The Spring Festival is different for grassroots researchers, inspiring the spirit of dragon and horse and sticking to the front line of scientific research
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Some of them insist on racing against time in the laboratory, some insist on answering questions on online science popularization, and some go all out to protect people’s health … This Spring Festival, many researchers are still fighting in their respective posts in different ways. Their figure is a vivid footnote that Henan is playing the "strongest sound" of scientific and technological innovation, and it is also a microcosm of the struggle of all walks of life and all fronts to inspire the spirit of Dragon and Horse and create a better future.
Every second counts for a doctor’s heart
At 7 o’clock in the morning, I rushed to the hospital, went to the clinic for a first-line inspection, then got into the laboratory to discuss the experimental progress with my colleagues … After the work plan for one day was completed, there were thousands of lights outside the window.
This is the daily life of Yu Zujiang, vice president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University and director of the genetic testing center of the hospital during the Spring Festival holiday.
"There is little difference between the Spring Festival and peacetime, because the disease is not’ holiday’, and our medical workers have to race against time." Yu Zujiang said.
In Yu Zujiang’s eyes, this year’s Spring Festival can already be described as "relaxed". Although he is at work most of the time, he still has time to eat with his family. Previously, as a member of the expert group on epidemic prevention and control in COVID-19, he was busy in epidemic prevention and control for several consecutive Spring Festival.
At 10: 00 am on February 16th, at the Sub-center of the National Key Laboratory of Innovative Drugs for Antiviral Infectious Diseases (hereinafter referred to as the Sub-center) located in the East Campus of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, when the reporter saw Yu Zujiang, he was discussing the experimental progress with two colleagues enthusiastically.
On the electronic screen of the sub-center, the word "Happy New Year 2024" in gold on a red background reveals a strong flavor of the year. During the Spring Festival holiday, Yu Zujiang’s team has people on duty here every day.
"Before the Spring Festival, we found four new anti-tumor drug targets, and during the Spring Festival, we screened them in the molecular drug library." Yu Zujiang introduced.
"Because drug screening and verification and cell culture are a continuous process, we can’t stop during the Spring Festival." Yu Zujiang said that they are conducting "life-saving" research. If they can produce results early, they can help more patients find hope for life as soon as possible.
As an expert in the field of infectious diseases, Yu Zu Jiangdu has been "fighting" with liver diseases for 20 years.
Previously, Yu Zujiang led the team to study hard for nearly 10 years, and found a drug named trimetazidine, which can become a new target drug for treating liver diseases, and successfully completed the patent transformation with a transfer amount of 2.34 million US dollars.
At present, the new clinical indication of trimetazidine in the treatment of chronic and acute liver failure has applied for an international invention patent and obtained the qualification certification of "orphan drug" (rare drug) from FDA of the United States.
"At present, the experiment being carried out in our laboratory is to find more new drugs for cancer patients." Yu Zujiang said that although these experiments need to go through numerous "trial and error" and may not break through for a long time, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, they will go all out and explore without stopping. (Reporter Li Xiaomin)
Online classes often cultivate "golden" flowers.
During the Spring Festival holiday, the WeChat group of Professor Li Yongchao, the chief science popularization expert of the province and the head of the provincial Chinese herbal medicine industry science and technology correspondent service group (Fengqiu), was particularly lively:
"Teacher Li, my family’s heavy-haired flowers have been planted for seven or eight years. What should I pay attention to when pruning?"
"Thank you, Mr. Li. Every year, we quarrel about cutting two branches of flowers. Last time you came to class and said you couldn’t cut them again, he finally listened this year."
Most of the 267 friends added by Li Yong’s ultramicro letter "Fengqiu Honeysuckle Development Group" are growers. It is a compulsory course for him to reply and answer questions every day during the Spring Festival.
"The temperature in winter is below 0℃, and the plant nutrient solution does not flow out after honeysuckle pruning, so the pruning effect is the best around beginning of spring." On February 17, Li Yongchao told reporters. On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, he also went to fengqiu county with members of the service group to give special training on pruning techniques to the technical backbone of local growers.
As an academic and technical leader in the scientific and technological research of flower Chinese herbal medicines and the promotion and service of agricultural science and technology in our province, Li Yongchao has been giving technical guidance in fengqiu county since 2012.
"The golden flowers are silvery, and the vines are clustered. Fengqiu county is the best suitable area for honeysuckle, and the cultivated honeysuckle has good appearance and excellent quality, and the price per catty is one or twenty yuan more expensive than that in other regions. " Li Yongchao introduced that honeysuckle is a real "rich flower".
"The honeysuckle will not enter the full flowering period until the fourth year. According to the technology taught by Teacher Li, I not only took care of Ben in the first three years, but also made a slight surplus. " Cui Jiuhong, a grower in Yingju Town, said excitedly that the 10 mu of honeysuckle he planted now can earn more than 100,000 yuan a year. "The neighbors still use the old method, and their growth is incomparable with mine."
"Smell the flowers and see the industry." As the authentic hometown of honeysuckle in China, the planting area of honeysuckle in fengqiu county is stable at 100,000 mu at present. Since the service group of science and technology commissioners came to Fengqiu in 2018 to carry out technical guidance and training, the technical radiation area in the county has reached more than 5,000 mu, and it is growing at an annual promotion rate of 2,000 mu.
"Everyone can see the effect of advanced technology, so the enthusiasm is particularly high. Now almost every other week, we will go to Fengqiu for on-site guidance. " Li Yongchao said, "We should pay attention to the prevention of aphids in March. I just informed everyone in the group that we will open another training class before the fifteenth day of the first month." (Reporter Yin Jiangyong)
Scientific research "fireworks" are both happy.
On the gate, the red Spring Festival couplets convey the joy and hope of the Spring Festival. In the study, quiet meditation and heated online discussion "record" the persistence and dedication of researchers.
Yu Chen, vice president of zhengzhou institute of aeronautical industry management Institute of Electronic Information, kept switching between "fireworks" and "scientific research".
"Chinese New Year, you must take time to spend more time with your family and bring more children. However, scientific research work is daily for us, and holidays can’t fall. " On February 16th, Yu Chen told reporters that the team teachers were not idle during the Spring Festival.
Zhengzhou institute of aeronautical industry management is speeding up the construction of Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The School of Electronics and Information has put forward the plan of "standing on top of the world" to make up for the shortcomings of the university’s construction of aeronautics and astronautics, conform to the development direction of the national "aerospace" strategy, and combine the automobile and aerospace construction plan of our province’s "14 th Five-Year Plan" to carry out technical research and strengthen organized scientific research aiming at key issues.
Scientific research is a protracted war, and it is always a race against time.
As the head of the unmanned platform team in the air and space, when talking about the scientific research during the Spring Festival, Yu Chen said more: "We mainly have four research directions. One is’ Dingtian’, actively integrating into the aerospace industry chain, facing the commercial needs of the ground TT&C operation and maintenance business of satellite launch and long-term on-orbit operation, and carrying out innovative research and development of the baseband equipment software and hardware system of the vehicle-mounted satellite ground station integrating TT&C, data transmission, arrow and remote control; The second is’ site’, which is deeply integrated into the unmanned vehicle industry chain. Facing the problems of unmanned vehicle automatic driving and comprehensive planning and scheduling, the unmanned vehicle terminal is developed, and a big data platform for comprehensive planning and scheduling is built based on multi-source fusion positioning, vehicle-road coordination and environmental awareness; Third, to solve the problem of "data island" of manufacturing enterprises, build a collaborative manufacturing platform of data space and network, realize the whole process integration value chain collaboration and the whole cycle data interconnection; The fourth is to continue to carry out research and development of software and hardware systems for autonomous flying drones, and solve the problem of over-the-horizon autonomous flight and optimal allocation of multi-objective tasks for multi-UAVs. "
The boring technical terms in the eyes of ordinary people are extremely "cute" in the eyes of scientific researchers. Although it is hard to explore the unknown scientific research work, they find Yu Chen more interesting.
"A year’s plan lies in spring. In the new year, we will continue to deepen our efforts in the fields of aerospace technology such as UAV navigation guidance and control, key technologies of satellite ground stations, networked unmanned vehicle terminals and big data platforms. " Yu Chen said with a smile, in fact, every fruitful day is a festival worth celebrating for researchers. (Reporter Shi Xiaoqi)
The flag of spring stands up
During the Spring Festival holiday, Zhang Weixian, director of the Academic Committee of Henan Institute of Animal Husbandry and Economics, rarely spent the next year with his family in Zhengzhou.
But he’s not really idle. Jiaozuo, Zhoukou, Xinyang … Every day, many farmers from all over the province call for advice-what should I do if the broiler market keeps fluctuating? Do you want to adjust the breeding varieties? Is there any room for feed cost to fall?
As an animal husbandry expert, Zhang Weixian patiently analyzed and answered questions for them, while incorporating the feedback from farmers from the production line into his own research.
"The market situation is often affected by many factors. What we scientists and technicians should consider is how to promote the high-quality development of animal husbandry through scientific and technological innovation." In Zhang Weixian’s view, the current problems of animal husbandry boil down to two major aspects, one is germplasm resources, and the other is feed.
In recent years, feed prices have continued to rise and feeding costs have been increasing. Is there a cheap "flat substitute" for imported feed from protein? Zhang Weixian aimed at the research direction of crop straw.
"On the one hand, many straw resources are treated as waste; On the other hand, the shortage of forage resources in animal husbandry has caused the rising cost of breeding, which is simply’ begging for food with a golden rice bowl’. " In order to recycle the straws of these crops, he served as the director of the Key Laboratory of Innovation and Utilization of Unconventional Feed Resources in Henan Province, and led the team to carry out research on the efficient conversion of crop straws into high-quality feed for livestock and poultry, such as peppers, peanuts and sweet potatoes.
"Taking peppers as an example, the planting area of peppers in Henan is about 3 million mu, ranking second in the country, and it can produce about 30 million tons of green pepper stalks every year. We conducted experiments on feeding herbivorous livestock through processing methods such as crushing, biological fermentation, silage and yellow storage, and obtained reliable scientific data. " Zhang Weixian introduced that pepper straw contains 4.1% essential amino acids and is rich in nutrients such as carotene and vitamin C. It is a feed resource with great application prospects, and its economic value after being processed into high-quality feed is even higher than that of pepper itself.
During the Spring Festival this year, Zhang Weixian also received two papers from top international journals, which can be published after revision. At the age of 63, like his own students, he kept writing in front of the computer every day, demonstrating the team’s method of analyzing the nutritional value of feed with polymer spectroscopy.
"I learned a lot of new words from students. When spring comes, I also set a flag. I hope our research methods can form a subversive innovation and provide strong support for the development of animal husbandry." He said. (Reporter Shi Zhe)
Holiday scientific research "does not close"
On the morning of February 17, the traffic on the University Road outside the south campus of Zhengzhou University was woven and full of flavor. Shan Chongxin, vice president of Zhengzhou University, walked through the quiet campus and came to the office of the Key Laboratory of Physical Materials, Ministry of Education, and started a day’s work.
Just after the Spring Festival, Shan Chongxin has already started the "working mode" on the third day of the New Year’s Eve. "Scientific research needs to be focused, and you can concentrate on doing something when you go to the office." He said with a smile.
The laboratory is not deserted. Half of the members of the diamond photoelectric materials and devices team led by Shan Chongxin have been "returned" one after another. Holiday research "does not close". Dong Lin, a member of the team and a professor at the School of Physics of Zhengzhou University, said: "As soon as I have time at home, I log on to the school computer remotely and look at the materials and documents. I came to the laboratory in the third grade."
Indeed, for many years, Shan Chongxin and his team members have almost no concept of weekends and holidays. They are always with diamonds, take the laboratory as their home, take root in the field of diamond photoelectric materials and devices, and devote themselves to scientific research and make unremitting efforts.
Predicted the Rabi oscillation of nitrogen vacancy color center in diamond without microwave excitation, which was confirmed by international peer experiments. High-quality diamond and high-purity diamond Raman crystal were synthesized, and 2-inch optical diamond crystal was developed … Just because of persistent research, the team made a series of heavy innovation breakthroughs in just a few years, which made Henan diamond "shine in the world".
"In the process of scientific research and innovation, any lag may lead to the loss of opportunities. We must continue to tackle key problems with a sense of urgency and speed up the seizure of the commanding heights of science and technology." At the annual summary meeting a few days before the Spring Festival, Shan Chongxin encouraged the team to say.
After the summary meeting, Shan Chongxin and everyone were busy until the New Year’s Eve, and then they put down their work and rushed back to their hometown in Changyuan to reunite with their loved ones for the New Year.
Attachment to his hometown, reluctance to give up his hometown, and wanting to do something for his hometown are also the feelings of Shan Chongxin when he chose to return to Henan nine years ago. "Now Henan attaches more importance to scientific and technological innovation than ever before, and has built a platform for scientific researchers to start businesses. Diamond is a dominant industry in Henan, and it is very happy to be able to do something for the country with what I have learned as my hometown." Shan Chongxin said.
At present, Shan Chongxin’s team is aiming at the forefront of diamond materials and devices development in China, focusing on the key scientific problems of high-quality diamond synthesis and application, and climbing to a higher scientific peak. "It is our direction and goal to break through the technical bottleneck of diamond application in semiconductor, electricity, optics, heat, quantum sensing and other fields." Shan Chongxin said.
In the evening, Shan Chongxin walked out of the office and looked at the stars above the city. He firmly believed that the diamonds in Henan would certainly shine more brightly in the future. (Reporter Ping Cao)
Illustration/Wang Weibin