91: Chapter 91 Hardcore Experiments

The laboratory lights always turned on very, very early.

Li Wei yawned as she pushed open the heavy isolation door, the silence of the early morning immediately replaced by the low hum of incubators and the standby indicator lights of precision instruments.

She skillfully put on her lab coat and gloves, walking straight to the cell culture room.

She habitually went to check on the batch of special engineered bacteria she had inoculated a few days ago.

Opening the incubator, she carefully took out a petri dish.

Peering carefully at it against the light source, Li Wei couldn't help but let her lips curl upward slightly.

It worked!

The colonies had grown dense and uniform, almost covering the entire surface of the culture medium.

Most importantly, visible to the naked eye, the spaces between the colonies were filled with extremely fine, interwoven, net-like filamentous structures.

These were the nutrient transport channels she had painstakingly induced, and they were the core material for this experiment.

"My little darlings, you've grown quite well."

She muttered under her breath, as if praising a group of obedient students.

The next steps required aseptic operation.

She placed the petri dish into the UV sterilization cabinet, setting the time and intensity.

Under the soft purple light, those active tiny living organisms were rapidly eliminated, while at the same time, those precious filamentous structures began a slow solidification and setting process under the specific wavelength of light.

This was a critical step: it had to ensure the bacteria were completely inactivated while maintaining the physical integrity of the channel structure as much as possible.

Once sterilization was complete, Li Wei moved to the clean bench.

Under the flow of high-efficiency filtered air, she began a series of delicate operations.

Using a specially prepared enzymatic solution, she carefully dissolved the residual bacterial debris, then repeatedly rinsed and purified it with buffer solution.

The entire process required immense patience and steady hands.

Under the microscope, she checked repeatedly.

The target filamentous structure was completely isolated, resembling an extremely precise net woven from biological material; it couldn't have any residual impurities, or the subsequent electrophysiological test data would be distorted.

Not until she confirmed that the net was pure and translucent did she let out a sigh of relief, carefully transferring it into a specially prepared nutrient preservation solution and affixing a label.

"Now, it's all up to you," she said to herself, addressing the net in the preservation solution.

The next step was to verify the material's neural conduction performance.

Li Wei went to the adjacent experimental animal housing area to register and briskly brought back a robust Bullfrog.

The little creature stared with wide, round eyes, its hind legs kicking powerfully when caught, exuding a reluctant vitality.

"Sorry for the inconvenience."

Li Wei efficiently injected the Bullfrog with an appropriate amount of anesthetic.

The little creature quickly calmed down.

She secured it to the experiment table and used a sharp scalpel to make a small incision in the skin of its leg, her movements precise and steady.

Although she wasn't a professional surgeon, long-term biomedical experimental training meant she knew the basic anatomical structures of humans and animals like the back of her hand.

She carefully separated the subcutaneous tissue, searching for her target.

A relatively thick somatic nerve that controlled leg movement.

Found it!

Holding her breath, she used fine micro-forceps and glass dissecting needles to carefully isolate a small segment of the nerve, avoiding any damage.

The main event had arrived; Li Wei took a deep breath to steady herself.

She picked up the purified biological material net from the preservation solution.

It was much finer than a strand of hair.

Her concept was to use this biological material as a bridge, performing a nerve anastomosis by connecting the two ends of the severed Bullfrog nerve to both ends of the material, and utilizing the material's inherent biocompatibility and potential electrical conductivity to attempt to allow nerve signals to pass through.

Li Wei first moved the surgical area under a binocular stereo microscope.

She first used a specially formulated, highly biocompatible neurosurgical adhesive, applying an extremely small amount to both ends of the biological material net and the severed ends of the nerve.

Extremely carefully, she brought the severed nerve ends into light contact and alignment with the ends of the biological material net, using the adhesive's instant tack to perform an initial fixation.

The entire operating area needed to be continuously irrigated with warm physiological saline to keep it moist and sterile.

Li Wei was completely focused; time seemed to slow down. Sweat seeped from her temples, but she was completely unaware of it.

Finally, within the field of view of the microscope, the severed nerve ends and the biological material net achieved an initial, tight connection.

She let out a soft breath, feeling the muscles in her back stiffen.

"Whew... finally connected."

She straightened up and rubbed her sore neck.

Then, she observed through the microscope, carefully re-examining the connection points.

The adhesion was good, with no obvious misalignment or gaps, and the biological material itself was undamaged.

By initial visual inspection, it passed.

Next came the critical test to verify conduction performance.

Electrical stimulation.

Li Wei turned to retrieve the micro-electrical stimulator and recording electrodes she had prepared, only to suddenly realize that several colleagues from her group had gathered behind her at some point.

They were all craning their necks, watching with intense concentration.

Li Wei was both annoyed and amused.

"Hey, hey, hey! Are you guys really that free? Why aren't you tending to your own precious mycelium instead of running over here to watch me perform surgery on a Bullfrog?"

A young Researcher, Xiao Zhang, chuckled and quickly began to butter her up.

"Don't be like that, Sister Wei! It's just that... we haven't managed to culture any usable material yet! Your progress here is lightning fast, so we rushed over to learn from you and study your advanced experience!"

Old Wang, standing nearby, also pushed up his glasses and chimed in with a bitter expression.

"That's right, Engineer Li, you have no idea; the one I produced yesterday had terrible conductivity!

Once the power was turned on, the material nearly burned into a carbon rod, but the Bullfrog leg didn't move at all. I started to suspect that what I cultured wasn't neural material, but an insulator."

His words elicited a round of empathetic laughter and nods.

That's how it was in the laboratory; operational procedures, technical details, and even one's feel or luck on a given day could all have vastly different impacts on the results.

Li Wei shook her head helplessly, knowing she couldn't drive away this group of eager learners.

She walked to the workbench and picked up the compact micro-current stimulator and recording electrodes.

She carefully placed the recording electrodes on the nerve distal to the connection point of the biological material net, then connected the stimulation electrodes to the output of the stimulator.

First, she set the parameters.

A very short, single square-wave stimulus, with low voltage and extremely short duration, to simulate a normal neural electrical pulse signal.

Too high or too long could damage the tissue.

The laboratory instantly fell silent, to the point where even breathing could be heard clearly.

Everyone involuntarily held their breath, their gazes locked tightly on the anesthetized Bullfrog on the experiment table.

Especially its modified hind leg.

Li Wei's heart rate also accelerated slightly.

Everything depended on this one moment.

She took a deep breath, her gaze firm, and her finger pressed steadily on the trigger button of the stimulator.

"Click!" A slight sound of a relay closing rang out.

Almost at the same instant!

The Bullfrog's hind leg, connected to the biological material net, suddenly and powerfully...

Kicked!

Although the movement wasn't large, it was incredibly clear! It was as if something had suddenly poked the sole of its foot!