Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Back when Lu Zhou was still in Princeton, he was thinking about his potential research directions.
The more unfamiliar and novel his research, the more his research would conflict with ethics and morals.
This was inevitable.
After all, the high tech system had a wide range of subjects. He couldn’t just research mathematics for the rest of his life.
After talking with Yang Xu, Lu Zhou opened his laptop and contemplated it for a second. After extracting some of the core concepts from Professor Grange’s thesis, he wrote a thesis summary on “Human Freezing and Dormancy Technology”. In this summary, he clearly stated his support for the research.
“… Because of the short human lifespan, it is more meaningful to explore a way of allowing humans to travel for thousands of years, rather than finding a way to increase the speed of our spacecraft.
“The Earth is merely the origin of civilization. One day, our footprints will reach other galaxies.
“Maybe it’s still too early to think about that. But from a long-term perspective, I think it is necessary for us to master this technology.”
Lu Zhou’s fingers typed out his thoughts on the computer.
Even though he wasn’t obligated to explain his motivation behind his research, public opinions still mattered. If he didn’t have the public supporting him, the public would support someone else instead, which could mean trouble.
With the influence he had in academia now, even if some people might have objections against his research, no one would dare to stand up against him in public… at least not in China.
Therefore, before the foreign media and protests could influence the Chinese public opinion, he had to use his own influence to guide the Chinese academic community to be in favor of this technology.
Lu Zhou pressed the enter button on his keyboard. He read his thesis from the beginning to end and nodded with satisfaction. He then uploaded the thesis to his email and sent it to the editorial department at Jin Ling University.
Ever since he returned to China, the Jin Ling University journal’s influence had increased by a ton. Especially after the success of the controllable nuclear fusion project, Jin Ling University’s reputation was at its peak.
Even though they were still behind compared to top universities such as Shuimu University and Yan University, they were only a little behind.
Not to mention he was the one publishing.
Many universities and research institutes would specifically search for Lu Zhou’s thesis and use it as reference material.
After Lu Zhou finished the submission, he turned off his computer and set this matter aside.
He was not an expert in the field of biochemistry, nor was he an expert in biological dormancy technology. He still had to rely on experts to help him with research.
Yang Xu had already contacted Hengrui Medicine for that.
The results of the cooperation negotiations would come soon.
Lu Zhou was quite confident that they would end up cooperating.
After all, he was Lu Zhou.
With Lu Zhou backing them, Hengrui Medicine should have no concerns.
Now that the space race was in full swing, any scientific research project that was stamped with the Lunar Orbit Committee symbol would instantly receive the green light.
There were no exceptions to this.
…
The day after Yang Xu contacted Hengrui Medicine, Professor Zhang Jiafu, who previously visited Lu Zhou, visited him again.
After some small talk, Professor Zhang asked, “How come you’re suddenly interested in cryonics?”
Honestly speaking, Professor Zhang wasn’t optimistic about this technology. He didn’t know why Lu Zhou wanted to get his hands dirty in this field.
Apparently, because of the cryonics technology thesis, Professor Grange at Harvard University had received several death threat emails and even protesters at his house. Grange was forced to leave his Harvard home and relocate to Johnson & Johnson’s research institute in East Detroit.
Even though no one in China dared to send Lu Zhou a death threat, this would still impact his academic reputation.
After hearing Professor Zhang’s question, Lu Zhou answered casually, “Cryonics is an important technology that will be useful in the future.”
Professor Zhang Jiafu paused for a second. He smiled and shook his head.
“I don’t disagree… But if you insist, we are good to go.”
Lu Zhou nodded and didn’t say anything else. He opened his drawer and took out a project proposal. He placed the proposal on the table.
“We will provide the necessary researchers and some funding to participate in this research. However, our talent in clinical biology is limited, and we will need researchers on your end.”
“No problem,” Professor Zhang Jiafu said, “we have quite a few experts in clinical biology.”
As one of the few Chinese companies in the field of drug research and development, Hengrui Medicine had a large talent pool in clinical biology and other drug-related fields. They had many researchers from top foreign universities and research institutions. These people were all top dogs in the field of biology.
On the other hand, the Jinling Institute of Biochemistry was only recently established.
Lu Zhou nodded and continued, “The specific cooperation and profit distributions are all in this document. You can bring it back and show it to your legal department. If there’s no problem with everything, I hope we can begin work as soon as possible.”
Professor Zhang Jiafu picked up the plan and briefly read through it. After he saw the list of participants, he immediately said, “I have a question.”
Lu Zhou: “Go ahead.”
Zhang Jiafu: “The field of cryonics is very unpopular. Even though we have big names in clinical biology and biopharmaceuticals, cryonics is not our expertise…”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “You’re a biopharmaceuticals expert, so I’m sure you have connections in the field. Just find some researchers that fit the job and hire them.”
“It’s not that easy.” Zhang Jiafu smiled and said, “There are very few people in China that are researching cryonics. I know who these people are, but I can’t guarantee they’ll join our project.”
The more novel the research direction, the fewer people there were. In a case like this, a handful of people had total control over the field.
A handful of top professors received the majority of resources, such as experimental funding, thesis publishing, and patents. On the other hand, weaker professors couldn’t even publish a thesis in a journal.
After the talented people were trained, they would often move to more popular fields… This was extremely common in the field of biology.
Therefore, the people that Lu Zhou wanted to hire were already big names themselves.
Since they were big names, why would they need Lu Zhou’s help?
However, Lu Zhou smiled gently and replied, “Just tell me who you want, I’ll go find them.”
Zhang Jiafu hesitated for a second before saying, “Liu Zuobing…”
Lu Zhou: “Who is he?”
“Director of the Laboratory of Cell Cryogenic Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, PLA General Hospital…”
Zhang Jiafu paused for a second and said, “I met him at an academic conference in Chengdu, and we talked about cryonics. He seemed to be optimistic about cryogenic technology. He even published a paper on cryonics biology cell repair in the ‘Annual Review of Physiology’. Professor Grange even quoted his paper, but…”
Lu Zhou: “But?”
“But I heard that he’s been trying to become an academician, so he might not want to get his hands dirty with us.” Professor Zhang said awkwardly, “It won’t be easy to convince him.”
Being elected as an academician wasn’t just about research results, it was also about not making potential mistakes and having a good public image.
However, after hearing Professor Zhang’s concerns, a light bulb went off in Lu Zhou’s mind.
He wants to become an academician?
Perfect!
Lu Zhou smiled and looked at Zhang Jiafu.
“Okay, we’ll get him.”
Zhang Jiafu said, “You really plan on recruiting this big name for our project?”
“You said he’s the best cryonics researcher in China.” Lu Zhou paused for a second and said, “Obviously I want the best.”
