episode_0067

Episode 67. Fleming, Alexander Fleming (2)

****

Meanwhile, in Mint’s room, the princess was lying on the bed. She was hugging the doll the teacher had given her.

Even Mint thought it was a bit far-fetched, but she really did give us a vacation schedule.

Even though he said he was going there because of the conference, Whitby was a good vacation spot. I wonder if that’s why he held the conference there.

Anyway! Mint was feeling quite good. How good, going on a trip.

****

1,000 plates of blue mold culture.

The work was over after an hour. After much suffering, Istina and Amy finally finished inoculating a thousand petri dishes with blue mold.

Istina brought Amy to a restaurant near the academy. It wasn’t a place Istina could afford to go to, given her financial situation.

Last time I asked him to buy cookies, I still had the wallet the professor gave me, so it didn’t matter. It was the professor’s money anyway…

But why doesn’t the professor know that his wallet is missing? Why do he have multiple wallets?

“It’s so painful. A thousand plates… … .

“That’s right.”

Amy was having a hard time stretching.

“But, how is our professor?”

“You are a good person.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes. He’s a good person.”

Istina looked around. Since it was near the academy, there might be a professor or someone close to the professor nearby?

“To be honest, the professor is a unique person before he is good. His methodology is also like that.”

Her personality is like that too. But Istina didn’t necessarily say the obvious out loud.

“That seems to be the case. But aren’t there many people whose lives were saved thanks to you, Professor?”

“Right.”

“Is Senior Istina worth it?”

“I’m like, of course I recommend it. I think I made a good choice, and I think it was a really good thing that Amy Yang came in.”

Of course, Istina’s perspective was a bit biased. Amy had to come in for Istina to have some work to do.

“The professor knows and can do much more than what is visible from the outside.”

“Really?”

“Even if you look at something like a thesis. It’s not just about submitting a thesis, right? The process of submitting a thesis within a few weeks, discussing it, defending your position, and moving on to the next topic without any problems… … .”

“Isn’t that something a person should do?”

“Right.”

To Istina, it didn’t seem like she simply knew or thought of the content.

It’s not that knowing is the problem, it’s that you’re in control of the situation that’s so amazing and incomprehensible.

“It may seem great on the surface, but it is only possible if you know the results of the research, the process, and the possible rebuttals, right?”

“That’s strange.”

“I don’t know how to do it. Sometimes it feels like I’m seeing a ghost, sometimes.”

Amy nodded again.

“Are there any other special things I should know?”

Of course, there were more than one or two. Istina looked around the restaurant again.

“What should I say? There’s a professor’s student who comes to the lab. Princess Mint.”

“Ah. Are you really the princess? Why?”

Istina was hesitant at first, but after checking, she confirmed that it was indeed the real princess. Istina nodded.

“Your Highness the Real Princess. There’s so much to see, but based on experience, you shouldn’t talk to her, just say hello.”

“Aha.”

“Our professor is from the Imperial Medical Corps. But he is not a formal person. He is not a scary person either.”

Amy scratched her head.

No matter how much I thought about it, I still couldn’t figure out what this professor’s lab was all about. Should I have trusted my instincts that told me not to go to graduate school?

“Do you give your co-authors well?”

“Yes. They take good care of you. I was actually the lead author of the paper on infectious dysentery.”

If I were to brag about myself, I could do that quite a bit. Istina had struggled for the past few months, but she had also been given many opportunities.

“Go meet Amy in person. The professor isn’t that picky.”

The bottom line is that he’s a good person. Probably.

****

A while ago, a student who was taking my class came to me and said he wanted to be a graduate student in my lab. It was really touching.

No matter how successful he may be, he is still a new professor who has not even been in office for a year.

Trusting me and investing a few years of your life in me was definitely not an easy choice.

In order not to regret, I have to live up to expectations. I got permission to graduate early, I created a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree program, and after much stubbornness-

“Ah. Hello! This is Amy.”

“Yeah, welcome.”

Amy arrived at the lab.

It was a completely different atmosphere from Istina. Maybe it was because I started a new job, but it was really, how should I put it? It had a fresh and lively feel.

I’ve done dissection labs with Amy before, and it felt a little different. How long will that energy last?

Graduate students and professors didn’t all start out as dull people. They became like that as they worked and studied to adapt.

“I heard you worked in the lab with Istina yesterday. How was it? What did Istina ask you to do?”

“Yesterday, I just touched a lot of petri dishes.”

Ah. Blue mold.

You must have had a hard time, wrestling with blue mold culture dishes all day from day one.

Sometimes, Istina is a bit evil too.

When a new junior comes into the lab, the first thing they ask you to do is to do petri dishes? Doesn’t that seem like a bit of a personality problem?

“You must have had a hard time, from day one.”

“Still, it was doable! It wasn’t hard.”

“Did you hear the explanation as to why we did this?”

“Yes. You said you were making a medicine that kills germs.”

I don’t know when I can make it.

However, the academic significance is greater for now, because it is necessary to clearly state that antibiotics exist in order for related research to progress.

“Is that really possible?”

“Not possible.”

“It’s harder to kill mold than to kill a person. If you soak a person in soap for a day, they’ll die, but mold can survive.”

So it’s not that difficult.

Amy sat down at my desk, chattering about something. How was your class, what was your first impression of Istina?

In the meantime, Amy stopped talking and looked at me, as if she had thought of something to say.

“But I don’t understand that.”

“What?”

“Why do you think blue mold would produce a substance that kills bacteria?”

“Couldn’t that be possible?”

Senior Fleming told me. I can’t explain it like that. I thought about the answer.

“Isn’t blue mold also a rot-causing organism? It’s similar to bacteria. Is there a reason why mold kills bacteria?”

At first glance, yes.

“So, is there any basis for that?”

“Yes.”

As always, Amy was sharp and questioning, even though she was wrong.

Just as the discovery of penicillin, made by blue mold, was not a coincidence, it is also not a coincidence that blue mold produces the substance.

Amy’s guess based on homogeneity also has some logical basis. Bacteria and mold are both organisms that cause disease and decay.

The question is, shouldn’t we expect mold to kill bacteria?

I took out an unused petri dish.

“Look at the culture dish.”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever seen a petri dish with bacteria growing on it? They occupy the territory like they’re eating up land.”

Amy nodded. If you leave the bacteria to grow, they will spread and grow all over the petri dish.

The same goes for mold.

“What if there are different types of bacteria?”

“I don’t know. There must be a difference in diffusion power, right?”

Right. Each bacterium has a different rate of spread. Bacteria and fungi also have different abilities.

“What we’re looking for is a blue mold with bactericidal properties. If we succeed in finding it, what will it look like in a culture dish?”

Having sterilizing properties means that it prevents bacteria from growing.

“Well… …. I guess bacteria don’t grow near mold, right? You can’t see the bacteria being killed.”

If you look under a microscope, you can see penicillin bursting the bacteria in real time.

“Think from the mold’s perspective.”

“Think from the mold’s perspective?”

Amy looked dumbfounded.

It’s a story about land grabbing.

Molds cannot simply keep up with the reproduction rate of bacteria, although they can utilize more complex structures such as slime or spores.

“I compared it to land grabbing earlier. The fact that bacteria cannot grow around mold means that the mold has taken over the resource.”

This idea originates from the theory of evolution.

This is an academic world where evolution has not yet been proven. It may be difficult to understand that penicillin was created as a result of competition between bacteria and fungi for resources.

Right. I nodded. The area occupied by the mold in the culture dish is the amount of resources available to the mold. This is also why the mold produces substances that kill bacteria.

“So… …. Land grabbing?”

Amy seems to be starting to understand too.