C R E AT I V E W R I T I N G 2 7
THE DETECTIVE Part 2 by DR WONG KAH KENG Previously on “The Detective” (Scientific Malaysian Issue I), when Justin was performing cell culture work, he was informed that a meeting with his supervisor and the research group would take place at 11 a.m. This is the continuation of the story.
Photo by Sanofi Pasteur La/Flickr
W
ith the presentation closing in at 11 a.m., Justin completed the cell culture work by transferring the cells into a vial. It was subsequently kept in a small container, aptly titled as ‘Mr. Frosty’, to be placed inside a -80oC freezer for initial cell preservation. Mr. Frosty allowed the cells to come to the freezing temperature slowly, at 1oC per minute, ensuring cell survival throughout the freezing process.
He turned on his Vaio laptop to revise the Power Point presentation he had prepared relentlessly, and transferred the file to his USB stick before strutting to the meeting room, passing by Marjorie’s room, his co-supervisor. For a split second, Justin recalled some of the first conversations he had with Marjorie when he first arrived at Whiteforest two years ago:
Justin scribbled “cells --> N2” on a stick-it pad and he stuck it on his workbench, to serve as an instant reminder the following day to transfer the vial into a -200oC liquid nitrogen tank for long-term preservation.
“Cancer arises from uncontrolled growth of cells while cancer stem cell, or abbreviated as CSC, is the ‘beeping heart’ of cancer. CSC is believed to be the main cause of the surprising re-occurrence of cancers after seemingly eliminated by treatments.
If human cells such as semen, embryos, cancer cells can be cryopreserved and revived at will, it’s only a matter of time before a whole human being can be revived after cryopreservation. Cryonics could be a common substitute to cremation. Justin debated.
Imagine fire ants invading the bar of chocolate left in your kitchen, you’ll then spray repellents on any visible tracks of these ants. But they keep invading your kitchen, they keep coming back, because you have not eradicated the true cause: the queen ant. The queen continues to breed the soldier ants, the easily visible
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ISSUE 2 / 2012
