大國角力的新領域:基因數據

There are not many agents in the Federal Bureau of Investigation like Ed You. In a workforce that cultivates anonymity, his clean-shaven head gleams. While most of his colleagues are notoriously tight-lipped, Mr You is the chatty star of technology conferences such as South-by-Southwest and DEFCON.
在美國聯邦調查局(FBI)，沒有很多特工像埃德?尤(Ed You)那樣。在這個鼓勵工作人員讓自己看上去平淡無奇的工作環境中，他那剃得鋥亮的光頭十分搶眼。儘管他的多數同事都是出了名的口風嚴密，但尤卻是科技會議上健談的明星，例如西南偏南大會(South-by-Southwest)和拉斯維加斯國際黑客大會(DEFCON)。

He is also at the forefront of a potential dispute between the US and China, which could have implications for both commercial relations between the world’s two biggest economies and for the future of biomedical research.
他還處在一場中美潛在爭端的前沿，這場爭端可能對這兩個全球最大經濟體的商業關係以及生物醫學研究的未來產生影響。

The high profile that Mr You has adopted is part of an unusual FBI campaign to highlight the risks in America’s headlong pursuit to unlock the secrets of the human genome. A supervisory special agent in the bureau’s biological countermeasures unit, Mr You warns that the US is not protecting the genomic data used to create lucrative new medicines — but which can also be used to develop fearsome bioweapons.
尤的高調作風是FBI一項不同尋常的行動的一部分，該行動的目的是突出美國倉促尋求破解人類基因組祕密的風險。作爲FBI生物對策部門一位負責監管的特工，尤警告稱，美國沒有保護用來製造有利可圖的新藥的基因組數據，而這些數據可能還被用來開發可怕的生化武器。

“We don’t know how much bio data has left our shores,” he says. “Our concept for biological security needs to be broadened.”
“我們不知道有多少生物數據流到了國外，”他表示，“我們對生物學安全的概念需要擴大。”

That has led him to focus on China, which the veteran lawman says is gaining access to US genomic data — the biological software that governs human organisms. In recent years, Chinese investors have purchased stakes in, or partnered with, US biomedical companies that specialise in genomics. At the same time, state-sponsored hackers believed to be Chinese have penetrated the laboratories, health insurers and hospitals where other valuable patient records reside. Mr You suggests stricter controls might be needed on what sort of health data can be transferred overseas — to China and elsewhere.
這讓他關注中國，這位經驗豐富的執法者表示，中國正獲取美國基因組數據，即管理人體組織的生物軟件。最近幾年，中國投資者購入專門研究基因組的美國生物醫學公司的股權或與它們合作。同時，據信爲中國人的、由政府資助的黑客潛入了存放其他重要患者記錄的實驗室、健康保險公司和醫院。尤認爲，在哪些健康數據可以轉移到海外（中國和其他國家）方面，可能需要加強控制。

Nearly two decades after the first human genome was decoded, the field is one of the most exciting in biomedical research — and one that relies on an open network of international collaboration.
在第一個人類基因組被解密近20年後，該領域成爲生物醫學研究最令人興奮的領域之一，它依賴開放的國際合作網絡。

But it is also the latest area where national security questions — about Chinese objectives and the links between its companies and the state — are leading to calls for important sectors of the US economy to be ringfenced.
但也正是在這一領域，國家安全問題（有關中國的目的以及中國企業與政府的關係）正使得一些人發出保護美國經濟重要行業的呼聲。

Since the 2014 decision to bar Huawei from selling into parts of the US telecoms infrastructure market, America has blocked Chinese acquisitions of a wind turbine company in Oregon, a California cloud computing firm, and the US-based division of a German semiconductor maker. The Pentagon has raised concerns about Chinese investment in artificial intelligence.
自2014年美國禁止華爲(Huawei)進入美國電信基礎設施市場部分領域以來，美國阻止了中國企業收購一家俄勒岡州風力渦輪公司、一家加州雲計算公司以及一家德國半導體制造商在美國的分公司。美國國防部對中國在人工智能領域的投資感到擔憂。

Traditionally, the FBI’s weapons of mass destruction directorate has concentrated on preventing toxins such as Ebola or anthrax from falling into the wrong hands — and contributing to the spread of new germ weapons.
FBI的大規模殺傷性武器部門傳統上主要關注防範埃博拉(Ebola)或炭疽病毒等病毒落入不法分子手中並導致新的細菌武器擴散。

Now, the bureau fears that digital data sets may prove just as lethal. The concerns about large volumes of US genetic data being scooped up help explain why a law enforcement agency is tracking the potential loss of US competitive advantage. “The economic impact is the principal near-term threat — the monetisation of large data sets,” says Mr You.
如今FBI擔心，事實可能證明，數字數據集也具有同樣的殺傷力。對美國大量基因數據正被大肆收集的擔憂，有助於解釋爲何一家執法機構要追蹤美國競爭優勢的潛在喪失。尤表示：“經濟影響是主要的近期威脅：大規模數據集的變現。”

Some observers believe the US government is right to ask questions about the implications of Chinese investment in genomics. “I’ve never seen an agency, the FBI, come out of the woodwork like this,” said Michael Wessel, a member of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally-chartered advisory body. “This is a critical area that needs a lot more attention?.?.?.?It’s a real threat.”
一些觀察人士認爲，美國政府就中國在基因組領域投資的影響提出疑問是正確之舉。“我從未看到過FBI突然冒出來這麼做，”美國國會批准創建的顧問組織——美中經濟與安全評估委員會(US-China Economic and Security Review Commission)成員邁克爾?韋賽爾(Michael Wessel)表示，“這個關鍵領域需要更多關注……這是真正的威脅。”

Others worry that it would be damaging for the US to put up excessive barriers to Chinese biomedical investment. Dan Rosen, founding partner at the Rhodium Group in New York, points out that China has invested more than $3.2bn in the US biotech and pharmaceuticals sector over the past five years — cash that often brings with it talented Chinese scientists. In some disciplines, such as large-scale, low-cost gene sequencing, China leads the US. If Chinese companies become less welcome in the US, he says, they will go elsewhere.
另有一些人擔心，美國對中國生物醫學投資設置過多障礙將是破壞性的。紐約榮鼎諮詢(Rhodium Group)創始合夥人丹?羅森(Dan Rosen)指出，過去5年，中國在美國生物技術和製藥領域投資逾32億美元，隨之而來的往往是優秀的中國科學家。在一些領域，例如大規模低成本基因測序領域，中國領先於美國。他表示，如果中國公司在美國變得不那麼受歡迎，他們會到別處去。

“I don’t think drawing a line around biotech and calling the entire industry a critical sector is going to do the trick,” said Mr Rosen. “We’re going to have to maintain the ability to look at investments case by case.”
“我認爲圍繞生物技術劃定界限並把整個行業稱爲關鍵行業不會達到目的，”羅森表示，“我們必須能夠繼續對投資具體情況具體分析。”

The promise of genomics is a new era of precision targeted drugs that make traditional one-size-fits-all medicine look like a second world war dumb bomb. But treatments that are customised for a patient’s individual genetic make-up remain in their early stages.
基因組研究有望帶來精準靶向藥物的新時代，這種藥物使傳統的通用藥物看起來就像是二戰時的傻瓜炸彈。但針對病人個人基因組的定製治療方案仍然處於早期階段。

Both the US, the acknowledged global leader, and China are pursuing personalised treatments for diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis or Alzheimer’s. China last year unveiled a $9bn 15-year research initiative, dwarfing an Obama-era plan that earmarked $215m for the National Institutes of Health.
美國（目前公認的全球領頭羊）和中國都在積極研究癌症、囊性纖維化和阿爾茨海默症(Alzheimer's)等疾病的個人化治療。去年中國公佈了一項90億美元的15年研究計劃，令奧巴馬時代爲美國國家衛生研究院(NIH)撥款2.15億美元的計劃相形見絀。

DNA science has leapfrogged since 2000 when the human genome was first sequenced. What once required years of work and cost billions of dollars now takes less than a week and costs just $1,000. The US is gathering genetic data from more than 1m volunteers, so that automated lab systems can investigate how individual genes interact.
自從2000年首次對人類基因組測序後，DNA科學呈現飛躍式發展。曾經需要花費數年時間、數十億美元的工作，如今用1000美元不到一週就能搞定。美國正在從逾100萬名志願者收集基因數據，以便自動化實驗室系統可以研究個人基因如何相互作用。

“The first problem is having access to data?.?.?.?You need a lot of data,” says Eleonore Pauwels at the Wilson Center in Washington.
“第一個問題是數據……你需要很多數據，”位於華盛頓的威爾遜中心(Wilson Center)的埃萊奧諾雷?保韋爾斯(Eleonore Pauwels)表示。

Beijing’s ambitions in this area have led some Chinese companies to go on the acquisition trail — especially in the US. In January, for example, iCarbonX of Shenzhen, which aims to create personalised health treatments by combining AI with large pools of genetic data, invested more than $100m in PatientsLikeMe. The US company says it is the world’s largest personalised health network with more than 500,000 individuals sharing their medical details. PatientsLikeMe, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says that its data are anonymised and retained on US-based servers.
北京方面在該領域的野心使得一些中國企業走上收購之路——特別是在美國。例如，1月深圳的碳雲智能（iCarbonX，旨在把人工智能和大型基因數據庫結合起來以打造個性化健康治療方案）向PatientsLikeMe投資逾1億美元。這家美國公司自稱全球最大的個性化健康網，逾50萬人在此分享了醫療細節。位於馬薩諸塞州坎布里奇的PatientsLikeMe表示，其數據是匿名的，存放在美國境內的服務器。

That kind of data — stored in 100 gigabyte to 1 terabyte digital files — could be used to develop new drugs. Laboratories gather enormous numbers of such files, then combine them with detailed demographic, diet, health and lifestyle records. Supercomputers search for patterns, identifying genetic malfunctions and suggesting new remedies.
這類數據——儲存在100 GB到1TB的文件內——可以用於研發新藥物。實驗室收集海量此類數據，之後把它們與詳細的人口統計、飲食習慣、健康和生活方式等記錄數據相結合。超級計算機尋找規律，識別基因缺陷並提供新的治療建議。

The same data sets can, however, be used to develop bioweapons. The FBI, which first raised its biomedicine concerns in late 2014, has not officially offered any policy recommendations. Mr You, who has a masters degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, suggests tightening regulations on health records to make it harder to transfer them overseas.
然而，同樣的數據集也可以用於研發生物武器。FBI於2014年末首次提出對生物醫學的擔憂，目前尚未正式提出政策建議。擁有生物化學和分子生物學碩士學位的尤建議，收緊健康記錄方面的法規，使之更難轉移到海外。

Although most of the Trump administration’s top science jobs are vacant, Mr You insists the FBI’s concerns are “starting to get more traction” inside government.
儘管特朗普政府在科技領域的大多數高級職位目前仍處於空缺，但尤堅持認爲FBI的顧慮已經開始在政府內“產生更大影響”。

Outside Washington, views are mixed. “I don’t think he’s an alarmist. He’s raising some questions that need to be asked and answered,” says Ben Shobert, senior associate at the National Bureau of Asian Research.
政府之外，人們的看法不一。“我不認爲他是杞人憂天。他提出了一些需要提出和回答的問題，”美國國家亞洲研究局(National Bureau of Asian Research)高級研究員本?肖伯特(Ben Shobert)表示。

But Bernard Munos, senior fellow at the Milken Institute’s FasterCures, says the bureau’s concerns are exaggerated. “What they can steal from us is data,” he says of competitors. “Data are a necessary ingredient, but not sufficient. You need bright people who are going to extract knowledge from that data and from that knowledge imagine potential new treatments. At the moment, the capabilities of the Chinese to do that are limited.”
但麥肯研究院(Milken Institute) FasterCures中心的高級研究員伯納德?穆尼奧斯(Bernard Munos)稱，FBI的擔憂誇張了。“他們能從我們這裏偷的是數據，”他這樣說競爭對手，“數據是必要條件，但不是充分條件。你需要聰明人從數據中提取知識，再根據知識設想可能的新療法。現在，中國人實現這一點的能力有限。”

FBI officials recognise that science is a global endeavour that would wither if confined within national borders.
FBI官員意識到，科學是一項全球努力，如果侷限在國界線內，這項努力將會凋敝。

The US Human Genome Project, for instance, would have taken far longer without help from the UK, Germany, France, Japan and China. And roughly 40 per cent of the biomedical scientists in the US hail from China or India, according to Mr Munos.
例如，如果沒有英國、德國、法國、日本和中國的幫助，美國人類基因組計劃(Human Genome Project)會耗費更長時間。穆尼奧斯表示，美國約40%的生物醫學科學家來自中國或印度。

“US biomedical research could hardly function today without this contingent of people,” he says. “The collaboration is an essential part.”
“如果沒有這些人，美國生物醫學研究今天很難運轉，”他表示，“合作是必不可少的部分。”

That’s why cross-border deals so far have faced few objections. In 2013, the US government’s committee on foreign investment (Cfius) approved BGI-Shenzhen’s purchase of Complete Genomics in California, which has sequenced more than 20,000 human genomes.
這就是迄今爲止跨境收購幾乎沒有遭到反對的原因。2013年，美國政府外國投資委員會(Cfius)批准了深圳華大基因(BGI-Shenzhen)收購位於加州的完整基因公司(Complete Genomics)。後者對超過2萬個人類基因組進行了測序。

Today such a deal might be rejected, says Mr Wessel, a member of the US-China Commission. One reason is a lack of reciprocity. Even as Chinese groups take stakes in US biomedical companies, Chinese regulations prevent foreign companies from taking genetic data out of China, according to Mr Shobert.
美中經濟與安全評估委員會成員韋賽爾表示，如今這樣的交易可能遭到否決。其中一個原因是缺少互惠性。肖伯特表示，儘管中國企業持股了美國生物醫學公司，但中國法規不允許外國企業將基因數據帶出中國。

Cfius also does not track most foreign loans, non-controlling investments of less than 10 per cent — such as the iCarbonX deal — or stakes in start-ups.
美國外國投資委員會也不跟蹤大部分的外國貸款、股份不足10%的非控股性投資——比如碳雲智能的收購——或對初創企業的入股。

“That’s what’s scaring the crap out of the FBI,” says Mr Rosen. “That the most early-stage interesting stuff, the stuff happening in garages, could get sort of infiltrated with Chinese money.”
“最初期的有趣的東西，在車庫裏研究的東西，可能被中國的資金滲透，這可把FBI嚇壞了，”羅森表示。

In Congress, Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Republican leadership, plans to introduce legislation to expand government reviews of foreign investments to include joint ventures and other technology company acquisitions. “The status quo on investment from China is simply unsustainable,” Mr Cornyn said at a June Council on Foreign Relations event.
在國會，共和黨領導層成員、參議員約翰?康寧(John Cornyn)計劃引入立法，將政府審覈外國投資的範圍擴大到合資企業和其他技術公司收購。“中國投資的現狀是不可持續的，”康寧在美國外交關係委員會(Council on Foreign Relations) 6月一次活動中表示。

Cross-border deals are not the only risks to US genetic data. The healthcare industry is notoriously vulnerable to cyber attacks. Though most public attention to date has centred on identity theft or pilfered credit card details, patient medical records are even more valuable, says Mr You. Some recent hacks involved “actual penetration and acquisition of clinical data”, he told the US-China commission in March.
跨境收購不是美國基因數據面臨的唯一風險。醫療行業出了名的容易受到網絡攻擊。尤表示，儘管迄今爲止大多數公衆關注都集中在身份盜用或信用卡信息被盜上，但病人醫療記錄往往更易被竊取。他3月向美中經濟與安全評估委員會表示，最近一些黑客事件涉及“真正滲透和獲取臨牀數據”。

In December, hackers infiltrated Quest Diagnostics, which boasts the world’s largest clinical lab database, and gained access to 34,000 patient records, including laboratory results.
去年12月，黑客潛入探索診斷公司(Quest Diagnostics)得到了3.4萬份病人記錄，其中包括實驗室成果。該公司自詡擁有全世界最大的臨牀實驗室數據庫。

Although there is no evidence of foreign involvement in that episode, hackers who US officials believe were operating on behalf of the Chinese government broke into Anthem’s networks in 2014 and spent a year rummaging through records of 78.8m customers, California regulators said in announcing a January settlement with the insurer.
儘管沒有證據表明外國勢力參與此次事件，但加州監管部門在1月宣佈與保險商Anthem達成的和解方案時表示，美國官員認爲代表中國政府的黑客於2014年攻入了Anthem的網絡，並且花了一年的時間翻遍了7880萬客戶的記錄。

“The healthcare industry in general is far less secure than many other industries and sectors out there. So the ability for a determined actor to get access to that type of information is certainly feasible if they’re motivated to do so,” says Charles Carmakal, vice-president at Mandiant, a cyber security company. “We just haven’t seen it yet.”
“總體上，醫療保健行業遠沒有其他很多行業和部門安全。因此，如果下定決心的行動者有動力的話，他們的能力肯定足以獲得此類信息，”網絡安全公司曼迪昂特(Mandiant)的副總裁查爾斯?卡瑪卡爾(Charles Carmakal)表示，“我們只是還沒遇到罷了。”

Meanwhile, national security risks loom. The US government has long invested in defences against about 60 pathogens and 10 toxins that pose a “severe” health risk, including the Ebola virus, the H1N1 flu virus and ricin.
與此同時，國家安全風險若隱若現。美國政府長期投資於抵禦會造成“嚴重”健康風險的約60種病原體和10種毒素的手段，包括埃博拉病毒、H1N1流感病毒和蓖麻毒素等。

But advances such as gene editing and next-generation DNA sequencing allow scientists to weaponise new viruses, perhaps including custom pathogens engineered to overcome existing immunities or to be impervious to current drugs. Some experts warn of bioweapons engineered to kill specific populations or even individuals.
但基因編輯和新一代DNA測序等技術進步使得科學家可以把新病毒變成武器，或許包括用定製病原體攻破現有免疫系統或抵抗現有藥物的影響。一些專家對用來殺死特定人羣、甚至個人的生物武器發出了警告。

Last year, James Clapper, director of national intelligence, included gene editing aimed at producing new biological weapons as among the nation’s top security threats. “The risks are real,” a White House scientific advisory panel said in November, “and will only grow as biotechnology becomes more sophisticated in the years ahead.”
去年，國家情報總監詹姆斯?克拉珀(James Clapper)把旨在製造新生物武器的基因編輯列入國家最大安全威脅。“風險是實實在在的，”白宮一個科學顧問小組去年11月表示，“而且會隨着未來幾年生物技術日益複雜而越來越危險。”

Insider threat: Scientist accused of stealing trade secrets
內部威脅：科學家被控竊取行業機密

With a PhD in biological chemistry and four patents to her name, Yu Xue was “one of the top protein biochemists in the world”, prosecutors said when they charged her with stealing trade secrets from her employer.
擁有生物化學博士學位和4項專利的薛瑜(Yu Xue)是“全世界最頂級的蛋白質生物化學家之一”，檢察官在指控薛瑜從其供職公司竊取行業機密時表示。