The life sciences are starting a third revolution. Remember these three key words

How long will the 01 virus live with humans?

As the black swan event with the greatest impact on the world in the past year, the COVID-19 epidemic has naturally become the focus of discussion. Why is a small virus causing global panic, and when can we get rid of this cunning virus?

"Viruses are nature's natives." Tang Chao pointed out that viruses existed in nature much earlier than humans. Moreover, they have strong vitality and can adapt well to a variety of natural environments and changes. As a result, humans have been living with viruses and bacteria since the beginning of time, most commonly influenza and colds. When a new virus infects the human body, there may be a relatively violent immune response, but from a scientific point of view, this is normal.

In response, Ouyang said that humans are not unable to cope with the virus. In human development, natural evolution is the main way to fight against viruses. The other is to rely on modern science, through scientific means to understand the virus, and then design the corresponding drugs and vaccines against the virus. For example, compared with the SARS virus in 2003, although there are some changes in the new coronavirus, human understanding of the virus and the means of prevention and treatment are also evolving, he said.

Li Dong analyzed from the perspective of the survival instinct of the living body. Li Dong said that the ultimate goal of viruses as living beings is to let themselves survive, and after coming to human society, its evolutionary goal is to coexist with human society. Perhaps the arrival of a new virus will make humans ill-adapted, resulting in a higher mortality rate. But with the development of technologies such as vaccines, people are finally able to respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases. At the same time, Li Dong also stressed that the protection of any vaccine has a certain probability, depending on the immune system response of the person, and vaccination does not mean complete insulation from the virus. But with the protection of vaccines, it is possible for humans to build a barrier of herd immunity.

As for how to deal with the epidemic and how the epidemic will develop in the next step, the three scholars all showed a relatively optimistic attitude. Tang Chao said that the mutation of the virus is a means to adapt to various environments, and the virus has mutated, and people's immunity is constantly adjusting.

The RNA vaccine that has been outstanding in this outbreak has also been fully affirmed by three scholars. "RNA vaccines are a very powerful weapon," Tang said, adding that after the development of the new coronavirus epidemic, RNA vaccines will be more mature and vaccine development will be faster. Ouyang said that even if the virus finds new characteristics, mRNA vaccines can quickly change in response to virus mutations. Li Dong also said that the advantage of RNA vaccines is that they can accelerate iterative vaccine development according to the genetic sequence variation of the virus, which opens up a new technological path for human beings to better respond to public health events in the future.

02 Design life is still in its very early stages

In recent years, technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, giving us more and more tools to fight diseases and viruses, including strategies to deal with global outbreaks such as the novel coronavirus. At the same time, the scientific community is always alert to the "double-edged sword" role of science and technology, hoping that science and technology can benefit mankind while avoiding greater trouble. For example, synthetic biology has received much attention in recent years.

Synthetic biology is a new subject with the development of molecular biology. It can be used to synthesize some complex functions in natural life, or even to design life artificially. In the live broadcast, three scholars discussed the challenges of designing life and how to avoid the risks brought about by the development of technology.

In March 2016, Science magazine published a study in which American biologist Craig Venter designed and created a bacterium with only 473 genes, which was considered at the time to be an artificial life with the smallest genome but able to replicate itself, causing a huge sensation.

In this regard, Tang Chao interprets that this work essentially synthesizes the DNA of a bacterium by chemical means, and this DNA is cultured in another bacterial mother, and another bacterium reads this DNA and becomes the first bacterium, which is technically a progress, but it cannot be considered as synthesizing a new life, but "transplanting a new life."

Ouyangqi, who does biology research at Peking University's School of Physics, commented that it could be argued that Venter's team "copied" life. After they sequenced one bacterium, they synthesized its DNA using a synthetic technique and put it into another bacterium, which grew up following the genetic code of the first bacterium. "In fact, in this process, you don't understand the mechanism... The question is, can you copy it and change it? Can you transform it with purpose? That's actually the key to synthetic biology."