Leather and meat without killing animals | Andras Forgacs

翻译人员: Jing Peng 校对人员: Yuting Liu

When my father and I started a company

当父亲和我创立公司

to 3D print human tissues and organs,

从事3D打印人体组织和器官时

some people initially thought we were a little crazy.

有些人觉得我们有点疯狂

But since then, much progress has been made,

但进展已今非昔比

both in our lab and other labs around the world.

不只在我们的实验室 全球皆然

And given this, we started getting questions like,

因此有人开始问我们

"If you can grow human body parts,

“如果你们能制造人体部位

can you also grow animal products like meat and leather?"

能否制造动物产品？例如肉和皮革”

When someone first suggested this to me,

当我第一次听到有人这么提议

quite frankly I thought they were a little crazy,

老实说我觉得他们才有点疯狂

but what I soon came to realize

但是我很快就发现

was that this is not so crazy after all.

其实这并不疯狂

What's crazy is what we do today.

真正疯狂的是我们现在做的事情

I'm convinced that in 30 years,

我确信30年以后

when we look back on today

回顾今天

and on how we raise and slaughter billions of animals

我们如何饲养并屠宰数十亿牲畜

to make our hamburgers and our handbags,

以制作汉堡肉和手袋

we'll see this as being wasteful

我们会明白这既浪费

and indeed crazy.

又疯狂

Did you know that today we maintain

你是否知道我们现在饲养了

a global herd of 60 billion animals

全球共600亿牲畜

to provide our meat, dairy, eggs and leather goods?

提供我们所需的肉 奶制品 蛋 和皮具？

And over the next few decades,

在未来数十年

as the world's population expands to 10 billion,

当世界人口将增至100亿时

this will need to nearly double

这个数目将几乎倍增

to 100 billion animals.

到1000亿牲畜

But maintaining this herd

但是养这么多牲畜

takes a major toll on our planet.

会造成地球的沉重负担

Animals are not just raw materials.

牲畜不仅是原料

They're living beings,

也是生灵

and already our livestock

我们的牲畜已经是

is one of the largest users of land,

最大的土地使用以及

fresh water,

淡水消耗者之一

and one of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases

以及最大的温室气体排放者之一

which drive climate change.

导致气候变迁

On top of this,

除此之外

when you get so many animals so close together,

当这么多动物如此密集地饲养

it creates a breeding ground for disease

会变成疾病的温床

and opportunities for harm and abuse.

动物也容易被伤害和虐待

Clearly, we cannot continue on this path

显然这条路难以为继

which puts the environment, public health,

因为环境 公众健康

and food security at risk.

以及粮食安全都将面临风险

There is another way, because essentially,

但是有另一条路 因为基本上

animal products are just collections of tissues,

动物制品是由组织构成

and right now we breed and raise

我们现在饲养的

highly complex animals

高度复杂的牲畜

only to create products

我们需要的却只是

that are made of relatively simple tissues.

他们身上相对简单的组织

What if, instead of starting with a complex

如果我们与其着手于复杂

and sentient animal,

并有知觉的动物

we started with what the tissues are made of,

不如着手于组织的成分

the basic unit of life,

也就是生命的基本单位

the cell?

细胞会如何？

This is biofabrication, where cells themselves

这是生物制造(biofabrication) 利用细胞

can be used to grow biological products

培养生物产品

like tissues and organs.

例如组织和器官

Already in medicine,

医学界已经

biofabrication techniques have been used

使用生物制造技术

to grow sophisticated body parts,

去培养复杂的身体部位

like ears, windpipes, skin, blood vessels and bone,

例如耳朵 气管 皮肤 血管 骨骼

that have been successfully implanted into patients.

都已成功地植入了病人体内

And beyond medicine, biofabrication can be

医疗用途之外 生物制造也可以是

a humane, sustainable and scalable new industry.

人道 可持续 容易调整规模的新产业

And we should begin by reimagining leather.

我们应该从从新思考皮革开始

I emphasize leather because it is so widely used.

我着重于皮革因为其使用广泛

It is beautiful, and it has long been a part of our history.

它美丽且历史悠久

Growing leather is also technically simpler

制造皮革的技术相对较简单

than growing other animal products like meat.

不像制造肉那么困难

It mainly uses one cell type,

皮革以一种细胞为主

and it is largely two-dimensional.

大体上是平面的构造

It is also less polarizing for consumers and regulators.

对于消费者和监管单位也较无争议

Until biofabrication is better understood,

在更暸解生物制造之前

it is clear that, initially at least,

显然 至少刚开始时

more people would be willing to wear novel materials

较多人会愿意穿戴新奇的材料

than would be willing to eat novel foods,

较少人会愿意吃新奇的食物

no matter how delicious.

无论有多好吃

In this sense, leather is a gateway material,

从这个角度 皮革是个途径

a beginning for the mainstream biofabrication industry.

开创主流生物制造工业的起点

If we can succeed here,

如果皮革成功了

it brings our other consumer bioproducts like meat

将会为其他例如肉的生物消费品

closer on the horizon.

带来一线希望

Now how do we do it?

我们是怎么做到的？

To grow leather, we begin by taking cells

制造皮革首先要取出动物的细胞

from an animal, through a simple biopsy.

做简单的活检

The animal could be a cow,

动物可以是牛

lamb, or even something more exotic.

羊 甚至较奇特的动物

This process does no harm,

这个步骤不会伤害动物

and Daisy the cow can live a happy life.

牛小姐可以继续快乐生活

We then isolate the skin cells

我们然后分离皮肤细胞

and multiply them in a cell culture medium.

以便在培养液里繁殖

This takes millions of cells

从数百万细胞

and expands them into billions.

繁殖到数十亿

And we then coax these cells to produce collagen,

然后我们诱导细胞制造胶原蛋白

as they would naturally.

这是其天然功能

This collagen is the stuff between cells.

在细胞之间的胶原蛋白

It's natural connective tissue.

是天然的结缔组织

It's the extracellular matrix,

是细胞外基质

but in leather, it's the main building block.

但在皮革里是主要的成分

And what we next do is we take the cells and their collagen

下一步是萃取细胞及胶原蛋白

and we spread them out to form sheets,

将其铺展成薄片

and then we layer these thin sheets on top of one another,

再把薄片堆迭起来

like phyllo pastry, to form thicker sheets,

形成较厚层 像酥皮糕点

which we then let mature.

然后待其成熟

And finally, we take this multilayered skin

最后这种多层的皮肤

and through a shorter and much less chemical tanning process,

再经过较短少的化学鞣制程序

we create leather.

我们制造了皮革

And so I'm very excited to show you,

我以激动的心情

for the first time,

向各位首次展示

the first batch of our cultured leather,

第一批培养出来的皮革

fresh from the lab.

实验室刚刚出炉

This is real, genuine leather,

这是真的皮革

without the animal sacrifice.

没有动物被杀害

It can have all the characteristics of leather

它能具有皮革全部的特性

because it is made of the same cells,

因为组成的细胞相同

and better yet,

但更棒的是

there is no hair to remove,

它不用除毛

no scars or insect's bites,

没有疤痕或虫咬

and no waste.

没有碎料

This leather can be grown in the shape of a wallet,

这种皮革能一体成型 长成皮夹

a handbag or a car seat.

手提包 或汽车座位的形状

It is not limited to the irregular shape of a cow

不像牛或鳄鱼的皮

or an alligator.

形状不规则

And because we make this material,

因为这是我们制造的

we grow this leather from the ground up,

从头开始培养的皮革

we can control its properties in very interesting ways.

我们可以以有去的方式控制其属性

This piece of leather

这个皮革

is a mere seven tissue layers thick,

组织仅有七层

and as you can see, it is nearly transparent.

可以看得出几乎是透明的

And this leather is 21 layers thick and quite opaque.

这个皮革是21层 相当不透明

You don't have that kind of fine control

这种细致的操控

with conventional leather.

是普通的皮革无法达到的

And we can tune this leather for other desirable qualities,

我们能调整其他想要的性质

like softness, breathability,

例如柔软性 透气性

durability, elasticity and even things like pattern.

耐久性 弹性 甚至花样

We can mimic nature,

我们可以模仿自然

but in some ways also improve upon it.

但有些方面也能加以改进

This type of leather can do what today's leather does,

现有皮革的功能 这种皮革都有

but with imagination, probably much more.

但运用想象力 功能还可能更多

What could the future of animal products look like?

动物产品的未来如何？

It need not look like this,

不必像这个样子

which is actually the state of the art today.

其实这已是目前最先进的

Rather, it could be much more like this.

但是更可以像这样

Already, we have been manufacturing with cell cultures

我们把培养的细胞用于生产

for thousands of years, beginning with products

已有数千年历史 最早的产品

like wine, beer and yogurt.

包括酒 啤酒 酸奶

And speaking of food, our cultured food has evolved,

说到食品 培养食品历经演变

and today we prepare cultured food

现在的培养食品来自

in beautiful, sterile facilities like this.

这种美丽 消过毒的厂房

A brewery is essentially a bioreactor.

啤酒厂基本上是生物反应器

It is where cell culture takes place.

细胞的培养在此进行

Imagine that in this facility,

试想在这个厂房

instead of brewing beer,

不是酿造啤酒

we were brewing leather

而是培养皮革

or meat.

或肉

Imagine touring this facility,

想想看参观这个厂房

learning about how the leather or meat is cultured,

学习皮革和肉的培养

seeing the process from beginning to end,

观察从头到尾的制造程序

and even trying some.

甚至试一试

It's clean, open and educational,

清洁 开放 具教育意义

and this is in contrast to the hidden,

这截然不同于现在

guarded and remote factories

隐秘 门禁森严 偏远的

where leather and meat is produced today.

皮革工厂和肉工厂

Perhaps biofabrication

或许生物制造

is a natural evolution of manufacturing for mankind.

是人类制造方式的自然演进

It's environmentally responsible,

它环保

efficient and humane.

有效率又人道

It allows us to be creative.

我们得以发挥创造力

We can design new materials, new products,

我们能设计新材质 新产品

and new facilities.

新厂房

We need to move past just killing animals

我们应该超越将动物

as a resource

作为资源而杀害

to something more civilized and evolved.

应该转向更文明与进化的方式

Perhaps we are ready for something

或许我们已准备迎接

literally and figuratively more cultured.

更多培养的 文明的产品

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）