Nabiha Saklayen: Could you recover from illness ... using your own stem cells? | TED

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: Helen Chang

You're sitting in the doctor's office waiting for test results.

你坐在医生办公室等待测试结果。

She comes in and says,

她进来说，

"You have Parkinson's disease."

“你有帕金森氏综合症。”

Your heart sinks, and you think about everything that will go wrong:

你心里一沉，想到了 将要变糟的所有事情：

you'll be unable to walk, unable to feed yourself, your hands trembling, drooling,

你不能走路，不能自己吃饭， 你的手颤颤巍巍，流着口水，

unable to swallow.

无法吞咽。

But before you say anything, she says,

但在你开口前，她说，

"Not to worry, we'll put in an order for your cells today."

“不要担心，我们今天就订购你的细胞。”

You come back a week later,

你一周之后回来，

and a surgeon transplants brand new neurons into your brain.

外科医生将全新的神经元 移植到你的大脑中。

You just received an on-demand functional cure for Parkinson's,

你刚刚接受了一个 帕金森的按需功能治疗，

made from your cells.

取自你的细胞。

It sounds like science fiction, but in the future,

这听起来像科幻，但在将来，

we will all have the option of having our stem cells banked ahead of time

我们都可以选择提前 将干细胞储藏起来，

so that any time you need new neurons, new muscle cells, new skin cells,

这样任何时候你需要新的神经元、 新的肌肉细胞、新的皮肤细胞时，

they'd be generated from this bank.

它们都可以从这个银行中生产出来。

And because they're 100 percent your cells,

并且由于它们100%是你的细胞，

your immune system is extremely unlikely to reject or attack those cells.

你的免疫系统不会排斥 或攻击这些细胞。

In fact, the body has no idea

事实上，身体不知道

that these cells were actually made in a cell factory.

这些细胞其实是在细胞工厂制造的。

All of this is possible because of a breakthrough

这一切成为可能

是因为生物学、激光物理学 和机器学习交叉领域的突破。

at the intersection of biology, laser physics and machine learning.

We'll start with biology.

我们从生物学开始。

The human body is an absolute miracle.

人类身体绝对是个奇迹。

Trillions of cells are working in synchronicity

数以亿计的细胞同步工作

to pump blood, secrete dopamine

以输送血液，分泌多巴胺

and let me see and speak to you right now.

让我现在得以看见并为你们演讲。

But as we age, our cells age, too.

但随着年龄渐长， 我们的细胞也会变老。

That's why our skin starts to sag,

于是我们的皮肤开始松弛，

our cartilage wears away,

我们的软骨磨损掉，

and your five-mile run might turn into a 20-minute walk.

你5英里的跑步可能会 变成20分钟的步行。

Yes, we're all getting older.

是的，我们所有人都会变老。

Our bodies are ticking time bombs.

我们的身体就像定时炸弹。

But stem cells could offer a solution,

但干细胞可以提供解法，

because one stem cell can become almost any cell in your body.

因为一个干细胞能够成为 你身体的几乎任何细胞。

My grandma passed away due to diabetes in 2012.

我奶奶2012年因糖尿病去世。

If the technology were available at the time,

如果当时技术成熟，

we could have used her stem cells to generate new pancreatic cells,

我们就可以使用她的 干细胞来生成胰腺，

and it could have cured her.

就可以治愈她。

Now, unfortunately, stem cells are notoriously difficult to engineer.

现在，不幸的是，干细胞是 出了名地难以制造。

One fundamental problem relates to how they're made,

一个根本的问题 跟它们如何制造有关，

which involves taking a patient's blood cells

这涉及到取下病人的血液细胞

and adding chemicals to those blood cells to turn them into stem cells.

加入化学物质来把它们变成干细胞。

Now, during this chemical process,

在这个化学过程中，

you never end up with a perfect set of stem cells.

你基本不可能得到 一套完美的干细胞。

In fact, you get a very messy plate of cells going in different directions --

实际是，你会得到一盘 非常杂乱的不同方向的细胞

towards the eye, brain, liver --

——向眼睛、大脑、肝脏发展的细胞——

and every random cell must be removed.

这些随机的细胞必须被移除掉。

Until recently, the main way to remove cells was by hand.

直到最近，移除这些细胞的方法是人工。

I remember the first time I visited the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

我还记得第一次造访 哈佛干细胞研究所时。

I watched a highly skilled scientist sitting at a bench looking at stem cells,

我看到一位技术高超的科学家 坐在长凳上观察干细胞，

evaluating them one at a time

一次一个地评估它们

and removing the unwanted cells by hand.

并手工移除不需要的细胞。

It's a slow, tedious and artisanal process,

这是个缓慢、乏味和手工的过程，

which is why generating a personalized stem cell bank today

所以今天制作一个 客制化的干细胞银行

costs about one million dollars.

耗费达100万美元。

Now, using a donor's stem cells is much cheaper,

如今，使用捐赠者的干细胞要更便宜，

but your immune system will likely attack or reject those cells

但你的免疫系统可能会 攻击和排斥这些细胞，

unless you take immunosuppressants,

除非你服用免疫抑制剂，

which, unfortunately, is not an option for a lot of people,

不幸的是，这对很多人不可选，

especially the elderly.

尤其对于老年人。

To avoid this problem,

要避免这个问题，

some scientists are banking stem cells

一些科学家存储来自具有

from individuals with the most common genetic backgrounds.

最通用遗传背景个体的干细胞。

Here in the US,

在美国，

let's say we made a cell bank with 100 of the most common cell lines.

假设我们用100个最常见的 细胞系做了一个细胞库。

It could work for about 75 percent of Caucasians,

它对75%的白种人有效，

50 percent of African Americans.

对50%的非裔美国人有效。

But it gets harder.

但这变得愈来愈困难。

My cofounder is Filipina-Mexican,

我的联合创始人是 菲律宾-墨西哥人，

and it's unclear if she would be ever covered by a bank.

她能不能被这个银行覆盖 仍然不清楚。

And regardless,

不管怎样说，

if you could choose between using a stranger's cells versus your own,

如果在陌生人 和自己的细胞上有得选，

wouldn't you choose your own?

为什么不选自己的？

Personalized stem cells are our opportunity

客制化的干细胞是我们制造

to make medicines that truly work for me, for you and everyone.

能够真正对我、对你和每个人 有效的药物的机会。

And in order to make this process of stem cell production affordable and scalable,

要让干细胞生产过程的 费用可承受和规模化，

we have to automate it.

我们需要自动化这个过程。

Different people are taking different approaches to doing that,

不同的人正在用不同的方法去实现，

and I decided to use physics.

我决定使用物理方法。

Since childhood, I've been a die-hard physics fan,

从孩提时代开始，我就是个铁杆物理迷。

gazing at the stars,

仰望星空，

daydreaming about space travel.

做着太空旅行的白日梦。

Thanks, Mom, for not thinking I was weird!

感谢母亲，没觉得我是个怪胎。

My family moved around a lot,

我家庭经常搬迁，

from Saudi Arabia to Germany to Sri Lanka to Bangladesh,

从沙特阿拉伯到德国， 从斯里兰卡到孟加拉国，

and each time, I had to learn new languages and cultures.

每次，我都要学习新的语言和文化。

Eventually, I fell in love with physics because it was a universal language

最终，我爱上物理学，因为它是

that I didn't have to relearn every time.

不需要我每次都学习的通用语言。

When I started my PhD, I joined a laser physics lab,

当我读博士时， 我加入激光物理实验室，

because lasers are the coolest.

因为激光是最酷的。

But I also decided to dabble in biology.

但我也决定涉足生物学。

I started using lasers to engineer human cells,

我开始使用激光来设计人类细胞，

and when I talked to biologists about it, they were amazed.

当我和生物学家谈这个时， 他们感到惊讶。

Here's why: scientists are always looking for ways to make biology more precise.

原因在于：科学家一直在寻找 让生物学更精确的方法。

Sometimes cell culture can feel a lot like cooking:

有时候细胞培养像烹饪：

take some chemicals, put it in a pot, stir it, heat it, see what happens,

取一些化学物质，放进锅里，搅拌， 加热，看看会发生什么，

try it all over again.

一次次尝试。

In contrast, lasers are so precise,

相比之下，激光是如此精确，

you can target one cell in millions at precise intervals --

你可以在精确的时间间隔里 瞄准数百万个细胞中的任何一个，

every second, every minute, every hour -- you name it.

一秒内、一分内、 一小时内，你说了算。

I realized that instead of doing this tedious process of stem cell culture

我意识到与其手工去做这个乏味的

by hand,

干细胞培养过程，

we could use lasers to remove the unwanted cells.

我们可以使用激光来移除 不需要的细胞。

And to automate the entire process,

要自动化整个过程，

we decided to use machine learning to identify those unwanted cells

我们决定使用机器学习 来识别不需要的细胞

and zap them.

并杀死它们。

Algorithms today are great at finding useful information and images,

今天的算法在寻找有用的 信息和图像方面做得很好，

making this a perfect use case for machine learning.

令这成为机器学习的 一个完美使用场景。

Here's how it works:

这是工作的原理：

Take some blood cells, put it in a cassette.

取一些血液细胞，放在卡盒里。

Add chemicals to those blood cells to turn them into stem cells like always.

往血液细胞中加入化学物质 让它们像往常一样变成干细胞。

Now, instead of having a human look for those unwanted cells

现在，跟过去人工寻找不需要的细胞

and remove them by hand,

并手动移除掉不同的是，

the machine identifies the unwanted cells

机器识别出不需要的细胞

and zaps them with a laser.

并用激光杀死它们。

As you can see, this entire process happens by machine.

你可以看到，这整个流程 都是机器操作的。

The computer decides when and how often to print the cells

机器决定打印细胞的时间和频率

and uses a fully automated system to run the process.

并使用全自动系统来运行这个过程。

After repeated pruning,

经过反复修剪后，

you end up with a perfect culture of your stem cells,

你得到你自己的完美干细胞培养物，

ready to be banked and used at any time.

随时可以存入银行并使用。

In the future, we're going to have stem cell farms

在未来，我们将会拥有干细胞农场，

with stacks and stacks of hundreds and then eventually millions of cassettes,

那里有一叠又一叠的，成百上千的， 最终是数百万的卡盒，

each cassette a personalized bank for one human.

每个盒子是一个人的客制化银行。

Nurses will take a sample of your cord blood right at birth

护士会在你出生时采集脐带血样本

and ship it off for cultivation,

然后运去培育，

so that for the rest of your life, your stem cells are on file, banked,

这样在你的余生中，你的干细胞 都会被存档，储存起来，

ready to go, should any medical need arise.

随时准备使用，假设有任何医疗需要。

Let's say you develop heart disease.

我们假设说你患上了心脏疾病，

Your doctor can order up new heart cells.

你的医生可以订购新的心脏细胞。

Hair loss. They can order up new hair.

秃头，他们可以订购新的头发。

The most immediate application of this technology is for implants.

这个技术最快的应用是移植。

Dr. Kapil Bharti's research at the National Eye Institute

Kapil Bharti 博士 在国家眼科研究所的研究

has informed a breakthrough clinical trial

对干细胞治疗失明

for a stem cell derived therapy for blindness.

有突破性的临床试验。

As the process becomes cheaper,

随着整个过程变得便宜，

scientists can run larger and larger clinical trials at scale

科学家可以进行 越来越大规模的临床试验

to develop new treatments that don't exist today,

去开发今天不存在的治疗方法，

because what costs one million dollars today

因为今天耗费100万美元的东西

will soon be less than 50,000,

很快将会少于5万美元，

and then even cheaper with time.

并且随着时间将进一步下降。

Now, it gets even more interesting than that.

现在，事情变得比那更有趣了。

And perhaps you have longevity in mind.

也许你想要长寿。

That is certainly a possibility.

这当然是可能的。

In the future, we might use these exact same stem cell banks

将来，我们可以使用这些 同样的干细胞银行

to generate entire new organs, new tissues, new skin ...

来生产全新的器官、组织、新的皮肤…

New bone, teeth, anyone?

新的骨头、牙齿。有人需要吗？

This technology also has the potential

这个技术也具有革命性

to revolutionize personalized pharmaceuticals.

客制化药品的潜力。

Today, taking medicine is, to some degree, trial and error.

今天，服药在某种程度上 是一种试错法。

You don't really know if the drug is going to work for you

你并不确切知道这个药物 是不是对你有效，

until you put it in your body.

直到把它服入体内。

But what if we had a miniature human replica of you with your cells --

但如果我们有一个里面 有你细胞的微型人体复制品，

eye cells, brain cells, heart cells, muscle cells, blood cells --

——眼睛细胞、大脑细胞、心脏细胞、 肌肉细胞、血液细胞——

on a chip?

在一个芯片上。

A miniature human replica of you.

你的微型人体复制品。

We could take the drugs, test them on the cells in the lab first

我们可以测试药物，首先在实验室里 在细胞上测试它们

to see how it works.

看是否有效。

If it works, fantastic. Go ahead and take the drug.

如果有效，那很好。 下一步就是服药。

If it doesn't, pharmacists can order up custom drugs just for you.

如果无效，药剂师可以为你定制药物。

This has been the hope and dream of scientists for decades.

这是科学家数十年来的希望和梦想。

With this technology,

通过这种技术，

we can finally realize the true potential of stem cells:

我们可以最终实现干细胞的真正潜力：

on-demand functional cures made from your cells.

来自你的细胞的按需功能治疗方法。

Cures that your body won't reject.

你的身体不会排斥的治疗方法。

Cures that truly work for everyone.

真正适合每个人的治疗方法。

The future of regenerative medicine is 100 percent personalized,

未来的再生医学100%是客制化的，

and it's a lot closer than you think.

这比你想象的要近得多。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）