WEBVTT

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
You have cancer.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Sadly, about 40 percent of us will hear
those three words within our lifetime,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and half will not survive.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This means that two of five
of your closest friends and relatives

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
will be diagnosed
with some form of cancer,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and one will die.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Beyond the physical harships,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
roughly one-third of cancer
survivors here in the US

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
will go into debt from treatment.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And they're at least two-and-a-half times
more likely to declare bankruptcy

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
than those without cancer.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This disease is pervasive.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It's emotionally drainging,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and for many,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
financially destructive.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
But a cancer diagnosis doesn't
have to be a death sentence.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Finding cancer early,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
closer its genesis,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is one of the critical factors
to improving treatment options,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
reducing its emotional impact

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and minimizing financial burdens.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Most importantly,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
finding cancer early --

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
which is one of the primary
aims of my research --

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
greatly enhances your odds of survival.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
If we just look at the case
of breast cancer for example,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
we find that those who are diagnosed
and treated as Stage One

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
have a five-year survival rate
of nearly 100 percent.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Odds that decrease to just 22 percent
if treated at Stage Four.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And similar trends are found
for cholorectal and ovarian cancer.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Now, we're all aware that an early
diagnosis that is accurate

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is critical for survival.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The problem is that many cancer
diagnostic tools are invasive,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
costly,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
often inaccurate,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and they can take an agonizing amount
of time to get the results back.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Still worse,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
when it comes to some forms of cancer,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
such as ovarian, liver
or pancreatic cancer,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
good screening methods simply don't exist,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
meaning often people wait until
physical symptoms surface,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
which are themselves already indicators
of late stage progression.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Like a tornado strike in an area
without an early warning system,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
there is no alarm to warn

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for the danger is already
at your doorstep ...

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
when your odds of survival
are greatly reduced.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Having the convenience and accessibility
of regular screening options

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that are affordable, noninvasive
and could provide results much sooner,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
would provide us with a formidable
weapon in the fight against cancer.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
An early warning would allow us
to get out ahead of the disease

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
instead of merely following
in its relentless wake.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And this is exactly what I've been doing.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
For the past three years,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I've been developing technologies

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that could ultimately aid clinicians

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
with rapid, early-stage
cancer diagnostics.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And I've been fueled by a deep
scientific curiosity,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and a passion to change these statistics.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Last year however,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
this fight became much more personal

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
when my wife was diagnosed
with breast cancer.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It was an experience that added a strong
and unexpected emotional dimension

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to these efforts.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I know firsthand how life-altering
treatment can be,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and I'm keenly aware
of the emotional havoc

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that cancer and wreak on a family,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
which in our case included
our two young daughters.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Because we found it early
during a routine mamogram,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
we were able to focus primarly
on treatment options

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for the localized tumor,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
reaffirming to me how important
an early diagnosis is.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Unlike other forms of cancer,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
mamograms do offer an early stage
screening option for breast cancer.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Still, not everyone has this done,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or they may develop cancer before
the middle age recommendation

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for having a mamogram.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So, there's still a lot
of room for improvement,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
even for cancers that do
have screening options.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And of course,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
considerable benefits
for those that don't.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
A key challenge then
for cancer researchers

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is to develop methods

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that make regular screening for many
types of cancers much more accessible.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Imagine a scenario where during
your regular checkup,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
your doctor can take a simple,
noninvasive urine sample,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or other liquid biopsy,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and present you with the results
before you even leave the doctor's office.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Such a technology could dramatically
reduce the number of people

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
who slipped through the net
of an early stage cancer diagnosis.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
My research team
of engineers and biochemists

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is working on exactly this challenge.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
We're working on ways to frequently
activate an early stage cancer alarm

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
by enable regular screenings that would
start when a person is healthy

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
so that action could be taken to stop
cancer the moment it emerges,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and before it can progress
beyond its infancy.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The silver bullet in this case
are tiny [vesacilles],

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
little escape pods regularly shed
by cells called [exosomes].

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Exosomes are important biomarkers
that provide an early warning system

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for the development of cancer.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And because they're abundantly present
in just about every bodily fluid,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
including blood, urine and saliva,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
they're extremely attractive
for noninvasive, liquid biopsies.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
There's just one problem.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And automated system for rapidly sorting
these important biomarkers

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is not currently available.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
We've created a technology
that we call "Nano DOD"

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that is capable of precisely this.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Automated exome isolation

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to aid rapid cancer diagnostics.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Exosomes are the newest early
warning weapon if you will

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to emerge on the liquid biopsy front.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And they're really, really small.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
They measure just 30 to 150
nanometers in diameter.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This is so tiny

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that you could fit about a million
of them into a single red blood cell.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
That's roughly the difference
between a golf ball

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and a fine grain piece of sand.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Once thought to be little bins
for unwanted cellular waste,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
it has been found that cells
actually communicate

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
by producing and absorbing these exosomes

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
which contain surface receptors,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
proteins

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and other genetic material collected
from their cell of origin.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
When absorbed by a neighboring cell,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
exosomes release their contents
into the receiving cell,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and can set in motion fundamental
changes in gene expression.