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You may not realize this, but there are more bacteria in your body than stars in our entire galaxy.
或许你并没有意识到，你身体里的细菌比银河系中的星星还要多。
This fascinating universe of bacteria inside of us is an integral part of our health,
我们体内这迷人的“细菌宇宙”，是我们身体健康不可缺少的组成部分，
and our technology is evolving so rapidly that today we can program these bacteria like we program computers.
而高科技的迅速发展允许我们像处理计算机程序一样处理这些细菌。
Now, the diagram that you see here, I know it looks like some kind of sports play,
现在，你看到的这张图，我知道这看起来像是某种体育运动的示意图，
but it is actually a blueprint of the first bacterial program I developed.
但实际上是我开发的第一个细菌程序。
And like writing software, we can print and write DNA into different algorithms and programs inside of bacteria.
就像写软件代码那样，我们可以依据不同的算法输出和撰写DNA序列，并在细菌内部编写程序。
What this program does is produces fluorescent proteins in a rhythmic fashion
这个程序做的事情就是按照一定的节奏生产荧光蛋白，
and generates a small molecule that allows bacteria to communicate and synchronize, as you're seeing in this movie.
并生成一个小分子，让细菌可以彼此联系，实现信息同步，正如你在这个影片里看到的。
The growing colony of bacteria that you see here is about the width of a human hair.
这个成长中的菌落和人类头发的宽度差不多大小。
Now, what you can't see is that our genetic program instructs these bacteria to each produce small molecules,
但你们看不到我们的基因程序如何指导这些细菌各自产生小分子，
and these molecules travel between the thousands of individual bacteria telling them when to turn on and off.
这些分子在数千个细菌个体之间游移，告诉它们什么时候开启和关闭相应的功能。
And the bacteria synchronize quite well at this scale,
在这个尺度下，细菌同步表现得很好，
but because the molecule that synchronizes them together can only travel so fast,
但因为这些让细菌同步的分子移动速度非常快，
in larger colonies of bacteria, this results in traveling waves between bacteria that are far away from each other,
在比较大的菌落里，将导致在相距较远的细菌个体间产生传导波动，
and you can see these waves going from right to left across the screen.
你可以看到这样的波动从荧幕的右边向左移动。
Now, our genetic program relies on a natural phenomenon called quorum sensing,
我们的遗传程序依赖于一种叫做“群体感应”的自然现象，
in which bacteria trigger coordinated and sometimes virulent behaviors once they reach a critical density.
一旦菌落达到临界密度，细菌之间就会开始激发相互协调，有时甚至会产生致命后果的行为。
You can observe quorum sensing in action in this movie,
在这段视频中，你能观察到活动中的“群体感应”现象，
where a growing colony of bacteria only begins to glow once it reaches a high or critical density.
成长中的菌落只有在达到高密度或临界密度的时候才会开始发光。
Our genetic program continues producing these rhythmic patterns of fluorescent proteins as the colony grows outwards.
我们的基因程序在菌落向外蔓延时，有节奏地持续制造荧光蛋白。
This particular movie and experiment we call The Supernova, because it looks like an exploding star.
我们称这个特别的影片和这个实验为“超级新星”，因为这看起来很像星星大爆炸。
Now, besides programming these beautiful patterns, I wondered, what else can we get these bacteria to do?
除了编译这些美丽的图样外，我开始思考，我们还能让这些细菌做些什么？
And I decided to explore how we can program bacteria to detect and treat diseases in our bodies like cancer.
我决定探索研究要如何编程细菌去发现和治疗身体内的疾病，比如癌症。
One of the surprising facts about bacteria is that they can naturally grow inside of tumors.
细菌的一个不可思议之处在于，它们可以在肿瘤内部自然地生长。
This happens because typically tumors are areas where the immune system has no access,
这是因为，一般的肿瘤是免疫系统涉及不到的区域，
and so bacteria find these tumors and use them as a safe haven to grow and thrive.
所以当细菌发现这些肿瘤时，会将肿瘤当做避风港，在其中茁壮成长。
We started using probiotic bacteria which are safe bacteria that have a health benefit,
我们开始使用益生菌，它们安全并且对健康有益，
and found that when orally delivered to mice, these probiotics would selectively grow inside of liver tumors.
随后发现，当老鼠口服益生菌时，这些益生菌会选择生长在肝脏的肿瘤里。
We realized that the most convenient way to highlight the presence of the probiotics,
我们意识到最简便的标记出益生菌，
and hence, the presence of the tumors, was to get these bacteria to produce a signal that would be detectable in the urine,
进而让肿瘤现形的方式，是让这些益生菌产生可以在尿液中被检测到的信号，
and so we specifically programmed these probiotics to make a molecule
所以我们特别编译了这些益生菌，让它们产生
that would change the color of your urine to indicate the presence of cancer.
可以改变你尿液颜色的分子，以此实现癌症的检测。
We went on to show that this technology could sensitively and specifically detect liver cancer,
我们随后证明了这项技术对肝癌的检测具有高灵敏度和准确度，
one that is challenging to detect otherwise.
而肝癌很难通过其他方式检测到。
Now, since these bacteria specifically localize to tumors,
既然知道这些细菌能准确定位肿瘤，
we've been programming them to not only detect cancer but also to treat cancer by producing therapeutic molecules
我们又试着实现不止能检测癌症，还能治疗癌症的编译，
from within the tumor environment that shrink the existing tumors,
通过从肿瘤内部产生治疗分子，让现有的肿瘤萎缩，
and we've been doing this using quorum sensing programs like you saw in the previous movies.
而我们已经在用群体感应程序来实现这一过程了，就像之前影片中看到的一样。
Altogether, imagine in the future taking a programmed probiotic that could detect and treat cancer, or even other diseases.
想象一下，未来可以通过服用这些编译后的细菌来检测和治疗癌症，甚至是其他疾病。
Our ability to program bacteria and program life opens up new horizons in cancer research, and to share this vision,
我们能够编译细菌以及生命的能力，为癌症研究打开了新的天地，为了分享这个美好的愿景，
I worked with artist Vik Muniz to create the symbol of the universe, made entirely out of bacteria or cancer cells.
我和艺术家Vik Muniz合作，创作了这个完全由细菌和癌症细胞所组成的宇宙符号。
Ultimately, my hope is that the beauty and purpose of this microscopic universe
最终，我希望这个美丽的微观世界和它的存在意义，能
can inspire new and creative approaches for the future of cancer research. Thank you.
够给未来的癌症研究方法带来新的创意。谢谢。
