Imagine that you're a pig farmer. You live on a small farm in the Philippines. Your animals are your family's sole source of income -- as long as they're healthy. You know that any day, one of your pigs can catch the flu, the swine flu. Living in tight quarters, one pig coughing and sneezing may soon lead to the next pig coughing and sneezing, until an outbreak of swine flu has taken over your farm. If it's a bad enough virus, the health of your herd may be gone in the blink of an eye. If you called in a veterinarian, he or she would visit your farm and take samples from your pigs' noses and mouths. But then they would have to drive back into the city to test those samples in their central lab. Two weeks later, you'd hear back the results. Two weeks may be just enough time for infection to spread and take away your way of life.
想像一下你是一個養豬人, 你住在菲律賓的一個小農場。 你的動物是你家庭的唯一收入來源, 牠們一定得保持健康。 你知道總會有一天, 其中一隻豬會得禽流感, 豬流感。 牠們住在狹小的住所裡, 一隻豬咳嗽和打噴嚏, 遲早會造成下一隻豬咳嗽和打噴嚏, 直達豬流感爆發,佔領農場。 如果是一個很嚴重的病毒, 你豬群的健康可能 就在眨眼間灰飛煙滅。 如果你聯繫一個獸醫, 他或她可能會造訪你的農場, 並從豬的鼻子和口腔中採集樣本, 但是接下來,他們需要開車回城市, 在他們的大型實驗室中測試樣本, 兩週後,你會得到結果, 兩周時間可能足夠疾病傳染, 並奪走你賴以為生的東西。
But it doesn't have to be that way. Today, farmers can take those samples themselves. They can jump right into the pen and swab their pigs' noses and mouths with a little filter paper, place that little filter paper in a tiny tube, and mix it with some chemicals that will extract genetic material from their pigs' noses and mouths. And without leaving their farms, they take a drop of that genetic material and put it into a little analyzer smaller than a shoebox, program it to detect DNA or RNA from the swine flu virus, and within one hour get back the results, visualize the results. This reality is possible because today we're living in the era of personal DNA technology. Every one of us can actually test DNA ourselves.
但是事情並不一定會發展成那樣, 現在,農場主可以自己採集樣本, 他們可以直接進入豬圈 用一張小濾紙擦豬的鼻子和口腔, 把濾紙放在一個試管內, 並加入一些能夠從鼻子及口腔 提取基因的化學材料, 並且不需要離開農場, 取一滴基因材料, 放入一個比鞋盒還小的分析器內, 設置並探測豬流感病毒內的 DNA 和 RNA, 一小時之內就可取得結果, 可視化的結果。 這一切是可能的, 因為我們活在一個 個人 DNA 技術的時代。 每一個人都可以檢測自己的 DNA。
DNA is the fundamental molecule the carries genetic instructions that help build the living world. Humans have DNA. Pigs have DNA. Even bacteria and some viruses have DNA too. The genetic instructions encoded in DNA inform how our bodies develop, grow, function. And in many cases, that same information can trigger disease. Your genetic information is strung into a long and twisted molecule, the DNA double helix, that has over three billion letters, beginning to end. But the lines that carry meaningful information are usually very short -- a few dozen to several thousand letters long. So when we're looking to answer a question based on DNA, we actually don't need to read all those three billion letters, typically. That would be like getting hungry at night and having to flip through the whole phone book from cover to cover, pausing at every line, just to find the nearest pizza joint.
DNA 是攜帶 遺傳信息結構的基本分子, 它幫助我們建造 這個生機勃勃的世界。 人類有 DNA。 豬有 DNA。 甚至細菌和一些病毒都有 DNA。 DNA 攜帶的遺傳信息結構告訴我們 我們會怎樣進化、成長、運作。 在很多情況下, 一樣的遺傳信息會造成疾病。 你的基因信息 被串在一個長條的旋轉分子中, DNA 雙螺旋結構。 從頭到尾,有超過 30 億個字母。 但是攜帶有意義信息的片段 通常其實很短—— 幾十到幾千個字母那麼長。 所以當我們需要根據 DNA 來解決一個問題的時候, 我們並不需要閱讀 所有 30 億個字母。 這就像是在晚上感覺到飢餓, 要翻遍整本電話簿, 從頭到尾, 查看每一行, 只為了找到最近的披薩店。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Luckily, three decades ago, humans started to invent tools that can find any specific line of genetic information. These DNA machines are wonderful. They can find any line in DNA. But once they find it, that DNA is still tiny, and surrounded by so much other DNA, that what these machines then do is copy the target gene, and one copy piles on top of another, millions and millions and millions of copies, until that gene stands out against the rest; until we can visualize it, interpret it, read it, understand it, until we can answer: Does my pig have the flu? Or other questions buried in our own DNA: Am I at risk of cancer? Am I of Irish descent? Is that child my son?
幸運的是,三十年前, 人類開始研究能夠追蹤 特定遺傳信息片段的工具, 這些 DNA 機器棒極了。 它們可以找到任何 DNA 的片段。 但是一旦找到了片段, 微小的 DNA 依舊被無數 其他 DNA 環繞著, 及其接下來做的, 就是複製目標基因片段, 一段複製基因 堆在另一段複製基因上, 它會複製上百萬份基因, 直到目標基因從中脫穎而出, 直到我們能夠把它可視化, 能夠翻譯它、讀取它、理解它, 直到我們能夠回答, 我的豬得流感了嗎? 或者其他埋藏在我們基因裡的問題, 我有患癌風險嗎? 我有愛爾蘭血統嗎? 那是我的兒子嗎?
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
This ability to make copies of DNA, as simple as it sounds, has transformed our world. Scientists use it every day to detect and address disease, to create innovative medicines, to modify foods, to assess whether our food is safe to eat or whether it's contaminated with deadly bacteria. Even judges use the output of these machines in court to decide whether someone is innocent or guilty based on DNA evidence. The inventor of this DNA-copying technique was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993. But for 30 years, the power of genetic analysis has been confined to the ivory tower, or bigwig PhD scientist work. Well, several companies around the world are working on making this same technology accessible to everyday people like the pig farmer, like you.
這種複製基因能力 就和它聽起來一樣簡單, 這已經改變了我們的世界。 科學家每天都在使用這個技術, 發現並解決疾病, 研發創新藥物, 改變食物, 評估我們的食物是否安全, 或者是否被致命細菌污染, 甚至法官都會在法庭上使用 這些機器的測驗結果, 根據 DNA 證物, 來判斷誰是清白或有罪的。 基因複製技術的發明者 1993 年獲得了化學諾貝爾獎。 但是 30 年裡, 基因分析的能力 一直被限制在象牙塔內, 只被有能力的博士科學家所用。 但是,世界上的一些公司, 正在研究如何讓這些技術 普及到像養豬人一樣的普通民眾中, 比如說你們。
I cofounded one of these companies. Three years ago, together with a fellow biologist and friend of mine, Zeke Alvarez Saavedra, we decided to make personal DNA machines that anyone could use. Our goal was to bring DNA science to more people in new places. We started working in our basements. We had a simple question: What could the world look like if everyone could analyze DNA? We were curious, as curious as you would have been if I had shown you this picture in 1980.
我和別人成立了其中一家公司, 三年前, 我和一個生物學家也是我的朋友, 齊克·阿爾瓦雷斯·薩維德拉, 我們決定研究每個人都可以 使用的個人基因機器, 我們的目標是把個人基因技術 帶給更多人和地方。 我們在地下室裡開始工作。 我們有一個很簡單的問題: 如果每個人都能夠分析基因, 這個世界會變成什麼樣? 我們很好奇, 就跟我在 1980 給你們看 這張照片一樣,
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
You would have thought, "Wow! I can now call my Aunt Glenda from the car and wish her a happy birthday. I can call anyone, anytime. This is the future!" Little did you know, you would tap on that phone to make dinner reservations for you and Aunt Glenda to celebrate together. With another tap, you'd be ordering her gift. And yet one more tap, and you'd be "liking" Auntie Glenda on Facebook. And all of this, while sitting on the toilet.
你會想:「哇, 我現在可以從車上 打電話給格蘭達姑姑了, 並祝她生日快樂。 我可以隨時給任何人打電話, 這就是未來!」 你們不知道的是, 你可以點擊手機預定晚餐位置, 讓你和格蘭達姑姑能夠一起慶祝。 再點擊一下,你就能訂購禮物送她。 再點擊一下, 你就能在格蘭達姑姑的臉書上點讚。 這一切,都可以坐在馬桶上完成。
(Laughter)
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It is notoriously hard to predict where new technology might take us. And the same is true for personal DNA technology today.
預測未來科技的發展方向 是出了名的難, 現在的個人基因技術也是一樣。
For example, I could never have imagined that a truffle farmer, of all people, would use personal DNA machines. Dr. Paul Thomas grows truffles for a living. We see him pictured here, holding the first UK-cultivated truffle in his hands, on one of his farms. Truffles are this delicacy that stems from a fungus growing on the roots of living trees. And it's a rare fungus. Some species may fetch 3,000, 7,000, or more dollars per kilogram. I learned from Paul that the stakes for a truffle farmer can be really high. When he sources new truffles to grow on his farms, he's exposed to the threat of knockoffs -- truffles that look and feel like the real thing, but they're of lower quality. But even to a trained eye like Paul's, even when looked at under a microscope, these truffles can pass for authentic. So in order to grow the highest quality truffles, the ones that chefs all over the world will fight over, Paul has to use DNA analysis. Isn't that mind-blowing? I bet you will never look at that black truffle risotto again without thinking of its genes.
比如說,我從來不會想到 一個普普通通的松露養殖者, 能夠使用個人基因機器。 保羅托馬斯博士以種植松露維生。 我們看他的照片, 手上抓著他農場種植的 第一個英國產的松露, 松露是這麼美味, 因為它是生長在樹上的真菌, 而且還是稀有真菌。 一些品種能夠到每公斤三千、 七千,甚至更多美金, 我從保羅那裡學到, 當一個松露農的賭注是很高的, 當他在農場中種植新的松露的時候, 他有可能會面臨山寨貨—— 看起來和摸起來像是松露。 但是它們的品質都很低, 但是像保羅這樣訓練過的眼睛, 即使把它放在顯微鏡下觀察, 它們也有可能矇混過關, 所以為了種植最高品質的松露, 那種世界上的廚師會為之爭奪的, 保羅需要用基因分析技術, 這不令人興奮嗎? 我打賭下一次你看著一盤 黑松露燉飯的時候, 一定會思考它的基因。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
But personal DNA machines can also save human lives. Professor Ian Goodfellow is a virologist at the University of Cambridge. Last year he traveled to Sierra Leone. When the Ebola outbreak broke out in Western Africa, he quickly realized that doctors there lacked the basic tools to detect and combat disease. Results could take up to a week to come back -- that's way too long for the patients and the families who are suffering. Ian decided to move his lab into Makeni, Sierra Leone. Here we see Ian Goodfellow moving over 10 tons of equipment into a pop-up tent that he would equip to detect and diagnose the virus and sequence it within 24 hours. But here's a surprise: the same equipment that Ian could use at his lab in the UK to sequence and diagnose Ebola, just wouldn't work under these conditions. We're talking 35 Celsius heat and over 90 percent humidity here. But instead, Ian could use personal DNA machines small enough to be placed in front of the air-conditioning unit to keep sequencing the virus and keep saving lives.
但是個人基因技術 還可以拯救人類生命。 伊恩·古德費洛教授 是劍橋大學的病毒學家, 去年,他去了塞拉利昂, 去年當伊波拉病毒 在非洲西部爆發的時候, 他迅速的意識到那裡的醫生缺少 基礎探測和抵禦病毒的工具。 探測結果可能 要花一周時間才會得到, 這對於經受痛苦的 病人和家人來說太久了, 伊恩決定把他的實驗室搬到 塞拉利昂的馬克尼, 我們可以看到伊恩·古德費洛 搬運超過十噸重的設備 到一個帳篷裡, 他能夠在 24 小時內組裝 並開始探測和診斷病毒 及其基因序列。 但是,令人驚訝的是, 伊恩在他英國的實驗室 能夠使用這樣的設備, 用來排序和診斷伊波拉基因, 在這個條件下卻無法工作, 我說的可是 35 度的高溫 和 91% 的濕度。 但是,伊恩可以使用個人基因機器, 小到能夠放置在空調前面, 繼續排列病毒基因, 繼續拯救生命。
This may seem like an extreme place for DNA analysis, but let's move on to an even more extreme environment: outer space. Let's talk about DNA analysis in space. When astronauts live aboard the International Space Station, they're orbiting the planet 250 miles high. They're traveling at 17,000 miles per hour. Picture that -- you're seeing 15 sunsets and sunrises every day. You're also living in microgravity, floating. And under these conditions, our bodies can do funky things. One of these things is that our immune systems get suppressed, making astronauts more prone to infection.
這可能看起來對於分析基因是 一個很極端的環境, 但是讓我們想想更極端的環境: 外太空。 讓我們來談談在外太空的基因分析。 當太空人住在國際太空站的時候, 他們正在四百公里外的高空, 以每小時二萬七千公里的 速度環繞地球。 想像一下, 每天,你還看見 15 次日出和日落, 而且你住在微重力下, 漂浮著。 在這些情況下,我們的身體 會做一些奇怪的反應, 其中的一件就是 我們的免疫系統會被抑制, 讓太空人更容易被感染。
A 16-year-old girl, a high school student from New York, Anna-Sophia Boguraev, wondered whether changes to the DNA of astronauts could be related to this immune suppression, and through a science competition called "Genes In Space," Anna-Sophia designed an experiment to test this hypothesis using a personal DNA machine aboard the International Space Station. Here we see Anna-Sophia on April 8, 2016, in Cape Canaveral, watching her experiment launch to the International Space Station. That cloud of smoke is the rocket that brought Anna-Sophia's experiment to the International Space Station, where, three days later, astronaut Tim Peake carried out her experiment -- in microgravity. Personal DNA machines are now aboard the International Space Station, where they can help monitor living conditions and protect the lives of astronauts.
一個 16 歲的女孩, 一個來自紐約的高中生, 安娜索菲亞.博古拉, 她想知道太空人基因的變化 是否和免疫系統的抑制有關, 通過一個叫做「太空基因」的比賽, 安娜索菲亞設計了一個實驗 來檢驗這一個假說, 使用一個登上國際太空站的 個人基因機器。 我們看到 2016 年 8 月 8 號, 安娜索菲亞在卡納維爾角, 看著她的實驗被送上國際太空間站, 那朵雲是火箭產生的煙霧, 那個火箭帶著安娜索菲亞的 實驗飛往國際太空站, 在那裡,三天後, 太空人蒂姆·皮克 在微重力下進行了實驗, 國際太空站現在有了個人基因機器, 它能幫助監控生活環境, 並保護太空人生命。
A 16-year-old designing a DNA experiment to protect the lives of astronauts may seem like a rarity, the mark of a child genius. Well, to me, it signals something bigger: that DNA technology is finally within the reach of every one of you.
一個 16 歲的女孩設計了 一個基因試驗, 以保護太空人的生命, 這似乎很少見, 但也表現了孩子的才智。 然而對於我來說, 這代表著更重要的東西, 基因技術終於普及到每個人了。
A few years ago, a college student armed with a personal computer could code an app, an app that is now a social network with more than one billion users. Could we be moving into a world of one personal DNA machine in every home?
幾年前, 一個擁有個人電腦的大學生, 他編寫了一個程式, 一個現在擁有超過 十億用戶的社交網絡。 我們能夠進入一個 每個家庭都有一台 個人基因機器的世界嗎?
I know families who are already living in this reality. The Daniels family, for example, set up a DNA lab in the basement of their suburban Chicago home. This is not a family made of PhD scientists. This is a family like any other. They just like to spend time together doing fun, creative things. By day, Brian is an executive at a private equity firm. At night and on weekends, he experiments with DNA alongside his kids, ages seven and nine, as a way to explore the living world. Last time I called them, they were checking out homegrown produce from the backyard garden. They were testing tomatoes that they had picked, taking the flesh of their skin, putting it in a test tube, mixing it with chemicals to extract DNA and then using their home DNA copier to test those tomatoes for genetically engineered traits.
我知道一些已經實現這個的家庭, 比如說,丹尼爾的家庭, 在他們芝加哥城郊家裡的地下室裡 建立了一個基因實驗室, 這不是一個擁有博士科學家的家庭, 這是一個普通的家庭。 他們只是喜歡花時間一起做一些 有趣和有創造力的事情。 白天,布萊恩是一家 私人企業的執行長, 晚上和週末, 他和他七歲和九歲的孩子, 進行基因實驗, 當成一個探索世界的方式。 上一次我給他們打電話的時候, 他們正在檢驗家裡後院種植的產品。 他們正在檢測他們挑選的番茄, 挑出番茄的外表皮和肉, 放在檢測管裡, 和化學材料混合抽取基因, 然後用他們家裡的基因複製器, 檢測那些蕃茄是否有基改的跡象。
For the Daniels family, the personal DNA machine is like the chemistry set for the 21st century. Most of us may not yet be diagnosing genetic conditions in our kitchen sinks or doing at-home paternity testing.
對於丹尼爾的家庭來說, 個人基因機器就像是 21 世紀的化學套裝, 我們中的大多數人都沒有辦法 檢測廚房水槽內的基因。 或者在家裡做親子鑑定。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
But we've definitely reached a point in history where every one of you could actually get hands-on with DNA in your kitchen. You could copy, paste and analyze DNA and extract meaningful information from it. And it's at times like this that profound transformation is bound to happen; moments when a transformative, powerful technology that was before limited to a select few in the ivory tower, finally becomes within the reach of every one of us, from farmers to schoolchildren. Think about the moment when phones stopped being plugged into the wall by cords, or when computers left the mainframe and entered your home or your office.
但是我們已經到達了歷史的轉折點, 你們每一個人 都可以在廚房裡接觸基因。 你們可以複製、合成和分析基因 並從中取出有用的信息, 這些重大的改變 是時候要發生了。 這個顛覆性的技術 之前被選擇性的錮在象牙塔內, 終於能夠普及到每一個人, 從農場主到學生。 想像一下, 當電話不再需要被插在牆上充電, 或者電腦不需要主機, 而且可以安置在家裡或辦公室。
The ripples of the personal DNA revolution may be hard to predict, but one thing is certain: revolutions don't go backwards, and DNA technology is already spreading faster than our imagination.
個人基因革命 可能很難預測, 但是有一件事情是肯定的: 革命不會倒退, 基因技術的傳播 已經比我們想像的要快。
So if you're curious, get up close and personal with DNA -- today. It is in our DNA to be curious.
所以如果你感到好奇, 現在就仔細的看看個人基因技術。 好奇,是存在我們基因中的。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(鼓掌)