When my father and I started a company to 3D print human tissues and organs, some people initially thought we were a little crazy. But since then, much progress has been made, both in our lab and other labs around the world. And given this, we started getting questions like, "If you can grow human body parts, can you also grow animal products like meat and leather?"
父親和我創立公司 從事3D列印人體組織和器官 當初有些人覺得我們有點瘋狂 但進展今非昔比 不只在我們的實驗室,全球皆然 因此有人開始問我們 「如果你們能製造人體部位 能否製造動物產品?例如肉和皮革」
When someone first suggested this to me, quite frankly I thought they were a little crazy, but what I soon came to realize was that this is not so crazy after all. What's crazy is what we do today. I'm convinced that in 30 years, when we look back on today and on how we raise and slaughter billions of animals to make our hamburgers and our handbags, we'll see this as being wasteful and indeed crazy. Did you know that today we maintain a global herd of 60 billion animals to provide our meat, dairy, eggs and leather goods? And over the next few decades, as the world's population expands to 10 billion, this will need to nearly double to 100 billion animals.
當我第一次聽到有人這麼提議 老實說我覺得他們才有點瘋狂 但是我很快就明白 畢竟這沒什麼瘋狂 我們現行的做法才瘋狂 我確信30年以後 回顧今天 我們飼養並屠宰數十億牲畜 以製作漢堡和手提包 我們會明瞭這既浪費 又很瘋狂 你是否知道我們現在飼養了 全球共600億牲畜 提供我們所需的肉、乳、蛋、和皮製品? 未來數十年 世界人口將增至100億 牲畜的需求數目幾乎將倍增 約1000億才足夠
But maintaining this herd takes a major toll on our planet. Animals are not just raw materials. They're living beings, and already our livestock is one of the largest users of land, fresh water, and one of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases which drive climate change. On top of this, when you get so many animals so close together, it creates a breeding ground for disease and opportunities for harm and abuse. Clearly, we cannot continue on this path which puts the environment, public health, and food security at risk.
但是養這麼多牲畜 造成地球的沉重負擔 牲畜不僅是原料 也是活生生之物 我們的牲畜已經是 土地最大的使用者之一 最大的淡水消耗者之一 最大的溫室氣體排放者之一 溫室氣體導致氣候變遷 除此之外 這麼多動物密集飼養 會造成疾病的溫床 和動物被傷害和虐待的可能性 顯然這條路難以為繼 因為環境、公共衛生 食品安全都面臨風險
There is another way, because essentially, animal products are just collections of tissues, and right now we breed and raise highly complex animals only to create products that are made of relatively simple tissues. What if, instead of starting with a complex and sentient animal, we started with what the tissues are made of, the basic unit of life, the cell?
但是有另一條路,因為基本上 動物製品是由組織構成 我們現在飼養的 是高度複雜的牲畜 我們要的卻只是 他們身上相對簡單的組織 我們與其著手於複雜 有知覺的動物 不如著手於組織的成分 也就是生命的基本單位 細胞
This is biofabrication, where cells themselves can be used to grow biological products like tissues and organs. Already in medicine, biofabrication techniques have been used to grow sophisticated body parts, like ears, windpipes, skin, blood vessels and bone, that have been successfully implanted into patients. And beyond medicine, biofabrication can be a humane, sustainable and scalable new industry.
這是生物製造(biofabrication),利用細胞 培養生物產品 例如組織和器官 醫學界已經 使用生物製造技術 培養複雜的身體部位 例如耳朵、氣管、皮膚、血管、骨骼 都已成功地植入病人體內 醫學用途之外,生物製造也可以是 人道、永續、容易調整規模的新工業
And we should begin by reimagining leather. I emphasize leather because it is so widely used. It is beautiful, and it has long been a part of our history. Growing leather is also technically simpler than growing other animal products like meat. It mainly uses one cell type, and it is largely two-dimensional. It is also less polarizing for consumers and regulators. Until biofabrication is better understood, it is clear that, initially at least, more people would be willing to wear novel materials than would be willing to eat novel foods, no matter how delicious. In this sense, leather is a gateway material, a beginning for the mainstream biofabrication industry. If we can succeed here, it brings our other consumer bioproducts like meat closer on the horizon.
我們應該從改造皮革開始 我著重於皮革因為其使用廣泛 它美麗又歷史悠久 製造皮革的技術較簡單 不像製造肉那麼困難 皮革以一種細胞為主 大體上是平面的構造 對於消費者和監管單位也較無爭議 在更暸解生物製造之前 顯然,至少剛開始時 較多人會願意穿戴新奇的材質 較少人會願意吃新奇的食物 無論有多好吃 從這個角度,皮革是個途徑 可以開創主流生物製造工業 如果皮革成功了 其他消費性生物製品,例如肉 就有一線希望了
Now how do we do it? To grow leather, we begin by taking cells from an animal, through a simple biopsy. The animal could be a cow, lamb, or even something more exotic. This process does no harm, and Daisy the cow can live a happy life. We then isolate the skin cells and multiply them in a cell culture medium. This takes millions of cells and expands them into billions. And we then coax these cells to produce collagen, as they would naturally. This collagen is the stuff between cells. It's natural connective tissue. It's the extracellular matrix, but in leather, it's the main building block. And what we next do is we take the cells and their collagen and we spread them out to form sheets, and then we layer these thin sheets on top of one another, like phyllo pastry, to form thicker sheets, which we then let mature. And finally, we take this multilayered skin and through a shorter and much less chemical tanning process, we create leather. And so I'm very excited to show you, for the first time, the first batch of our cultured leather, fresh from the lab. This is real, genuine leather, without the animal sacrifice. It can have all the characteristics of leather because it is made of the same cells, and better yet, there is no hair to remove, no scars or insect's bites, and no waste. This leather can be grown in the shape of a wallet, a handbag or a car seat. It is not limited to the irregular shape of a cow or an alligator.
我們是怎麼做到的? 製造皮革首先要做簡單的切片 取出動物的細胞 該動物可以是牛 羊、甚至較奇特的動物 這個步驟不會傷害動物 牛小姐可以繼續快樂生活 我們然後分離皮膚細胞 以便在培養液裡繁殖 數百萬的細胞 繁殖到數十億 然後我們誘導細胞製造膠原蛋白 這是其天然功能 在細胞之間的膠原蛋白 是天然的結締組織 是細胞外基質 但在皮革裡是主要的成分 下一步是萃取細胞及膠原蛋白 將其鋪展成薄片 再把薄片堆疊起來 形成較厚層,像酥皮糕點 然後待其成熟 最後這種多層的皮膚 再經過較短少的化學製革程序 皮革於焉而生 我以激動的心情向各位展示 我們首次 第一批培養出來的皮革 實驗室剛剛出爐 這是真的皮革 沒有動物被殺害 它能具有皮革全部的特性 因為組成的細胞相同 但更勝一籌的是 不用除毛 沒有疤痕或蟲咬 也不會有浪費 這種皮革能一體成型,長成皮夾 手提包或汽車座位的形狀 不限不規則的形狀像是牛皮 或鱷魚的皮
And because we make this material, we grow this leather from the ground up, we can control its properties in very interesting ways. This piece of leather is a mere seven tissue layers thick, and as you can see, it is nearly transparent. And this leather is 21 layers thick and quite opaque. You don't have that kind of fine control with conventional leather. And we can tune this leather for other desirable qualities, like softness, breathability, durability, elasticity and even things like pattern. We can mimic nature, but in some ways also improve upon it. This type of leather can do what today's leather does, but with imagination, probably much more.
因為這是我們製造的 從頭開始培養的皮革 我們可以控制其性質,很有趣 這個皮革 組織僅有七層 可以看得出幾乎是透明的 這個皮革是21層,相當不透明 這種細緻的操控 是普通的皮革所無 我們能調整其他想要的性質 例如柔軟度、透氣度 耐久度、彈性、甚至花樣 我們可以模仿自然 但有些方面也能加以改進 現有皮革的功能,這種皮革都有 但運用想像力,功能還可能更多
What could the future of animal products look like? It need not look like this, which is actually the state of the art today. Rather, it could be much more like this. Already, we have been manufacturing with cell cultures for thousands of years, beginning with products like wine, beer and yogurt. And speaking of food, our cultured food has evolved, and today we prepare cultured food in beautiful, sterile facilities like this. A brewery is essentially a bioreactor. It is where cell culture takes place. Imagine that in this facility, instead of brewing beer, we were brewing leather or meat. Imagine touring this facility, learning about how the leather or meat is cultured, seeing the process from beginning to end, and even trying some. It's clean, open and educational, and this is in contrast to the hidden, guarded and remote factories where leather and meat is produced today. Perhaps biofabrication is a natural evolution of manufacturing for mankind. It's environmentally responsible, efficient and humane. It allows us to be creative. We can design new materials, new products, and new facilities. We need to move past just killing animals as a resource to something more civilized and evolved. Perhaps we are ready for something literally and figuratively more cultured.
動物產品的未來如何? 不必像這個樣子 其實這已是目前最先進的 但是更可以像這樣 我們已經把培養的細胞用於生產 並有數千年歷史,最早的產品 包括酒、啤酒、酸酪乳 說到食品,培養食品歷經演變 現在的培養食品來自 這種美麗、殺菌過的廠房 啤酒廠基本上是生物反應器 細胞的培養在此進行 試想在這個廠房 不是釀造啤酒 而是培養皮革 或肉 想想看參觀這個廠房 學習皮革和肉的培養 觀察從頭到尾的製造程序 甚至試吃試用 清潔、開放、具教育意義 這截然不同於現在 隱秘、門禁森嚴、偏遠的 皮革工廠和肉工廠 或許生物製造 是人類製造方式的自然演進 它環保 有效率又人道 我們得以發揮創造力 我們能設計新材質、新產品 新廠房 我們應該超越殺害動物 不必為資源而殺生 應該轉向更文明與進步的方式 或許我們已準備迎接 更多培養的、文明的產品
Thank you.
謝謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)