The Wife He Forgot to Marry (Winona and Yule) novel Chapter 238

Winona scanned the resume. The candidate had participated in several major provincial projects and published two high-impact papers. She couldn't help but take a closer look at Zack Charlton.

This was easily the most impressive resume they had seen all day.

Seeing that his four interviewers were all relatively young, Zack carried himself with a noticeable air of arrogance.

Sheldon knew that young, talented people often had egos, which was perfectly normal. But watching Zack answer several questions in a row without even making eye contact was almost comical.

The team at the Riverton Medical Research Institute were the elite of the elite—they hadn't been this full of themselves back in the day. This Zack guy was clearly a bit too green and naive.

Winona asked him a highly technical question regarding RNA drug delivery.

Zack shot her an inquisitive look. He figured Winona probably had no idea what RNA drug delivery even was and was just asking a rehearsed question. Even if he gave a real answer, he doubted she'd understand it.

So, with a dismissive tone, he fired back, "I heard the institute is trying to crack the problem of extrahepatic targeted delivery of RNA. I've read a few papers in top-tier journals, and the current delivery systems still face quite a few bottlenecks in clinical translation, don't they?"

Winona's tone remained perfectly even. "Yes, extrahepatic targeting has always been a hurdle. Do you believe the off-target effects of lipid nanoparticles in pulmonary targeting stem primarily from ligand modification, or from carrier pharmacokinetics?"

Zack froze.

He hadn't expected Winona to cut straight to the core of the technical pain point instead of just grazing the surface of basic theory.

He instinctively sat up straighter, taking a moment to think before answering. "The specificity of ligand modification is definitely an issue, but the stability of the carrier in the bloodstream..."

"Stability is foundational, but I think the more critical factor is the fusion efficiency between the carrier and the target cell membrane," Winona interjected calmly. "I've been considering this lately—if we could introduce a pH-responsive fusion peptide onto the carrier's surface, it might significantly enhance the targeted release efficiency within specific tissue microenvironments."

Zack's eyes lit up instantly.

He had never even considered that approach. Winona's answer had sparked a massive wave of inspiration in his mind.

His arrogant demeanor vanished in a flash, replaced by a look of sheer excitement and awe.

Over the next ten minutes of deep technical discussion, Zack's attitude did a complete 180.

However, it quickly became obvious to everyone that the Riverton Medical Research Institute was packed with heavy hitters. Landing a job there meant learning from the absolute best.

The graduates who were serious about a career in R&D immediately started texting their friends and classmates.

*

Tallulah and her HR team were running their own recruiting event in a different building on campus.

The Locke Group's R&D capabilities and salary packages ranked near the top of Riverton's pharmaceutical companies, so naturally, they drew a crowd. Two long lines of eager students had formed.

Tallulah flipped through the resumes with a critical eye. The candidates were painfully average, but that was fine—they had plenty of options and could afford to be picky.

About fifteen minutes later, she suddenly noticed that the two lines had shrunk by nearly half.

Frowning, she turned to her assistant. "What's going on? Where did everyone go?"