Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi: To detect diseases earlier, let's speak bacteria's secret language
法蒂瑪·艾爾札拉·亞拉崔克奇: 學會細菌的暗號以更早期診斷疾病
Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi invented a method to spy on the social behavior and communication of bacteria. Full bio
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just like humans.
規劃自己的活動。
會耍詭計、會行騙,
to bacterial conversations
我們可以傾聽細菌的談話,
information into human language?
翻譯成人類語言,會如何?
bacterial conversations can save lives?
可以拯救人命,又會怎樣呢?
to develop a real-time translation tool
of what bacteria are up to.
in this theater are bacterial.
有九成的活細胞是細菌。
or produce antibiotics.
或是產生抗生素。
the functions bacteria have,
它們具有的各種功能,
to communicate with each other.
信號分子就會跑掉,
alone in the desert.
the signaling molecules accumulate,
信號分子就會累積起來,
that they're not alone.
of how many they are
to initiate a new action.
可以開始進行新的動作。
have reached a certain threshold,
that they need to act
感受到它們必須要行動,
of an initiative and a reaction,
和反應兩部分組成,
and the response to it.
on bacterial communities
communication molecules present,
電子會和它產生交互作用,
will give us information
when bacteria communicate?
would have a primitive language,
words and sentences yet.
when they cry, they're sad.
當他們哭,則表示悲傷。
as primitive as I thought they would be.
不是我原先以為的那麼原始。
depending on the context,
它可能有不同的意思。
can mean different things:
有時是嬰兒尿濕了,
the signaling molecules
depending on the context.
will adopt this soon.
很快就會把它納入。
that can be a bit tricky to understand
如果你沒受過訓練,
that has infected a patient.
它們感染了一名病人。
they reproduce, and they grow.
(笑聲)(出自羅密歐與茱麗葉)
as long as they're working together.
一切都很好。
with Juliet from Capulet.
和卡帕萊特家族的茱麗葉相戀了。
can be dangerous to the Montagues
這種基因傳送十分危險,
family in the patient they have infected,
所感染的病人體內唯一的家族,
發展出對抗生素的抵抗力。
resistance to antibiotics.
to get rid of this other family
打算要除掉另一個家族,
that will kill the other family.
能殺死另一個家族的毒物。
by calling for a counterattack.
就是號召反擊。
dueling with swordlike organelles,
像劍一樣的細胞器在進行對決,
and rupturing each other.
becomes the dominant bacteria.
就會成為統治的細菌。
bacterial conversations
去偵測細菌的談話,
collective behaviors
on bacterial communities
追蹤了六十二位病人,
for one particular infection,
檢測結果是什麼的情況下,
of the traditional diagnostic test.
and I compared the tool results
得到的結果拿來對照
and the validation test,
than I had ever anticipated.
what the tool revealed,
這項工具的發現之前,
a specific patient I followed,
我追蹤的其中一位病人,
susceptible to bacterial infections.
很容易被細菌感染所影響。
of the clinical trial.
from her medical record
an infection before.
went to the hospital
that she spit in a cup.
for bacterial analysis
if they discovered an infection.
醫生就可以儘快採取行動。
on her samples as well.
來檢測她的樣本。
on her samples, there was nothing.
什麼都沒有發現。
chatter in her sample.
有些細菌開始竊竊私語了。
to damage her lung tissue.
打算要傷害她的肺部組織。
showed no bacteria at all.
conversations became even more aggressive.
diagnostics showed nothing.
I followed up on her status
但半年後,我再追蹤她的狀況,
only I knew about had disappeared
介入的情況下消失了。
with a severe infection
my tool discovered earlier.
先前發現的細菌。
antibiotic treatment,
to eradicate the infection.
survive her 20s.
if my method worked at all,
我的方法是否可行,
with the doctors
我的工具發現了什麼,
their treatment.
that weren't even validated,
還沒有被驗證的結果時,
without an actual infection
consequences for the patient.
and girls that still can be saved
女孩可以得救,
this scenario happens very often.
這種情況經常發生:
on the traditional diagnostic test,
檢測不會發現細菌,
in the patient with severe symptoms.
引起嚴重的症狀。
of the 62 patients I followed
剛才提到的驚人結果
caught bacterial conversations
在至少一半用傳統方法
捕捉到細菌談話。
by traditional methods.
of these patients went home thinking
有超過一半回到家裡,
dangerous bacteria.
a synchronized attack.
methods cannot diagnose.
診斷出來的細菌。
that can catch those whispers.
能夠捕捉到這些竊竊私語。
in which bacteria are still whispering
在竊竊私語的期間,
for targeted treatment.
可以進行標靶治療。
during this window of opportunity,
機會之窗期間接受治療,
是有可能被治療殺死的,
to kill the bacteria
made me decide to do everything I can
讓我決心要盡一切努力,
將這項工具導入到診所中,
on implementing this tool in clinics
how doctors should treat patients
在這個竊竊私語階段
keep a closer eye on patients in risk.
更留心有風險的病人。
if a treatment had worked or not,
治療的結果是否有效,
information to each other.
它們的竊竊私語,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi - Nanophysicist, entrepreneurFatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi invented a method to spy on the social behavior and communication of bacteria.
Why you should listen
Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi holds a PhD in nanotechnology and molecular biology, is a renowned fiction writer and the founder of PreDiagnose, where she's created next-generation diagnostics for early bacterial detection. She's an expert in developing micro- and nanosensors for the detection of cellular molecules and microorganisms.
As a result of her research and academic track, Alatraktchi has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Lundbeck Foundation Talent Prize for outstanding research talents in medicine and health and the PhD thesis of the year award by the Technical University of Denmark. She founded PreDiagnose to transform her research into concrete benefit for users. Forbes listed her as one of the 30 most influential people under 30 in Europe within science and health in 2019.
Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi | Speaker | TED.com