美国国家公共电台 NPR A Gulp Of Genetically Modified Bacteria Might Someday Treat A Range Of Illnesses

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It may be time to update what we know about bacteria. Needless to say, an infection by the wrong kind of bacteria can make you ill. We also learn about good bacteria, which play a healthy role in our digestive systems. Now think of genetically² engineered bacteria. Scientists believe they can send these bacteria through your body to treat medical problems. Here's NPR health correspondent Rob Stein.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE³: Jonah Reeder is starting his day at his home in Farmington, Utah. But instead of eating a normal breakfast, Reeder, who's 21, is getting ready to gulp⁴ down a special protein shake.

JONAH REEDER: The nutrients⁵ in it like to sit at the bottom, so I usually have to shake it up.

STEIN: This isn't just any protein shake. Reeder was born with a rare genetic¹ disorder⁶ known as phenylketonuria, or PKU. If he eats meat, drinks milk or consumes most other common proteins, toxic⁷ levels of a chemical called phenylalanine builds up in his body and could damage his brain.

REEDER: So it doesn't have phenylalanine, which my body can't have. So it's basically protein, except without phenylalanine, you know.

STEIN: Later this morning, Reeder is checking into a clinic in Salt Lake City. He's volunteering for a study testing an experimental treatment for his disease. The treatment's a genetically modified bacteria, modified to essentially⁸ do what Reeder's body can't - get rid of phenylalanine.

REEDER: I'm excited. I'm really excited to help out and hopefully find a treatment for PKU.

STEIN: And so...

REEDER: Bye, Mom.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Bye.

STEIN: Reeder heads off to the clinic in Salt Lake City to start the study. The bacteria Reeder is helping⁹ test is a form of E. coli. Some types of E. coli make people really sick. But Caroline Kurtz, a scientist at a company called Synlogic, says this E. coli lives in our guts¹⁰.

CAROLINE KURTZ: It is a naturally occurring probiotic bacteria. But we can enhance its function by introducing genes¹¹, by changing genes that are there and design the cells to either produce something or consume something that may be beneficial for a patient.

STEIN: Like chew up phenylalanine - Synlogic has also engineered E. coli to fight other diseases - for example, to get rid of life-threatening levels of ammonia that build up in the bodies of people with cirrhosis of the liver.

KURTZ: This is a living medicine that can respond to its environment.

STEIN: Synlogic's modified microbes are part of a whole new field of medical research that emerged from two of the hottest realms of biomedical science - our microbiomes, the friendly microbes that inhabit our bodies, and synthetic¹² biology, the power to genetically engineer all kinds of life, including bacteria in our guts. Pam Silver is a synthetic biologist at Harvard.

PAM SILVER: It's an exciting new world of being able to use synthetic biology to program microbes to treat diseases, which, I believe, is the future.

STEIN: Scientists hope to genetically modify our microbes to treat a long list of diseases; things like ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel¹³ disease.

SILVER: Microbes are something that we, as synthetic biologists, see as highly engineerable. We understand how to engineer microbes well, so it seems like the perfect interface¹⁴ between a synthetic biology and health.

STEIN: One company is already testing genetically modified microbes to heal mouth sores from cancer chemotherapy. Another just started trying to treat Type 1 diabetes¹⁵. For his part, Reeder admits he was a little nervous at first.

REEDER: When you hear about E. coli, you think sickness, like throwing up. So I was a little bit skeptical¹⁶. I wasn't sure what to think because I was going to be ingesting E. coli.

STEIN: But the more he learned, the more excited Reeder got about trying some of these engineered microbes.

REEDER: I think that's very cool that they found a way to use sort of a natural probiotic that's found in the digestive tract¹⁷ to help the human body, you know?

STEIN: Reeder doesn't know if he ended up getting the genetically modified microbes or placebo¹⁸, but he thinks he got the microbes.

REEDER: I could immediately feel my cognitive¹⁹ abilities slowing down after drinking the 20 grams of protein. And then I took the drug, and I started feeling a lot better. I obtained more energy, and my cognitive abilities got quicker. It was really cool to feel that. I could tell it was working. It was pretty cool.

STEIN: Now, a lot more research is needed to know whether genetically engineered microbes are safe and might really work. But Synlogic hopes to report results from the cirrhosis and PKU studies later this year. Rob Stein, NPR News.

1 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

2 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 gulp   

vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽

参考例句：

• She took down the tablets in one gulp.她把那些药片一口吞了下去。
• Don't gulp your food,chew it before you swallow it.吃东西不要狼吞虎咽，要嚼碎了再咽下去。

5 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

7 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

12 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

13 bowel   

n.肠(尤指人肠)；内部，深处

参考例句：

• Irritable bowel syndrome seems to affect more women than men.女性比男性更易患肠易激综合征。
• Have you had a bowel movement today?你今天有排便吗？

14 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

15 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

16 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

17 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。

18 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

19 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。