Kevin struggled to introduce his lunchmate, and was horrified to realize that for the moment he couldn’t remember her name.
“I’m Candace Brickmann,” Candace said without missing a beat. She reached out a hand. Melanie introduced herself and asked if she could join them.
“By all means,” Candace said.
Candace and Kevin were sitting side by side. Melanie sat opposite.
“Are you responsible for our local genius’s presence at the ptomaine palace?” Melanie asked Candace. Melanie was a sharp-witted, playfully irreverent woman who’d grown up in Manhattan.
“I guess,” Candace said. “Is this unusual for him?”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” Melanie said. “What’s your secret? I’ve asked him to come over here so many times to no avail that I finally gave up, and that was several years ago.”
“You never asked me specifically,” Kevin said in his own defense.
“Oh, really?” Melanie questioned. “What did I have to do-draw you a map? I used to ask if you wanted to grab a burger. Wasn’t that specific enough?”
“Well,” Candace said, straightening up in her seat. “This must be my lucky day.”
Melanie and Candace fell into easy conversation, exchanging job descriptions. Kevin listened but concentrated on his hamburger.
“So we’re all three part of the same project,” Melanie commented when she heard that Candace was the intensive-care nurse of the surgical team from Pittsburgh. “Three peas in a pod.”
“You’re being generous,” Candace said. “I’m just one of the low men on the therapeutic totem pole. I wouldn’t put myself on the same level with you guys. You’re the ones that make it all possible. If you don’t mind my asking, how on earth do you do it?”
“She’s the hero,” Kevin said, speaking up for the first time and nodding toward Melanie.
“Come on, Kevin!” Melanie complained. “I didn’t develop the techniques I use the way you did. There are lots of people who could have done my job, but only you could have done yours. It was your breakthrough that was key.”
“No arguing you two,” Candace said. “Just tell me how it’s done. I’ve been curious from day one, but everything has been so hush-hush. Kevin’s explained the science to me, but I still don’t understand the logistics.”
“Kevin gets a bone-marrow sample from a client,” Melanie said. “From that, he isolates a cell preparing to divide so that the chromosomes are condensed, preferably a stem cell if I’m correct.”
“It’s pretty rare to find a stem cell,” Kevin said.
“Well, then you tell her what you do,” Melanie said to Kevin, with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’ll get it all balled up.”
“I work with a transponase that I discovered almost seven years ago,” Kevin said. “It catalyzes the homologous transposition or crossing over of the short arms of chromosome six.”
“What’s the short arm of chromosome six?” Candace asked.
“Chromosomes have what’s called a centromere that divides them into two segments,” Melanie explained. “Chromosome six has particularly unequal segments. The little ones are called the short arms.”
“Thank you,” Candace said.
“So…” Kevin said, trying to organize his thoughts. “What I do is add my secret transponase to a client’s cell that is preparing to divide. But I don’t let the crossing-over go to completion. I halt it with the two short arms detached from their respective chromosomes. Then I extract them.”
“Wow!” Candace remarked. “You actually take these tiny, tiny strands out of the nucleus. How on earth can you do that!”
“That’s another story,” Kevin said. “Actually I use a monoclonal antibody system that recognizes the backside of the transponase.”
“This is getting over my head,” Candace said.
“Well, forget how he gets the short arms out,” Melanie said. “Just accept it.”
“Okay,” Candace said. “What do you do with these detached short arms?”
Kevin pointed toward Melanie. “I wait for her to work her magic.”
“It’s not magic,” Melanie said. “I’m just a technician. I apply in vitro fertilization techniques to the bonobos, the same techniques that were developed to increase the fertility of captive mountain gorillas. Actually, Kevin and I have to coordinate our efforts because what he wants is a fertilized egg that has yet to divide. Timing is important.”
“I want it just ready to divide,” Kevin said. “So it’s Melanie’s schedule that determines mine. I don’t start my part until she gives me the green light. When she delivers the zygote, I repeat exactly the same procedure that I’d just done with the client’s cell. After removing the bonobo short arms, I inject the client’s short arms into the zygote. Thanks to the transponase they hook right up exactly where they are supposed to be.”
“And that’s it?” Candace said.
“Well, no,” Kevin admitted. “Actually I introduce four transponases, not one. The short arm of chromosome six is the major segment that we’re transferring, but we also transfer a relatively small part of chromosomes nine, twelve, and fourteen. These carry the genes for the ABO blood groups and a few other minor histocompatibility antigens like CD-31 adhesion molecules. But that gets too complicated. Just think about chromosome six. It’s the most important part.”
“That’s because chromosome six contains the genes that make up the major histocompatibility complex,” Candace said knowledgeably.
“Exactly,” Kevin said. He was impressed and smitten. Not only was Candace socially adept, she was also smart and informed.
“Would this protocol work with other animals?” Candace asked.
“What kind would you have in mind?” Kevin asked.
“Pigs,” Candace said. “I know other centers in the U.S. and England have been trying to reduce the destructive effect of complement in transplantation with pig organs by inserting a human gene.”
“Compared with what we are doing that’s like using leeches,” Melanie said. “It’s so old-fashioned because it is treating the symptom, not eliminating its cause.”
“It’s true,” Kevin said. “In our protocol there is no immunological reaction to worry about. Histocompatibility-wise we’re offering an immunological double, especially if I can incorporate a few more of the minor antigens.”
“I don’t know why you are agonizing over them,” Melanie said. “In our first three transplants the clients haven’t had any rejection reaction at all. Zilch!”
“I want it perfect,” Kevin said.
“I’m asking about pigs for several reasons,” Candace said. “First, I think using bonobos may offend some people. Second, I understand there aren’t very many of them.”
“That’s true,” Kevin said. “The total world population of bonobos is only about twenty thousand.”
“That’s my point,” Candace said. “Whereas pigs are slaughtered for bacon by the hundred of thousands.”
“I don’t think my system would work with pigs,” Kevin said. “I don’t know for sure, but I doubt it. The reason it works so well in bonobos, or chimps for that matter, is that their genomes and ours are so similar. In fact, they differ by only one and a half percent.”
“That’s all?” Candace questioned. She was amazed.
“It’s kind of humbling, isn’t it,” Kevin said.
“It’s more than humbling,” Candace said.
“It’s indicative of how close bonobos, chimps, and humans are evolutionarily,” Melanie said. “It’s thought we and our primate cousins have descended from a common ancestor who lived around seven million years ago.”
“That underscores the ethical question about using them,” Candace said, “and why some people might be offended by their use. They look so human. I mean, doesn’t it bother you guys when one of them has to be sacrificed?”
“This liver transplant with Mr. Winchester is only the second that required a sacrifice,” Melanie said. “The other two were kidneys, and the animals are fine.”