第2445期:Scientist Uses Bacteria to Repair 18th-century Artworks

Spanish scientist Pilar Bosch has found a way to use bacteria to repair 18th-century paintings. 

西班牙科学家皮拉尔·博斯 (Pilar Bosch) 找到了一种利用细菌修复 18 世纪绘画的方法。 

Bosch, a microbiologist, tells Reuters she got the idea for the method while considering possibilities for a paper toward her doctoral degree. During this process, she discovered someone else’s paper that suggested bacteria can be used to restore artworks. 

微生物学家博斯告诉路透社，她在考虑撰写博士学位论文的可能性时想到了这种方法。在此过程中，她发现了别人的论文，建议可以使用细菌来修复艺术品。 

At around the same time, Bosch learned that her mother was struggling to find a good method for restoring 18th-century paintings. The paintings, by Spanish artist Antonio Palomino, sat in Santos Juanes – one of the oldest churches in the city of Valencia. 

大约在同一时间，博斯得知她的母亲正在努力寻找修复 18 世纪绘画的好方法。这些画作由西班牙艺术家安东尼奥·帕洛米诺 (Antonio Palomino) 创.

Bosch said her mother, Pilar Roig, noted how difficult the restoration process at the church was. One reason was the glue used to remove the paintings from the walls in the 1960s. The substance was nearly impossible to remove completely. 

博斯说，她的母亲皮拉尔·罗伊格注意到教堂的修复过程是多么困难。原因之一是 20 世纪 60 年代用于去除墙上画作的胶水。该物质几乎不可能完全去除。 

"My mother had a very difficult problem to solve and I found a paper about bacteria used to clean frescoes in Italy," Bosch said. A fresco is a kind of painting that often appears across a large wall. 

“我母亲有一个非常棘手的问题需要解决，我发现了一篇关于意大利用于清洁壁画的细菌的论文，”博斯说。壁画是一种经常出现在大墙上的绘画。

Bosch added she decided to write her doctoral paper on the same subject. That was more than ten years ago. Today, she gets to work with her mother on the church restoration. They are using the bacteria method to remove glue from artworks. The $4.46 million project is being financed by local organizations. 

博斯补充说，她决定就同一主题撰写博士论文。那是十多年前的事了。今天，她开始和母亲一起修复教堂。他们正在使用细菌方法去除艺术品上的胶水。该项目耗资 446 万美元，由当地组织资助。

The process involves feeding small amounts of the glue – made from animal collagen – to the bacteria. After a time, the bacteria begins to naturally produce enzymes to break down the glue. 

该过程涉及将少量由动物胶原蛋白制成的胶水喂给细菌。一段时间后，细菌开始自然产生酶来分解胶水。 

The mother-daughter team then mixes the bacteria with a natural algae-based substance, called a gel, and places it onto the paintings. They say that after about three hours, the gel mixture is removed, leaving the paintings glue-free. 

然后，母女团队将细菌与一种称为凝胶的天然藻类物质混合，并将其放在画作上。他们说，大约三个小时后，凝胶混合物被去除，画作不再有胶水。

Bosch’s mother, now 75, noted that in the past, restorers of artworks had to use traditional cleaning methods that "took hours and damaged the painting." She noted that several other relatives in the family also work in art restoration. Bosch agreed, saying the work "certainly runs in the family." 

博斯现年 75 岁的母亲指出，过去艺术品修复者必须使用传统的清洁方法，“需要几个小时，而且会损坏画作”。她指出，家里的其他几位亲戚也从事艺术品修复工作。博斯对此表示同意，并表示这项工作“当然是家族传承的”。 

Bosch has also used her bacteria removal process in other restoration projects in Italy and Spain. And, she is now training other scientists to use a different kind of bacteria to clear walls of painted graffiti. 

博世还在意大利和西班牙的其他修复项目中使用了她的除菌工艺。而且，她现在正在培训其他科学家使用不同种类的细菌来清除墙壁上的涂鸦。