VOA慢速英語: 科學(xué)家設(shè)計的芯片像人體器官（雙語）

Scientists Design Chips to Act Like Human Organs

科學(xué)家設(shè)計出的芯片像人體器官

Testing new drugs for safety and effectiveness is a costly process in the United States. It also can take a lot of time. Some scientists are now designing silicon computer chips that act like human organs. The scientists think they have found a way to make the process faster and more economical.

在美國，檢測新藥品的安全性和有效性是個非常耗財力的過程，同樣也很耗費時間。一些科學(xué)家正在設(shè)計像人體器官的硅芯片?？茖W(xué)家認為他們已經(jīng)找到一種方法能夠讓這一過程耗時更短，更經(jīng)濟實惠。

The silicon chips are smaller than a child's hand. Each one has living cells that act and react like a human organ. The chips are being created as part of a program to test the safety of drug compounds. It is called the Tissue Chip for Drug Screening Program.

硅芯片比小孩兒的手還小。每個芯片都有活細胞，能像人體器官那樣的行動和反應(yīng)。人們造出的這種芯片，作為測試復(fù)方藥物安全性計劃的一部分，叫做藥品篩選計劃的組織芯片。

It is a project of the US National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, or NCATS. Danilo Tagle is the center’s Associate Director. He says a three-dimensional computer chip can be designed to act like a human lung. He describes how such a device would operate.

這是美國國家轉(zhuǎn)化科學(xué)推進中心的一個計劃，丹尼洛·泰格爾是中心的副主任。他說能夠設(shè)計出一個像人體肺一樣的三維電腦芯片。他描述了一下如何操作那樣一個儀器。

“In that case, it would be cells representing the air sacs, that would be represented on these bioengineered devices and allowing it to breathe and expand, and be able to take in air, take in fluids just like a normal lung would. In the case of a heart, it would be representing the heart muscles and be able to show contractibility and regular beating of the heart muscles.”

“那種情況下，細胞能夠代表肺泡（氣囊），代表著這些生物工程儀器，氣囊能夠呼吸，擴張，能夠呼入空氣，攝入液體，就像一個正常的肺一樣運作。至于心臟，它能代表心臟肌，可以展現(xiàn)心臟肌的收縮以及規(guī)律的跳動。”

Some computer chips contain very small models of the human digestive system. They copy the real function or duties of the human stomach and intestine, moving when breaking down food.

一些電腦芯片包含一些很小的模型，它們是人體消化系統(tǒng)模型。模型是仿制人體胃和腸的功能和職責(zé)，分解食物，進行腸蠕動。

Drugs are added to the tiny organs for testing through instruments known as micro-tubes. Experiments with the tissue chips have produced more detailed information than tests using animal or cell models.

在這些微小的器官上附加藥物，通過叫微量離心管的儀器來進行測試。組織芯片的試驗已經(jīng)產(chǎn)生的結(jié)果比使用動物或細胞模型來測試的結(jié)果更多、更詳細。

NCATS just announced $17 million in grants to develop an entire human organ system over the next three years.

美國國家轉(zhuǎn)化科學(xué)推進中心剛宣布了一項1700萬美元的撥款，來資助未來三年里發(fā)展培養(yǎng)全部的人體器官系統(tǒng)的項目計劃。

Researchers at Columbia University are working on a project that would combine models of the heart, liver and circulatory system. The scientists hope to test how well some drugs work on diseases of the heart and liver.

哥倫比亞大學(xué)的研究員正在進行一個項目計劃：將心臟、肝臟和循環(huán)系統(tǒng)的模型相結(jié)合?？茖W(xué)家希望檢測出藥物對于心臟病和肝臟病到底有多好的療效。

At Harvard University, researchers are developing a tissue chip modeled on the heart and lungs. Together, the heart and lungs are part of the cardiopulmonary system. Both the heart and lungs are targets of some diseases. Many new drugs fail during the testing process because they may damage the heart. The Harvard researchers hope to create a cardiopulmonary system model that acts like a human system, both when it is diseased and in good, working condition.

在哈佛大學(xué)，研究者正開發(fā)一種以心臟和肺為模型的組織芯片，心臟和肺是心肺系統(tǒng)的組成部分。心臟和肺都容易引發(fā)疾病。許多新藥在測試階段都失敗了，因為那些藥物也許會損害心臟。哈佛大學(xué)的研究者希望創(chuàng)造一種心肺系統(tǒng)的模型：就像人體系統(tǒng)那樣會生病，會健康的運作狀態(tài)，

Researchers say they can safely test the effects of a drug on different organ systems. They can use the tissue chips to observe a drug’s effect on the organ or organs it is designed to target.

研究者稱他們能夠安全測試藥物對不同的器官系統(tǒng)的影響，可以使用組織芯片來觀察藥物對器官的影響效果或者藥物對以那些器官為設(shè)計目標(biāo)的影響效果。

Scientists want to make the process of developing drugs simpler. They hope the chips will help them find the safest and most successful drugs before human testing begins.

科學(xué)家想讓制藥的過程更加簡單一些，他們希望這些芯片有助于他們找到在人體測試開始之前，最安全，最成功的藥物。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

我是喬納森·伊凡。

Words in this Story

cardiopulmonary – adj. relating to the heart and lungs.

grant – n. an amount of money that is given to someone by a government orcompany to be used for a particular purpose such as scientific research

model – n. an example; something, usually small, made to show howsomething will look or work

silicon – n. a chemical element that is found in the Earth's crust and is usedespecially in computers and electronics