VOA慢速英语2014 科学家发明具有人体器官功能的芯片

 

Scientists Design Chips to Act Like Human Organs 科学家发明具有人体器官功能的芯片

Testing new drugs for safety and effectiveness is a costly¹ process in the United States. It also can take a lot of time. Some scientists are now designing silicon² computer chips that act like human organs. The scientists think they have found a way to make the process faster and more economical.

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.

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.

“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.”

Some computer chips contain very small models of the human digestive system. They copy the real function or duties of the human stomach and intestine³, moving when breaking down food. 

Drugs are added to the tiny organs for testing through instruments known as micro-tubes.  Experiments with the tissue chips have produced more detailed⁴ information than tests using animal or cell models.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.   

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 or company to be used for a particular purpose such as scientific research

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

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

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。

4 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。