenment simulated 170,000 types of biomaterial properties, and we eventually selected and synthesized a degradable biological scaffold based on modified silk fibroin."

She switched the image to show an electron micrograph of a material with a porous mesh structure.

"It provides physical support and guidance for the artificial neurons in the early stages, helping them complete docking more stably."

"Once the link is stably formed, this scaffold will gradually degrade into harmless amino acids over the next three to six months and be completely metabolized and absorbed. It completes its mission and leaves no future trouble."

"In the in vitro cell co-culture experiments, the link success rate reached 91.7%. The signal transmission stability over one week exceeded 95%."

Li Wei recited two cold but highly impactful numbers.

"Wang Zhe is currently conducting in vivo experiments on the sciatic nerves of large animals, and the initial feedback is very optimistic."

"We're just waiting for you, the chief engineer, to come back for inspection and decide whether and when to start primate or even preclinical studies."

Chen Youhua was silent for a full ten seconds or so.

His gaze moved slowly from the data images on the screen to Li Wei's face, which had slight dark circles under her eyes but sparkled with a sense of achievement.

Two months.

From scratch.

Overcoming the two core challenges of biocompatibility and precision linking.

He suddenly chuckled softly and shook his head, his voice filled with complex emotions: amazement, appreciation, and a hint of self-mockery for his absence.

"So... while I was away, not only did you guys not mess up the project, but you... directly rode a rocket to push through the second stage?"

Li Wei finally smiled as well, this time a bright smile filled with the pride of all the laboratory members.

"What else? Did you really think that without you, we'd only know how to culture cells and run PCRs? Boss Chen, times have changed; we have cheats now."

She spoke as she pointed her chin toward the direction of the office.

Chen Youhua let out a long breath, his eyes becoming focused again, the slight fatigue from the mathematics presentation swept away.

"Pack and send all the experimental data to me from start to finish, including all the process data of the failures."

He said, his voice returning to its usual calmness, with an added touch of high praise.

"Now, I want to know every single detail."