Surgery Godfather-Chapter 1955 - 1336: Malicious Complaint

After the media’s surprise at the "admission of errors" passed, the direction of the coverage subtly shifted.

Nature magazine published a commentary with the title "The Courage in Errors: Chinese Scientific Team Showcases Mature Research Culture," comparing Yang Ping’s team with those research teams that try hard to conceal problems and attack skeptics, suggesting that "this attitude of openly admitting limitations and inviting independent review marks a new phase in the fundamental scientific research of China."

The BBC documentary aired, with David the director focusing as promised on "the humanity behind the science." In the film, Zhang Lin recounts scenes of sick children, interwoven with footage of Yang Ping’s laboratory immersed in study, accompanied by deep and hopeful music. At the documentary’s end, David stands at the entrance of the Sanbo Research Institute, saying: "Here, I’ve seen another possibility in science; it is not just cold papers and piles of data, but a warm, humble exploration always centered around people."

The interest of influencers also shifted. The Nobel Prize fervor lasts about a month, and as new social hotspots arise, the live streaming cameras in front of the institute gradually become scarce. Security can finally rotate normally without dealing with those trying to climb over the walls for "academic check-ins."

Zhang Lin reduced media receptions, scheduling only two significant in-depth interviews per week. The rest of the time, he returned to the clinical ward to continue working.

Thursday afternoons are "failure data sharing sessions."

Jiang Jitong stood up first: "I’ll share a real failure. Last month, our team repeated that strain metabolism experiment six times, each time yielding different results. Then we found it was because the animal facility had switched beddings, causing tiny differences in pH values. Just this small variance completely altered the composition of metabolic products."

"That’s not a failure," Chu Xiaoxiao said, "that’s discovering a new variable."

"But it wasted two weeks and three hundred mice." Jiang Jitong smiled bitterly, "Besides, the first draft of our paper is entirely nullified."

Xu Zhiliang stuttered sharing a mistake he made in clinical trials, switching the codes of two patient groups, which almost led to completely wrong data analysis. "Thankfully... it was discovered... before sta-statistics."

One by one, stories were told, those "imperfect data" locked in the drawers of the laboratory, those "stupid mistakes" unwilling to be mentioned at group meetings, those "experiment failures" caused by various accidents, were openly discussed.

Yang Ping sat in the last row, listening quietly.

After the sharing session, young researchers gathered to continue the discussion, the atmosphere more lively than any previous group meeting. Chu Xiaoxiao approached Yang Ping, somewhat apprehensive: "Professor, is this okay? Will it make everyone feel our team is actually full of loopholes?"

"Quite the opposite." Yang Ping looked at the young people engaged in passionate discussion, "The greatest enemy of science is not ignorance, but pretending to know. We need to create a safe space where one can say ’I don’t know’ and ’I screwed up,’ which is more important than any technical training."

Chu Xiaoxiao nodded: "I understand."

Lele’s case has entered a critical stage.

In the past days, the team completed the most comprehensive system assessment on this nine-year-old boy: genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, microbiome, immunocyte mapping, even including neuroendocrine markers and autonomic nerve function tests. The data volume is enormous, enough to fill three suitcases when printed out.

Analysis results show Lele’s disease is far more complex than the typical STING-associated vasculitis. His immune system is in a rare state of disarray: some inflammatory pathways are excessively activated, like rusted gates unable to close; other regulatory pathways are almost dormant, as if paused.

More crucially, Lele responds poorly to traditional immunosuppressants and experiences significant side effects, explaining why previous treatments failed.

"This is a textbook-level case of system imbalance." In the treatment strategy discussion meeting, Song Zimo pointed to the correlation map on the whiteboard, "We’re not dealing with a single target issue, but a disorder of the entire network."

"Therefore, our strategy cannot be to suppress or boost one part," Yang Ping circled several critical nodes with a pen, "but should be to recalibrate the whole system. Calm down the hyperactive parts, appropriately activate the dormant parts, restore the system’s self-regulatory capabilities. Current fundamental research on this disease already supports our rapid establishment of regulatory theory."

He proposed a multi-pronged approach: extremely low doses of STING pathway regulators, personalized nutritional support, targeted probiotic interventions, gentle immune training, and neuro-immunological regulation.

Each component requires precise calculation of doses and timing; any deviation could lead to adverse effects. More complicated, these interventions will interact with each other. Probiotics might influence drug metabolism, nutritional supplements might alter immunocyte functions, breathing training might regulate inflammatory responses.

"We can establish a dynamic adjustment model." Doctor from Nandu Medical University’s Digital Medical Laboratory said, "Constantly fine-tune the plan based on real-time monitoring data."

"Monitoring frequency?" Song Zimo asked. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Full assessment every day in the first week, then adjust according to stability." Yang Ping said, "Lele needs hospitalization; we’ve specifically freed up a ward to facilitate the monitoring."