Who says simulated evolution is not evolution?

Chen Yuanguang, on the other hand, chose to cooperate with Levitt. Levitt would share some of the most cutting-edge scientific research developments with him, and he would try to find specific solutions.

"Yuanguang, the virus is mutating too fast.

Do you think we can induce it to evolve in a specific direction through vaccines, gradually reducing its toxicity to a level even lower than the flu?"

After becoming familiar with Chen Yuanguang, Levitt liked to call him by his Chinese name.

Through Chen Yuanguang's paper on protein-induced evolution, he thought of using induced evolution to actively choose the direction of evolution.

Chen Yuanguang replied on the other end of the phone, "Professor, I was previously thinking of researching a broad-spectrum vaccine to combat its continuous mutation.

Looking at it now, induced directional evolution combined with a broad-spectrum vaccine should be able to eliminate the virus in four to five doses."

Once they had a plan, it was time to get to work.

"Yuanguang, this idea is brilliant. We should look for the most common mutation points in existing strains.

Then design antigens that cover the points with the highest mutation frequency. This will minimize the immune escape ability of current and future mutated viruses as much as possible.

Yuanguang, your thinking is correct."

"Yuanguang, severing the binding ability between the S protein and the ACE receptor can reduce the infectivity of the virus. Considering that common mutations have appeared in the viral lineage, such as the D614G observed at Harvard and the del69-70 observed in China, we now need to find the common mutations among them."

"There isn't enough data right now. We need more data for verification."

"Yuanguang, if there isn't enough mutation data now, it's fine to use computer simulation to calculate the mutation situation.

But there's one problem: how do you ensure that the high-frequency common mutations you calculate are the same as the real-world mutations?

This is too difficult. If the designed algorithm is incorrect, the antigen design will not achieve the expected broad-spectrum effect."

"Yuanguang, you are truly a genius. The latest mutated strains measured in cities like New York, Tokyo, and Johannesburg are completely consistent with the common mutations simulated by our designed algorithm. We have found a way!"

"Yuanguang, we can totally prepare to submit the paper. If the subsequent design of the broad-spectrum vaccine uses our ideas, considering its value, our results are enough to win next year's Nobel Prize!"

"Yuanguang, I regret not fighting for you to pursue your doctorate under me back then."

Levitt's attitude changed from initial cooperation to complete admiration. He even felt like he was riding on someone's coattails.

As for Bawendi, after learning about Chen Yuanguang's work, he directly said, "Yuanguang, after this result is completed, I think you can get your doctorate. MIT and I personally have nothing more to teach you.

Your achievements in computational chemistry have far surpassed mine, and you are not that interested in doing experiments. I think entering the next stage faster will be more beneficial for your growth."

After MIT organized experts to review the paper, they gave it extremely high praise. After publishing it in Science, they specifically invited frontline researchers from around the world working on this topic to hold a remote video conference.

"Due to limited conditions, we can only introduce the outstanding contributions made by Mr. Light Chen, a doctoral student from our school's Department of Chemistry, in combating the virus through online means."

Professor Lan Ke is a biology professor at a 985 university in China. He has been engaged in related research since the start of the virus epidemic and pays close attention to seminars and lectures at top foreign universities.

Some groups of researchers from related universities also share information. A large-scale online conference like this one from MIT, with two thousand participants, is relatively rare.

It was also because everyone in the group said that MIT attached great importance to this meeting, and some experts said it was an unprecedented breakthrough result, so he signed up.

Lan Ke found in the group that there were no spots left just five minutes after he registered.

With the endorsement of MIT and Levitt, this seminar was highly sought after.

Lan Ke knew who Levitt was, but the other Light Chen was Chinese, and the problem was that he had never heard of this person before.

The paper has only been accepted by Science, it hasn't been published yet. Moreover, Chen Yuanguang's previous top-tier publications were mostly concentrated in the fields of computational chemistry and computational biology. Experts in virology are the ones who do vaccine research, so it's normal for people not to be familiar with him.

"Why does this person look a bit familiar, and he seems a bit young?" Lan Ke muttered to himself after entering the Zoom video conference room.

"The design of a broad-spectrum vaccine is not a simple addition of mutation sites. It requires rigorous bioinformatics calculations and a combined analysis of experimental evidence.

More mutation sites are not necessarily better. The most important thing is that the data needs to be accurate. We need to look for commonalities. The more prominent the commonalities are, the more significant the sequential immunization effect will be.

The problem we face this time is a huge challenge. Global health is under attack, and it's unlikely we can wait until the data on viral mutations accumulates to a certain extent before designing a broad-spectrum vaccine.

Therefore, without enough strains and enough mutation points, we cannot find commonalities. However, we still need to develop a broad-spectrum vaccine because even traditional vaccines, including mRNA, have a limited coverage period. Based on the current viral mutation situation, this coverage period will be very, very short.

Facing this dilemma, the solution I propose is simulated evolution, simulating viral evolution. We analyze the simulated viral mutation points together with the actual viral mutation points to find commonalities. Simply put..."

Speaking via video was completely stress-free.

If it weren't for the mute being on, the continuous gasps from two thousand people would have drowned out his voice.

As Lan Ke listened, he thought, This is too outrageous. Designing a vaccine based on simulated viruses? How can you guarantee that the virus will actually evolve according to the mutation points you simulated?

This isn't science, it's metaphysics. Even with the cloak of data analysis and data modeling, it's still metaphysics.

It wasn't until he saw the final data comparison, when the mutated viruses they simulated in April actually appeared in the global monitoring report in July, that Lan Ke's jaw dropped onto the table.