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In a normal human body, after the embryo is fully developed, there will no longer be any totipotent stem cells in the body.

In theory, if there are always totipotent stem cells in the human body, the replacement of cells can be realized all the time, and the human body will not age anymore.

Of course, this is only the most ideal situation in theory, and it will be very difficult to actually realize such a perfect situation.

How to control the dedifferentiation of these totipotent stem cells in a suitable direction is a difficult problem to solve.

After Xu You thought for a while, he said to Gao Mi:

"Professor Gao, please arrange a new experimental subject. The goal is to cultivate a complete individual animal in the laboratory without the use of germ cells. There is another experimental subject, which is to differentiate into all our species through the directed differentiation of totipotent stem cells. needed cells and develop into complete organs."

"Okay, I understand, Academician Xu."

These two experimental topics are of great significance both in biology and medicine.

The first experimental topic looks similar to cloning, but the principle is not the same.

To put it simply, in addition to the somatic cells of animals, cloning also needs the help of egg cells of animals, and the embryos need to grow up in the mother's body.

However, the method of using totipotent stem cells does not require any germ cells, and theoretically does not need to be developed in the mother's body.

The second experimental topic can be regarded as an upgraded version of therapeutic cloning.

Although therapeutic cloning will not develop into a complete individual, it will actually develop into a complete embryo during the treatment process.

And if pluripotent stem cells can be induced to undergo directional differentiation, the process of embryonic development can be skipped and the organs we need can be directly cultivated.

This method is undoubtedly more efficient than therapeutic cloning, and it will completely avoid any ethical issues.

"With Gao Mi's ability to teach them, it should only be a matter of time before solving these experimental topics."

Xu You still trusts Gao Mi and the entire project team, and he can trust them to deal with many problems that are not particularly difficult.

As for those more complicated problems, Xu You had to solve them himself.

At this time, Xu You thought of a more significant topic.

That is, how to achieve eternal life.

Just realizing the reversal of totipotent stem cells only provides a possibility for immortality.

How to make this possibility bigger, there are still many problems to be solved urgently.

Thinking of this, Xu You activated his brain simulation skills and began to simulate a specific environment in his brain.

These days, Xu You has not only learned a lot of knowledge about biology and medicine, but also communicated closely with many experts, which has allowed Xu You to rapidly improve his subject level in these fields.

A solid foundation of subject level supports Xu You to accurately simulate these processes.

Xu You first simulated a totipotent stem cell in his mind, and tried to make the totipotent stem cell develop into a complete embryo.

"Without the protection of the mother, totipotent stem cells are still relatively easy to die. However, as long as the number of cells is sufficient and the environment of the cell culture room is as suitable as possible for cell differentiation, there is no problem in developing into an embryo."

In terms of the survival rate of embryos, the way of totipotent stem cells is not only lower than that of normal germ cells, but also far lower than that of cloning technology.

However, totipotent stem cell technology does not require egg cells after all, which allows this technology to use a large number of cells at a time, even if the success rate is low, it is not a problem.

As long as the technology of stem cell reversal is mature enough, theoretically we can continuously obtain totipotent stem cells.

Next, Xu You continued to simulate the experiment of directed differentiation of totipotent stem cells.

As long as the totipotent stem cells are directional induced to become various multipotent and unipotent stem cells, they can then develop into various organs, tissues, etc. we need.

Such technology can completely solve the problem of lack of organ transplant donors.

As long as patients can provide their own somatic cells, we can reverse these somatic cells into the stem cells we need, and then cultivate corresponding organs.

Because it uses its own cells, there will not be any problem of receptor rejection. After the organs mature, they can be transplanted.

Compared with those artificial organs, it will be more suitable for the patient's body, and there is no need to worry about the possible radiation and interference of any electronic equipment.

It's just that these successful simulation processes haven't satisfied Xu You yet.

After all, even if it is an organ developed from its own cells, it still takes a long time to cultivate, and the transplant operation itself has certain risks.

Xu You hopes that the level that can eventually be achieved is that the totipotent stem cells in the human body can automatically repair cells according to the body's conditions.

In this way, you can always maintain a young body and will not age due to age.

However, such a vision has not been realized in the process of simulation.

"No... Even if the totipotent stem cells are injected into the body, these totipotent stem cells cannot automatically control the direction of differentiation, but differentiate almost randomly. Not only will this not be conducive to the repair of body cells, it may also cause body disorders .”

This kind of feeling is like having a group of elite soldiers, but without a wise general, resulting in a group of dragons without a leader, and the whole situation is like a mess.

Because totipotent stem cells should not exist in fully developed animals, it is almost impossible for them to repair body cells autonomously.

"What if... there is something that can give orders to the totipotent stem cells?"

At this time, Xu You thought of another possibility.

If some way can be used to control all pluripotent stem cells globally so that they can automatically detect the body and automatically renew the cells that need to be renewed according to the body's conditions, then the problem will be solved.

And such technology is not completely unrealized.

"Nanobots... this technology should also be put on the agenda."

The so-called nanorobot refers to a very small robot that can perform various microscopic operations on the nanometer scale.

In some novels and movies, as long as the patient takes the "nano-robot", the robot can automatically carry out various medical operations in the human body.