Super God-Level Top Student

However, this is not a big issue for graduate students; without a strong heart, they would've already become depressed from staying in the lab.

In any case, everyone was very enthusiastic about signing up, which gave Tan Jian a headache.

Finally, without affecting other projects, the candidate was selected. After adding the research management system provided by Dou Dou, everyone realized that it wasn't just their lab involved. Two other domestic labs had also been included in this research plan, and there remained a competitive relationship between them.

Fortunately, the tasks everyone worked on were quite similar, and they often ran into the professors from other labs at industry conferences, especially the lab at Nanhe University, with which Tan Jian was very familiar. Because Nanhe University was his alma mater from his undergraduate days, and its bioelectronics lab was still in preparation when he was applying for his master's degree.

Later, he was admitted to a graduate program at Huaqing, where he continued to pursue his PhD and stayed on as faculty.

The bioelectronics lab at Nanhe University became a nationally recognized key lab during his PhD days, and after he graduated, they even invited him to return, but by that time, Tan Jian was already married, settled in the Capital, and had secured a faculty position at his alma mater with his advisor's recommendation, so he politely declined.

However, their relationship remained good, and at the time he even recommended a junior from his PhD days to support the lab at Nanhe University.

Now, his former junior has become the deputy director of the lab. With the lab having secured two national projects, assisted by Tan Jian's support, their relationship naturally became stronger.

So, when Tan Jian saw the name of Nanhe's key bio lab in the system, he didn't hesitate to pick up the phone and call his former junior.

"Director Zhou..."

"Hey, senior brother, what director? Just call me Little Zhou, it sounds better."

"Haha, no way, what if the teacher hears? If he knows I still call you that, he will lecture me for not understanding the situation."

"The teacher has been retired for so long... Anyway, let's not talk about that. Did you call to discuss the collaboration with Xilin? I saw your lab in the system too."

"Yes, what? You've also been invited to participate in this project?"

"Yes, don't even mention it. We received that email from Dou Dou, and originally the institute was going to discuss it the next day, but when we replied, they immediately said if we needed another day to discuss and couldn't give an immediate answer, then we wouldn't fit the collaboration, citing efficiency concerns and considering switching to another partner.

In the end, it was me and Xu who made the decision directly, taking on this task. Now the burden's all on us. If we can't produce results or if anything goes wrong, Xu and I will have to shoulder it..."

Zhou obviously started ranting crazily, and Tan Jian just pursed his lips, not wanting to say much.

Although the other person was his former junior, after all, they were no longer at the same institution. And he knew that the situation in the lab at Nanhe University was slightly different than theirs.

They had Academician Wang here to stabilize things, so no one else had any ulterior motives.

The lab at Nanhe University had also been established by an academician, but he had completely retired a few years ago due to health reasons, hence the internal situation of the lab became somewhat complex.

To put it nicely, it was internal competition. To put it less nicely...

Well, Tan Jian didn't care to comment on the unpleasant aspects. After all, wherever there are people, there are conflicts, especially since his junior was considered an outsider...

"Anyway, if you're really unhappy, you can come back to Huaqing. I'll talk to Wang and see if I can arrange a position for you, but don't count on being a deputy director; just being a researcher could be quite good."

"Haha, it won't come to that, it's still manageable here. Besides, if I went to the Capital, what would Min do? She can't go to Huaqing either. Ah..."

Indeed, middle-aged men are not so free.

"Alright, let's drop that subject. What project did your side take on? You didn't sign a confidentiality agreement, did you?"

"No need for that, we need to design a bio microelectrode array, allowing electrical signals and biological signals to convert without loss."

"Based on RNA circuit technology?"

"Yes, quite challenging. If the RNA circuits can remain stable and not degrade over a long period, their advantages over DNA circuits are too many to count. They can be continuously produced in cells via the transcription process. Theoretically, cells could continuously and uninterruptedly produce new RNA circuits. If this technology succeeds, no need for culturing and transplanting outside the body; it could be used perpetually."

"It seems like Xilin Mathematics Research Institute really plans to go big this time. Our project involves creating encoders and decoders for biochemical signals, also based on RNA circuit technology. Combined with your micro arrays, Xilin Mathematics Research Institute is aiming for the domain of biological complex calculations?"

"Yeah, likely a biological computer. But this is typical of the Xilin Mathematics Research Institute. They don't bother with non-major projects."

"And these major projects are always initiated by them, ah..." Tan Jian sighed deeply.

This is possibly what they, the research fellows involved in scientific research, envy, resent, and hate the most.

No need to prepare a ton of materials and go through countless approvals, then overcome numerous challenges and compete with a group for sparse research funding.