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EdBoyden_2016T-_由婴儿尿布所启发的大脑研究新法_
Hello, everybody. 大家好。
I brought with me today a baby diaper . 今天我带来了婴儿纸尿布。
diaper:n.尿布;v.给孩子换尿布;
You'll see why in a second . 过一会儿,你就知道为什么了。
in a second:立刻,很快;
Baby diapers have interesting properties. 婴儿纸尿布有个有趣的特性。
diapers:n.(婴儿的)尿布,尿片;(diaper的复数)
They can swell enormously when you add water to them, an experiment done by millions of kids every day. 加了水,它们会胀得极大, 每天有数百万计的小孩子亲身实验。
swell:n.海浪的涌动; v.膨胀; adj.很愉快的; enormously:adv.巨大地,庞大地;非常地,在极大程度上;
(Laughter) （笑声）
But the reason why is that they're designed in a very clever way. 膨胀的原因 是它们的巧妙设计。
They're made out of a thing called a swellable material. 它们是用可膨胀的材料做出来的。
It's a special kind of material that, when you add water, it will swell up enormously, maybe a thousand times in volume . 若你把水加到这种特殊材料中, 它会胀的硕大, 体积约胀大1000倍。
volume:n.体积;容积;音量;响度;一册;合订本
And this is a very useful, industrial kind of polymer . 这是个非常有用的工業类型聚合物。
industrial:adj.工业的,产业的; n.工业股票; polymer:n.[高分子]聚合物;
But what we're trying to do in my group at MIT is to figure out if we can do something similar to the brain. 我在麻省理工学院的研究团队 正尝试要类似地把脑胀大。
Can we make it bigger, big enough that you can peer inside and see all the tiny building blocks , the biomolecules , how they're organized in three dimensions , the structure , the ground truth structure of the brain, if you will? 我们能否把脑胀大, 大到能够往内面窥视, 看里头的小组件、生物分子, 看它们在三度空间的组合方式, 脑的结构,里面的实况？
peer:n.同辈;同龄人;身份(或地位)相同的人;(英国)贵族成员;v.仔细看;端详; building blocks:(儿童玩的)积木;建筑砌块;堆积木;建筑砖块;基石; biomolecules:n.生物分子(biomolecule的复数形式); organized:adj.有组织的; v.组织; (organize的过去分词和过去式) dimensions:n.规模,大小; structure:n.结构;构造;建筑物;vt.组织;构成;建造;
If we could get that, maybe we could have a better understanding of how the brain is organized to yield thoughts and emotions and actions and sensations . 如果办得到, 也许我们能更理解脑的组织, 它是如何产生思想、情感、 行动和感觉。
yield:n.产量;产出;利润;v.屈服;让步;放弃;提供; emotions:n.强烈的感情;激情;情感;(emotion的复数) sensations:n.感觉;轰动;感动;
Maybe we could try to pinpoint the exact changes in the brain that result in diseases , diseases like Alzheimer's and epilepsy and Parkinson's, for which there ar e few treatments , much less cures, 或许我们能尝试准确地查明 那些导致疾病的大脑变化; 像是阿滋海默症、癫痫,和帕金森氏症这些疾病, 只有少数疗法,谈不上治愈;
pinpoint:vt.查明; adj.精确的; n.针尖; diseases:n.[医]病(disease的复数);[医]疾病;[植保]病害;疾病种类; treatments:n.治疗;疗法;对待;处理;讨论;(treatment的复数)
and for which, very often, we don't know the cause or the origins and what's really causing them to occur . 我们往往不知道那些疾病的原因、起源, 以及是什么引发了疾病。
origins:n.起源; (origin的复数) occur:v.发生;出现;存在于;出现在;
Now, our group at MIT is trying to take a different point of view from the way neuroscience has been done over the last hundred years. 我们在麻省理工学院的研究小组 正尝试采取不同的观点, 有别于过往百年研究神经科学的方法。
point of view:观点;见地;立场; neuroscience:n.神经系统科学(指神经病学,神经化学等);
We're designers. We're inventors. 我们设计。我们发明。
We're trying to figure out how to build technologies that let us look at and repair the brain. 我们正尝试找出和开发技术 让我们能审视和修复大脑。
technologies:n.技术;科技(technology的复数); repair:v.修理;修补;修缮;补救;n.修理;修补;修缮;
And the reason is, the brain is incredibly , incredibly complicated . 原因是 大脑令人难以置信地复杂。
incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地; complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式)
So what we've learned over the first century of neuroscience is that the brain is a very complicated network, made out of very specialized cells called neurons with very complex geometries , and electrical currents will flow through these complexly shaped neurons. 回望脑神经科学研究的第一个百年,我们得知了 大脑是个很复杂的网路, 由称做神经元的专门细胞 以复杂的几何形状连结而成; 电流通过这些形状复杂的神经元。
specialized:adj.专业的; v.专门研究(或从事); (specialize的过去式和过去分词) geometries:n.几何图形,几何体;几何尺寸(geometry的复数); electrical:adj.有关电的;电气科学的; complexly:复杂地;合成地;复合地;
Furthermore , neurons are connected in networks. 此外,神经元被连接在网络中。
Furthermore:adv.此外;而且;
They're connected by little junctions called synapses that exchange chemicals and allow the neurons to talk to each other. 它们通过被称为突触的小小连接口交换化学物质, 让神经元彼此间交流讯息。
junctions:n.连接;[电]接头(junction的复数);交叉点; synapses:n.(神经元的)突触(synapse的复数;synapsis的复数) exchange:n.交换;交流;交易所;兑换;v.交换;交易;兑换; chemicals:n.化学制品;化学品;(chemical的复数)
The density of the brain is incredible . 大脑有着不可思议的高密度。
density:n.密度; incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的;
In a cubic millimeter of your brain, there are about 100,000 of these neurons and maybe a billion of those connections. 在每一立方毫米的大脑中 约有十万个神经元, 可能有十亿个连接。
cubic:adj.立方体的,立方的; millimeter:n.毫米;
But it's worse. 十亿个还不止。
So, if you could zoom in to a neuron , and, of course, this is just our artist's rendition of it. 如果你能拉近神经元放大看－ 当然,这仅仅是艺术家的描绘－
neuron:n.[解剖]神经元,神经单位; rendition:n.译文;演奏;提供;引渡逃奴;
What you would see are thousands and thousands of kinds of biomolecules, little nanoscale machines organized in complex, 3D patterns, and together they mediate those electrical pulses , 你会看到成千上万种的生物分子, 这些三度空间、奈米级的小结构, 合起来斡旋调停电脉冲和交换化学物质,
nanoscale:n.纳米级; mediate:vi.调解;斡旋;居中;vt.调停;传达;adj.间接的;居间的; pulses:n.[电子]脉冲(pulse的复数); v.使跳动;
those chemical exchanges that allow neurons to work together to generate things like thoughts and feelings and so forth. 使得神经元一起 产生思想、感觉等等。
generate:v.产生;引起;
Now, we don't know how the neurons in the brain are organized to form networks, and we don't know how the biomolecules are organized within neurons to form these complex, organized machines. 我们不知道大脑中的神经元 如何组织成网路, 我们也不知道生物分子 如何在神经元中 形成这复杂、有秩序的机制。
If we really want to understand this, we're going to need new technologies. 若我们真想了解, 就必须有新的技术。
But if we could get such maps, if we could look at the organization of molecules and neurons and neurons and networks, maybe we could really understand how the brain conducts information from sensory regions , mixes it with emotion and feeling, and generates our decisions and actions. 若我们有这图谱, 若我们看得到分子和神经元的构造, 看得到神经元和网路, 也许我们能真正了解大脑如何传送来自感官区的信号, 混合情绪和情感, 以及产生决策和行动。
organization:n.组织;机构;体制;团体; conducts:vi.导电;带领;vt.管理;引导;表现;n.进行;行为;实施; sensory:adj.感觉的;知觉的;传递感觉的; regions:n.地区;地域;行政区;左近;(region的复数) mixes:n.混淆;调拌料(mix的复数);v.混合(mix的第三人称单数); generates:[计]生成;发生;
Maybe we could pinpoint the exact set of molecular changes that occur in a brain disorder . 也许我们可以确切查明脑病变中发生的分子改变。
molecular:adj.[化学]分子的;由分子组成的; disorder:n.混乱;骚乱;vt.使失调;扰乱;
And once we know how those molecules have changed, whether they've increased in number or changed in pattern, we could use those as targets for new drugs, for new ways of delivering energy into the brain 一旦我们察觉分子如何改变－ 不论是数目增加或是型态改变－ 我们可以把这些当作病灶来开发新药, 以新的方式把能量送到大脑,
in order to repair the brain computations that are afflicted in patients who suffer from brain disorders . 修复受脑疾折磨的患者的脑。
computations:n.[数]计算;计算指令(computation的复数形式); afflicted:v.折磨;使痛苦;(afflict的过去式和过去分词) patients:n.接受治疗者,病人;(patient的复数) disorders:n.无秩序,混乱; v.[电子]扰乱(disorder的单三形式);
We've all seen lots of different technologies over the last century to try to confront this. 上个世纪有许多技术 尝试面对这个问题。
confront:v.直面;无法回避;降临于;处理;对抗;
I think we've all seen brain scans taken using MRI machines. 我们都见过核磁共振成像仪被用来扫描脑部。
These, of course, have the great power that they are noninvasive , they can be used on living human subjects. 它们适用于研究活生生的人体 不具有侵入性。
noninvasive:adj.非侵袭的;非侵害的;
But also, they're spatially crude . 但同时,它们的成像粗糙。
spatially:adv.空间地;存在于空间地; crude:adj.粗略的;简略的;大概的;粗糙的;n.原油;石油;
Each of these blobs that you see, or voxels, as they're called, can contain millions and millions of neurons. 这些斑点,或者称为立体像素, 可能含有数以百万计的神经元。
blobs:n.斑点(blob的复数);v.溅污(blob的三单形式);
So it's not at the level of resolution where it can pinpoint the molecular changes that occur or the changes in the wiring of these networks that contributes to our ability to be conscious and powerful beings. 这样的解析度 不足以查明是哪些分子的改变 或哪些网路连结的变动, 这些网络连接使我们身为有意识的强大生物。
resolution:n.解决;分辨;解析;决议; contributes:[图情]投稿;[经]捐助;[经]捐献(contribute的第三人称单数); conscious:adj.意识到的;故意的;神志清醒的;
At the other extreme , you have microscopes . 在另一端,有显微镜。
extreme:adj.极端的;极度的;偏激的;尽头的;n.极端;末端;最大程度;极端的事物; microscopes:n.[光]显微镜(microscope的复数);
Microscopes, of course, will use light to look at little tiny things. 显微镜以射入光来看微小的东西。
For centuries, they've been used to look at things like bacteria . 数百年来被用以观察像细菌这样的小东西。
bacteria:n.[微]细菌;
For neuroscience, microscopes are actually how neurons were discovered in the first place ,about 130 years ago. 就神经科学来说, 约130年前用显微镜首次发现了神经元。
in the first place:首先;起初;
But light is fundamentally limited . 但是光本身有限制。
fundamentally:adv.从根本上;基础地;重要地 limited:adj.有限的; n.高级快车; v.限制; (limit的过去分词和过去式)
You can't see individual molecules with a regular old microscope. 用普通的旧式光学显微镜无法看到单个分子。
individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的;
You can't look at these tiny connections. 看不到这些微小的连接。
So if we want to make our ability to see the brain more powerful, to get down to the ground truth structure, we're going to need to have even better technologies. 因此,如果要踏踏实实、更加强而有力地 观察大脑和其结构, 我们需有更好的技术。
get down to:开始认真考虑;着手处理;
My group, a couple years ago, started thinking: 数年前,我的研究小组开始思考:
Why don't we do the opposite? 何不反向操作呢？
If it's so darn complicated to zoom in to the brain, why can't we make the brain bigger? 如果要近看大脑是这么复杂, 难道我们不能把脑变大吗？
darn:v.织补,缝补;n.织补;
It initially started with two grad students in my group, Fei Chen and Paul Tillberg. 起头的是我组里的两个研究生,陈飞和保罗·凑博格。
initially:adv.最初,首先;开头; grad:n.毕业生;校友;
Now many others in my group are helping with this process . 现在我组里的许多人都幫着做。
process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
We decided to try to figure out if we could take polymers , like the stuff in the baby diaper, and install it physically within the brain. 我们尝试聚合物－ 像是婴儿尿布中的东西－ 把它放在大脑中。
polymers:n.[高分子]聚合物;[高分子]高分子(polymer的复数); stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本: install:v.安装;设置;安置;建立(程序);
If we could do it just right, and you add water, you can potentially blow the brain up to where you could distinguish those tiny biomolecules from each other. 如果做得恰到好处,加入水, 就可能把脑放大到这种地步: 足以把小生物分子个别地分辨出来。
potentially:adv.可能地,潜在地; distinguish:vt.区分;辨别;使杰出,使表现突出;vi.区别,区分;辨别;
You would see those connections and get maps of the brain. 可以看到那些连结而得到脑的图谱。
This could potentially be quite dramatic . 这可能相当戏剧化,
dramatic:adj.突然的;巨大的;令人吃惊的;激动人心的;
We brought a little demo here. 所以我们准备了小小的示范。
demo:v.试用(尤指软件);演示;示范;n.试样唱片;录音样带;
We got some purified baby diaper material. 我们取得一些婴儿尿布的纯粹原料。
purified:v.使(某物)洁净;净化(心灵);提纯;精炼;(purify的过去分词和过去式)
It's much easier just to buy it off the Internet than to extract the few grains that actually occur in these diapers. 购买它比从纸尿布内 取出几粒原料来要容易得多。
extract:v.提取;取出;摘录;榨取;n.汁;摘录;榨出物;选粹; grains:n.谷物;颗粒;细粒;少量;一点儿;(grain的复数)
I'm going to put just one teaspoon here of this purified polymer. 我只放入一茶匙精制的聚合物。
teaspoon:n.茶匙;一茶匙的量;
And here we have some water. 然后加入一些水。
What we're going to do is see if this teaspoon of the baby diaper material can increase in size. 接下来, 这一茶匙的尿布材料 体积膨胀了。
You're going to see it increase in volume by about a thousandfold before your very eyes. 在你眼前,它的体积变成约千倍大。
thousandfold:adv.千倍地;adj.千倍的;
I could pour much more of this in there, but I think you've got the idea that this is a very, very interesting molecule, and if can use it in the right way, we might be able to really zoom in on the brain in a way that you can't do with past technologies. 虽然我可以倒入更多的水, 但你们都已明白 这是一种非常有意思的分子, 如果适当地使用, 或许我们真能 以前所未能的技术来近观大脑,
pour:v.倒; n.流出; (已熔金属的)一次浇注量;
OK. So a little bit of chemistry now. 好。说明一点点化学原理。
What's going on in the baby diaper polymer? 婴儿尿布的聚合物里是怎么回事？
If you could zoom in, it might look something like what you see on the screen. 如果你能拉近放大, 可能就如同你在屏幕上看到的。
Polymers are chains of atoms arranged in long, thin lines. 聚合物是原子排成的细、长链。
atoms:n.[物]原子(atom的复数); arranged:adj.安排的;v.安排;计划;准备(arrange的过去式和过去分词);
The chains are very tiny, about the width of a biomolecule, and these polymers are really dense . 该链非常微小, 大约是生物分子的宽度, 这些聚合物非常密集。
width:n.宽度;广度;某一宽度的材料;(游泳池两长边之间的)池宽; dense:adj.稠密的;浓厚的;愚钝的;
They're separated by distances that are around the size of a biomolecule. 它们之间的距离 大约是生物分子的大小。
This is very good because we could potentially move everything apart in the brain. 这非常好, 因有足够的空间可以把大脑中每一样东西的距离拉远。
If we add water, what will happen is, this swellable material is going to absorb the water, the polymer chains will move apart from each other, and the entire material is going to become bigger. 如果我们加入水, 这可膨胀的物质吸了水, 聚合物链彼此间的距离就拉远了, 整个体积变得更大。
absorb:v.吸收;使并入;吞并;同化;理解;吸收;耗费;承受;
And because these chains are so tiny and spaced by biomolecular distances, we could potentially blow up the brain and make it big enough to see. 由于这些链是如此的渺小, 而且原本的间距只有生物分子那么一丁点大, 所以我们能让大脑胀大, 大到足以被观察。
biomolecular:生物分子的; make it big:炒热它;天降横财;成名;
Here's the mystery, then: 奥秘在于:
How do we actually make these polymer chains inside the brain so we can move all the biomolecules apart? 我们怎样把聚合物链置入大脑中, 让我们得以拉开生物分子的间距呢？
If we could do that, maybe we could get ground truth maps of the brain. 如果做得到, 或许我们就能得到脑图的实况,
We could look at the wiring. 可以窥视大脑回路,
We can peer inside and see the molecules within. 可以窥见里头的分子。
To explain this, we made some animations where we actually look at, in these artist renderings , what biomolecules might look like and how we might separate them. 我们准备了动画来解释, 此处看到的是艺术家所诠释 生物分子的概貌和可能的分开程序。
animations:n.[电影]动画片(animation的复数); renderings:n.演奏;扮演;表演;翻译作品;(rendering的复数)
Step one: what we'd have to do, first of all , is attach every biomolecule, shown in brown here, to a little anchor, a little handle . 步骤一:首先要在 每一个以棕色示意的生物分子上 黏上一个小锚,小把手。
first of all:adv.首先; attach:v.贴上;重视;把…固定,把…附(在…上);参加;与…有联系; handle:n.[建]把手;柄;手感;口实;v.处理;操作;运用;买卖;触摸;
We need to pull the molecules of the brain apart from each other, and to do that, we need to have a little handle that allows those polymers to bind to them and to exert their force. 为了把脑中分子彼此的距离拉远, 我们需要小把手 以让聚合物结合分子, 让它可以施力。
bind:v.结合;装订;有约束力;过紧;n.捆绑;困境;讨厌的事情;植物的藤蔓; exert:v.施加;努力;运用;行使;
Now, if you just take baby diaper polymer and dump it on the brain, obviously, it's going to sit there on top. 如果你只把婴儿尿布的聚合物倾倒在脑上, 很显然,它就只会堆在脑上而已。
dump:v.倾倒;抛售;抛弃;转存;n.垃圾场;转储;转存;废物堆;
So we need to find a way to make the polymers inside. 因此,我们需要找个方法让聚合物进到脑里面去。
And this is where we're really lucky. 这正是我们幸运之处。
It turns out, you can get the building blocks, monomers , as they're called, and if you let them go into the brain and then trigger the chemical reactions , you can get them to form those long chains,right there inside the brain tissue . 事实上,若把被称为单体的基本组件 放到脑里面, 放到脑里面, 它们就会触发化学反应, 然后在脑组织里形成这些长链。
monomers:[化学]单体; trigger:n.触发器; v.触发; reactions:n.反应;回应;抗拒;生理反应;副作用(reaction的复数) tissue:n.纸巾,手巾纸;(人、动植物细胞的)组织;
They're going to wind their way around biomolecules and between biomolecules, forming those complex webs that will allow you, eventually , to pull apart the molecules from each other. 它们会缠绕生物分子 也会占住生物分子间的空隙, 形成复杂的网 让你终于能把这些分子拉开。
eventually:adv.最后,终于; pull apart:撕开;扯断;
And every time one of those little handles is around, the polymer will bind to the handle, and that's exactly what we need in order to pull the molecules apart from each other. 在有小把手的地方, 聚合物会黏住这些把手, 成为拉开分子的施力点。
All right, the moment of truth . 好吧,来到关键时刻。
moment of truth:关键时刻;斗牛中的最后一剑;
We have to treat this specimen with a chemical to kind of loosen up all the molecules from each other, and then, when we add water, that swellable material is going to start absorbing the water, the polymer chains will move apart, but now, the biomolecules will come along for the ride. 我们得先用化学物质处理样本以鬆开分子, 然后加水, 这个会膨胀的材料开始吸水, 聚合链移动开来, 生物分子随着一起移动。
specimen:n.标本;样品;样本;(尤指动植物的)单一实例; loosen:v.松开;解开;松散;变松; absorbing:adj.引人入胜的;精彩的;v.吸收;吞并;同化;理解;(absorb的现在分词)
And much like drawing a picture on a balloon, and then you blow up the balloon, the image is the same, but the ink particles have moved away from each other. 就像在气球上绘图, 然后将气吹入气球, 图案相同, 但是墨水粒子的间距拉远了,
particles:n.微粒,粒子;粒子系统;碎木料(particle的复数形式);
And that's what we've been able to do now, but in three dimensions. 这就是我们所做的,不过是在三度空间里。
There's one last trick. 还有最后一技巧。
As you can see here, we've color-coded all the biomolecules brown. 如你所见, 我们把所有的生物分子都标成褐色。
As you can see:正如你所看到的;你是知道的; color-coded:颜色编码;
That's because they all kind of look the same. 这是因为他们看起来是一样的。
Biomolecules are made out of the same atoms, but just in different orders. 虽然生物分子的组成原子相同, 但顺序却可有差异。
So we need one last thing in order to make them visible . 最后,我们还要使不同的生物分子能用视觉辨别出来。
visible:adj.明显的;看得见的;现有的;可得到的;n.可见物;进出口贸易中的有形项目;
We have to bring in little tags ,with glowing dyes that will distinguish them. 用发光的染料作为区分他们的小标签。
tags:n.标签; v.附加; glowing:adj.灼热的;热情洋溢的;鲜艳的;v.发光;容光焕发;发热;(glow的现在分词) dyes:n.[染料]染料,染色(dye复数形式);v.给…染色;被着色(dye的第三人称单数);
So one kind of biomolecule might get a blue color. 将某一种生物分子染成蓝色,
Another kind of biomolecule might get a red color.And so forth. 而另一种会染成红色,等等。
And that's the final step. 这就是最后一步。
Now we can look at something like a brain and look at the individual molecules, because we've moved them far apart enough from each other that we can tell them apart . 如此,我们就可以看到脑 和各个分子, 因为我们把分子拉得很开, 所以可以分辨彼此。
tell them apart:把他们区分开;
So the hope here is that we can make the invisible visible. 成功的希望系于我们把不可见的变成可见的。
invisible:adj.看不见的;n.看不见的人或物;
We can turn things that might seem small and obscure and blow them up until they're like constellations of information about life. 我们把小而模糊的东西放大, 大到它们看起来像是生命信息的星座图。
obscure:n.朦胧; adj.无名的; v.使模糊; constellations:n.[天]星座(constellation的复数);
Here's an actual video of what it might look like. 这是大概模样的真正视频。
We have here a little brain in a dish -- a little piece of a brain, actually. 碟里放着小小的一个脑－ 其实是一小片脑。
We've infused the polymer in, and now we're adding water. 我们已在里头注入聚合物, 现在要加水。
infused:灌输;
What you'll see is that, right before your eyes -- this video is sped up about sixtyfold -- this little piece of brain tissue is going to grow. 你眼前将看到的是－ 以60倍速放映的视频－ 这小片脑组织将会胀大。
It can increase by a hundredfold or even more in volume. 它的体积将会胀成百倍或更大。
hundredfold:n.百倍;adj.百倍的;
And the cool part is, because those polymers are so tiny, we're separating biomolecules evenly from each other. 酷的是,因为聚合物是如此渺小, 我们将能均匀地分开生物分子。
evenly:adv.均匀地;平衡地;平坦地;平等地;
It's a smooth expansion . 是平整的扩张,
expansion:n.扩张;膨胀;扩展;扩大;
We're not losing the configuration of the information. 资讯信息的组态不会失真,
configuration:n.配置;结构;外形;
We're just making it easier to see. 只是变成更容易被看得到。
So now we can take actual brain circuitry -- here's a piece of the brain involved with, for example, memory -- and we can zoom in. 取一实际的大脑神经组织－ 例如与记忆有关的这一部分－ 拉近放大。
circuitry:n.电路;电路系统;电路学;一环路; involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词)
We can start to actually look at how circuits are configured . 我们开始能看到实际的神经电路构造。
circuits:n.环行路线;电路;线路;巡回赛;v.巡回;周游;(circuit的第三人称单数和复数) configured:adj.配置; v.使…成形;
Maybe someday we could read out a memory. 也许有一天我们也能读出记忆的内容。
Maybe we could actually look at how circuits are configured to process emotions, how the actual wiring of our brain is organized in order to make us who we are. 也许我们能真切地看到处理情绪的神经电路组织, 脑内的神经怎样连结, 使我们成为我们。
And of course, we can pinpoint, hopefully, the actual problems in the brain at a molecular level. 当然我们也希望 能精准到分子层次地查明脑病的问题。
What if we could actually look into cells in the brain and figure out, wow, here are the 17 molecules that have altered in this brain tissue that has been undergoing epilepsy or changing in Parkinson's disease or otherwise being altered? 试想,若我们真的深入到脑细胞里, 哇,并且查出是脑组织中的这17个分子病变 而产生如癫痫、 帕金森氏症, 或其他种类的异常？
What if:如果…怎么办? altered:adj.改变了的:v.(使)改变,更改,改动:(alter的过去分词和过去式) undergoing:v.经历,经受(变化、不快的事等);(undergo的现在分词)
If we get that systematic list of things that are going wrong, those become our therapeutic targets. 如果我们有系统地把变异列表, 就可以当作治疗的靶点。
systematic:adj.系统的;体系的;有系统的;[图情]分类的;一贯的,惯常的; therapeutic:adj.治疗的;治疗学的;有益于健康的;n.治疗剂;治疗学家;
We can build drugs that bind those. 我们可以针对那些标靶制药。
We can maybe aim energy at different parts of the brain in order to help people with Parkinson's or epilepsy or other conditions that affect over a billion people around the world. 或许我们能集中精力研究不一样的大脑部位, 以幫助世界各地罹患帕金森、癫痫或其他病症的十亿人口。 以幫助世界各地罹患帕金森、癫痫或其他病症的十亿人口。
Now, something interesting has been happening. 一些有趣的事已经发生了。
It turns out that throughout biomedicine , there are other problems that expansion might help with. 在整个生物医??药界还存在着 这个扩张大脑的方法可以助益的其他问题。
throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及; biomedicine:n.生物医学;
This is an actual biopsy from a human breast cancer patient. 这是个实际来自乳腺癌患者的活体檢视。
biopsy:n.活组织检查;切片检查法;v.活组织检查;切片检查法; cancer:n.癌症;恶性肿瘤;
It turns out that if you look at cancers , if you look at the immune system , if you look at aging, if you look at development -- all these processes are involving large-scale biological systems. 若你檢视癌症、 免疫系统、 老化、 这些过程都与大规模的生物系统有关。
cancers:n.癌; (Cancers是cancer的复数) immune system:n.免疫系统; processes:n.过程; v.处理(process的第三人称单数形式); involving:v.包含;需要;牵涉;牵连;影响;(使)参加;(involve的现在分词) large-scale:adj.大规模的,大范围的;大比例尺的; biological:adj.生物学的;生物的;与生命过程有关的;加酶的;n.[药]生物制品;
But of course, the problems begin with those little nanoscale molecules, the machines that make the cells and the organs in our body tick. 当然,问题始于奈米级的分子, 和细胞、身体器官规律运行的机制。
organs:n.[生物]器官;机构;风琴(organ的复数);
So what we're trying to do now is to figure out if we can actually use this technology to map the building blocks of life in a wide variety of diseases. 我们正试图厘清 是否真能用这技术描绘出各式各样疾病中 基础生命结构组成的脉络。
technology:n.技术;工艺;术语; variety:n.多样;种类;杂耍;变化,多样化;
Can we actually pinpoint the molecular changes in a tumor so that we can actually go after it in a smart way and deliver drugs that might wipe out exactly the cells that we want to? 我们能否精确地定位肿瘤的分子变化, 以巧妙的方法追寻并发展出 能歼灭我们要杀死的恶细胞的药品呢？
tumor:n.肿瘤;肿块;赘生物; wipe:v.擦;抹;拭;消除;n.擦;拭;揩;(湿)抹布;
You know, a lot of medicine is very high risk. 要知道,很多药的风险非常高。
Sometimes, it's even guesswork . 有时候,使用它只能听天由命。
guesswork:n.猜测;臆测;凭猜测所作之工作;
My hope is we can actually turn what might be a high-risk moon shot into something that's more reliable . 我希望把大胆、高风险的药品开发 转成更可靠的方式。
high-risk:adj.高危险度的; reliable:adj.可信赖的;可依靠的;真实可信的;可靠的;
If you think about the original moon shot, where they actually landed on the moon, it was based on solid science. 如果仔细想想原先的登月, 真正地登陆月球, 乃基于扎实的科学基础。
original:n.原件;原作;原物;原型;adj.原始的;最初的;独创的;新颖的;
We understood gravity; we understood aerodynamics . 我们明瞭重力; 我们了解空气动力学。
aerodynamics:n.[流]气体力学;[航]航空动力学;
We knew how to build rockets. 我们知道如何建造火箭。
The science risk was under control. 科学的风险得到控制。
It was still a great, great feat of engineering . 至今登月仍是个伟大的工程壮举。
feat:n.功绩,壮举;技艺表演;adj.合适的;灵巧的; engineering:n.工程;工程学;v.密谋策划;设计制造;改变…的基因;(engineer的现在分词)
But in medicine, we don't necessarily have all the laws. 但在医学上,我们未必了解所有的定律。
necessarily:adv.必要地;必定地,必然地;
Do we have all the laws that are analogous to gravity, that are analogous to aerodynamics? 我们有类似重力, 类似空气动力学的所有定律吗？
analogous:adj.类似的;[昆]同功的;可比拟的;
I would argue that with technologies like the kinds I'm talking about today, maybe we can actually derive those. 我认为,以我今天所谈论的技术。 也许某天我们真的能够导出那些定律来。
derive:vt.源于;得自;vi.起源;
We can map the patterns that occur in living systems, and figure out how to overcome the diseases that plague us. 我们能描绘、测绘生命系统的模型, 找出克服疫病的方法。
overcome:vt.克服;胜过;vi.克服;得胜; plague:n.瘟疫;灾祸;麻烦;讨厌的人;vt.折磨;使苦恼;使得灾祸;
You know, my wife and I have two young kids, and one of my hopes as a bioengineer is to make life better for them than it currently is for us. 内人和我有两个年幼的孩子, 身为生物工程学家,我有个心愿, 希望孩子的生命能比我们的更美好。
bioengineer:n.生物工程师; currently:adv.当前;一般地;
And my hope is, if we can turn biology and medicine from these high-risk endeavors that are governed by chance and luck, and make them things that we win by skill and hard work, then that would be a great advance. 我希望我们能把生物学和医学 由偶然和运气支配的高风险努力, 转向为技艺和辛勤工作的赢面, 那么这将是一个巨大的进步。
biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学; endeavors:尽力; by chance:偶然;意外地;
Thank you very much. 非常感谢。
(Applause) 非常感谢。