Seminar | 破译“印记信号”，预防精神疾病

本次研讨会面向广以全校师生，由广以生物技术与食品工程专业助理教授Yigal Achmon牵头，吸引了不少师生的踊跃参与。广以副校长林丹明，常务副校长高级顾问（创新与产业关系）Raanan Adin参加了会议。

“很多人知道‘印随行为’，也就是一些刚孵化出来不久的幼鸟、刚生下来的哺乳动物，在没有母亲的陪伴下，会跟随着它们第一眼所见到的移动物体，把其当作它们的母亲。“印随行为”就是“印记”的一种体现。”研讨会上，Eytan Bar博士用简洁的语言和例子解释了“印记”概念。

印记不仅仅是社会性动物早期的学习模式，也是给他们带来安全感的重要途径。在母亲的陪伴下，婴儿会比平时更加放松。这是因为，母亲会散发自身独特的印记信号，这种信号能调节婴儿体内的荷尔蒙分泌，有效缓解婴儿的焦虑情绪。荷尔蒙作为内分泌系统的产物，对人体心理和生理健康有着至关重要的作用。体内荷尔蒙失调是导致精力不足、注意力不集中的原因之一。婴儿时期的荷尔蒙失衡还会导致大脑发育不完善、患精神类疾病的风险上升等。

但现代快节奏的生活方式，使得父母很难长时间与自己的孩子呆在一起，这就导致了孩子从婴儿时期开始就得不到足够的心理健康所必须的印记信号。那是否可以人工制造这些信号呢？这就是Eytan Bar博士本次项目的重点。

有研究表明，注意力缺陷及多动障碍症与焦虑情绪，尤其是遗弃焦虑有直接联系，且与出生后头三年无法满足印记需求有关。科学家设想，如果通过提供印记信号的人工合成品为婴儿提供有安全感的心理环境，就可以平衡婴儿的荷尔蒙水平防止大脑发育障碍。针对患有多动症和焦虑症的儿童，合成的印记信号可以帮助他们塑造安全感，减轻疾病。

对于未来的研究计划，Eytan Bar博士表示，目前正在开发的第一批产品将针对新生儿与幼儿，下一阶段会逐步扩展到老年人及患有慢性焦虑症、恐惧症及自闭症的人群。这一计划也是广东以色列理工学院产学研项目之一，Yigal Achmon教授将为这个项目提供科学及技术层面的支持。

Eytan Bar博士毕业于耶路撒冷希伯来大学生物技术专业，是本古里安大学环境工程系的创始人，也是以色列著名环境微生物学家。他拥有23年环境流行病学预防经验，涉及领域包括环境及医疗微生物控制及消毒。

This seminar, facing faculty and students, was led by Dr. Yigal Achmon, Assistant Professor of Biotechnology and Food Engineering in GTIIT. Teachers and students from different programs actively participated in it. Prof. Lin Danming, Pro-Vice Chancellor of GTIIT; Raanan Adin, Senior Consultant to Vice-Chancellor (Innovation and Industry Relations), attended the seminar.

"Baby birds and newly born mammals, without the company of their mothers, will follow the first moving objects they see and regard it as their mother. This is a manifestation of ‘imprinting’. " Dr. Eytan Bar explained this concept with concise language and examples.

Imprinting is not only an early learning model for social animals, but also an important way to bring them a sense of safety. For example, with the mother's company, the baby will be more relaxed than usual. This is because the mother will emit her unique imprinting signal, which can regulate the hormone secretion in the baby's body and effectively relieve the baby's anxiety. Hormones, as a product of the endocrine system in the body, play an important role in the mental and physical health of the human body. Lack of energy and trouble concentrating can be caused by hormonal imbalance, which can also lead to imperfect brain development and increase the risk of mental disorder in babyhood.

However, the modern way of life makes it difficult for parents to stay with their children for a long time, which leads to the fact that children cannot get enough imprinted signals for their mental health from infancy. Can these signals be artificially produced? This is what Dr. Eytan Bar's project aims to do.

Studies have shown that attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder are directly related to anxiety, especially anxiety about abandonment, and are related to the deficiency in satisfaction of  imprinted needs in the first three years from the day of birth. Therefore, if it is possible to provide a mentally safe environment for newborns by providing replacements of imprinted signals, we can balance the baby's hormonal levels and prevent disorder development of the brain. For children suffering from ADHD and anxiety, the synthesized imprinted signals can help them build a sense of safety and reduce their disorder.

As for the future research plan, Dr. Eytan Bar said that the first group of products will target newborns and young children, and the next stage will be gradually extended to the elderly and people suffering from chronic anxiety, phobias and autism. This is planned to be one of the industry-university-research projects of Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Dr. Yigal Achmon will join the R&D activities by providing scientific and technical contribution to this project.

Dr. Eytan Bar holds a PhD in Biotechnology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a renowned environmental microbiologist in Israel and the founder of the Environmental Engineering Department of Ben-Gurion University. He has 23 years of professional experience in Environmental Epidemiology prevention, including environmental and medical microbiological control and disinfection.