Meet the under-35s shaping the future of biotech
Meet the under-35s shaping the future of biotech
遇见塑造生物技术未来的 35 岁以下青年才俊
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Every year, MIT Technology Review puts together a list of some of the brightest and best young minds working across science and technology. Our 35 Innovators Under 35 are the ones to watch—people whose research and technical work stands to shape the future of their fields. This year, the list includes nine people who are transforming biotech. And this week, I’m going to give you a taste of some of the very cool stuff five of them are working on, which includes lifesaving innovations and groundbreaking “age reversal” tech.
执行摘要 每年，《麻省理工科技评论》都会评选出一份名单，汇集科学与技术领域最聪明、最优秀的年轻头脑。我们的“35 岁以下科技创新 35 人”是值得关注的对象——他们的研究和技术工作有望塑造各自领域的未来。今年，榜单中包括九位正在改变生物技术领域的人士。本周，我将带大家领略其中五位正在从事的酷炫工作，包括挽救生命的创新技术和突破性的“逆转衰老”技术。
1. Preventing maternal deaths Let’s start with Paschal Kija, a 28-year-old who has developed a device to treat postpartum hemorrhage—a dangerous birth complication that contributes to around 29% of maternal deaths in his home country, Tanzania. The Mkanda Salama (“Safe Wrap” in Swahili) is easy to use and costs just $70. A study found that it stopped postpartum bleeding in 73% of women within 20 minutes.
1. 预防孕产妇死亡 让我们从 28 岁的 Paschal Kija 开始，他开发了一种治疗产后出血的装置。产后出血是一种危险的分娩并发症，在他祖国坦桑尼亚，约 29% 的孕产妇死亡与此有关。Mkanda Salama（斯瓦希里语意为“安全包裹”）使用简便，成本仅为 70 美元。一项研究发现，它能在 20 分钟内止住 73% 女性的产后出血。
2. Making brain electrodes inspired by Japanese art For decades, scientists have been developing, testing, and implanting brain electrodes. These devices are literally inserted into people’s brains, so while they can help us understand brain activity and treat various neurological disorders, it’s not totally surprising that they can also cause a bit of damage. Xiao Yang, 34, is working on ultra-small electrodes, which she hopes will have less of an impact on surrounding brain tissue. Her electrodes are flexible, too—in fact, they look a lot like actual neurons. Yang is also creating sheets of electrodes to study brain cells in the lab. Inspired by kirigami—the traditional Japanese art of cutting paper to form three-dimensional shapes—she’s created a sheet of electrodes with a honeycombed structure shaped like a spiral basket. And she’s already using it to study brain cells.
2. 从日本艺术中汲取灵感的脑电极 几十年来，科学家们一直在开发、测试和植入脑电极。这些装置实际上是被植入人脑的，因此虽然它们能帮助我们理解大脑活动并治疗各种神经系统疾病，但它们也会造成一定的损伤，这并不令人意外。34 岁的杨潇（Xiao Yang）正在研究超小型电极，她希望这种电极能减少对周围脑组织的损伤。她的电极也非常灵活——事实上，它们看起来很像真实的神经元。杨潇还在实验室中制作电极片来研究脑细胞。受“折纸艺术”（Kirigami，一种通过剪纸形成三维形状的传统日本艺术）的启发，她创造了一种具有蜂窝状结构的电极片，形状像一个螺旋篮子。她目前已经开始利用它来研究脑细胞。
3. Developing an all-new treatment for baby KJ In 2024, Kyle “KJ” Muldoon Jr. was born with a rare and potentially fatal genetic disorder. Sarah Grandinette was a member of a team that developed an entirely new, personalized treatment for him—a gene-editing therapy essentially designed to correct a genetic misspelling. Grandinette, who is now 26, created cells with KJ’s genetic variant and used them to screen gene-editing approaches; then she tested potential medicines in mice and monkeys. KJ ultimately got his first dose of the resulting treatment when he was about seven months old. He responded well and was eventually discharged from hospital. He’s “doing pretty great,” she says.
3. 为 KJ 宝宝开发全新的治疗方法 2024 年，Kyle “KJ” Muldoon Jr. 出生时患有一种罕见且可能致命的遗传性疾病。Sarah Grandinette 是一个团队的成员，该团队为他开发了一种全新的个性化治疗方法——一种旨在纠正基因拼写错误的基因编辑疗法。现年 26 岁的 Grandinette 制造了带有 KJ 基因变异的细胞，并利用这些细胞筛选基因编辑方案；随后，她在小鼠和猴子身上测试了潜在的药物。KJ 在大约七个月大时最终接受了第一剂治疗。他反应良好，并最终出院。她说，他现在“情况非常好”。
4. Reversing the aging process to treat eye disease The buzziest tech in longevity right now centers on reprogramming—attempts to rewind the age of cells by resetting them to a more embryonic-like state. In a study published in 2020, Yuancheng (Ryan) Lu (now 34) and his colleagues showed that a reprogramming therapy reversed vision loss in aged, blind mice. Now an almost identical version of that therapy is being tested in people with eye disease. Life Biosciences, the company developing the drug, dosed its first volunteer in June.
4. 逆转衰老过程以治疗眼疾 目前长寿领域最热门的技术集中在“重编程”上——即试图通过将细胞重置为更接近胚胎的状态来“倒转”细胞的年龄。在 2020 年发表的一项研究中，陆源成（Yuancheng (Ryan) Lu，现年 34 岁）及其同事证明，一种重编程疗法逆转了老年失明小鼠的视力丧失。现在，该疗法的几乎相同版本正在眼疾患者身上进行测试。开发该药物的公司 Life Biosciences 已于 6 月为首位志愿者进行了给药。
5. Using AI to design new viruses Last year, Samuel King used a generative AI model to come up with new genetic blueprints for bacteriophages—teeny viruses that can infect bacteria. Once he had those blueprints, he printed them out as strands of DNA. In experiments, he found that those AI-designed viruses could create new copies of themselves, burst out of bacterial cells, and infect other nearby bacteria. Viruses aren’t alive, but King, 27, hopes that AI-designed life forms might one day be used to make drugs or soak up pollution.
5. 利用人工智能设计新病毒 去年，Samuel King 使用生成式人工智能模型为噬菌体（一种可以感染细菌的微小病毒）设计了新的基因蓝图。一旦获得这些蓝图，他就将其打印成 DNA 链。在实验中，他发现这些由人工智能设计的病毒能够制造自己的新副本，从细菌细胞中破壳而出，并感染附近的其他细菌。病毒虽然没有生命，但 27 岁的 King 希望人工智能设计的生命形式有朝一日能被用于制造药物或吸收污染。