Chapter 196 - 177: The Question That Excites and Impresses Professor Jin

Chapter 196: Chapter 177: The Question That Excites and Impresses Professor Jin

Professor Jin asked, his expression calm and unruffled.

The PhDs, master’s students, lecturers, and professors in the audience looked at Professor Jin, but for a moment, no one dared to make a move.

Although Professor Jin had grown older and his temper was much gentler than when he was the dean, he was still a top expert in the country. His knowledge, prestige, and aura were undeniable.

In front of so many elites from the field of life sciences, everyone hesitated. They were afraid of asking a question that seemed too simplistic, which might draw ridicule from the crowd, and even more afraid of disappointing or angering Professor Jin.

Everyone was waiting for the first person to go up, wanting to see their question and gauge Professor Jin’s reaction before considering whether they should go up themselves.

For some good questions, Professor Jin would often elaborate, which was an excellent opportunity for everyone present to learn and broaden their horizons.

After all, the field of immunology is incredibly broad. By the graduate level, everyone’s research focus becomes very narrow and specialized, so each person’s research topic can be vastly different from the next.

Listening to others’ questions was also a great chance to supplement their own knowledge and expand their perspectives.

Therefore, these graduate students, lecturers, and professors all cherished this kind of opportunity. A question that Professor Jin deemed worthy of expanding upon was a good question.

That was the true meaning of this academic exchange!

This was Wu Ting’s first time attending this academic exchange. He had come fully prepared. The exchange itself was a learning process, but completing the process was even more important.

’Finish early, and I can trigger the entry drop sooner.’

Seeing the room full of academic elites remain motionless, Wu Ting decided to be the first one to go up. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could go learn from and exchange ideas with Director Fu and Director Shen.

’Besides the entry for Single Immunoglobulin Interleukin-1 Receptor-Related Protein Theory (Purple), there’s also the Traditional Treatment Theory for Hepatitis B Cirrhosis (Purple). More contact means a higher chance of a drop.’

As Wu Ting walked onto the stage with such ease, holding a piece of paper with his prepared question, all eyes turned to him.

The first impression was that this student was remarkably handsome. The second was that he was very young—he had to be a master’s student.

The students from the main campus, in particular, found Wu Ting completely unfamiliar. He didn’t look like a graduate student from a previous year.

The academic aces of the School of Life Sciences mostly all knew each other. Seeing this new face, they all guessed he must be a new student who had just enrolled today.

"This student is pretty bold. A freshman daring to be the first one to ask a question at an event like this."

"It’s because he’s a freshman that he dares to go up first. If he heard the questions from the outstanding senior students, or even some of the professors, he wouldn’t have the nerve to go up."

"That’s true. But it’s good that a freshman is going up. He’s setting a low bar for everyone, so the next students to ask questions won’t feel as much pressure."

"Yeah, and since he’s a freshman, Professor Jin will be more lenient with him."

"I’m sure that after today’s academic baptism, he won’t dare to be so presumptuous next time."

Everyone thought Wu Ting was just a case of a newborn calf not fearing a tiger. He must have heard about the School of Life Sciences’ academic exchange and thought it was just a regular Q&A session.

In reality, most of the questions posed by the PhD and master’s students here were worthy of being published as papers in top-tier, core journals.

Moreover, some of the lecturers and young professors had projects that were selected for the National Youth Fund.

The Q&A at an event like this wasn’t about solving textbook problems; it was an exploration of cutting-edge scientific research—a true academic exchange in every sense of the word!

Watching Wu Ting go forward, the crowd waited for Professor Jin to casually dismiss him, offer a few words of encouragement, and then move on to the next, truly meaningful question.

At Professor Jin’s side, his granddaughter and assistant, Deng Feifei, took a step forward and accepted the paper from Wu Ting’s hand. She planned to screen it for her grandfather first. If the question was too embarrassing, she would answer it herself.

She didn’t want to waste her grandfather’s energy or everyone else’s time.

To look crisp and professional, Deng Feifei had tied her waterfall of long hair into a simple ponytail with a hair tie before the exchange began. With her model-like face and nine-head body proportion, the hairstyle made her features look even more refined and three-dimensional, her fair, swan-like neck connecting to a charming collarbone.

A beautiful, jade-like hand took the paper from Wu Ting. "You’re an unfamiliar face. Is this your first time attending?"

Deng Feifei’s memory was excellent, a perfect inheritance of her family’s "academic ace" genes. She basically never forgot a face she’d seen once.

Wu Ting had little interest in chatting with her and gave a perfunctory, "Mhm."

Seeing that Deng Feifei intended to screen his question first, Wu Ting said bluntly:

"My question is about HBV-related primary liver cancer and immunomodulation theory. The content is quite cutting-edge and abstruse, so it’s best to submit it directly to Professor Jin."

Wu Ting had more than enough confidence. He now possessed Shen Siyuan’s Immunomodulation Theory, and the question he was posing was enough to contend for a national award. It would be a waste of time for a teaching assistant who was only a few years older than him to look at it.

Hearing Wu Ting’s words, Deng Feifei glanced up at him, a little surprised. ’Freshmen these days sure have a big mouth.’

Deng Feifei was no ordinary academic ace. Not only had she graduated with a PhD from Jinggang University’s School of Life Sciences, but she was now also the R&D manager at Jin Pharmaceutical Group—a true top-tier talent who combined theory with practice.

For someone of Deng Feifei’s status, if she weren’t accompanying her grandfather as a part-time assistant, a graduate student like Wu Ting—a dime a dozen in Haijin Port—wouldn’t even have the chance to speak with her.

In Deng Feifei’s R&D lab, every single person started with at least a PhD.

However, she was only here to assist her grandfather at this conference. She didn’t mind Wu Ting’s dismissiveness at all and simply offered a faint smile.

With her magnanimity, there was no need to get angry with Wu Ting. She simply prepared to respond with her actions.

’Let’s see what kind of amazing question this life sciences rookie can possibly ask.’

Meanwhile, the exchange between Deng Feifei and Wu Ting reached the ears of the graduate students below, verbatim. Many of them covered their faces, feeling a second-hand cringe for Wu Ting.

’Does he have any idea who Deng Feifei is!’

She was a truly outstanding graduate of Haijin Port, a perfect blend of beauty and brains. In the field of life sciences, her abilities were at least at the level of an associate professor.

But the gap between Wu Ting and Deng Feifei was just too vast. Wu Ting’s slight was merely the ignorance of youth. At most, everyone would just laugh it off as a small joke.

However, just as the crowd was waiting for Deng Feifei to give Wu Ting a rude awakening...

Deng Feifei’s expression turned grave. Looking at Wu Ting’s question, she was perfectly clear on all the individual terms and indicators. But when they were all put together, she was somewhat baffled.

She was an expert in various aspects of immunology, but Wu Ting’s research direction was extremely niche. She had never heard of similar research before.

"HBV is a non-cytopathic virus, so infection and replication of the virus in hepatocytes does not cause liver cell damage... However, the HBV genome can integrate into the host hepatocyte’s chromosomes. The body clears HBV through specific humoral and cellular responses, as well as non-specific immune responses. This process can lead to inflammatory reactions and hepatocyte damage..."

"So, is it possible that through the body’s negative immunoregulatory mechanisms... Tregs and other factors could suppress virus-specific immune responses and induce immune tolerance to the virus..."

"...In the immunopathogenesis, SIGIRR is a member of the TIR-related superfamily observed in recent years and is expressed in many tissues and organs in the body..."

Looking at the summary of Wu Ting’s question, as well as the personal insights and the deductions and hypotheses based on existing cutting-edge theories that followed...

Deng Feifei looked at Wu Ting with some surprise, staring directly at the young man before her.

"Did you really come up with this question? Or are you presenting it for someone else?"

Deng Feifei truly could not answer this question. In fact, there were some hypotheses and deductions she couldn’t even understand.

Therefore, she was certain this question couldn’t have been proposed by the young student in front of her. There had to be an academic heavyweight behind him.

Perhaps due to their status or for the sake of face, that person could only let this young student ask the question for them.

When Wu Ting heard Deng Feifei’s words, he knew the young woman before him really didn’t understand his question. He sighed helplessly.

"Of course it’s my own question. This is a core theoretical basis and element of a research project I’m currently working on."

"I know that Professor Jin is the nation’s top expert on single immunoglobulin theory, which is why I want him to provide an answer."

Wu Ting was neither servile nor overbearing, not showing the slightest bit of intimidation in the face of Deng Feifei’s stunning looks.

Their eyes met. Wu Ting’s gaze was clear and sincere.

Deng Feifei was skeptical. She simply couldn’t believe that such a young freshman could raise such a profound and abstruse question.

"Feifei, bring it here for me to see."

Professor Jin knew his granddaughter very well. Any question that could stump her had to be a good one.

"Okay."

Deng Feifei was still very obedient in front of her grandfather, for whom she held immense reverence.

After Professor Jin took the paper, he began to read it carefully.

But the more he read, the more astonished he became. Even the hand holding the paper began to tremble slightly.

Professor Jin spent a full ten minutes reading through Wu Ting’s entire question before a rough train of thought began to form.

"Is this really the field of your research project?"

The graduate students and professors in the audience had initially thought Wu Ting was just a joke, someone to test the waters for everyone else. But at this moment, they too realized something was unusual.

They saw a rare, serious expression on Professor Jin’s face. It was clear that he was very interested in and took this question very seriously.

"Is this young man that incredible?"

Amidst the crowd’s confusion, Wu Ting nodded.

"Professor Jin, this question is very important to me. I hope you can provide me with an answer."

Wu Ting had seen the list Director Shen gave him. So far, within Jin Province, Professor Jin was the heavyweight most likely to help him secure this entry. He couldn’t afford to miss this chance.

Professor Jin shared Deng Feifei’s opinion; he also didn’t believe a young student could come up with such a question.

’It must be the person behind him.’

It was easy to bring a question like this, but during the one-on-one exchange and explanation that would follow, the young man in front of him would surely expose his ignorance.

’When that happens, I’ll see if the person behind him, hiding in the crowd, will show themself.’

Regardless of the motives of this person hiding and observing from the audience, Professor Jin was deeply impressed by their research topic.

"Feifei, copy this student’s question onto the blackboard. I’ll provide an answer."

"This is indeed an excellent question. I would even say it’s the most exciting and admirable question we’ve had since this academic exchange began."

As Professor Jin spoke, he scanned the audience, his eyes paying particular attention to the group of young professors who had come today.