Super Genius DNA

There was a large, modern building along Al Bustan Street in the downtown area of Cairo. It was smaller than the old A-Bio headquarters, but it was bright and lively. This was Philistines, the rising star of the Middle Eastern pharmaceutical industry and a symbol of high-tech in Africa.

Even its location, Egypt, was significant. It was deeply involved in the conflict between Palestine and Israel, the neighboring countries, and the wars in the Middle East. At the same time, it was home to the remains of the very essence of ancient science.

Perhaps Philistines was an important metaphor for the neighboring countries. This place held hope for a scientific and peaceful world that could overcome all modern problems, both religious and political.

“Hello,” Yassir greeted Kim Young-Hoon.

“Nice to meet you.”

Kim Young-Hoon shook Yassir’s hand and went to the meeting room.

“Thank you for your willingness to meet with me on such short notice,” Kim Young-Hoon said.

“Well, of course. You’re from none other than A-GenBio.”

“As I said before, our CEO wants to invest in Philistines.”

“Yes. I arranged this meeting because you wanted to discuss this in person, but as I told you over the phone, our company is not too hungry for investments right now,” Yassir said politely.

“You’ve taken a significant chunk of Allergon’s market share by creating a botulinum toxin. Did you make a lot of money?” Kim Young-Hoon asked.

“Enough to give all my employees a thousand percent bonus,” Yassir said with a grin on his face.

“Truly amazing. I wonder how you were able to create such revolutionary technology.”

“That’s a trade secret.”

Then, an employee entered the meeting room with two cups of tea.

“This is a drink called shay[1]. I think it is also called black tea in other countries, but it’s a little different,” Yassir said.

“Thank you. I was being rather unreasonable coming here, but you’re treating me so well, giving me tea.”

“Hospitality is one of the most basic tenets of Islam,” Yassir said. “And shay is the basis of hospitality. Muslims don’t drink alcohol, so this is what we offer. There is some sugar, mint, and milk, so feel free to drink it however you like.”

Then, Yassir poured nine whole spoons of sugar into his teacup. Kim Young-Hoon wasn’t sure if it would all dissolve.

“I have a sweet tooth,” Yassir said.

“I see,” Kim Young-Hoon said.

“Do you want to know something interesting? Do you know what body organ likes sugar the most?” Yassir asked.

“What is it?”

“It’s the brain. The brain only uses pure glucose as an energy source. It’s a very picky eater, and it only eats what is easy to digest,” Yassir said. “By using the powerful energy it gets from glucose, the brain is able to process vast amounts of information and use its imagination and reasoning power, which is unmatched by any other higher organisms, to create logic and advance science.”

“Interesting.”

“And there’s another interesting fact. There is another tissue that loves glucose in the body,” Yassir said.

“What is it?”

“It is cancer.”

“Cancer…”

“The mystery of life is so literary. The brain and cancer: two tissues using the same energy source, but one is exerting transcendent power to keep the organism alive, while the other is wiping out all the tissues around it to proliferate for its own selfish goals.”

“I see,” Kim Young-Hoon replied.

“I think science is similar. Some scientists are cancer. They disease the world and only multiply their wealth, like a tumor. And some scientists act as humanity’s brain. They become the treasury of intellect, fighting for the public food and environment.”

“...”

“It’s just like how botulinum toxin is the most potent toxin in the world, but it is being used as a treatment for various diseases.”

“Speaking of which, botulinum toxin used to just be used for wrinkles and hyperhidrosis, but how it’s becoming a silver bullet.”

Kim Young-Hoon attracted his attention.

“Yes, that’s right. Nowadays, it’s being used for incontinence or voice problems like puberphonia, spasmodic torticollis, teeth grinding, migraines, and lots of other fields,” Yassir replied.

“Since being able to kill nerves locally has a lot of medical applications.”

“Exactly. A-GenBio treats people by reviving nerves with stem cells, and we treat people by killing over-excitable nerves. Both directions of science are absolutely necessary.”

“Right. Speaking of, if we assume that botulinum toxin has as much potential as A-GenBio and if its uses are expanded, it might change some of the countries that Philistines sells botulinum toxin drugs to,” Kim Young-Hoon said.

“Countries?” Yassir answered.

“Right now, you’re mostly promoting botulinum toxin for cosmetic purposes in developed countries, right? But if you use it for neurological treatment, wouldn’t there be a significant demand in less developed countries as well?”

“Probably.”

“You could probably build a next-generation hospital like A-GenBio and grow a neurotherapy hub, and then you’d have a medical hub in the Middle East. You would become a company that symbolizes healing and health in this powder keg of a region where so many people have been killed and injured.”

“That sounds appealing, but it’s a little early for us. If that’s what you’re trying to propose investing towards, then…”

“It’s not.”

Kim Young-Hoon shook his head.

“We’re looking to collaborate on the cold chain aspect.”

“The cold chain aspect?” Yassir replied.

“A-GenBio is no longer just a biopharmaceutical company, but a multidisciplinary science company that also addresses environmental and energy issues. One of the most important things in the distribution process of food or medicine is the cold chain, don’t you think?”

“I live in Egypt, so I know how expensive distribution costs can be in equatorial underdeveloped countries.”

“So, if botulinum toxin is distributed in the countries in the region you mentioned, not just in developed countries, wouldn’t maintaining the cold chain become an issue for Philistines?” Kim Young-Hoon said.

“I see your point. You’re going to offer that cold chain maintenance technology, right? Is it developed? What is it?” Yassir asked.

“It’s in the early stages of development.”

“Then, I’m afraid we can’t sign a contract or anything right away,” Yassir said.

“At A-GenBio, technology development happens in the blink of an eye. If we were finished, we would have just sold the product to Philistines, not offered to collaborate,” Kim Young-Hoon replied.

“Since it’s in the development stage, there’s room for us to align our interests, is that it?”

“What do you think? You’re free to evaluate it after we send you some data during our development stage,” Kim Young-Hoon asked.

“If you could do that, I will discuss it with our CEO and the board of directors,” Yassir replied.

“Thank you. In return…” Kim Young-Hoon added. “You should also tell us about how you revolutionized botulinum toxin production at Philistines, such as what genome engineering led to this increase in production so that we can evaluate the rationality of our investment.”

“...”

Yassir thought for a moment, then replied.

“Alright.”

“Thank you for the tea. Let’s meet again.”

Kim Young-Hoon left after shaking Yassir’s hand.

After making sure that he completely left and the door was fully closed, Yassir took out a small microphone from his inner pocket.

“How was it, Franklin?” Yassir asked into the microphone.

—It’s not bad.

He could hear a young woman’s voice. It was Isaiah Franklin, or Doctor Ref. She was the hidden owner who founded Philistines with Yassir and a few other scientists.

“Where are you now?” he asked.

—I’m with the soldiers from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

“Come to the company later. Let’s talk about this.”

* * *

Palmaria romata was a type of algae that belonged to the Palmaria genus. It was an unusual algae that lived in the ocean at depths of more than five hundred feet, but now it was swarming in front of Lab Seven at A-GenBio.

“Is this some kind of seafood market? What is all this?”

Shocked, Park Dong-Hyun stopped on his way to the office.

Lots of scientists had come down and were watching the scene.

“It’s for Mr. Ryu,” Cheon Ji-Myung said.

“Is A-GenBio going into fish farming?” Park Dong-Hyun replied.

“Are you kidding? He said he’s going to make solar cells out of this.”

“Solar cells? With this?”

“We can.”

They could hear Young-Joon’s voice from behind them. He stepped between them.

“And Dong-Hyun, this looks like seaweed, but it’s pretty precious. It’s tasteless and useless, so we don’t farm it, and you won’t find it at the seafood market. Though, maybe they’ll have Palmaria palmata, its cousin.”

“You came to work here instead of going to the headquarters?” Cheon Ji-Myung asked.

“Yes. I left some work for Director Kim to do.”

“Last time you came to Lab Six for work… Is Lab One next?” Cheon Ji-Myung asked.

“Yes, I’m going to tour the labs,” Young-Joon said playfully.

“Has Director Kim returned to Korea?” Park Dong-Hyun asked.

“Yesterday. I feel bad giving him work as soon as he arrived, but I wanted to do some research on solar cell development here,” Young-Joon said. “I need to get this done quickly in order to move forward.”

“Are we going to be working on this project together?” asked Park Dong-Hyun.

He looked somewhat anxious.

“We’ve already given all the Chinese dignitaries their artificial organs, and we’re going to set up a separate production line to commercialize the service now, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“But we’ve never done anything like solar cell development before…”

“Who has at a pharmaceutical company? If the Life Creation Team can’t do it, no one can. I’ve invited an expert, so let’s go,” Young-Joon said as he pushed a cart stacked with Palmaria romata. “You’re used to this repertoire, aren’t you?”

* * *

Soon, the Life Creation Team gathered in the lab.

“First, we have to finely blend the leaves of romata,” Young-Joon said. “It doesn’t have to be strict since it’s just a preliminary experiment. I brought my hand blender from home.”

Young-Joon pulled out his hand blender from his bag.

“You’re going to develop a solar cell with a mixer?” Bae Sun-Mi asked, puzzled.

“A craftsman never blames his tools…” Koh Soon-Yeol mumbled.

“All the plant research teams use something like this. We use a regular microwave to make agarose gel, right? It’s the same thing.”

Young-Joon turned on the blender and thoroughly ground five hundred grams of the leaves of the romata. It became a viscous liquid, but most of the cells were holding their circular shape. They had to destroy the cells to extract the chlorophyll inside.

Young-Joon began to prepare the lysis buffer. He mixed three parts of Triton X-100 solution with seven parts of one hundred percent ethanol in a beaker, then added microbeads. After shaking the beaker well to suspend them, he poured five hundred milliliters of it into five hundred grams of the romata leaves.

Young-Joon transferred the entire mixture into a glass beaker. He raised the temperature of the water bath to ninety degrees and submerged the jar in the steaming hot water. He took it out every five minutes and vortexed it. The cell membranes, which were loosened by the heat, began to shatter as they hit the microbeads.

After letting it react for thirty minutes, Young-Joon said, “The cell membrane is now broken, and romata chlorophyll, a molecule that receives sunlight to pick up electrons from the thylakoid’s electron transport system, is floating in the solution.”

Young-Joon brought a lamp and shone it on the solution. The chlorophyll was still active.

[Activate Synchronization Mode]

The light energy from the lamp headed to photosystem II, which was composed of chlorophyll. The sunlight was destroying the water molecules, just as light refracted through a magnifying glass burned paper.

As the microscopic molecule, made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, split, high-energy electrons jumped up.

Pzz!

To Young-Joon’s vision in Synchronization Mode, it looked like a spark.

1. الشاي, pronounced “shay”, is a type of Arabic tea. ☜