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LONDON — What’s being billed as the future of skin care starts suspiciously like a visit to the dentist: with a mouthwash gargle. That’s to eliminate debris that may interfere with a good saliva sample, from which DNA will be extracted and serums tailored to one’s genetic blueprint.
伦敦——有人称，皮肤护理以后可能会非常像看牙医，第一道程序是漱口。漱口以去除食物残渣，为选取唾液样本提供方便。从唾液中提取DNA，就可以按照基因图谱定制血清。
The test is from a company called GeneU (pronounced “gene you”) and performed at its nine-month-old shop on New Bond Street, which looks like a cross between a science fiction movie set and a silver-gray-and-red-dipped Apple store — perhaps fittingly, because the DNA test is done by a flash-drive-size microchip. It’s administered by one of a handful of improbably dewy-skinned beauties who also happen to have Ph.D.s.
进行这项测试的是一个名叫GeneU（发音是gene you）的公司，该公司九个月前刚在新邦德街(New Bond Street)开了一家店。店铺看起来像是科幻电影片场和银灰色加红色点缀的苹果店铺的结合体。这样的外观也许很合适，因为DNA测试是通过一个闪存盘大小的微芯片进行的。操作者是几个美女，她们的皮肤水嫩得不可思议，而且还都是博士。
Unlike other DNA tests, which are sent to labs and take at least two weeks to complete, GeneU’s in-store test is done in 30 minutes. Currently, it looks only at variations in two genes: one that contains instructions for how fast your body degrades collagen and the other for antioxidant protection.
其他DNA测试都要送到实验室，至少需要两周才能完成，而GeneU公司的店内测试只要30分钟就能完成。目前的测试只关注两种基因变体：一种能指示身体胶原蛋白的退化速度，另一种能指示抗氧化保护程度。
Results are fed, along with answers to a short lifestyle questionnaire, into an algorithm, which produces the two of the company’s 18 serums that are the best match. (The formulations are based on ingredients and concentrations drawn from peer-reviewed research.)
将测试结果和一个简短的生活方式问卷的答案一起输入某种程序，就能找到该公司的18种血清中最适合这种肌肤的两种血清（配方的成分和浓缩物来自同行评议调查）。
The cost: £600, or roughly $940, for the test plus a two week’s supply. For reasons of privacy, test results are destroyed; only the recommended serums are saved.
这些测试和两周剂量的血清费用一共是600英镑（约合5837.6元）。为了保密，测试结果会被销毁，只保留推荐的两种血清。
The theory behind GeneU is that out-of-the-box (or really, jar or pot) skin care may be loaded with potentially beneficial ingredients, but they are not necessarily what your skin specifically needs. If you are, say, someone whose MMP1 gene is programmed to degrade collagen slowly, GeneU’s theory is that it’s a waste of time (and money) to spend years slathering creams that claim to boost its production; doing so won’t turn the clock back at warp speed (if at all), and may even clog your pores or cause other damage. It seems that in skin care, as with medicine, more is not necessarily better.
GeneU认为，盒装（实际上还可能是瓶装或罐装）护肤品可能含有很多潜在的有益成分，但它们不一定是你的肌肤需要的。比如，如果你的基因是MMP1型的——这种肌肤的胶原蛋白退化得比较慢——那么GeneU认为，花多年时间（和金钱）涂上声称能促进胶原蛋白生成的面霜是一种浪费。对于你来说，它不能让时光飞速倒流（即使它真的有效），而且可能堵塞你的毛孔，导致其他伤害。护肤品就像药物一样，不是越多越好。
“For us it’s about giving people the right concentrations that their skin can metabolize,” said Christofer Toumazou, the company’s founder and a professor at Imperial College London.
“在我们看来，最重要的是给人们提供他们的肌肤能够代谢的适合他们的浓缩物，”该公司创始人、伦敦帝国学院(Imperial College London)教授克里斯托弗·图马佐(Christofer Toumazou)说。
Dr. Toumazou is not a dermatologist; he’s an electrical engineer by training, one who has developed an artificial pancreas for Type I diabetes, an artificial ear implant that allows deaf children to hear and a wireless heart monitor. He became interested in DNA more than a decade ago when his son was found to have a genetic disease.
图马佐不是皮肤科医生，而是一名科班出身的电机工程师，他为I型糖尿病研发了一种人造胰腺，为失聪儿童研发了一种人造耳朵植入物，还设计了一款无线心脏监测器。十多年前，他儿子被确诊为患有一种基因疾病，他开始对DNA产生兴趣。
The company’s creative director is — wait for it — Nick Rhodes, Duran Duran’s keyboard player, who’s no stranger to beauty products. He wore the same pink Yves Saint Laurent lipstick as his bride on his wedding day in 1984.
该公司的创意总监——听好了哦——是杜兰杜兰乐队(Duran Duran)的键盘手尼克·罗兹(Nick Rhodes)。他非常熟悉美容产品。1984年，在他的婚礼上，他和新娘一样，涂着伊夫·圣罗兰(Yves Saint Laurent )粉色口红。
Double-blind clinical trials over 18 months suggest that GeneU reduces fine lines and wrinkles by up to 30 percent in 12 weeks, Dr. Toumazou said. The results have not yet been published. Still, Dr. S. Tyler Hollmig, an assistant professor of dermatologic surgery at Stanford University, is skeptical (though he described what GeneU is doing as “really cool and admirable”).
图马佐说，18个月的双盲临床测试表明，GeneU能在12周内将细纹和皱纹减少达30%。测试结果尚未发表。不过，斯坦福大学皮肤病外科助理教授S·泰勒·霍尔米希博士(S. Tyler Hollmig)对此有所怀疑（虽然他说，GeneU在做的事情“真的很酷，令人钦佩”）。
“It’s the environment that drives aging,” Dr. Hollmig said. “If you have one identical twin growing up in Belize and the other in Belgium, their skin is going to look completely different.” He also pointed out that despite the fuss about antioxidants (raise your hand if you’ve increased your blueberry intake in the last decade), there is, somewhat unbelievably, no strong peer-reviewed research showing that they actually do much to stave off signs of age.
“导致皮肤老化的是环境，”霍尔米希说，“如果有两个一模一样的双胞胎，一个在伯利兹长大，另一个在比利时长大，他们的皮肤会看起来完全不同。”他还指出，尽管抗氧化剂曾让人们极为兴奋（如果你在过去十年里增加蓝莓摄入的话，举起你的手看看效果如何），但是有点令人难以置信的是，没有有力的同行评议调查表明，它们真的非常有助于延缓皮肤衰老。
Dr. Toumazou plans to better address the environment issue with the next iteration of his DNA test, which will focus on epigenetics (that is, whether and how your genes switch on and off because of your lifestyle). He also plans to add even more options for customization by including tests for other genes related to skin health, like those that control skin’s elasticity and hyperpigmentation.
图马佐计划在他的下一代DNA测试中更多关注外界因素，把重点放在实验胚胎学上（也就是说，生活方式是否或如何影响基因表现）。他还打算加入更多个性化选择，包括与肌肤健康相关的其他基因测试，比如那些控制肌肤弹性和过度色素沉着的基因。
GeneU isn’t the only company offering skin care tailored to genetics. SkinShift in Austin, Tex., outsources its $99 DNA test, then suggests, based on what it determines is the highest priority for your skin, some combination drawn from an available pool of four serums and five nutritional supplements. None cost more than $75. Like Dr. Toumazou, SkinShift’s founder, Dr. Ruthie Harper, is not a dermatologist; she’s an internist.
GeneU不是唯一一家根据基因定制皮肤护理的公司。德克萨斯州奥斯汀的SkinShift公司也经营这样的业务。它把自己的99美元DNA测试外包了出去，然后根据测试结果确定你皮肤最缺乏的元素，从已有的四种血清和五种营养补充剂中选出对应的元素进行组合。所有组合的售价都在75美元以内。和图马佐一样，SkinShift的创始人吕蒂·哈珀博士(Ruthie Harper)也不是皮肤科医生——她是内科医生。
Dr. Hollmig is equally skeptical about SkinShift and, though he was more impressed with GeneU, admitted that the only major difference between the two may be the cost. GeneU’s technology is shinier, and it offers more options for customization, but skin-aging studies with many ingredients (like antioxidants) have mostly not been well-controlled for specific formulation and dose, adequate sample size or randomized design, so it’s not known for sure if they work. The idea, then, of a carefully tailored amount is almost irrelevant.
霍尔米西对SkinShift同样表示质疑。虽然他对GeneU的印象更为深刻，但是他承认，两家公司唯一的主要区别是价格。GeneU的技术更引人注目，提供更多个性化选择，但是由于对很多成分（比如抗氧化剂）在皮肤老化中作用的研究大多没有对具体的配方和剂量进行很好的控制，样本数量不够，设计比较随意，所以不能确定这些成分是否有效果。因此，精心定制剂量的概念也几乎无关紧要。
GeneU grew out of a chance meeting about three years ago, when Dr. Toumazou was seated next to Mr. Rhodes on a private jet from London to a sheikh friend’s birthday party in Venice. (Dr. Toumazou had no idea who Mr. Rhodes was until his wife whispered it.) Mr. Rhodes encouraged Dr. Toumazou to start his own company, instead of just licensing technology.
GeneU的想法诞生于大约三年前的一次偶然会面。图马佐从伦敦搭乘私人飞机，去威尼斯参加一位族长朋友的生日派对，坐在他旁边的是罗兹（图马佐不知道罗兹是谁，直到妻子悄悄告诉他）。罗兹鼓励图马佐开创自己的公司，而不是仅仅把技术转让出去。
“I’ve used everything from the cheapest thing you can find in the drugstore to the most expensive top-of-the-line serums,” Mr. Rhodes said. “This to me was like a magnet. You’re taking out all the guesswork.” He said he has seen an improvement in fine lines since using GeneU’s products. (The company has been pleasantly surprised by interest from men; Mr. Rhodes thinks the techie aspect of it appeals to them.)
“我用过各种护肤品，从你能在药店找到的最便宜的护肤品到最昂贵的顶级血清，”罗兹说，“这对我极具吸引力。经过测试，你就不必胡乱猜测了。”他说，自从使用GeneU的产品之后，他脸上的细纹减少了（男性对该公司的兴趣让他们感到惊喜。罗兹认为是高科技元素吸引了男性）。
Mr. Rhodes designed the shop, including its Mondrian-esque photographs on the wall (actually enlarged images of Dr. Toumazou’s microchips) and recruited Antony Price, the designer of Duran Duran’s fluorescent suits in its “Rio” video, to create staff uniforms of silver silk pants and matching tops with standing collars.
店铺是罗兹设计的，包括墙上的蒙德里安(Mondrian)风格照片（它实际上是图马佐的微芯片的放大图像）。他还雇佣安东尼·普赖斯(Antony Price)设计员工制服。杜兰杜兰乐队在音乐录影带《里约》(Rio)中穿的荧光套装就是普赖斯设计的。员工制服是银色丝质裤子搭配同色立领上装。
Mr. Rhodes also nixed Dr. Toumazou’s original name, Genonics. It “wasn’t as hook-y,” he said, ever the songwriter.
罗兹还否决了图马佐最初给公司取的名字Genonics。这位曾经的歌曲作者说，那个名字“不够吸引人”。
