Chapter 242 - 198: A Gathering of Heavyweights for Wu Ting’s Master’s Thesis Defense Committee

Chapter 242: Chapter 198: A Gathering of Heavyweights for Wu Ting’s Master’s Thesis Defense Committee

Standing to the side, Wu Ting listened to the academic discussion between Professor Shen Siyuan and her mentor, Professor Ye Xin, filled with admiration and envy.

’No wonder Teacher Shen is so brilliant,’ he thought. ’She has a mentor who’s constantly guiding her and paying such close attention to his student’s research.’

Wu Ting had never met Professor Ye Xin in person, only having seen him in immunology textbooks. He held the old professor in high esteem, but it was a shame that he was merely Shen Siyuan’s student. Professor Ye probably didn’t even know he existed.

Wu Ting stood quietly to the side, waiting.

After Shen Siyuan finished speaking, she waited for her mentor to clear up her confusion.

However, Professor Ye’s next words nearly broke her composure.

"What ’Epigenetic Remodeling of Innate Immunity and Inflammation’? What ’new immunomodulatory mechanism of DCs’?"

"Oh, you’re talking about that Q&A document you sent me a few days ago. I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet."

Shen Siyuan could hardly believe her ears at Professor Ye’s cold reply.

Feeling a little hurt and confused, she asked, "Then, Teacher, why did you call me?"

"Oh, right. Don’t you have a student named Wu Ting?"

"That paper he recently published in *Cell*... I read it, and it’s excellent. I’ve pulled some strings and used my connections these past few days to secure a designated key project grant for him from the National Natural Science Foundation. It’s already been approved by the foundation’s committee, and they should be sending representatives over to conduct an on-site review in the coming days."

"I happen to be free the next couple of days, so I plan to come and meet this brilliant grand-student of mine. Consider this designated key project grant from the National Natural Science Foundation a little welcoming gift from his grand-mentor."

"Get in touch with Wu Ting. When I arrive, we’ll all meet together."

"Your student is much more promising than you are. I believe his negative immune regulation mechanism will be the most significant discovery in the fields of immunology and primary liver cancer related to hepatitis B in the last twenty years. It’s incredibly important."

"This time, aside from meeting him in Xiao City, I also want to see if I can help in any way to further this research."

In the rest of their conversation, Professor Ye couldn’t stop talking about Wu Ting, completely forgetting his own student Shen Siyuan’s project dilemma.

Shen Siyuan found it a little hard to accept.

"But, Teacher, I..."

After confirming the details with her, Professor Ye hung up the phone abruptly.

"Alright, that’s all. I have other things to attend to. If you have any questions, we can talk about them when I get to Xiao City. Make sure you bring my brilliant grand-student to see me, just as I’ve instructed."

Shen Siyuan had been reduced to a messenger, a mere tool.

"Wu Ting, what is going on?!"

Professor Ye had been speaking so quickly, focused only on Wu Ting, that he hadn’t given Shen Siyuan any chance to ask her own questions.

"Your *Cell* paper was published? No, that’s not right. Even for the fastest monthly issue, it’s not time yet... Unless!"

Wu Ting looked at Shen Siyuan and grinned mischievously.

"Teacher Shen, you guessed it. This time, *Cell* published a special feature just for me. Professor Lin Ning from the editorial department fast-tracked it for me. The editors formed a special team to review and verify my paper as quickly as possible."

"It was published on the official *Cell* website just yesterday."

Hearing Wu Ting’s words, Shen Siyuan immediately rushed to her computer, pulled up the official *Cell* website, and sure enough, she saw the article. The accompanying photo was a handsome shot of Wu Ting in his white lab coat!

"Oh, and Teacher Shen, the HHMI Research Institute also commented on my paper on their homepage!"

Wu Ting was all about sharing the good news.

Shen Siyuan’s hands were trembling slightly as she opened a search engine, navigated to the HHMI’s official website, and saw their evaluation of Wu Ting’s negative immune regulation mechanism.

Groundbreaking... Epoch-making... A milestone...

Reading these evaluations, even the usually calm and proud Shen Siyuan found her breathing quicken. Looking at the news, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of envy and excitement.

To think this paper had received such high praise from both *Cell* and the HHMI.

What Shen Siyuan found most incredible was that Professor Lin Ning had also proposed visiting Wu Ting and had already put him on the assessment list for HHMI’s next generation of talent.

’Wu Ting is so young!’

"Wu Ting, you..."

Shen Siyuan was at a loss for words.

The key thing was, Wu Ting was the corresponding author and first author of this paper, while Shen Siyuan was the co-first author—a very prestigious position in itself.

Furthermore, the paper’s corresponding institution was Jinggang University Medical College. This meant the paper would make a significant contribution to the future research power rankings of the Medical College.

And as Wu Ting’s supervising professor and co-first author, Shen Siyuan had also made a major contribution to the college. This would be a huge boost to her own career and influence.

Wu Ting’s paper benefited her and the college, and everyone else involved shared in the glory.

In other words, Shen Siyuan was being carried to success by her own student!

Shen Siyuan took a moment to compose herself, calming down from the overwhelming joy.

"Wu Ting, with the momentum from *Cell* and the HHMI, it looks like we now have the upper hand in our business negotiations with the Jin Pharmaceutical Group."

"And besides the funding from Jin Pharmaceutical Group, if my mentor successfully secures that grant for you, that’s at least another ten million or more in funding."

"That’s more than enough to carry on with the next phase of research..."

Even Shen Siyuan was thrilled. She herself had never managed to secure that level of funding.