Things are hotting up in the field of “organs on a chip” and researchers in Nanjing are among those at the forefront of the emerging revolution in pharmaceutical development that could put an end to testing on animals for once and for all.
“芯片上的器官”领域正在升温，南京的研究人员处于药物开发新兴革命的最前沿，这场革命可能会一劳永逸地结束动物试验。
This is the stuff of fantasy from the movie, Avatar, that has been turned into reality by scientists in the field of biology working in the lab at Nanjing’s Jiangsu Sports and Health Research Institute (JSHRI; 江苏运动健康研究院). And this past year has seen enormous advances in the field.
这是电影《阿凡达》中的奇幻故事，南京江苏运动健康研究院实验室的生物学科学家将其变成了现实。在过去的一年里，该领域取得了巨大的进步。
JSHRI was jointly established in December, 2021, by Southeast University, municipal and district government, Huawei, and the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute. JSHRI has the aim to accelerate the industrial transformation of medical care, wearable devices and AI pharma.
江苏省生命科学研究院于2021年12月由东南大学、市、区政府、华为、江苏省工业技术研究院联合成立。 JSHRI的目标是加速医疗、可穿戴设备和人工智能制药的产业转型。
Organs on a chip are also one of the key research directions for JSHRI.
器官芯片也是JSHRI的重点研究方向之一。
According to the Wyss Institute at Harvard, Organs on a chip are “micro fluidic culture devices that recapitulate the complex structures and functions of living human organs”. Roughly the size of a USB memory stick, the devices are lined with living human organ cells and blood vessel cells. In effect cross-sections of human organs, they offer insights in to the inner workings of human organs and the effects of drugs thereon.
根据哈佛大学维斯研究所的说法，芯片上的器官是“重现活体人体器官的复杂结构和功能的微流体培养装置”。这些设备的大小与 USB 记忆棒差不多，里面排列着活的人体器官细胞和血管细胞。通过人体器官的有效横截面，它们可以深入了解人体器官的内部运作以及药物对其的影响。
The upsides are enormous; no more testing on humans or animals, and vastly accelerated drug development times.
好处是巨大的；不再需要对人类或动物进行测试，并大大加快了药物开发时间。
Rated as one of the world’s top ten emerging technologies by the Davos World Economic Forum, since the USA took the lead on joint development of organ-on-a-chip tech in 2011, countries around the world have set off a wave of research and development.
被达沃斯世界经济论坛评为全球十大新兴技术之一，自2011年美国率先联合开发芯片器官技术以来，世界各国掀起了研发热潮。
The cost of bringing a new drug from invention to market often exceeds US$1 billion, with the R&D phase taking 10 years. The traditional drug research and development model is not only time consuming and labour intensive, but also has a high failure rate.
一种新药从发明到上市的成本往往超过10亿美元，研发阶段需要10年时间。传统的药物研发模式不仅耗时耗力，而且失败率较高。
That’s down to the testing on animals, where the mismatch in biology between animals and humans means that drugs which are safe and effective for the former can be be quite the opposite for the latter.
这取决于对动物的测试，动物和人类之间的生物学不匹配意味着对前者安全有效的药物对后者可能完全相反。
That’s where Nanjing’s Southeast University came in, last year year taking the initiative to create a national standard for organs on a chip for skin. It’s big business too, in helping to comply with the requirement to cancel experiments on animals for cosmetics exported to Europe.
这就是南京东南大学的用武之地，去年它主动制定了皮肤芯片器官国家标准。这也是一项大生意，有助于遵守取消出口欧洲化妆品动物实验的要求。
Yu Wenlong, Executive Vice President with JSHRI, revealed to media that since settling in in Jiangning High-tech Zone last November, they have gathered over 20 teams and formed cooperations with in excess of 50 ecological enterprises, worth some ¥60 million.
江宁院常务副院长于文龙向媒体透露，自去年11月入驻江宁高新区以来，已聚集20多个团队，与50多家生态企业形成合作，价值约6000万元。
The overall goal is the realising of a ¥10 billion sports and health industry ecosystem in Nanjing. And a feel-good one at that; the next new drug you try may well have never been tested on animals.
总体目标是在南京实现百亿元体育健康产业生态圈。而且是一种感觉良好的感觉；您尝试的下一种新药很可能从未在动物身上进行过测试。
