CHARLESTON, South Carolina - A 21st century American cowboy will resemble a worker in a high-tech plant creating artificial meat in a petri dish, a far cry from cattle ranches, according to biologist Vladimir Mironov.
查尔斯顿，南卡罗来纳州，一个21世纪的美国牛仔将要像一个工人一样在一个高科技的工厂中用带盖器皿生产人造肉，这同养牛场非常不同。生物学家Vladimir Mironov这样说。
The growth of "cultured" or in-vitro meat may be a vital step toward solving the global food crisis and fighting hunger in the future, Mironov said.
培育或试管肉的发展可能成为未来解决全球食品危机及对抗饥饿重要的一步。
It may also be used on the first trip to Mars as it's impractical to take a cow on a six-month mission on a space shuttle.
这也可能被使用在首次的火星旅程中，因为不可能在太空船中带一只牛历经6个月的使命。
"Think about planetary settlement, for example, or growing density of population," Mironov said. "There is already no land to grow crops in New York or Singapore."
举例来说，想到行星居住或者增长的人口密度，在纽约和新加坡已经没有土地种庄稼。
But Mironov, along with fellow researcher, Nicholas Genovese, face many challenges in their small cutting-edge laboratory at the Medical University of South Carolina.
但是。Ｍironov和他的研究者伙伴，Ｎicholas在南卡来那州医药大学的小型尖端实验室中，要面对很多挑战。
The amount of meat that can be grown in a laboratory is one problem. T-bone steaks don't grow on trees or overnight under a microscope. But Mironov says creating a steak is not far from becoming reality.
实验室中可以生长的肉的数量是一个问题。Ｔ骨牛排不能在树上生长或者不能在显微镜下存活一通宵。但是是M说，创造一块牛排不久就会变成现实。
About 10 years ago, Mironov's research dream to grow "cultured meat" became reality when he was awarded a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for cardiovascular tissue engineering.
10年前，Ｍ的研究梦想培养人造肉变成现实，但他从国家航空宇宙管理局获得奖励，因为心血管组织工程学。
He landed the grant with the help of Helen Lane, a top NASA food expert that Mironov invited to a workshop he hosted.
他获得了海伦一位美国航天局高级食物专家的援助， M邀请参加一个他主持的工作组。
But the research is no longer funded by NASA, and Mironov said he was told that NASA was moving toward researching transgenic plants as a source of protein.
但是，研究不再由美国航天局资助，M说，他被告之美国航天局将研究方转向了转基因，做为一种蛋白源。
"Research proposals are reviewed and vetted based on many different factors," said Katherine Trinidad, from NASA's public relations department.
“基于许多因素，研究的目的被评估和确定。”美国航天局公共关系部的K说
Now Mironov and Genovese are funded by a three-year grant from the animal rights group People of Ethical Treatment for the Animals.
现在M和G被一动物权组织（）资助三年。
A tissue engineer by trade, Mironov has taken embryonic muscle cells called myoblasts, which turn into muscle, from turkey, bathed them in a bovine serum and then grown animal muscle tissue.
做为组织工程师的职业，M将从火鸡上提取的可转化成肌肉的成肌细胞（肌肉细胞胚胎），至于牛血清中，可以成长为动物的肌肉组织。
"We are working on a very small scale using NASA synthecon bioreactor and porous edible chitosan spheres seeded with myoblasts from edible animals," Mironov explained.
M解释说：我们正在研究的非常小的部分在使用美国航空局生物反应器，及成肌细胞注入可食性动物身上得到的多孔式可食的多聚糖中。
The cultured meat choice confronting tomorrow's shoppers will be similar to today's options in the meat department.
培养肉选择未来的销售商会类似于如今肉市的授权贩卖。
North Dakota bioengineer Douglas McFarland has grown myoblast cells from chicken, turkey, lamb, pig and cow, Mironov said.
北达科他州的生物工程师D，已经从鸡，火鸡，羔羊，猪，牛的身上栽培出成肌细胞。
Mironov finds that liver or "famous French guts pate" is the easiest muscle meat to grow. And he said cultured meat will be "functional, natural, designed food", arguing that modified food is already common practice, and not harmful.
M发现，肝脏是最容易成长的肌肉。他说培养肉是有功效， 自然， 可设计的食品。转基因的食物已经很普通，并没有害处。
Mironov and Genovese are two of 30 applicants who have been invited to a European Science Foundation workshop on in-vitro meat in Gothenburg, Sweden, in August to discuss the obstacles they all share.
M和G做为30名受邀者的2 人，参加由欧洲科学基础工作室8月在瑞典哥德堡举办的，关于试管肉障碍的讨论。
There is also a "yuck factor" to overcome when people know that meat is grown in a lab, although other foods like yogurt have been cultured for years.
但人们知道肉是在实验室中用试管中培养出来的，会让人产生反感。虽然诸如酸奶一些食品已经被培养出许多年了。
"One of the biggest things that people enjoy as a comfort thing is food," said Sam Bowen, a bar manager in Columbia, South Carolina.
哥伦比亚一酒吧老板塞蒙说：人们享受着可口的美食是最重大的事情之一
"And until people grow up with the idea of artificial meat, it's going to be hard to convince people otherwise."
直到人们在思想上接受人造肉，是个很困难的过程。
Funding is one of the biggest hurdles. Along with NASA, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture won't fund the research.
资金是最大的难题。和美国国家航空局一样，国家食品农业研究所也不会进行资金资助。
The Netherlands, on the other hand, funds in-vitro meat research by its bio-engineers, according to Mironov.
据M说，另一方面，荷兰通过生物工程来资助试管肉。
"It looks like Europeans now are taking a lead in development of in-vitro meat technology," Mironov said. "But the original idea was American."
M说：现在似乎是欧洲在领导着试管肉的研究，但最初的想法的源头却是美国人。
Agence France-Presse
法新社
(China Daily 02/17/2011 page10）
评论