The Scientist Who Found the Seed of New Blood
A Cientista que Encontrou a Semente do Novo Sangue
In a quiet laboratory, Yuna searches for a tiny seed hidden inside human blood, a seed that can become any blood cell the body needs. After years of careful failures, she finds it, and children who were very sick begin to heal.
Deep inside a quiet laboratory, a scientist named Yuna was searching for something very small.
No interior de um laboratório silencioso, uma cientista chamada Yuna procurava algo muito pequeno.
She was looking for the seed of blood itself.
Ela procurava a semente do próprio sangue.
Every drop of blood holds many kinds of cells.
Cada gota de sangue contém muitos tipos de células.
But hidden among them were special seeds that could grow into any kind of blood cell.
Mas escondidas entre elas havia sementes especiais que podiam crescer em qualquer tipo de célula sanguínea.
Yuna called them the mother cells.
Yuna chamava-lhes as células-mãe.
Finding them was like finding one particular grain of sand on a very long beach.
Encontrá-las era como encontrar um grão de areia específico numa praia muito longa.
Other scientists had tried and given up.
Outros cientistas tinham tentado e desistido.
"They are too rare," some said. "They look just like the others."
"São demasiado raras", disseram alguns. "Parecem-se exatamente com as outras."
But Yuna did not give up.
Mas Yuna não desistiu.
She spent years learning how the mother cells behaved.
Passou anos a aprender como as células-mãe se comportavam.
She tried one method, then another, then another.
Experimentou um método, depois outro, e depois outro.
She kept careful records of every experiment that failed.
Ela mantinha registos cuidadosos de cada experiência que falhava.
"Each failure shows me where not to look," she told her team.
"Cada falha mostra-me onde não procurar", disse ela à sua equipa.
Finally, Yuna and her colleagues found a way to separate the mother cells from the rest.
Finalmente, Yuna e os seus colegas encontraram uma forma de separar as células-mãe das restantes.
They could now collect them, grow them, and give them to patients who needed new blood.
Podiam agora recolhê-las, cultivá-las e dá-las a pacientes que precisavam de sangue novo.
Doctors used this discovery to treat people whose bodies had stopped making healthy blood.
Os médicos usaram esta descoberta para tratar pessoas cujos corpos tinham parado de produzir sangue saudável.
Children who had been very sick began to heal.
Crianças que tinham estado muito doentes começaram a sarar.
Yuna's name was on the patent, but her face was not in the news.
O nome de Yuna estava na patente, mas o seu rosto não estava nas notícias.
She preferred it that way.
Ela preferia assim.
She sat back down at her bench, looked through her microscope, and kept searching.
Ela voltou a sentar-se no seu banco, olhou pelo microscópio e continuou a procurar.
She believed there was still more to find.
Ela acreditava que ainda havia mais para descobrir.