ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kary Mullis - Biochemist
Kary Mullis won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a way to copy a strand of DNA. (His technique, called PCR, jump-started the 1990s' biorevolution.) He's known for his wide-ranging interests -- and strong opinions.

Why you should listen

In the early 1980s, Kary Mullis developed the polymerase chain reaction, an elegant way to make copies of a DNA strand using the enzyme polymerase and some basic DNA "building blocks." The process opened the door to more in-depth study of DNA -- like the Human Genome Project. Mullis shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing this technique.

As he tells it, after winning the Nobel Prize, his next career move was to learn how to surf. It's typical of Mullis, whose scientific method is to get deeply curious about a topic, work it out from first principles, and then imagine the next giant leap forward. As he puts it in his Nobel autobiography, revised several times since 1993, "I read a lot, and think a lot, and I can talk about almost anything. Being a Nobel laureate is a license to be an expert in lots of things as long as you do your homework."

Most recently, he's been taking a hard look at immunity; a recent patent from his company Altermune describes the redirection of an existing immune response to a new pathogen.

More profile about the speaker
Kary Mullis | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Kary Mullis: A next-gen cure for killer infections

Kary Mullis: 新一代致命传染症的治疗药物

Filmed:
691,090 views

即使在顶级医院,也难以阻止药免病菌的夺命之威。但是现在对于治疗那些强大的细菌,例如葡萄状球菌和炭疽杆菌,有一个惊喜。诺贝尔化学奖得主Kary Mullis在看着一位朋友因为感染上抗生素免疫的细菌而逝世后,发明了一种全新的、充满期待的治疗方法。
- Biochemist
Kary Mullis won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a way to copy a strand of DNA. (His technique, called PCR, jump-started the 1990s' biorevolution.) He's known for his wide-ranging interests -- and strong opinions. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:18
So it was about four years年份 ago, five years年份 ago,
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大概在四五年前,
00:21
I was sitting坐在 on a stage阶段 in Philadelphia费城, I think it was,
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我应该坐在费城的一个舞台上,
00:23
with a bag similar类似 to this.
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身边有一个像这样的包。
00:26
And I was pulling a molecule分子 out of this bag.
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我从这个包里掏出一个分子,
00:29
And I was saying, you don't know this molecule分子 really well,
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说,你很不了解这个分子。
00:32
but your body身体 knows知道 it extremely非常 well.
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但是你的身体却非常了解它。
00:35
And I was thinking思维 that your body身体 hated it, at the time,
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同时我也在想你的身体对之十分痛恨。
00:39
because we are very immune免疫的 to this. This is called alpha-gal阿尔法半乳糖 epitope表位.
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因为我们对此免疫。这被称为alpha-gal抗原决定基。
00:42
And the fact事实 that pig heart valves阀门 have lots of these on them
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事实上猪的心脏瓣膜里有很多这种分子,
00:46
is the reason原因 that you can't transplant移植 a pig heart valve into a person easily容易.
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也正因为此,你很难把猪的心脏瓣膜移植到人体上。
00:50
Actually其实 our body身体 doesn't hate讨厌 these.
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实际上我们的身体并不痛恨它们。
00:52
Our body身体 loves these. It eats them.
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我们的身体喜欢这些食物,它会吃掉它们。
00:55
I mean, the cells细胞 in our immune免疫的 system系统 are always hungry饥饿.
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我的意思是说,我们免疫系统中的细胞总是处于饥饿状态。
00:58
And if an antibody抗体 is stuck卡住 to one of these things
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一旦抗体碰到这些东西,
01:02
on the cell细胞, it means手段 "that's food餐饮."
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就意味着,“找到食物了”。
01:05
Now, I was thinking思维 about that and I said, you know, we've我们已经 got this
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正如你所知的,
01:07
immune免疫的 response响应 to this ridiculous荒谬 molecule分子
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我们让免疫系统对这个奇怪的分子产生了反应,
01:10
that we don't make, and we see it a lot in other animals动物 and stuff东东.
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而这个分子并不是我们做的,我们能在其他动物和物体上看到这样的物质。
01:14
But I said we can't get rid摆脱 of it,
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但是我也说过我们无法避免这种免疫活动。
01:17
because all the people who tried试着 to transplant移植 heart valves阀门
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因为所有试图移植心脏瓣膜的人,
01:19
found发现 out you can't get rid摆脱 of that immunity免疫.
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最终都发现他们没法摆脱这个免疫系统。
01:21
And I said, why don't you use that?
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那么我说,为什么不利用它呢?
01:23
What if I could stick this molecule分子,
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假如我把这个分子,
01:26
slap拍击 it onto a bacteria
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植入到一个细菌上,
01:28
that was pathogenic to me, that had just invaded入侵 my lungs?
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而这个细菌恰恰是正在侵略我肺部的病原体呢?
01:32
I mean I could immediately立即 tap龙头 into
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这样,我就能立即进入
01:34
an immune免疫的 response响应 that was already已经 there,
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一个早已准备好的免疫状态了。
01:36
where it was not going to take five or six days to develop发展 it --
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而不是像以前那样需要五六天的时间来慢慢发展自己的免疫系统。
01:39
it was going to immediately立即 attack攻击 whatever随你 this thing was on.
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用这个方法,我们可以对当前的病原体立即发动攻击了。
01:42
It was kind of like the same相同 thing that happens发生 when you,
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打个比方来说,
01:44
like when you're getting得到 stopped停止 for a traffic交通 ticket in L.A.,
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你在洛杉矶碰上了交通堵塞,
01:48
and the cop警察 drops滴剂 a bag of marijuana大麻 in the back of your car汽车,
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警察在你汽车的后备箱放了一麻袋毒品,
01:51
and then charges收费 you for possession所有权 of marijuana大麻.
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并指控你非法拥有毒品。
01:54
It's like this very fast快速, very efficient高效 way to get people off the street.
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这其实是一种非常快非常有效的,让人们迅速离开这条街的方法。
01:58
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
02:00
So you can take a bacteria
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所以你可以取出一个细胞,
02:02
that really doesn't make these things at all,
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这对事情没有任何影响。
02:04
and if you could clamp these on it really well
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但如果你能成功的在细胞上加上这个分子,
02:06
you have it taken采取 off the street.
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你就能把它从大街上甩掉了。
02:08
And for certain某些 bacteria
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对于一些细菌,
02:10
we don't have really efficient高效 ways方法 to do that anymore.
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我们没有其他有效的方法来抵抗了。
02:12
Our antibiotics抗生素 are running赛跑 out.
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我们的抗生素正在被用尽。
02:14
And, I mean, the world世界 apparently显然地 is running赛跑 out too.
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我是说,整个世界都在用尽。
02:17
So probably大概 it doesn't matter 50 years年份 from now --
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有可能50年后这已经不是一个问题了,
02:20
streptococcus链球菌 and stuff东东 like that will be rampant猖獗 --
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链球菌会肆虐,
02:23
because we won't惯于 be here. But if we are --
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假如今天我们没有在这的话。但是如果我们在——
02:25
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
02:27
we're going to need something to do with the bacteria.
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我们需要一些东西对抗细菌。
02:29
So I started开始 working加工 with this thing,
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所以我已经开始着手这项工作,
02:33
with a bunch of collaborators合作者.
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和一群合作者们。
02:35
And trying to attach连接 this to things that were
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并且尝试着把它附着到
02:38
themselves他们自己 attached to certain某些 specific具体 target目标 zones,
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那些本身也附着于某些领域的东西上,
02:42
bacteria that we don't like.
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例如对我们有害的细菌。
02:44
And I feel now like George乔治 Bush衬套.
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我现在就像乔治·布什。
02:48
It's like "mission任务 accomplished完成."
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就如“任务完成”(布什所发表的演讲)一样。
02:50
So I might威力 be doing something dumb, just like he was doing at the time.
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也许我现在做的事情有点蠢,就像他当时做的那样。
02:53
But basically基本上 what I was talking about there we've我们已经 now gotten得到 to work.
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但基本上我在讨论我们将要做的事情。
02:57
And it's killing谋杀 bacteria. It's eating them.
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也就是,杀死病毒,让抗体系统吃掉它们。
03:01
This thing can be stuck卡住, like that little green绿色 triangle三角形 up there,
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这件事也许会受到阻碍,就像那边那个绿色小三角一样,
03:05
sort分类 of symbolizing象征 this right now.
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有点像现在的情况。
03:08
You can stick this to something called a DNA脱氧核糖核酸 aptamer适体.
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你可以把它附着到一种叫做DNA适体的东西上。
03:11
And that DNA脱氧核糖核酸 aptamer适体 will attach连接 specifically特别
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然后那个DNA适体会专一的附着到
03:13
to a target目标 that you have selected for it.
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你选择的目标上。
03:15
So you can find a little feature特征 on a bacterium细菌 that you don't like,
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因此你可以在细菌上找一个你不喜欢的特性,
03:19
like Staphylococcus葡萄球菌 -- I don't like it in particular特定,
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比如菌尿(Staphylococcus),我特别不喜欢它,
03:22
because it killed杀害 a professor教授 friend朋友 of mine last year.
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因为去年我的一名教授朋友因它而死。
03:25
It doesn't respond响应 to antibiotics抗生素. So I don't like it.
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抗生素对它没效果,所以我不喜欢它。
03:28
And I'm making制造 an aptamer适体 that will have this attached to it.
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于是我制作了一种可以附着在这上面的适体。
03:31
That will know how to find Staph金黄色葡萄球菌 when it's in your body身体,
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它知道怎么在你的体内找到菌尿,
03:34
and will alert警报 your immune免疫的 system系统 to go after it.
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然后报警,让你的免疫系统去搞定它。
03:37
Here's这里的 what happened发生. See that line线 on the very top最佳
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我们的测试是这样的。
03:40
with the little dots?
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看到最上面那条由小点构成的线了吗?
03:42
That's a bunch of mice老鼠 that had been poisoned中毒
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那是一群被毒害了的老鼠,
03:45
by our scientist科学家 friends朋友 down in Texas德州,
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由处于德克萨斯州的科学家朋友们,
03:47
at Brooks布鲁克斯 Air空气 Base基础, with anthrax炭疽病.
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用炭疽杆菌下的毒。
03:50
And they had also been treated治疗 with a drug药物 that we made制作
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接着我们对他们使用了我们制作的药物,
03:53
that would attack攻击 anthrax炭疽病 in particular特定,
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它可以一种特殊方式攻击炭疽杆菌,
03:56
and direct直接 your immune免疫的 system系统 to it.
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并引到免疫系统去攻击它。
03:58
You'll你会 notice注意 they all lived生活, the ones那些 on the top最佳 line线 --
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你会发现最上面一排还都活着。
04:00
that's a 100 percent百分 survival生存 rate.
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百分之百的存活率。
04:02
And they actually其实 lived生活 another另一个 14 days,
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事实上它们接下来又存活了14天,
04:05
or 28 when we finally最后 killed杀害 them,
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或者28天,直至我们最后杀死了它们,
04:07
and took them apart距离 and figured想通 out what went wrong错误.
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并解剖它们,分析到底哪里出了问题。
04:10
Why did they not die?
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它们为什么没有死呢?
04:12
And they didn't die because they didn't have anthrax炭疽病 anymore.
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因为它们不再有任何炭疽杆菌了。
04:15
So we did it. Okay?
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所以说,我们成功了。对吧?
04:17
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
04:19
Mission任务 accomplished完成!
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任务完成!
04:21
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
Translated by Yuanxuan Wang
Reviewed by Chaoran Yu

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kary Mullis - Biochemist
Kary Mullis won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a way to copy a strand of DNA. (His technique, called PCR, jump-started the 1990s' biorevolution.) He's known for his wide-ranging interests -- and strong opinions.

Why you should listen

In the early 1980s, Kary Mullis developed the polymerase chain reaction, an elegant way to make copies of a DNA strand using the enzyme polymerase and some basic DNA "building blocks." The process opened the door to more in-depth study of DNA -- like the Human Genome Project. Mullis shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing this technique.

As he tells it, after winning the Nobel Prize, his next career move was to learn how to surf. It's typical of Mullis, whose scientific method is to get deeply curious about a topic, work it out from first principles, and then imagine the next giant leap forward. As he puts it in his Nobel autobiography, revised several times since 1993, "I read a lot, and think a lot, and I can talk about almost anything. Being a Nobel laureate is a license to be an expert in lots of things as long as you do your homework."

Most recently, he's been taking a hard look at immunity; a recent patent from his company Altermune describes the redirection of an existing immune response to a new pathogen.

More profile about the speaker
Kary Mullis | Speaker | TED.com