The essence of being human is that we solve problems. And when we're faced with enormous problems like disease and climate change, we need to solve them by collaboration.
人之所以為人, 是因為我們會解決問題。 當我們面臨巨大的難關, 如疾病和氣候變遷, 就必須攜手合作,一同解決問題。
I'm excited to tell you about a new kind of collaboration that will absolutely create solutions to these big problems. It's a collaboration that's unexpected because it's between humans and the tiniest organisms that populate our planet: the bacteria and other microbes that live in, on and around us.
我很期待要跟各位分享一種新合作型態, 它一定會找到這些大問題的解方。 這合作型態在我們的意料之外, 因為它包含了人類, 和地球上最小的有機物: 我們生活環境周遭的細菌和微生物。
Bacteria may be small and unseen, but they often have inspired transformative innovations, including the one that has become the cornerstone of my own research. Over the past decade, I've been at the forefront of developing a revolutionary technology called CRISPR that has come from the study of how bacteria fight viral infection. CRISPR is amazing because it allows us to precisely edit the DNA in living organisms, including in people and plants. With CRISPR, we can change, remove or replace the genes that govern the function of cells. This means that we now have the ability to use CRISPR like a word processor to find, cut and paste text.
細菌雖然小到肉眼看不到, 但它們常激盪出科學上劃時代的創新, 我的研究基礎也來自細菌。 過去十年以來,我都站在開發前線, 研發一種嶄新的技術,名叫 CRISPR , 它源自細菌如何抵抗病毒的研究。 CRISPR 很厲害,它讓我們能夠 精準地編輯活體內的 DNA , 包括人體和植物。 有了 CRISPR ,就能移除或替換 主導細胞運作的基因。 現在我們的技術已經能像 用文書處理軟體尋找、剪貼文字一般, 精準地尋找、剪貼基因了。
CRISPR, amazingly, has already cured people of devastating disorders like sickle cell disease, and it's created rice plants that are resistant to both diseases and drought. Incredible, right? But the next world-changing advance with CRISPR will actually come from using it in a way that will allow us to go to the next level by editing genes beyond just in individual organisms. We now have the ability to use CRISPR to edit entire populations of tiny microbes, called microbiomes, that live in and on our bodies.
CRISPR 已治癒許多難病纏身的患者, 如鐮刀型貧血, 還打造出稻米的新品種, 對疾病免疫,也不怕乾旱。 很驚人吧? 但下一項 CRISPR 的突破 源自能夠讓我們 更上一層樓的技術, 能編輯不只單一個有機物的基因。 現在我們有足夠能力用 CRISPR 來編輯整群微生物, 也就是微生物群落, 在我們體內的那些微生物群落。
For decades, scientists studied bacteria one organism at a time, as if each type of bacteria behaved independently. But we now know that bacterial behaviors, both good and bad, result from their interactions within complex microbiomes. In humans, dysfunctional gut microbiomes are associated with diseases as diverse as Alzheimer's and asthma. And in farm animals, microbiomes produce methane, a powerful contributor to climate change. But when they're healthy, both human and animal microbiomes can actually prevent disease and reduce methane emissions. So to harness these benefits, we need a way to precisely and reproducibly control these microbial communities.
科學家幾十年來研究細菌的方式 都是一種一種分別研究, 好像每種細菌都以不同方式運作, 但現在我們知道細菌的行為, 不論好壞, 都是來自各個微生物群落間 複雜的相互作用。 人體腸胃裡不正常運作的微生物群落會 引起多樣的病症,如阿茲海默症和氣喘。 養殖動物方面,微生物群落製造甲烷, 也就是氣候變遷的元兇。 不論人或動物,只要身體健康, 體內的微生物群落其實都能預防疾病、 減少甲烷排放。 為完整發揮這功效, 我們需要一種精準且可再現的方法 來控制微生物群落。
So why have microbiomes been difficult to control in the past? It turns out that microbiomes are very complex, and they're difficult to manipulate. Antibiotics affect the entire microbiome and their overuse can lead to drug resistance. Diet and probiotics are nonspecific and they're often ineffective. Fecal transplants face various challenges to both effectiveness and acceptance.
那為什麼微生物群落至今都這麼難控制呢? 原來是因為微生物群落非常錯綜複雜, 很難操縱。 抗生素會波及到整個微生物群落, 濫用抗生素又可能產生抗藥性。 飲食和益生菌帶來的影響非常籠統, 且大多時候並沒有顯著效用。 糞菌移植則是在有效度和 患者接受度面臨重重難關。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
But with CRISPR, we have a tool that works like a scalpel. It allows us to target a particular gene in a particular kind of cell. With CRISPR, we can change one kind of bacterium without affecting all the others.
但現在 CRISPR 成為我們 手上類似手術刀的工具, 讓我們能精準找出 特定細胞裡的特定基因。 有了 CRISPR ,我們就能 編輯單一種細菌, 且不會波及到其他種。
Another challenge is that less than one percent of the world’s microbial species have been grown and studied in the lab. Fortunately, we can now access the other 99 percent due to the pioneering research of my colleague, Jill Banfield, and her breakthrough technology, metagenomics, which is a tool that allows us to figure out what species are present and what they're doing in a microbial community. Metagenomics creates a detailed blueprint of a complex microbiome, and that means that we can use it to figure out how to use gene editing tools in the right gene, in the right organism.
另一項挑戰是,全世界的所有細菌裡, 只有不到 1% 的細菌 有被研究室培養、研究。 但,很幸運地,現在我們 能研究剩下的 99% 的細菌了。 多虧了我同事吉爾・班菲爾德 開創先河的研究, 以及先進的技術: 總體基因體學, 一種讓我們釐清哪些菌種參與作用,和 不同細菌在細菌群中如何行動的工具。 總體基因體學幫我們精確地 繪製出微生物群落的藍圖, 我們能用這張藍圖 來計畫怎麼用基因編輯工具來編輯 特定有機體裡需要修改的基因。
You might be wondering how we can take this new knowledge and harness it to solve real world problems. Well, we're bringing together these two breakthrough technologies, metagenomics and CRISPR, to create a brand new field of science called precision microbiome editing. This will allow us to discover links between dysfunctional microbiomes and disease or greenhouse gas emissions. We can develop modified and improved microbiome editors and show that they're safe and effective. And we can then begin to deploy these optimized solutions to create the kinds of solutions that will be transformative in the future.
你可能在想該如何應用這新技術 來解決現實世界裡的問題。 這個嘛,科學家正在嘗試結合 這兩個劃時代的創新技術, 總體基因體學和 CRISPR , 來開拓新的科學領域,名叫 「精準微生物群落編輯」, 讓研究員找出不正常運作的微生物群落 與疾病或溫室氣體排放的關聯。 我們能研發新版本的微生物群落編輯器, 向大家證明基因編輯安全又有效。 然後,開始利用這些更好的解決方案 來創造出下一批劃時代的新技術。
So how does this affect our health and the health of our planet? We know the poorest countries and people are the most affected by climate change, and it's a problem created by the wealthiest people. And methane is a big part of the problem. It's been a major contributor to rising global temperatures since preindustrial times. Specific microbiome compositions in livestock can actually reduce methane emissions by up to 80 percent. But doing that today currently requires daily interventions at enormous expense, and it just doesn't scale.
那,這技術跟我們和地球的 健康有什麼關聯呢? 世界最貧窮的國家和人民 受到氣候變遷的影響最大, 但氣候變遷是最富有的人們引起的。 甲烷是氣候變遷裡的一大問題, 它一直以來都是造成氣溫上升的主要原因 從工業時代來臨前就從未改變。 家畜體內特定的微生物群落組成 最多可以減少 80% 甲烷排放量。 但現在實行的話,每天都需要介入,成本太高, 且無法大規模施行。
But with precision microbiome editing, we have an opportunity to modify a calf's microbiome at birth, limiting that animal's impact on the climate for its entire lifetime. And this is beneficial for farmers because reduced methane production means more efficient conversion of feed into food. Importantly, these tools can be used in the future to reduce methane emissions from other sources, like landfills, wastewater and rice paddies. Ultimately, microbiomes generate up to two-thirds of all of the methane emissions globally. So our technology could really move the needle in our fight against climate change.
但有了精準編輯微生物群落的技術, 我們就能在小牛誕生時就 馬上編輯體內的微生物群落, 把牠帶給地球的衝擊 降到最小,一生有效。 這個方案對農夫也有好處, 因為甲烷產出的減少 同時代表著能量轉換效率的上升。 更重要的事,這些工具未來可以運用在 各種需減少甲烷排放的地方, 像是掩埋場、廢水,和稻田。 最後,微生物群落產出的甲烷量 接近全球甲烷總排放量的三分之二。 所以,這個技術能為 阻止氣候變遷做出巨大貢獻。
In human health, asthma affects up to 300 million people around the world, a number that grows by 50 percent each decade, and it disproportionately affects lower-income children. Our team has identified a promising link between a molecule produced in the gut microbiome and asthma development. With precision microbiome editing, we could offer a child at risk for asthma a noninvasive therapy that would eliminate asthma-inducing molecules, changing her life trajectory. And what's really exciting is that these same approaches in the future could help us treat or even prevent human diseases that are linked to the gut microbiome, including obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer's.
人體健康方面, 氣喘在全球影響了接近三億人的生活, 而且患者數量還每年增加 50% 。 氣喘對低收入家庭的小孩影響特別大。 我們的團隊找到了氣喘和 腸胃微生物群落所產生的一種分子 兩者的可能關聯。 有了精準編輯微生物群落的技術, 我們就能提供可能罹患氣喘的小孩 治療氣喘的非侵入式療程, 這療程能殲滅誘發氣喘的分子, 扭轉孩子的人生。 更讓人振奮的是, 以後這套同樣的方法可以幫我們治療, 甚至預防人類身上 與腸胃微生物群落有關的疾病, 包括肥胖和阿茲海默症。
I think it’s fascinating that we can now use CRISPR to edit the same tiny organisms that gave us CRISPR. In doing so, we’re collaborating with the ultimate partner: nature. Together, we can use CRISPR-powered precision microbiome editing to build a more resilient future for all of us.
能用 CRISPR 來編輯 激發我們開發出 CRISPR 的有機體, 我覺得相當不可思議。 使用 CRISPR 是種和大自然的合作。 以 CRISPR 為基礎開發的 微生物群落精準編輯技術, 能讓我們建構修復力更高的未來世界。
Thank you very much.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(鼓掌)