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Science and Technology Cell biology On your marks...
科技 細胞生物學 各就各位…
The first cell race in history may further knowledge about how cancers spread
歷史上的首次細胞賽跑，可能增進了解有關癌癥如何擴散的知識
IT WILL not come with garden parties, large hats or eager bookies.
這次比賽將不會與花園招待會，高職位或急切的賭注登記經紀人一起到來。
And the contestants will be too small to see with the naked eye.
并且，參賽者也會因過于細小而肉眼無法看到。
But the World Cell Race, due to begin at the end of this month, will be the sporting event of the year for cell biologists.
但是預計將于本月底舉行的世界細胞競賽將是今年細胞生物學家的體育盛會。
The idea of the race is simple. Labs from around the world send the runners—whatever sort of mammalian cell they think will do well—to one of six testing sites.
競賽的想法很簡單。世界各地的實驗室將把他們的參賽者---無論哪一種他們認為將表現不錯的哺乳動物細胞---送到6個測試點之一。
There, the cells will be injected onto plates striped with tracks of a chemical they like to adhere to.
在這些測試點，細胞將被注入他們喜歡粘附的一種化學制品跑道的條紋板里。
Progress will be watched through a microscope, by time-lapse photography.
顯微鏡通過延時攝影可以觀察到它們的進展情況。
And whichever cell covers a tenth of a millimetre fastest (probably taking about an hour to do so) will be declared the winner.
然后無論哪種細胞，只要先跑過十分之一毫米的跑道（可能需要花一小時左右）就將被宣布為贏家。
The field is wide open. Unlike horse-racing, the contest is not restricted to thoroughbreds.
該領域的大門敞開著。不像賽馬，該競賽并不局限于純種動物。
In fact the organisers, Matthieu Piel, Ana-Maria Lennon-Duménil and Manuel Théry, who all work in France, are particularly encouraging the entry of genetically modified cells, as these are likely to be the most successful—and most instructive—competitors.
事實上，該次競賽的組織者---都在法國工作的馬修·彼爾（Matthieu Piel）， 安娜 - 瑪麗·列儂-鄧內爾（Ana-Maria Lennon-Duménil）和曼奴埃爾· 西里（Manuel Théry）特別鼓勵轉基因細胞的參選，因為這些細胞很可能是最成功的---而且是最有意義的---競爭者。
That is because a lot of research on cell movement uses genetic modification to silence or amplify genes thought to be involved in the process.
這是因為很多細胞運動的研究使用遺傳改造來抑制或增強基因表達。
Many of these genes have been found by looking at cancerous cells.
這些改造過的基因被認為參與了這個過程。
Metastatic tumour cells—those which have spread from the site of the original tumour—migrate faster than other cells.
許多基因可以通過觀察癌細胞找到。轉移性腫瘤細胞---那些已從原發部位擴散開的細胞---比別的細胞移動得要快。
If the genes that cause this mobility could be turned off, it would slow a cancer’s spread.
如果導致這種流動性的基因能被關掉，這將減緩癌癥的擴散速度。
More positively, cell migration is the driving force of embryo development and is, in adults, essential to the immune response and to the healing of wounds.
更加肯定的是，細胞遷移是胚胎發育的原動力，而且對成年人來講，細胞遷移對免疫反應以及傷口愈合非常重要。
Understanding cell movement, then, is important. Hence the idea of the race, which Dr Piel and Dr Lennon-Duménil (who both work at the Curie Institute in Paris) and Dr Théry (at the Atomic Energy Research Centre in Grenoble) came up with at last year’s meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology.
于是，理解細胞運動非常重要。因此，彼爾博士（Piel）和列儂-鄧內爾（ Lennon-Duménil）（兩人在巴黎的居里研究所工作）和西里(Théry)博士（在格勒諾布爾的原子能研究中心工作）在去年的美國細胞生物學學會的會議上提出這次競賽的想法。
So far their competition has attracted 30 entrants.
到目前為止，他們的競爭已經吸引了30名參賽者。
The heats will take place throughout August.
整個八月份都將是預賽。只有八月底才有視頻來分析決定贏家。
Only at the end of the month will the videos be analysed to name the winners.
組織者說他們也正在考慮給最慢的細胞一個獎項，因為呆滯的細胞對癌癥治療來說將是非常有用的。
The organisers say they are also considering giving a prize to the slowest cell, since lethargic cells would be a boon for cancer therapy.
對細胞生物學家來說，這次競賽應該是一次令人興奮的比賽。
For cell biologists it should be an exciting contest. But a word of advice to sports fans: maybe just catch the highlights.
但是我要給體育愛好者提個建議：或許恰好碰上最重要的時刻了。
