Rob Knight: How our microbes make us who we are

翻译人员: Min WANG 校对人员: Lidong Zhuo

We humans have always been very concerned about the health of our bodies,

我们人类一直都关注着身体健康，

but we haven't always been that good at figuring out what's important.

但却并未找到其中的关键之处。

Take the ancient Egyptians, for example:

拿古埃及人举个例子：

very concerned about the body parts they thought they'd need in the afterlife,

他们非常关注身体的各部分， 认为在来生会用到，

but they left some parts out.

但是他们却忽略了一些部位。

This part, for example.

比如这个部分。

Although they very carefully preserved the stomach, the lungs,

尽管他们非常小心地保存着胃，肺，

the liver, and so forth,

肝，等等，

they just mushed up the brain, drained it out through the nose,

但是他们会把大脑搅成糊 然后从鼻子抽出，

and threw it away,

然后扔掉，

which makes sense, really,

这其实也符合逻辑，

because what does a brain do for us anyway?

大脑究竟能为我们做什么呢？

But imagine if there were a kind of neglected organ in our bodies

但是请想一下， 如果我们身体里有一个被忽略的器官，

that weighed just as much as the brain

和大脑有着同样的重量，

and in some ways was just as important to who we are,

而且和我们是谁息息相关，

but we knew so little about and treated with such disregard.

但是我们对它却不甚了解， 也并未重视过它。

And imagine if, through new scientific advances,

想象一下，通过新的科学进步，

we were just beginning to understand

我们能够开始去理解它

its importance to how we think of ourselves.

对于我们如何看待自己的重要性。

Wouldn't you want to know more about it?

你难道不想多了解它一些么？

Well, it turns out that we do have something just like that:

结果呢，我们真的有那样的东西，

our gut,

我们的肠道，

or rather, its microbes.

或是说肠道的微生物。

But it's not just the microbes in our gut that are important.

但不只有我们肠道中的 微生物很重要，

Microbes all over our body

遍布我们全身的微生物

turn out to be really critical to a whole range of differences

对于区分我们和其他人

that make different people who we are.

也有着非常深刻的意义。

So for example, have you ever noticed

举个例子，你有没有发现有些人

how some people get bitten by mosquitos way more often than others?

比一般人更招蚊子。

It turns out that everyone's anecdotal experience out camping is actually true.

事实上，那些个人野营的 趣闻也证明了这一点。

For example, I seldom get bitten by mosquitos,

举个例子，我很少会被蚊子咬，

but my partner Amanda attracts them in droves,

但是我的爱人阿曼达很招蚊子，

and the reason why is that we have different microbes on our skin

原因是我们的皮肤上 存在着不同的微生物，

that produce different chemicals that the mosquitos detect.

会产生不同的能够被蚊子 察觉的化学物质。

Now, microbes are also really important in the field of medicine.

现在，微生物在医学界 也有非常重要的作用。

So, for example, what microbes you have in your gut

举个例子，你肠道里微生物的种类

determine whether particular painkillers are toxic to your liver.

决定了是否某种止痛剂 会对你的肝有毒害作用。

They also determine whether or not other drugs will work for your heart condition.

它们同样还决定了其他药物 是否适合你的心脏。

And, if you're a fruit fly, at least,

另外，如果你是一只果蝇，

your microbes determine who you want to have sex with.

你的微生物还会决定 你愿意和谁发生性关系。

We haven't demonstrated this in humans yet

我们还没有在人类身上证明这一点，

but maybe it's just a matter of time before we find out. (Laughter)

不过也许只是时间上的问题。（笑声）

So microbes are performing a huge range of functions.

微生物有着非常多的功能。

They help us digest our food.

它们帮助我们消化，

They help educate our immune system.

调整免疫系统，

They help us resist disease,

防御疾病，

and they may even be affecting our behavior.

它们甚至会影响我们的行为。

So what would a map of all these microbial communities look like?

这些微生物菌落的分布图 会是什么样的呢？

Well, it wouldn't look exactly like this,

也许分布不会和这个一模一样，

but it's a helpful guide for understanding biodiversity.

但是对理解生物多样性很有帮助。

Different parts of the world have different landscapes of organisms

世界不同的地方有不同的生物分布，

that are immediately characteristic of one place or another

非常直接的反映了

or another.

不同地域的特征。

With microbiology, it's kind of the same, although I've got to be honest with you:

对于微生物也有类似的分布， 但是我得坦白的说：

All the microbes essentially look the same under a microscope.

显微镜下，所有的微生物都长的一样。

So instead of trying to identify them visually,

所以我们不去直观地识别它们，

what we do is we look at their DNA sequences,

我们会观察它们的 DNA ，

and in a project called the Human Microbiome Project,

在一个叫做“人类微生物工程”的项目中，

NIH funded this $173 million project

NIH 为这个项目投资了 1.73 亿美元，

where hundreds of researchers came together

几百名研究者聚集起来

to map out all the A's, T's, G's, and C's,

共同绘制出所有 了 A， T， G， C 这些碱基，

and all of these microbes in the human body.

以及人体内所有 这些微生物的分布图。

So when we take them together, they look like this.

所以当我们把它们放在一起的时候， 看起来是这个样子的。

It's a bit more difficult to tell who lives where now, isn't it?

有点难分辨出哪种微生物 分布在哪里对不对？

What my lab does is develop computational techniques that allow us

我的实验室做的就是 开发计算机技术，

to take all these terabytes of sequence data

让我们可以将这些 万亿字节的序列数据

and turn them into something that's a bit more useful as a map,

转化成更直观有效的分布图，

and so when we do that with the human microbiome data

当我们从 250 个健康的志愿者那里

from 250 healthy volunteers,

取来微生物数据的时候，

it looks like this.

这个分布图看上去是这个样子。

Each point here represents all the complex microbes

每一个点都代表着 一整个微生物菌落中的

in an entire microbial community.

所有复杂的微生物。

See, I told you they basically all look the same.

看，我之前说过它们看上去都一样。

So what we're looking at is each point represents one microbial community

这里每一个点都代表着 一个微生物菌落，

from one body site of one healthy volunteer.

来自一个健康志愿者的 某个身体部位。

And so you can see that there's different parts of the map in different colors,

所以你能看到图中不同的部分 有不同的颜色，

almost like separate continents.

就像分开的大陆一样。

And what it turns out to be

研究结果显示

is that those, as the different regions of the body,

不同的身体部位

have very different microbes in them.

有着不同的微生物。

So what we have is we have the oral community up there in green.

我们用绿色标记了 左上角的口腔微生物菌落。

Over on the other side, we have the skin community in blue,

右上角蓝色的是 皮肤上的微生物菌落，

the vaginal community in purple,

紫色的是阴道内的菌落，

and then right down at the bottom, we have the fecal community in brown.

然后在最低下， 棕色的是排泄物中的菌落。

And we've just over the last few years

在过去的几年里，

found out that the microbes in different parts of the body

我们发现了不同身体部位之间的

微生物存在巨大差异。

are amazingly different from one another.

So if I look at just one person's microbes

如果我只看同一个人

in the mouth and in the gut,

口腔中和肠道中的微生物，

it turns out that the difference between those two microbial communities

这两个部位微生物菌落

is enormous.

也有着天壤之别。

It's bigger than the difference between the microbes in this reef

这个差别要比珊瑚礁中的微生物

and the microbes in this prairie.

和牧场上的微生物的差别大得多。

So this is incredible when you think about it.

所以仔细想一下， 你就会感到不可思议。

What it means is that a few feet of difference in the human body

这就意味着，人们身体尺寸范围内的

makes more of a difference to your microbial ecology

微生物生态的差别

than hundreds of miles on Earth.

要比地球上数百英里间的差别还大。

And this is not to say that two people look basically the same

这也不是说在同一身体部位

in the same body habitat, either.

两个人的菌落就看上去基本一样。

So you probably heard

也许你已经听说

that we're pretty much all the same in terms of our human DNA.

我们人类的 DNA 几乎完全相同。

You're 99.99 percent identical in terms of your human DNA

就 DNA 而言，你和你旁边坐着的人

to the person sitting next to you.

有99%的相似度。

But that's not true of your gut microbes:

但是对于你肠道中的微生物就不同了：

you might only share 10 percent similarity

就肠胃中的微生物而言，

with the person sitting next to you in terms of your gut microbes.

你和你旁边的人 也许只有10%的相似度。

So that's as different as the bacteria on this prairie

所以这就像这个草原上的细菌

and the bacteria in this forest.

和这个森林里的细菌的差异一样大。

So these different microbes

那么就像我刚才说的，

have all these different kinds of functions that I told you about,

这些不同的微生物有着不同功能，

everything from digesting food

从消化食物

to involvement in different kinds of diseases,

到与各种疾病，

metabolizing drugs, and so forth.

代谢药物相关联，等等。

So how do they do all this stuff?

它们是怎么做到这些的呢？

Well, in part it's because

一部分是因为

although there's just three pounds of those microbes in our gut,

虽然我们肠道中的微生物 只有 3 磅重，

they really outnumber us.

它们的数量却 远远超过了我们的生理数据。

And so how much do they outnumber us?

它们到底比我们多多少呢？

Well, it depends on what you think of as our bodies.

这就取决于你们怎么比较了。

Is it our cells?

是比我们身体的细胞数量多么？

Well, each of us consists of about 10 trillion human cells,

我们每个人都有大概 10 万亿的细胞，

but we harbor as many as 100 trillion microbial cells.

但是我们身体中有 100 万亿的微生物细胞。

So they outnumber us 10 to one.

所以呢，它们的数量是我们的十倍。

Now, you might think, well, we're human because of our DNA,

你现在可能会想， 我们是人，这是由 DNA 决定的，

but it turns out that each of us has about 20,000 human genes,

但是我们每个人都有 2万个人类基因，

depending on what you count exactly,

取决于你怎么数，

but as many as two million to 20 million microbial genes.

但是和我们的基因相比， 微生物有 200-2000万的基因。

So whichever way we look at it, we're vastly outnumbered

所以不论怎么看，我们在数量上都

by our microbial symbionts.

被微生物共生体远远超过了。

And it turns out that in addition to traces of our human DNA,

结果还显示， 在我们留下人类 DNA 痕迹的时候，

we also leave traces of our microbial DNA

还在所有被我们触摸的东西上

on everything we touch.

留下了我们微生物的 DNA。

We showed in a study a few years ago

我们在几年前的一个研究中展示了，

that you can actually match the palm of someone's hand up

你甚至可以将手掌上携带的物质信息

to the computer mouse that they use routinely

与日常所用的鼠标上的相匹配，

with up to 95 percent accuracy.

准确率达到95%。

So this came out in a scientific journal a few years ago,

这项结果几年前发表在 一个科学杂志上，

but more importantly, it was featured on "CSI: Miami,"

但更重要的是，它在美剧 “犯罪现场调查：迈阿密”中播出了，

so you really know it's true.

所以你们得相信确有其事。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So where do our microbes come from in the first place?

那么我们的微生物从哪来呢？

Well if, as I do, you have dogs or kids,

如果像我一样， 你们有宠物狗或者孩子，

你们可能有些不太乐观的怀疑 （微生物来自不干净的地方），

you probably have some dark suspicions about that,

all of which are true, by the way.

但这的确是事实。

So just like we can match you to your computer equipment

就像我们能够通过微生物

by the microbes you share,

将你和你的电脑设备匹配，

we can also match you up to your dog.

我们同样能将你和你的狗匹配。

But it turns out that in adults,

但是结果显示成人的

microbial communities are relatively stable,

微生物菌落是相对稳定的，

so even if you live together with someone,

所以即使你和其他人一起生活，

you'll maintain your separate microbial identity

你在几周，几个月，甚至几年间

over a period of weeks, months, even years.

仍将保留你自己独特的微生物特性。

It turns out that our first microbial communities

事实表明我们的第一个微生物菌落

depend a lot on how we're born.

大多取决于我们是怎样出生的。

So babies that come out the regular way,

因此顺产出生的婴儿，

all of their microbes are basically like the vaginal community,

它们体内的微生物基本跟 阴道的菌落是相像的，

whereas babies that are delivered by C-section,

然而剖腹产出生的婴儿，

all of their microbes instead look like skin.

他们体内的微生物看上去 更像皮肤中的。

And this might be associated with some of the differences

这可能与剖腹产婴儿的

in health associated with Cesarean birth,

不同的健康状况有一定关联，

such as more asthma, more allergies, even more obesity,

例如这些婴儿更容易患上 哮喘，过敏，甚至肥胖，

all of which have been linked to microbes now,

这些目前可能都与微生物有关，

and when you think about it, until recently, every surviving mammal

当你想到，所有存活的哺乳动物

had been delivered by the birth canal,

都是通过产道出生，

and so the lack of those protective microbes

因此缺乏那些与我们共同进化的

that we've co-evolved with might be really important

保护性的微生物， 这可能对我们目前已知的

for a lot of these different conditions that we now know involve the microbiome.

与微生物有关的许多不同症状 来说非常重要。

When my own daughter was born a couple of years ago

当我的女儿在几年前通过紧急剖腹产

by emergency C-section,

出生的时候，

we took matters into our own hands

我们都做了相应的准备，

and made sure she was coated with those vaginal microbes

确保她被本应通过自然分娩而获得的

that she would have gotten naturally.

阴道微生物所附着。

Now, it's really difficult to tell whether this has had an effect

目前，当然还无法确定这是否

on her health specifically, right?

对她的健康有影响，对吧？

With a sample size of just one child, no matter how much we love her,

样本只有一个孩子，不管我们多爱她，

you don't really have enough of a sample size

你都不能从单一样本

to figure out what happens on average,

得出平均的结果，

but at two years old, she hasn't had an ear infection yet,

但是两岁了，她还没得过耳部感染，

so we're keeping our fingers crossed on that one.

所以在这一点上我们很幸运。

And what's more, we're starting to do clinical trials with more children

而且，我们开始用更多的孩子 做临床实验，

to figure out whether this has a protective effect generally.

看看是否微生物在整体上 起到了保护作用。

So how we're born has a tremendous effect on what microbes we have initially,

那么，我们的出生方式对体内 起初的微生物种类有着巨大影响，

but where do we go after that?

但是在那之后呢？

What I'm showing you again here is this map

我再给你们看一下这张

of the Human Microbiome Project Data,

人类微生物工程的数据图，

so each point represents a sample from one body site

每一个点代表人体某一部位的样本，

from one of 250 healthy adults.

一共有250个健康成人的数据。

And you've seen children develop physically.

你已经看到过孩子们身体

You've seen them develop mentally.

以及智力的成长。

Now, for the first time, you're going to see

现在，你将第一次看到

one of my colleague's children develop microbially.

我同事的孩子们在微生物方面的成长。

So what we are going to look at

我们要看的是

is we're going to look at this one baby's stool,

一个婴儿的粪菌，

the fecal community, which represents the gut,

排泄物的微生物菌落代表着大肠的菌落，

sampled every week for almost two and a half years.

每周取样，持续了大约两年半。

And so we're starting on day one.

我们从第一天开始，

What's going to happen is that the infant is going to start off as this yellow dot,

婴儿从这个黄点开始，

and you can see that he's starting off basically in the vaginal community,

你们可以看到他基本就在 阴道生物菌落里，

as we would expect from his delivery mode.

因此我们可以推测 他的出生方式（顺产）。

And what's going to happen over these two and a half years

随后的两年半里

就是他沿着这条线一路下移，

is that he's going to travel all the way down

向底端的健康成人志愿者的 粪便菌落靠近。

to resemble the adult fecal community from healthy volunteers down at the bottom.

So I'm just going to start this going and we'll see how that happens.

我们现在就来看看 这一过程是怎样发生的。

What you can see, and remember each step in this is just one week,

你们看到的， 记住每一步只是一周，

what you can see is that week to week,

你们看到的，是每周的

the change in the microbial community of the feces of this one child,

儿童粪便微生物菌落的变化，

the differences week to week are much greater

每周的差异都

than the differences between individual healthy adults

远比人类微生物工程研究中的

in the Human Microbiome Project cohort,

健康成人个体之间的差异，也就是

which are those brown dots down at the bottom.

底端的一些棕色的点，要大得多。

And you can see he's starting to approach the adult fecal community.

你们可以看到他 正在接近成人粪便菌落。

This is up to about two years.

这大约要花上两年。

But something amazing is about to happen here.

但是有个意外的现象出现了。

So he's getting antibiotics for an ear infection.

他此刻正在注射 防止耳部感染的抗体。

What you can see is this huge change in the community,

你可以看到菌落的巨大变化，

followed by a relatively rapid recovery.

然后又迅速恢复。

I'll just rewind that for you.

我倒回去再给你们看一遍。

And what we can see is that just over these few weeks,

我们看到，几周之间，

we have a much more radical change,

有一个更明显的变化，

a setback of many months of normal development,

退回到几个月之前的 正常发展阶段，

followed by a relatively rapid recovery,

然后又迅速恢复，

and by the time he reaches day 838,

当他在第838天的时候，

which is the end of this video,

也就是这段录像的结尾，

you can see that he has essentially reached the healthy adult stool community,

可以看到他已经到达了 健康成人菌落，

尽管其间受到了抗体的干扰。

despite that antibiotic intervention.

So this is really interesting because it raises fundamental questions

这个结果很有趣， 因为它提出了一些

about what happens when we intervene at different ages in a child's life.

关于儿童时期注射疫苗的问题。

So does what we do early on, where the microbiome is changing so rapidly,

我们进行的早期干预， 对微生物菌落的变化

actually matter,

确实有影响，

or is it like throwing a stone into a stormy sea,

这是不是就像在波涛汹涌的 海面扔进一块石头，

where the ripples will just be lost?

波纹迅速就会消失了？

Well, fascinatingly, it turns out that if you give children antibiotics

有趣的是，当你在婴儿出生后的

in the first six months of life,

前6个月注射抗体，

they're more likely to become obese later on

他们之后患肥胖症的可能性

than if they don't get antibiotics then or only get them later,

比不注射或者推迟注射抗体要更大，

and so what we do early on may have profound impacts

因此我们在早期的干预会对

on the gut microbial community and on later health

肠道微生物菌落及之后的健康状态 产生深远影响，

that we're only beginning to understand.

后者我们才刚刚开始了解。

So this is fascinating, because one day, in addition to the effects

这很有趣，因为总有一天， 抗生素除了

that antibiotics have on antibiotic-resistant bacteria,

在耐抗生素细菌上产生

which are very important,

重要影响之外，

they may also be degrading our gut microbial ecosystems,

它们还可能使我们的肠道 微生物生态系统发生退化，

and so one day we may come to regard antibiotics with the same horror

因此，总有一天我们将以 恐惧的视角看待抗生素，

that we currently reserve for those metal tools

如同看待那些埃及人用来

that the Egyptians used to use to mush up the brains

搅碎大脑，并将其清除来制作

before they drained them out for embalming.

木乃伊的金属器具一样。

So I mentioned that microbes have all these important functions,

我提到了微生物的 所有这些重要功能，

and they've also now, just over the past few years,

以及近年来，它们与

been connected to a whole range of different diseases,

若干不同疾病的相关性，

including inflammatory bowel disease,

包括炎症性肠病，

heart disease, colon cancer,

心脏病，结肠癌，

and even obesity.

甚至肥胖。

Obesity has a really large effect, as it turns out,

事实证明了肥胖对健康影响很大，

and today, we can tell whether you're lean or obese

如今我们仅仅通过 肠道的微生物菌落，

with 90 percent accuracy

就可以辨别你是瘦还是胖，

by looking at the microbes in your gut.

准确率达到了90%。

Now, although that might sound impressive,

虽然这听上去相当不错，

in some ways it's a little bit problematic as a medical test,

但是在某些方面把它作为 医学测验手段仍然存在问题，

because you can probably tell which of these people is obese

因为我们也可以 直接区分哪些人肥胖，

without knowing anything about their gut microbes,

甚至不需要知道他们 肠道微生物的情况，

but it turns out that even if we sequence their complete genomes

但是即使我们得到 他们完整的基因序列，

and had all their human DNA,

他们的全部人类DNA,

we could only predict which one was obese with about 60 percent accuracy.

我们在预测哪个人有肥胖症的问题上 也只能达到60%的准确率。

So that's amazing, right?

这很让人意外对不对？

What it means that the three pounds of microbes that you carry around with you

这意味着你所附带的三磅的微生物

可能比基因组的每一个基因，

may be more important for some health conditions

than every single gene in your genome.

对于健康状态来说更重要。

And then in mice, we can do a lot more.

用老鼠，我们可以做更多的实验。

So in mice, microbes have been linked to all kinds of additional conditions,

对于老鼠，微生物可能 跟更多的生理状况产生联系，

including things like multiple sclerosis,

包括多发性硬化，

depression, autism, and again, obesity.

抑郁症，孤独症，还有肥胖症。

But how can we tell whether these microbial differences

但是我们怎么区别微生物上的差异

that correlate with disease are cause or effect?

是与患病的原因还是结果相关呢？

Well, one thing we can do is we can raise some mice

我们能做的就是多养一些老鼠，

without any microbes of their own in a germ-free bubble.

将它们在无菌膜里， 且自身不带微生物的条件下养大。

Then we can add in some microbes that we think are important,

然后加入一些 我们认为比较重要的微生物，

and see what happens.

看看会发生什么。

When we take the microbes from an obese mouse

当我们从肥胖的老鼠身上 提取一些微生物

and transplant them into a genetically normal mouse

并移植到基因正常的老鼠身上，

that's been raised in a bubble with no microbes of its own,

那只老鼠自身不带微生物， 是在无菌膜下培养的，

it becomes fatter than if it got them from a regular mouse.

这只老鼠与从正常老鼠身上 获得微生物相比变胖了。

Why this happens is absolutely amazing, though.

这项结果绝对让人惊讶。

Sometimes what's going on is that the microbes

这是因为，有时候微生物

are helping them digest food more efficiently from the same diet,

帮助它们更有效的消化同样的食物，

so they're taking more energy from their food,

因此它们从食物中汲取了更多的能量，

but other times, the microbes are actually affecting their behavior.

但是其他时候， 微生物会影响寄主的行为。

What they're doing is they're eating more than the normal mouse,

这些老鼠比正常老鼠吃得更多，

so they only get fat if we let them eat as much as they want.

因此如果让它们尽情地吃， 它们只会更胖。

So this is really remarkable, right?

这个结果的确值得注意，对吧？

The implication is that microbes can affect mammalian behavior.

这预示着微生物可以 影响哺乳动物的行为。

So you might be wondering whether we can also do this sort of thing across species,

你也许会想知道这种影响 是否会跨物种，

and it turns out that if you take microbes from an obese person

结果表明，如果你从肥胖的 人身上提取微生物，

and transplant them into mice you've raised germ-free,

移植到无菌老鼠身上，

those mice will also become fatter

这些老鼠与从瘦的人

than if they received the microbes from a lean person,

身上获得微生物相比会变得更胖，

but we can design a microbial community that we inoculate them with

但是我们可以设计一种微生物菌落，

that prevents them from gaining this weight.

把它们接种到防止增肥的微生物上。

We can also do this for malnutrition.

对于营养不良， 我们也可以做类似的实验。

So in a project funded by the Gates Foundation,

在由盖茨夫妇基金会 资助的一个项目中，

what we're looking at is children in Malawi

我们关注了马拉维的儿童，

who have kwashiorkor, a profound form of malnutrition,

他们患有一种叫做夸休可尔症的 深层次的营养不良，

and mice that get the kwashiorkor community transplanted into them

将夸休可尔症的菌落移植到老鼠身上，

lose 30 percent of their body mass

它们在仅仅三周之内，体重就

in just three weeks,

减少了30%，

but we can restore their health by using the same peanut butter-based supplement

不过我们可以通过补充用来 进行儿童临床治疗的

that is used for the children in the clinic,

花生黄油类补品来恢复它们的健康，

and the mice that receive the community

而老鼠接受来自于

from the healthy identical twins of the kwashiorkor children do fine.

夸休可尔症患者的健康双胞胎的 微生物菌落，就一切表现正常。

This is truly amazing because it suggests that we can pilot therapies

这太好了， 它预示着我们可以进行试点治疗，

by trying them out in a whole bunch of different mice

用成人个体肠道内的微生物菌落

with individual people's gut communities

在一大群不同的老鼠间进行实验，

and perhaps tailor those therapies all the way down to the individual level.

或许还能把治疗方法 依据个人情况进行调整。

So I think it's really important that everyone has a chance

因此我认为每个人都有机会 参与这项发现

to participate in this discovery.

是非常重要的。

So, a couple of years ago,

几年前，

we started this project called American Gut,

我们启动了这个叫做 “美国人肠道”的项目，

which allows you to claim a place for yourself on this microbial map.

可以把你添加到微生物分布图上。

This is now the largest crowd-funded science project that we know of --

这是目前我所知道的拥有 最多人力资助的科学项目，

over 8,000 people have signed up at this point.

目前有超过8000人已经注册。

What happens is, they send in their samples,

他们要做的就是送来他们的样品，

we sequence the DNA of their microbes and then release the results back to them.

我们得到他们的微生物DNA序列， 并把结果反馈给他们。

We also release them, de-identified, to scientists, to educators,

我们也在消除个人信息之后把 这些结果公布给科学家，教育工作者，

to interested members of the general public, and so forth,

感兴趣的公众，等等，

so anyone can have access to the data.

所以任何人都能得到这个数据。

On the other hand,

另一方面，

when we do tours of our lab at the BioFrontiers Institute,

当我们在介绍位于BioFrontiers研究所的 实验室的时候，

and we explain that we use robots and lasers to look at poop,

我们说明了我们在用机器人 和激光研究粪便，

it turns out that not everyone wants to know.

不过看起来并不是每个人都想去了解。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But I'm guessing that many of you do,

但我猜你们许多人都感到好奇，

and so I brought some kits here if you're interested

所以我带来了一些测试包， 如果你们感兴趣

in trying this out for yourself.

可以自己来尝试一下。

So why might we want to do this?

我们为什么要做这个研究？

Well, it turns out that microbes are not just important

实验表明微生物不仅对

for finding out where we are in terms of our health,

我们的健康状态很重要，

but they can actually cure disease.

而且可以帮助治疗疾病。

This is one of the newest things we've been able to visualize

这是我们已经 可以直观化的最新结果之一，

with colleagues at the University of Minnesota.

合作者是明尼苏达大学的同事。

So here's that map of the human microbiome again.

再看一次那张人类微生物分布图。

What we're looking at now --

我们现在来看一看——

I'm going to add in the community of some people with C. diff.

我要在这片区域里加入一些 得 C. diff.的人群。

So, this is a terrible form of diarrhea

这是一种很恐怖的腹泻，

where you have to go up to 20 times a day,

患者每天要去将近20趟厕所，

and these people have failed antibiotic therapy for two years

而且这些人长达2年的抗体治疗 并未见效，

before they're eligible for this trial.

他们符合参与这项试验的要求。

So what would happen if we transplanted some of the stool from a healthy donor,

如果我们从健康的捐献者 体内移植一些粪菌，

that star down at the bottom,

就是这个底部的星形物，

into these patients.

到这些病人身上。

Would the good microbes do battle with the bad microbes

这些好的微生物会不会 与坏的微生物竞争，

and help to restore their health?

从而帮助患者恢复健康呢？

So let's watch exactly what happens there.

我们看看到底发生了什么。

Four of those patients are about to get a transplant

四位患者将得到来自底部

from that healthy donor at the bottom,

健康捐献者身体内的微生物，

and what you can see is that immediately,

你们能看到，

you have this radical change in the gut community.

肠道菌落迅速的发生了变化。

So one day after you do that transplant,

移植一天之后，

all those symptoms clear up,

所有症状消失了，

the diarrhea vanishes,

腹泻也消失了，

and they're essentially healthy again, coming to resemble the donor's community,

他们的确又恢复了健康， 与捐献者的菌落相似，

and they stay there.

并且保持不变。

(Applause)

（掌声）

So we're just at the beginning of this discovery.

这项探索才刚刚开始。

We're just finding out that microbes have implications

我们仅仅发现微生物能够指向

for all these different kinds of diseases,

不同的疾病，

ranging from inflammatory bowel disease to obesity,

从炎症性肠病到肥胖，

and perhaps even autism and depression.

甚至自闭和抑郁症。

What we need to do, though,

然而我们需要做的，

is we need to develop a kind of microbial GPS,

就是开发一个微生物全球定位系统，

where we don't just know where we are currently

我们不仅要知道目前的进展，

but also where we want to go and what we need to do

还要知道应该朝什么方向努力，

in order to get there,

要如何实现我们的目标，

and we need to be able to make this simple enough

我们还要让这个过程足够简单，

that even a child can use it. (Laughter)

甚至连小朋友也可以操作。 （笑声）

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

(掌声)