Jessica Green: Are we filtering the wrong microbes?

翻译人员: Jiwei Qu 校对人员: Jenny Yang

Humans in the developed world

在发达世界生活的人们

spend more than 90 percent of their lives indoors,

一生中90%的时间都待在室内

where they breathe in and come into contact

他们在这里呼吸着、接触着

with trillions of life forms invisible to the naked eye:

数万亿的肉眼看不见的生命形态：

microorganisms.

微生物

Buildings are complex ecosystems

建筑物是复杂的生态系统

that are an important source

它是很多对我们有利的

of microbes that are good for us,

微生物的发源地

and some that are bad for us.

当然也有一些对我们有害的

What determines the types and distributions

是什么决定了室内微生物的

of microbes indoors?

种类和分布呢？

Buildings are colonized by airborne microbes

建筑物被空气中的微生物所占据

that enter through windows

它们通过窗户

and through mechanical ventilation systems.

机械通风系统进入室内

And they are brought inside

或者是被人类或者其他生物

by humans and other creatures.

带进室内

The fate of microbes indoors

室内微生物的命运

depends on complex interactions

取决于与人类本身

with humans,

以及

and with the human-built environment.

与人类创造的室内环境之间的相互作用

And today, architects and biologists

如今，建筑学家和生物学家

are working together

正在通力合作

to explore smart building design

致力于设计智能建筑

that will create

从而为我们

healthy buildings for us.

创造健康型建筑

We spend an extraordinary amount of time

我们花费大量时间

in buildings

在建筑上

that are extremely controlled environments,

来严格控制环境

like this building here --

就像我们现在所在的这栋建筑--

environments that have mechanical ventilation systems

有机械通风系统控制环境

that include filtering,

系统包括了过滤

heating and air conditioning.

暖气装置以及空气调节装置

Given the amount of time that we spend indoors,

我们花费了大量时间在室内环境中

it's important to understand

了解它是如何影响我们的健康的

how this affects our health.

这点非常重要

At the Biology and the Built Environment Center,

在生物学与环境研究中心

we carried out a study in a hospital

我们在医院开展了一项研究

where we sampled air

首先对医院的空气进行抽样

and pulled the DNA

然后把空气中

out of microbes in the air.

微生物的DNA提取出来

And we looked at three different types of rooms.

接着，我们观察三个不同的房间

We looked at rooms that were mechanically ventilated,

我们观察了具有机械通风系统的房间

which are the data points in the blue.

用蓝色的数据点代表

We looked at rooms that were naturally ventilated,

具有自然通风的房间

where the hospital let us turn off the mechanical ventilation

我们获准关闭了房间的机械通风设备

in a wing of the building

房间在大楼侧翼部分

and pry open the windows

并且撬开已经

that were no longer operable,

不再使用的窗户

but they made them operable for our study.

但是院方为了我们的研究打开了它们

And we also sampled the outdoor air.

然后我们又取样了室外空气

If you look at the x-axis of this graph,

如果你观察图表的横轴

you'll see that what we commonly want to do --

你会发现我们通常希望做的是--

which is keeping the outdoors out --

阻止室外空气进入--

we accomplished that with mechanical ventilation.

我们通过机械通风设备达到了这个目的

So if you look at the green data points,

如果你看一下绿色数据点

which is air that's outside,

它记录着室外空气数据

you'll see that there's a large amount of microbial diversity,

你可以发现庞大的微生物多样性

or variety of microbial types.

或者说各种不同种类的微生物

But if you look at the blue data points,

但是如果你看一下蓝色的数据点

which is mechanically ventilated air,

即代表着机械通风系统的点

it's not as diverse.

多样性就没那么强了

But being less diverse

但是较少的微生物种类

is not necessarily good for our health.

未必就对我们的健康有利

If you look at the y-axis of this graph,

如果我们看一下竖轴

you'll see that, in the mechanically ventilated air,

你会发现，在机械通风系统下

you have a higher probability

将会有更高的可能性

of encountering a potential pathogen,

遇到潜在的病原体

or germ,

或是病菌

than if you're outdoors.

相比于在室外的条件下

So to understand why this was the case,

因此，要去理解为什么是这样

we took our data

我们把获取的数据

and put it into an ordination diagram,

带入到统筹图中

which is a statistical map

即一个统计学的图标中

that tells you something

它可以显示出

about how related the microbial communities are

在不同的取样中微生物群是如何

in the different samples.

存在关联性的

The data points that are closer together

数据之间相似程度越高

have microbial communities that are more similar

表明了所代表微生物群之间的

than data points that are far apart.

相似程度就越高

And the first things that you can see from this graph

你可以明显的从这个图标中发现

is, if you look at the blue data points,

如果你看一下蓝色的数据点

which are the mechanically ventilated air,

即代表机械通风系统的点

they're not simply a subset of the green data points,

他们不仅仅是绿色数据点即代表着室外空气数据点

which are the outdoor air.

的一个简单的子集

What we've found is that mechanically ventilated air

我们发现的是机械通风系统的特点其实

looks like humans.

看上去像人类

It has microbes on it

它上面存在着微生物

that are commonly associated with our skin

通常这些微生物和我们的皮肤

and with our mouth, our spit.

嘴以及唾液有着联系

And this is because

这是因为

we're all constantly shedding microbes.

我们随时都在脱落着微生物

So all of you right now

因此在座的所有人

are sharing your microbes with one another.

现在都在和他人共享着微生物

And when you're outdoors,

当你在户外的时候

that type of air has microbes

空气中存在着各种微生物

that are commonly associated with plant leaves and with dirt.

它们通常都会和树叶、灰尘发生着联系

Why does this matter?

为什么这很重要？

It matters because the health care industry

因为卫生保健产业

is the second most energy intensive industry

在美国是第二大

in the United States.

能源密集型产业

Hospitals use two and a half times

医院消耗的能源

the amount of energy as office buildings.

是办公楼的2.5倍

And the model that we're working with

我们在工作中所合作的医院

in hospitals,

样板模型

and also with many, many different buildings,

以及许多许多不同的建筑

is to keep the outdoors out.

都是封闭式的

And this model

这种模式

may not necessarily be the best for our health.

也许未必是对我们健康最有利的选择

And given the extraordinary amount

大量的

of nosocomial infections,

院内感染

or hospital-acquired infections,

或在医院中的相互传染

this is a clue that it's a good time

这些都提示我们是时候

to reconsider our current practices.

去重新审视我们的现状了

So just as we manage national parks,

因此就像我们管理国家公园一样

where we promote the growth of some species

在某些地方要提高某些物种的数量

and we inhibit the growth of others,

同时要限制其他物种的数量

we're working towards thinking about buildings

我们正在致力于思考让建筑物

using an ecosystem framework

运用一套生态系统框架

where we can promote the kinds of microbes

从而让我们可以在某些区域促进一些有益于

that we want to have indoors.

人类室内生活的微生物数量

I've heard somebody say

我听有些人说过

that you're as healthy as your gut.

你的健康取决于你的肠道健康

And for this reason, many people eat probiotic yogurt

于是鉴于此原因，很多人都会去食用益生菌酸奶

so they can promote a healthy gut flora.

从而他们就可以促进健康的肠道菌群

And what we ultimately want to do

我们最终想做的是

is to be able to use this concept

可以运用这个概念

to promote a healthy group

去促进健康的

of microorganisms inside.

内部微生物群

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）