Lee Cronin: Print your own medicine

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Ángela Arnosa Reviewer: Xosé María Moreno

Organic chemists make molecules,

Os químicos orgánicos fan moléculas,

very complicated molecules,

moléculas moi complicadas,

by chopping up a big molecule into small molecules

esfarelando unha molécula grande noutras máis pequenas

and reverse engineering.

e usando enxeñaría inversa.

And as a chemist,

Como químico,

one of the things I wanted to ask my research group a couple of years ago is,

unha das cousas que quixen preguntar ao meu grupo de investigación hai uns anos é:

could we make a really cool universal chemistry set?

poderiamos crear un laboratorio químico universal realmente atractivo?

In essence, could we "app" chemistry?

Basicamente, poderiamos reducir a química a unha aplicación?

Now what would this mean, and how would we do it?

Que significaría isto e como o fariamos?

Well to start to do this,

Para comezar,

we took a 3D printer

collemos unha impresora 3D

and we started to print our beakers and our test tubes on one side

e imprimimos os nosos vasos e tubos de ensaio nun lado

and then print the molecule at the same time on the other side

e logo imprimimos a molécula ao mesmo tempo no outro lado,

and combine them together in what we call reactionware.

combinándoos no que denominamos “louza de reacción”.

And so by printing the vessel and doing the chemistry at the same time,

Así, imprimindo o recipiente e facendo a química a un tempo,

we may start to access this universal toolkit of chemistry.

comezamos a acceder a estas ferramentas universais da química.

Now what could this mean?

E que quere dicir isto?

Well if we can embed biological and chemical networks like a search engine,

Se conseguimos integrar redes biolóxicas e químicas como nun buscador,

so if you have a cell that's ill that you need to cure

de xeito que se tes unha célula enferma que precisas curar

or bacteria that you want to kill,

ou unha bacteria que queres matar,

if you have this embedded in your device

se o tes integrado no teu dispositivo

at the same time, and you do the chemistry,

ao mesmo tempo, e se realizas os procesos químicos,

you may be able to make drugs in a new way.

serás capaz de producir medicamentos dun xeito novo.

So how are we doing this in the lab?

E como estamos a facer isto no laboratorio?

Well it requires software, it requires hardware

Ben, precisamos software, precisamos hardware

and it requires chemical inks.

e precisamos tintas químicas.

And so the really cool bit is,

O verdadeiramente interesante é

the idea is that we want to have a universal set of inks

a idea de crear un conxunto universal de tintas

that we put out with the printer,

que podemos pór na impresora,

and you download the blueprint, the organic chemistry for that molecule

e ti descargas o modelo, a química orgánica para esa molécula,

and you make it in the device.

e créala no dispositivo.

Entón, podes preparar a túa molécula na impresora usando este software.

And so you can make your molecule in the printer using this software.

So what could this mean?

Que significaría isto?

Well, ultimately, it could mean that you could print your own medicine.

Pois, isto significaría poder imprimir o teu propio medicamento.

E isto é o que estamos a facer actualmente no laboratorio.

And this is what we're doing in the lab at the moment.

But to take baby steps to get there,

Pero para dar os primeiros pasos cara a alí,

first of all we want to look at drug design and production,

antes queremos estudar o deseño e produción de fármacos,

or drug discovery and manufacturing.

ou o seu descubrimento e fabricación.

Because if we can manufacture it after we've discovered it,

Porque se podemos producilos despois de descubrilos,

we could deploy it anywhere.

poderiamos implementalo en calquera lugar.

You don't need to go to the chemist anymore.

Xa non cómpre acudir a unha farmacia.

We can print drugs at point of need.

Podemos imprimir medicamentos onde se precisen.

We can download new diagnostics.

Podemos descargar novos diagnósticos.

Say a new super bug has emerged.

Digamos que aparece unha nova superbacteria.

You put it in your search engine,

Pola no buscador

and you create the drug to treat the threat.

e creas o fármaco para tratar a ameaza.

So this allows you on-the-fly molecular assembly.

Isto permite construír moléculas ao momento.

But perhaps for me the core bit going into the future

Mais, talvez, para min, a parte principal, a longo prazo,

is this idea of taking your own stem cells,

é a idea de coller as túas células nai,

with your genes and your environment,

cos teus xenes e o teu ambiente,

and you print your own personal medicine.

e imprimir os teus medicamentos personalizados.

E se isto non lles parece abondo fascinante,

And if that doesn't seem fanciful enough,

where do you think we're going to go?

cara a onde cren que estamos a ir?

Well, you're going to have your own personal matter fabricator.

Ben, terán o seu propio xerador de materia.

Beam me up, Scotty.

Teletranspórtame, Scotty.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)