醫學

大腦成像技術開辟醫療新境界

????許多疾病要想治愈，或許要等到科學家完全了解了人類大腦之后才有可能。但目前這個“復雜的機器”仍存在諸多未解之謎。

????未來十年，科學家們將嘗試繪制大腦圖像，放大單個神經元（大腦共有數十億個神經元），用于研究每個神經元的基因信息、形狀和電子信號。利用微型機器人工具，如由麻省理工學院（MIT）愛德華?博伊登和佐治亞理工學院（Georgia Tech）克雷格?弗雷斯特共同研發的“自動補丁”，研究人員有望關閉單個細胞，并借助相鄰細胞來重新繪制圖形。人類需要在接受大量培訓后才能手動檢查神經細胞，相比之下，機器人的速度卻要快得多。

????診斷單個神經元的障礙使定向基因療法成為可能。隨著這種療法成本下降，侵入性降低，越來越多的病人將有機會接受這種借助高科技工具的治療。如果大腦成像技術取得成功，第一批可治愈的神經障礙疾病會是哪些呢？應該就是杜列特氏綜合癥和嗜睡癥。

????——亞歷克斯?康拉德

????譯者：喬樹靜/阿龍

Medicine

A map of the brain leads to cures

????The key to curing many diseases may come only when scientists fully understand the human brain, a complex machine that hasn't been completely investigated.

????Scientists will spend the next decade trying to map the mind, zooming in on single neurons (the brain has billions) to study each one's genetic information, shape, and electrical signals. Using tiny robotic tools such as an "auto patcher" -- developed by MIT's Edward Boyden and Georgia Tech's Craig Forest -- researchers will be able to turn off individual cells and plot patterns with its neighbors. The robot can check neurons much faster than humans, who need extensive training to do the process manually.

????Diagnosing the breakdowns within a neuron will allow for targeted gene therapy. As the process gets cheaper and less invasive, more patients will have access to treatment from such advanced tools. Among the first neurological disorders physicians can tackle when the brain is mapped? Tourette syndrome and narcolepsy.

????--Alex Konrad