Nina Tandon: Caring for engineered tissue

譯者: Ching-Yuan Chen 審譯者: Wang-Ju Tsai

Good morning everybody.

早安各位

I work with really amazing,

我的工作是關於非常驚人的

little, itty-bitty creatures called cells.

微小生物，它們叫做細胞

And let me tell you what it's like

讓我告訴你們如何

to grow these cells in the lab.

在實驗室裡培養這些細胞

I work in a lab where we take cells out of their native environment.

在實驗室中，我們將細胞從它們的原生環境取出

We plate them into dishes

我們將它們放置到碟子中

that we sometimes call petri dishes.

有時我們稱這些碟子為培養皿

And we feed them -- sterilely of course --

我們當然是用無菌的方式餵食這些細胞

with what we call cell culture media -- which is like their food --

用的是稱為細胞培養基的東西，這就如同它們的食物

and we grow them in incubators.

然後我們在培養機中培養它們

Why do I do this?

為什麼我要這麼做?

We observe the cells in a plate,

我們觀察培養皿中的細胞

and they're just on the surface.

它們都分佈在培養基的表面

But what we're really trying to do in my lab

但我們在實驗室裡想做的是

is to engineer tissues out of them.

利用它們做出組織

What does that even mean?

而這到底是什麼意思呢?

Well it means growing an actual heart,

意思是培養一顆真的心臟

let's say,

又例如

or grow a piece of bone

培養一塊骨頭

that can be put into the body.

能放到身體裡面的骨頭

Not only that, but they can also be used for disease models.

不但如此，它們也能用於疾病模型

And for this purpose, traditional cell culture techniques

但如果要這麼做，傳統的細胞培養技術

just really aren't enough.

就略顯不足了

The cells are kind of homesick;

這些細胞有點適應不良

the dish doesn't feel like their home.

培養皿一點都不像它們生長的地方

And so we need to do better at copying their natural environment

因此我們需要在複製它們的自然環境方面加強

to get them to thrive.

才能使它們成長茁壯

We call this the biomimetic paradigm --

我們稱這個技術為「仿生式樣」

copying nature in the lab.

也就是在實驗室中複製自然環境

Let's take the example of the heart,

我們拿心臟來當例子好了

the topic of a lot of my research.

這是我研究很多的主題

What makes the heart unique?

心臟獨特之處在那裡?

Well, the heart beats,

心臟會跳動

rhythmically, tirelessly, faithfully.

很規律、很不倦地、忠誠地跳動

We copy this in the lab

我們在實驗室裡複製心跳

by outfitting cell culture systems with electrodes.

方法是在細胞培養系統加入電極

These electrodes act like mini pacemakers

這些電極功能就像迷你心律調整器

to get the cells to contract in the lab.

能夠讓細胞在實驗室裡收縮

What else do we know about the heart?

此外，我們對心臟還知道些什麼?

Well, heart cells are pretty greedy.

心臟細胞是非常耗能的

Nature feeds the heart cells in your body

大自然必須用很充沛的血液量

with a very, very dense blood supply.

來維持體內的心臟細胞的運作

In the lab, we micro-pattern channels

在實驗室裡，我們用生物材料

in the biomaterials

製作微小的管道

on which we grow the cells,

然後我們在那上面培養細胞

and this allows us to flow the cell culture media, the cells' food,

這樣我們才能將細胞培養基，也就是細胞的食物

through the scaffolds where we're growing the cells --

注入我們培養細胞的支架

a lot like what you might expect

很像我們印象中的

from a capillary bed in the heart.

心臟微血管床

So this brings me to lesson number one:

這樣我們就可以開始進入主題了:

life can do a lot with very little.

生命即使在匱乏的環境中也能成就非凡

Let's take the example of electrical stimulation.

我們用電刺激來舉個例子好了

Let's see how powerful just one of these essentials can be.

我們來看看這個要素本身的功能有多強大

On the left, we see a tiny piece of beating heart tissue

在左邊，我們可以看見一小塊在跳動的心臟組織

that I engineered from rat cells in the lab.

這是我在實驗室中從老鼠細胞做出來的

It's about the size of a mini marshmallow.

它跟迷你棉花糖一樣大

And after one week, it's beating.

一個禮拜後，它開始跳動了

You can see it in the upper left-hand corner.

你可以在左上角的圖中看到

But don't worry if you can't see it so well.

如果你看不清楚也不用擔心(因為跳動非常細微)

It's amazing that these cells beat at all.

這些細胞光是會跳動就很令人驚奇了

But what's really amazing

但是真正令人驚訝的是

is that the cells, when we electrically stimulate them,

當我們用電刺激這些細胞時

like with a pacemaker,

就像用一個心律調整器一樣

that they beat so much more.

這些細胞跳得更有生命力了

But that brings me to lesson number two:

再來我要講第二課了:

cells do all the work.

所有的工作交給細胞就好了

In a sense, tissue engineers have a bit of an identity crisis here,

就某方面來說，組織工程師有一點身份認同的危機

because structural engineers

因為結構工程師

build bridges and big things,

建造橋樑及巨大的物體

computer engineers, computers,

電腦工程師當然就是電腦了

but what we are doing

但我們所從事的工作

is actually building enabling technologies for the cells themselves.

其實是建造一個科技來啟動細胞本身

What does this mean for us?

這對我們來說代表著什麼呢?

Let's do something really simple.

我們來做一件簡單的事

Let's remind ourselves

我們來提醒自己

that cells are not an abstract concept.

細胞並不是一個抽象的概念

Let's remember that our cells sustain our lives

我們要記得，細胞維持著我們的生命

in a very real way.

用的是非常真實的方式

"We are what we eat," could easily be described

「我們吃什麼就像什麼」可以簡單得說成

as, "We are what our cells eat."

「細胞吃什麼，我們就像什麼」

And in the case of the flora in our gut,

例如我們腸道內的菌群

these cells may not even be human.

這些細胞甚至不是人體的

But it's also worth noting

還值得注意的是

that cells also mediate our experience of life.

細胞還調節著我們對人生的體驗

Behind every sound, sight, touch, taste and smell

在聽覺、視覺、觸覺、味覺、嗅覺的背後

is a corresponding set of cells

各有一組對應的細胞

that receive this information

來接受訊息

and interpret it for us.

並為我們詮釋

It begs the question:

而這也把我們帶到了這個問題:

shall we expand our sense of environmental stewardship

我們是否該擴展對環境管理的概念

to include the ecosystem of our own bodies?

並納入我們自身的生態環境呢?

I invite you to talk about this with me further,

我歡迎你們和我更進一步的探討這個話題

and in the meantime, I wish you luck.

而在那之前，我要祝大家好運

May none of your non-cancer cells

希望大家的非癌細胞都不會

become endangered species.

成為瀕臨絕種的生物

Thank you.

謝謝大家

(Applause)

（掌聲）