Luhan Yang: How to create a world where no one dies waiting for a transplant
杨璐涵: 如何构建一个器官移植新世界,让患者不再在等待中死去?
Dr. Luhan Yang is the co-founder and chief scientific officer at eGenesis, working to make xenotransplantation a routine medical procedure for the delivery of safe and effective human transplantable cells, tissues and organs. Full bio
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a very cute pig.
莱卡只是一只非常可爱的猪,
of patients in need of a lifesaving organ
来重获新生的患者而言,
became a real option
and other organ diseases,
器官疾病的患者而言,
has exponentially increased.
器官需求呈现了指数性增长。
will be added to this list.
器官移植的候选名单上。
will get a new organ,
会得到一个新鲜的器官,
医生而言,都是如此。
a disturbing social issue.
令人忧心的社会问题,
that desperate patients
from the cruel black market.
is needed to this crisis.
to help solve this problem.
that we are on our way there,
我们已经正在朝向这个目标前进,
a human-transplantable organ
可移植器官变为了可能,
在猪身上安全的生长。
science that makes it happen,
可能性的不可思议的技术前,
what xenotransplantation is.
animal organs into humans.
人类体内的一个过程。
with similar size and physiology
have tried hard to make it happen,
在努力实现这一目标,
sees a new organ as foreign,
to the organs from the pig,
尤其针对猪的器官来源,
that is benign to the pig,
对猪来说是良性的病毒,
endogenous retrovirus (PERV),
to cause a viral epidemic similar to HIV.
类似于HIV (艾滋病病毒) 的病毒性传染病。
to address these issues,
has been on hold for more than one decade.
how I got here today with Laika.
from Emei Mountain in China.
in a lot of legendary stories,
传奇故事渲染过的地方,
a strong connection with nature.
of an ancient Buddhist temple
how my friends and I
来转移猴子们的注意力的,
to distract the monkeys
to hike through the valley.
to choose a field of study,
at Peking University in Beijing.
be so similar to animals
of fighting off so many pathogens
在对抗入侵的病原体同时,
but you know I'm a scientist.
但是你懂的,我是一名科学家。
I didn't want to just ask the questions,
我不要只是提出问题而已。
而我也确实这么做了。
(George Church)博士一起共事。
with the genetic makeup of mammals.
哺乳动物的基因组成进行实验。
took me closer to Laika.
让我向莱卡迈进了一步。
made changes in a human cell
成功修改了人类细胞,
两组里的其中一组,
of such a tool in changing our DNA.
in scientific discovery.
has two components.
with a microscope.
一个带有显微镜的遗传剪刀,
to the place we want to cut
and repairs the DNA in the way we want.
用酶CRISPR 对 DNA 进行剪切和修复。
were intrigued by the medical applications
the potential to use CRISPR
in a pig's cell to make it virus-free
让它不再携带病毒,
植入到猪的卵细胞中,
is then implanted into a pig egg
into the uterus of a surrogate mother
代孕母猪的子宫中,
whose genetic makeup
那只小猪器官中的基因组成,
by the human immune system.
the viral transmission problem first.
先解决病毒传染的问题。
all 62 copies of the PERV virus
it was nearly mission impossible.
这基本上是不可能完成的任务。
modifications within a cell.
对其中一或两处做出修改,
we can do in a particular cell was five.
修改的最高记录是五处。
by more than tenfold to achieve that.
我们就得将数据提高十倍以上。
and hundreds of trials,
the possibility of this dangerous virus
and cloning technology,
成功培育了莱卡,
born without PERV.
不携带PERV的猪。
genetic modification on
more than 30 pigs without PERV,
30多只不携带PERV的猪,
geno-modified animal living on earth.
最高级的转基因动物了。
to orbit the earth.
of science and medicine.
科学和医学的最前沿。
who suffer from liver failure
病人不再饱受肝脏衰竭的折磨,
饭后摄入胰岛素,
on insulin after every meal
with good pancreatic cells
健康的胰岛素细胞,
where patients with kidney failure
患有肾衰竭的病人们,
the burden of dialysis.
所带来的沉重负担。
to tackle the problem
器官供不应求的工具,
the beginning of our journey.
in front of nature,
to be addressed,
anticipate at this point.
to translate the cutting-edge science
of all the patients who are waiting.
病人的生命,我们义不容辞。
this is extraordinary work here.
你们走到这一步已经非常了不起了。
You've got rid of the virus.
你们现在已经去除了病毒了。
trying to get to the point
won't reject a transplant.
移植器官的问题吧。
complicated process.
the antigen of the pigs.
a lot from cancer.
学习到很多东西,
or circumvent our immune system
入侵或绕过我们的免疫系统的小技巧,
to not attack the organ.
攻击移植的器官。
when do you hope
什么时候,或者你们希望
transplant would happen?
成功的异种移植呢?
to give you any number.
数字是很不负责任的。
We're always irresponsible.
我们一向都是很不负责任的。
for the patients.
实现这个目标了。
that you think it could happen
所以你不认为,这件事
five years or something?
什么时候能够发生吗?
within one decade.
在十年内成功实现异种移植。
who would be very, very excited at that,
将会非常非常期待这一成功,
people here who are going,
就去残害这些可爱的猪呢?”
something so cute for our benefit."
can save eight people's lives.
一只猪就可以拯救八条人命。
one kidney from the pig,
the unmet medical need
无法满足的医疗需求,
以及让他们的家人不再痛苦。
培根的人也没有资格指责你们,对吗?
if they eat bacon, right?
LY: Thank you so much.
杨璐涵:谢谢你。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Luhan Yang - Biologist, geneticistDr. Luhan Yang is the co-founder and chief scientific officer at eGenesis, working to make xenotransplantation a routine medical procedure for the delivery of safe and effective human transplantable cells, tissues and organs.
Why you should listen
With the mission to translate scientific innovation into a life-saving medical procedure, Dr. Luhan Yang is leading a team of world-renowned scientists to leverage CRISPR technology and its potential to deliver safe and effective human transplantable organs to the hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide who are in dire need.
In the US alone, more than 116,000 people annually are in need of a lifesaving organ transplant, and 20 people die every day waiting for a transplant. To address this issue, scientists have been trying to engineer animal organs for human transplantation for more than 100 years. However, concern for issues such as pig-to-human immunological compatibility and cross-species transmission of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) have proven to be two insurmountable obstacles -- until now.
In a breakthrough paper published in Science, Yang and her team demonstrated for the first time the inactivation of PERV to prevent cross-species viral transmission, an important milestone for xenotransplantation. As co-founder and chief scientific officer, Yang has been at the center of eGenesis' success. In addition to recruiting and leading a high-caliber scientific team, she has played an integral role in daily management of the company, business strategy and planning, as well as negotiating with investors for early round funding.
Yang holds BS degrees in biology and psychology from Peking University and a PhD in human biology and translational medicine from Harvard Medical School.
Luhan Yang | Speaker | TED.com