How to build synthetic DNA and send it across the internet | Dan Gibson

翻译人员: jacks peng 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

Alright, let me tell you about building synthetic cells

我来给大家讲讲制造合成细胞

and printing life.

和打印生命。

But first, let me tell you a quick story.

首先，给你们讲个简短的故事。

On March 31, 2013,

2013年3月31号，

my team and I received an email from an international health organization,

我和团队收到了一封来自 国际卫生组织的电邮，

alerting us that two men died in China

提醒我们说，有两个中国人

shortly after contracting the H7N9 bird flu.

在感染H7N9禽流感不久后死亡了。

There were fears of a global pandemic

随着病毒开始迅速在中国传播，

as the virus started rapidly moving across China.

人们担心病毒会在全球扩散。

Although methods existed to produce a flu vaccine

尽管有生产流感疫苗

and stop the disease from spreading,

和阻止病毒传播的方法，

at best, it would not be available for at least six months.

但至少也要需要花上 6个月的时间。

This is because a slow, antiquated flu vaccine manufacturing process

因为只能选择一种60年前发明的，

developed over 70 years ago was the only option.

过时且缓慢的流感疫苗生产方法。

The virus would need to be isolated from infected patients,

病毒需要从受感染的患者中分离出来，

packaged up and then sent to a facility

打包然后运送到严密的设施中，

where scientists would inject the virus into chicken eggs,

在那儿，科学家将病毒注入鸡蛋，

and incubate those chicken eggs for several weeks

孵化上几个星期，

in order to prepare the virus for the start of a multistep,

从而为接下来需要 多个步骤，耗时数月的

multimonth flu vaccine manufacturing process.

疫苗生产过程做好准备。

My team and I received this email

我和团队之所以收到这个邮件

because we had just invented a biological printer,

是因为我们刚刚发明出 一台生物打印机，

which would allow for the flu vaccine instructions

这台打印机可以即时从互联网上

to be instantly downloaded from the internet and printed.

下载流感疫苗指令并打印出来。

Drastically speeding up the way in which flu vaccines are made,

这极大加快了疫苗的生产过程，

and potentially saving thousands of lives.

具有拯救成千上万人生命的潜力。

The biological printer leverages our ability to read and write DNA

生物打印机利用了 我们读写DNA的能力，

and starts to bring into focus

并让我们开始把目光聚焦在

what we like to call biological teleportation.

我们称之为生物传送的技术上面。

I am a biologist and an engineer who builds stuff out of DNA.

我是个用DNA来造东西的 生物学家和工程师。

Believe it or not, one of my favorite things to do

不管你们信不信，我的爱好之一是

is to take DNA apart and put it back together

把DNA打散，再组合起来，

so that I can understand better how it works.

以便更好地理解它的工作原理。

I can edit and program DNA to do things, just like coders programing a computer.

我可以编辑和编程DNA去做事情， 就如同码农编程计算机一样。

But my apps are different.

但我们的应用程序不一样。

They create life.

它们创造生命。

Self-replicating living cells and things like vaccines and therapeutics

如自我复制的活细胞， 以及疫苗和疗法之类的东西，

that work in ways that were previously impossible.

这在过去是根本不可能的。

Here's National Medal of Science recipient Craig Venter

这是国家科学奖章获得者 克雷格 · 文特尔（Craig Venter）

and Nobel laureate Ham Smith.

和诺贝尔奖得主 哈姆 · 史密斯（Ham Smith）。

These two guys shared a similar vision.

这两位有着相似的远见，

That vision was, because all of the functions and characteristics

即，所有生物体的功能和特征，

of all biological entities, including viruses and living cells,

包括病毒和活细胞，

are written into the code of DNA,

都被写入了DNA的代码中，

if one can read and write that code of DNA,

如果可以读写DNA的代码，

then they can be reconstructed in a distant location.

那么他们就可以 在千里之遥进行重建。

This is what we mean by biological teleportation.

这就是我们所说的生物传送。

To prove out this vision,

为了证明这一观点，

Craig and Ham set a goal of creating, for the first time,

克雷格和哈姆树立了一个目标， 在历史上首次，

a synthetic cell, starting from DNA code in the computer.

从计算机的DNA代码开始， 去制造合成细胞。

I mean, come on, as a scientist looking for a job,

我意思是，得了， 一个想养家糊口的科学家，

doing cutting-edge research, it doesn't get any better than this.

做做尖端研究，这就够好了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

OK, a genome is a complete set of DNA within an organism.

基因组是一个 生物体完整的DNA集合。

Following the Human Genome Project in 2003,

继2003年国际社会共同协作，

which was an international effort to identify

以识别人类完整 基因蓝图为目标的

the complete genetic blueprint of a human being,

人类基因组计划后，

a genomics revolution happened.

基因组学的革命发生了。

Scientists started mastering the techniques for reading DNA.

科学家们开始掌握读取DNA的技术。

In order to determine the order of the As, Cs, Ts and Gs

这项技术的目的，是确定有机体中 所有的A，C，T和G碱基的

within an organism.

排列顺序。

But my job was far different.

但我做的事情大不相同。

I needed to master the techniques for writing DNA.

我需要掌握书写DNA的技巧。

Like an author of a book,

就像图书的作者，

this started out as writing short sentences,

一开始写个短句，

or sequences of DNA code,

或DNA序列，

but this soon turned into writing paragraphs

但很快就变成书写段落，

and then full-on novels of DNA code,

然后是完整的DNA代码小说，

to make important biological instructions for proteins and living cells.

去为蛋白质和活细胞 做出重要的生物指示。

Living cells are nature's most efficient machines at making new products,

活细胞是自然界制造新产品的

accounting for the production

最高效机器，

of 25 percent of the total pharmaceutical market,

占药品生产总市场的25%，

which is billions of dollars.

价值几十亿美金。

We knew that writing DNA would drive this bioeconomy even more,

我们知道，一旦细胞 可以像电脑一样编程，

once cells could be programmed just like computers.

书写DNA会推动 生物经济进一步发展。

We also knew that writing DNA would enable biological teleportation ...

我们也清楚，书写DNA 可以增强生物传送…

the printing of defined, biological material,

从DNA代码开始，

starting from DNA code.

打印已定义的生物材料。

As a step toward bringing these promises to fruition,

为了实现这些愿景，

our team set out to create, for the first time,

我的团队第一次

a synthetic bacterial cell,

从电脑上的DNA代码中

starting from DNA code in the computer.

创造了一种合成细菌细胞。

Synthetic DNA is a commodity.

合成DNA是一种商品。

You can order very short pieces of DNA from a number of companies,

你可以从一些公司 订购到非常短的DNA片段，

and they will start from these four bottles of chemicals that make up DNA,

他们采用的方法是 从构成DNA的G, A, T 和 C

G, A, T and C,

这四瓶化学物质开始，

and they will build those very short pieces of DNA for you.

为你合成非常短的DNA片段。

Over the past 15 years or so,

在过去15年左右，

my teams have been developing the technology

我的团队开发了

for stitching together those short pieces of DNA

一种把DNA短片段拼接在一起，

into complete bacterial genomes.

形成完整细菌基因组的技术。

The largest genome that we constructed contained over one million letters.

我们创造的最大基因组 包含100多万字母。

Which is more than twice the size of your average novel,

是普通小说平均长度的两倍多，

and we had to put every single one of those letters in the correct order,

我们必须把每一个字母 都按正确顺序排列，

不能有丝毫差错。

without a single typo.

We were able to accomplish this by developing a procedure

我们开发了一个流程 来完成这个任务，

that I tried to call the "one-step isothermal in vitro recombination method."

我称之为 “一步体外等温重组法”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But, surprisingly, the science community didn't like this technically accurate name

但是，意外的是，科学界并不喜欢 这个技术上准确的名字，

and decided to call it Gibson Assembly.

并决定把它命名为“吉布森组装法”。

Gibson Assembly is now the gold standard tool,

吉布森组装法现在是黄金标准工具，

used in laboratories around the world

被全球各地的实验室应用于

for building short and long pieces of DNA.

制造或短或长的DNA片段。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Once we chemically synthesized the complete bacterial genome,

一旦我们用化学方法 合成了完整的细菌基因组，

our next challenge was to find a way

我们的下个挑战，就是找到

to convert it into a free-living, self-replicating cell.

把它转变成能独立生存、 自我复制的细胞的方法。

Our approach was to think of the genome as the operating system of the cell,

我们的解决方法是把基因组 看作细胞的操作系统，

with the cell containing the hardware necessary to boot up the genome.

而细胞内则含有 启动基因组所需的硬件。

Through a lot of trial and error,

在经历无数的尝试和失败后，

we developed a procedure where we could reprogram cells

我们开发了一种 可以重新编程细胞的程序，

and even convert one bacterial species into another,

通过将某个细胞的基因组 替换成另一个细胞的基因组，

by replacing the genome of one cell with that of another.

它甚至可以将某种细菌 转化为另一种细菌。

This genome transplantation technology then paved the way

这种基因移植技术为科学家，

for the booting-up of genomes written by scientists

而非自然母亲编写基因组

and not by Mother Nature.

铺平了道路。

In 2010, all of the technologies

2010年，当所有这些

that we had been developing for reading and writing DNA

我们开发来读写DNA的技术都已就绪，

all came together when we announced the creation

我们就联合宣告了

of the first synthetic cell,

第一个合成细胞的诞生。

which of course, we called Synthia.

理所当然，我们将其 命名为“辛西娅”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Ever since the first bacterial genome was sequenced, back in 1995,

自从1995年第一个 细菌基因组被测序以来，

thousands more whole bacterial genomes have been sequenced and stored

已经有成千上万的完整 细菌基因组被测序和储存在

in computer databases.

电脑数据库中。

Our synthetic cell work was the proof of concept

合成细胞的诞生证明了

that we could reverse this process:

我们可以逆转这个过程的概念：

pull a complete bacterial genome sequence out of the computer

从计算机中取出一个 完整的细菌基因组序列，

and convert that information into a free-living, self-replicating cell,

并将这些信息转换成一种 带有其所构建物种所有预期特征的

with all of the expected characteristics of the species that we constructed.

能独立生存，自我复制的细胞。

Now I can understand why there may be concerns

现在我可以理解 为什么那么多人会有

about the safety of this level of genetic manipulation.

对这种基因操纵水平的 安全性的担忧。

While the technology has the potential for great societal benefit,

尽管这项技术有可能 带来巨大的社会效益，

it also has the potential for doing harm.

它也有可能造成伤害。

With this in mind, even before carrying out the very first experiment,

考虑到这一点， 早在进行第一次实验之前，

our team started to work with the public and the government

我们的团队就开始 与公众和政府合作，

to find solutions together

寻找解决方案，

to responsibly develop and regulate this new technology.

负责任地开发和管理这项新技术。

One of the outcomes from those discussions was to screen every customer

这些讨论的成果之一， 是对每个客户

and every customer's DNA synthesis orders,

和客户的DNA合成订单进行筛选，

to make sure that pathogens or toxins are not being made by bad guys,

确保病原体或毒素 不会被坏人利用，

or accidentally by scientists.

或被科学家意外制造出来。

All suspicious orders are reported to the FBI

所有可疑的订单都会报告给FBI

and other relevant law-enforcement agencies.

和其他相关执法机构。

Synthetic cell technologies will power the next industrial revolution

合成细胞技术将为 下一次工业革命提供动力，

and transform industries and economies

以应对全球可持续性挑战的方式，

in ways that address global sustainability challenges.

去改变行业和经济。

The possibilities are endless.

其应用潜力是无穷无尽的。

I mean, you can think of clothes

你可以想象

constructed form renewable biobased sources,

可再生生物材料做成的衣服，

cars running on biofuel from engineered microbes,

工程微生物生产的生物燃料汽车，

plastics made from biodegradable polymers

生物可降解聚合物制成的塑料，

and customized therapies, printed at a patient's bedside.

以及在病人床边 就可以打印的定制疗法。

The massive efforts to create synthetic cells

创造合成细胞的大量努力

have made us world leaders at writing DNA.

使我们成为书写DNA的全球领导者。

Throughout the process, we found ways to write DNA faster,

在这一过程中，我们 发现了书写DNA更快，

more accurately and more reliably.

更精确和更可靠的方式。

Because of the robustness of these technologies,

因为这些技术的稳健性，

we found that we could readily automate the processes

我们发现可以很容易地 将过程自动化，

and move the laboratory workflows out of the scientist's hands

将实验室的工作流程 从科学家的手中

and onto a machine.

转移到机器上面。

In 2013, we built the first DNA printer.

2013年，我们创造了 第一台DNA打印机。

We call it the BioXp.

我们把它命名为BioXP。

And it has been absolutely essential in writing DNA

它的DNA书写功能在我的团队和

across a number of applications

全球研究者的

my team and researchers around the world are working on.

各种应用场景中， 有着绝对重要的地位。

It was shortly after we built the BioXp

在BioXp诞生之后不久，

that we received that email about the H7N9 bird flu scare in China.

我们就收到了中国H7N9 禽流感恐慌的电子邮件。

A team of Chinese scientists had already isolated the virus,

当时，中国的科学家团队 已经分离出了病毒，

sequenced its DNA and uploaded the DNA sequence to the internet.

测序了DNA结构，并将 序列上传到了互联网。

At the request of the US government, we downloaded the DNA sequence

在美国政府的要求下， 我们下载了DNA序列，

and in less than 12 hours, we printed it on the BioXp.

不到12个小时内， 就在BioXp上打印了出来。

Our collaborators at Novartis

我们在诺华的合作者

then quickly started turning that synthetic DNA into a flu vaccine.

迅速将合成DNA转化为流感疫苗。

Meanwhile, the CDC, using technology dating back to the 1940s,

与此同时，使用的技术可追溯到 20世纪40年代的疾病防控中心，

was still waiting for the virus to arrive from China

还在等待来自中国的病毒样本，

so that they could begin their egg-based approach.

这样他们才可以开始 以鸡蛋为基础的方法。

For the first time, we had a flu vaccine developed ahead of time

首次，我们提前开发了 针对这种具备新的

for a new and potentially dangerous strain,

潜在危险的毒株的流感疫苗，

and the US government ordered a stockpile.

而美国政府从我们 这里订购了一批药物。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

This was when I began to appreciate, more than ever,

于是，我开始 比任何时候都更为欣赏

the power of biological teleportation.

生物远距离传送力量。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Naturally, with this in mind,

自然的，心里有了这个底，

我们就着手制造生物传送器。

we started to build a biological teleporter.

We call it the DBC.

我们称之为DBC。

That's short for digital-to-biological converter.

这是数字生物转换器的缩写。

Unlike the BioXp,

与预制短链DNA

which starts from pre-manufactured short pieces of DNA,

开始的BioXp不同的是，

the DBC starts from digitized DNA code

DBC从数字化DNA代码开始,

and converts that DNA code into biological entities,

将DNA代码转化为生物实体，

such as DNA, RNA, proteins or even viruses.

比如DNA，RNA，蛋白质，甚至病毒。

You can think of the BioXp as a DVD player,

你可以把BioXp想象成DVD播放器，

requiring a physical DVD to be inserted,

需要插入DVD光盘，

whereas the DBC is Netflix.

而DBC则相当于Netflix （在线播放平台）。

To build the DBC,

为了制造DBC，

my team of scientists worked with software and instrumentation engineers

我团队的科学家跟软件 和仪器仪表工程师合作，

to collapse multiple laboratory workflows,

将多项实验室的工作流程

all in a single box.

整合到一个盒子里面。

This included software algorithms to predict what DNA to build,

其中包括用软件算法来 预测要构建的DNA，

chemistry to link the G, A, T and C building blocks of DNA into short pieces,

用化学方法将碱基结构单元 构成的DNA片段连接成短链，

Gibson Assembly to stitch together those short pieces into much longer ones,

用吉布森组装法将这些短链 拼接成更长的片段，

and biology to convert the DNA into other biological entities,

以及用生物学方法 将DNA转化为像蛋白质

such as proteins.

那样的其他生物实体。

This is the prototype.

这是产品的原型。

Although it wasn't pretty, it was effective.

虽然它不完美，但却非常有效。

It made therapeutic drugs and vaccines.

它能够制造治疗药物和疫苗。

And laboratory workflows that once took weeks or months

以前在实验室工作流程中 需要耗时数周或数月的工作，

could now be carried out in just one to two days.

如今在1-2天内就能完成。

And that's all without any human intervention

而且它无需任何人工干预，

and simply activated by the receipt of an email

电子邮件即可激活，

which could be sent from anywhere in the world.

这个电子邮件可以来自 全球任何地方。

We like to compare the DBC to fax machines.

我们喜欢把DBC比喻成传真机。

But whereas fax machines received images and documents,

传真机接收图像和文件，

the DBC receives biological materials.

而DBC接收生物材料。

Now, consider how fax machines have evolved.

想想传真机是如何演化的。

The prototype of the 1840s is unrecognizable,

1840年代的原型

compared with the fax machines of today.

与今天的传真机相比， 简直无法辨认。

In the 1980s, most people still didn't know what a fax machine was,

上世纪80年代，很多人 仍然不知道传真机是什么，

and if they did,

即便知道了，

it was difficult for them to grasp the concept

他们也很难理解

of instantly reproducing an image on the other side of the world.

在世界另一端即刻复制图像的概念。

But nowadays, everything that a fax machine does

而今天，传真机做的所有事情

is integrated on our smart phones,

都被植入到了我们的智能手机中，

and of course, we take this rapid exchange of digital information for granted.

当然，我们早已把数字信息的 快速交换视为理所当然。

Here's what our DBC looks like today.

这是今天我们的DBC的样子。

We imagine the DBC evolving in similar ways as fax machines have.

我们想象DBC以类似于 传真机的方式发展。

We're working to reduce the size of the instrument,

我们正在努力减少仪器尺寸，

and we're working to make the underlying technology

努力让基础技术

more reliable, cheaper, faster and more accurate.

更可靠，更廉价，更快，更准确。

Accuracy is extremely important when synthesizing DNA,

在合成DNA时，准确性是极其重要的，

because a single change to a DNA letter

因为一个DNA字母的改变

could mean the difference between a medicine working or not

就可能影响一种药物是否有效，

or synthetic cell being alive or dead.

这个合成细胞是存活还是死亡。

The DBC will be useful for the distributed manufacturing

DBC对于从DNA开始的

of medicine starting from DNA.

药物的分布式制造是很有用的。

Every hospital in the world could use a DBC

世界上每所医院都可以使用DBC

for printing personalized medicines for a patient at their bedside.

在病人床边打印个性化药物。

I can even imagine a day when it's routine for people to have a DBC

我甚至想象着， 有一天可以实现人手一台DBC，

to connect to their home computer or smart phone

连上家中的电脑或智能手机，

as a means to download their prescriptions,

就可以去下载他们的处方，

such as insulin or antibody therapies.

例如胰岛素或抗体疗法。

The DBC will also be valuable when placed in strategic areas around the world,

在世界各地的战区， DBC也将会派上用场，

for rapid response to disease outbreaks.

它可以快速应对疾病的爆发。

For example, the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia

例如，乔治亚州亚特兰大的 疾病防控中心，

could send flu vaccine instructions to a DBC on the other side of the world,

可以将流感疫苗的指令 发送到世界另一端的DBC，

where the flu vaccine is manufactured right on the front lines.

这样流感疫苗就可以在前线生产。

That flu vaccine could even be specifically tailored to the flu strain

这种流感疫苗甚至可以专门针对

that's circulating in that local area.

在当地流行的流感病毒。

Sending vaccines around in a digital file,

将疫苗通过数字文件发送，

rather than stockpiling those same vaccines and shipping them out,

而不再将其打包运出，

promises to save thousands of lives.

可以拯救成千上万的生命。

Of course, the applications go as far as the imagination goes.

当然，梦想有多大， 舞台就有多大。

It's not hard to imagine placing a DBC on another planet.

不难想象，在另一个星球上 放置这么一台DBC。

Scientists on Earth could then send the digital instructions to that DBC

地球上的科学家就可以 将数字指令发送到DBC，

to make new medicines or to make synthetic organisms

去制造新药物，或合成生物，

that produce oxygen, food, fuel or building materials,

以产生氧气，食物， 燃料或建筑材料，

as a means for making the planet more habitable for humans.

这不失为一种把外星球 变成适合人类居住的方法。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

With digital information traveling at the speed of light,

数字信息以光速前进，

it would only take minutes to send those digital instructions

数字指令从地球传到火星

from Earth to Mars,

只需要几分钟。

but it would take months to physically deliver those same samples

但如果通过太空船去 运送这些实体样本

on a spacecraft.

则需要耗时数月。

But for now, I would be satisfied beaming new medicines across the globe,

但就目前而言，能在全球范围内， 完全自动化和根据需求

fully automated and on demand,

打印出新药物，

saving lives from emerging infectious diseases

挽救感染了新发传染病的生命，

and printing personalized cancer medicines for those who don't have time to wait.

为那些没有时间等待的人打印个性化的 癌症药物，就已经让我感到很满足了。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）