WEBVTT

00:00:01.110 --> 00:00:04.159
How does a sea snail catch a fish?

00:00:04.183 --> 00:00:06.706
I mean, it's a snail, so it's slow,

00:00:06.730 --> 00:00:09.645
and the fish is not.

00:00:10.110 --> 00:00:12.149
But yet, this happens.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:12.817 --> 00:00:15.419
Hidden under the sand is a cone snail.

00:00:15.443 --> 00:00:18.230
And that orange thing you see
is kind of like a tongue.

00:00:18.254 --> 00:00:20.071
We call it a proboscis.

00:00:20.095 --> 00:00:24.975
It uses that to track and subdue
this unsuspecting fish.

00:00:26.046 --> 00:00:28.022
In this predator-prey interaction,

00:00:28.046 --> 00:00:31.395
these are clearly not
your garden variety escargots.

00:00:31.419 --> 00:00:34.482
These are assassins of the sea.

00:00:35.102 --> 00:00:38.045
And their weapon of choice is venom.

00:00:38.069 --> 00:00:42.332
Venom, like the venom you find
in venomous snakes and scorpions,

00:00:42.356 --> 00:00:46.935
these sea snails, they use their venom
to subdue fish, worms

00:00:46.959 --> 00:00:48.240
and other snails.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:48.264 --> 00:00:49.716
And the venom of these snails,

00:00:49.740 --> 00:00:50.904
it's not just one thing,

00:00:50.928 --> 00:00:54.577
it's actually a cocktail
of toxic molecules

00:00:54.601 --> 00:00:59.132
that are packaged and delivered
through a false tooth called a radula.

00:00:59.156 --> 00:01:02.133
You can think of the radulas
as hypodermic needles.

00:01:02.157 --> 00:01:03.323
Now, no need to worry,

00:01:03.347 --> 00:01:05.599
these snails are practicing
good needle habits,

00:01:05.623 --> 00:01:08.122
because each radula is only used once.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:08.146 --> 00:01:11.249
Now from your own knowledge
about venomous organisms,

00:01:11.273 --> 00:01:15.151
and the keep-you-up-at-night
fish-killing video that I just showed you,

00:01:15.175 --> 00:01:18.944
you might think that venom
is dangerous and all bad.

00:01:18.968 --> 00:01:20.865
Well, yes and no.

00:01:20.889 --> 00:01:22.815
A more accurate way of thinking of venom

00:01:22.839 --> 00:01:27.426
is to think of it as both
a supervillain and a superhero.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:27.450 --> 00:01:30.966
In my lab, we study the evolution
of venom in these sea snails

00:01:30.990 --> 00:01:32.514
as a force for good.

00:01:32.538 --> 00:01:34.093
Sounds like a stretch,

00:01:34.117 --> 00:01:35.712
or maybe even snake oil,

00:01:35.736 --> 00:01:36.909
but actually,

00:01:36.933 --> 00:01:39.688
while there are snakes involved,
the product is legit.

00:01:39.712 --> 00:01:42.156
One reason the venom product
is so successful

00:01:42.180 --> 00:01:47.337
is that it transforms a physical warfare
into a biochemical one.

00:01:47.361 --> 00:01:51.535
Where usually the predator-prey
interaction is one of brute force,

00:01:51.559 --> 00:01:53.736
venom takes it to a molecular scale.

00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:55.879
And it's not size that matters,

00:01:55.903 --> 00:01:58.006
but the mixture of your venom arsenal.

00:01:58.030 --> 00:02:00.561
The chemistry of the toxins
in your arsenal

00:02:00.585 --> 00:02:04.030
is what's going to enable David
to conquer Goliath.

00:02:04.054 --> 00:02:07.411
And in our scenario,
David is clearly the snail.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:07.435 --> 00:02:10.578
Another feature of venom
that makes it so successful

00:02:10.602 --> 00:02:14.836
is that the toxins work
with the precision of a Swiss Army knife.

00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:16.059
And so these toxins,

00:02:16.083 --> 00:02:19.875
they come for strongholds
that help an organism to function.

00:02:19.899 --> 00:02:23.434
So they target blood, brain and membranes.

00:02:23.458 --> 00:02:26.037
Whether it's snail venom or snake venom,

00:02:26.061 --> 00:02:28.537
they each have components
that can do things

00:02:28.561 --> 00:02:30.593
like cause your blood to clot,

00:02:30.617 --> 00:02:32.403
what we call "hemotoxic."

00:02:32.427 --> 00:02:36.467
Or they cause neurons in your brains
to not function normally,

00:02:36.491 --> 00:02:37.951
what we call "neurotoxic."

00:02:37.975 --> 00:02:42.411
Or they have toxins that will poke holes
into the membranes of your cells,

00:02:42.435 --> 00:02:45.708
causing them to rupture
and, basically, explode,

00:02:45.732 --> 00:02:47.439
what we call "cytotoxic."

00:02:47.463 --> 00:02:49.693
Cellular explosion, people.

00:02:49.717 --> 00:02:52.653
Now, if that is not all powerful
and all present,

00:02:52.677 --> 00:02:53.944
nothing is.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:53.968 --> 00:02:55.564
Now a little about me,

00:02:55.588 --> 00:02:57.999
and why I'm so obsessed with venom.

00:02:58.579 --> 00:03:00.347
I grew up in New York City

00:03:00.371 --> 00:03:03.387
with forced access
to the Natural History Museum.

00:03:03.411 --> 00:03:04.799
I say "forced access,"

00:03:04.823 --> 00:03:06.289
because I'm one of five kids,

00:03:06.313 --> 00:03:09.894
and my parents used museums
as a form of childcare.

00:03:10.253 --> 00:03:11.452
There were two rules:

00:03:11.476 --> 00:03:12.737
Don't lose anybody

00:03:12.761 --> 00:03:15.087
and meet Mom and Dad
at the African elephants

00:03:15.111 --> 00:03:17.483
at 5:30, when the museum closes.

00:03:17.507 --> 00:03:23.138
Those totally unsupervised days
running through the halls of the museum

00:03:23.162 --> 00:03:25.974
were full of adventure and exploration.

00:03:25.998 --> 00:03:28.569
And that's how I feel
when I'm studying venom.

00:03:28.593 --> 00:03:30.307
It's a scientific adventure.

00:03:30.331 --> 00:03:35.587
We're boldly exploring this entity
that connects nature and humanity.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:35.611 --> 00:03:37.817
Another reason
that I'm obsessed with venom

00:03:37.841 --> 00:03:39.585
is because of its duality.

00:03:39.609 --> 00:03:43.252
When you inject the components
of a venom arsenal into an organism,

00:03:43.276 --> 00:03:45.633
it can kill or it can cure.

00:03:45.657 --> 00:03:48.299
At a molecular level,
several things can happen.

00:03:48.601 --> 00:03:51.704
You saw one thing, paralysis in the fish.

00:03:52.134 --> 00:03:54.666
Now that was happening
because the toxins in the venom

00:03:54.690 --> 00:03:57.927
were attacking how the fish's cells
communicate with each other,

00:03:57.951 --> 00:03:59.982
preventing it from swimming away.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:00.006 --> 00:04:03.334
Are there other things
that I would like to use venom to attack?

00:04:03.760 --> 00:04:04.926
For sure.

00:04:04.950 --> 00:04:06.768
And one of those is cancer.

00:04:06.792 --> 00:04:08.848
Cancer tumors are cells.

00:04:08.872 --> 00:04:10.031
And like all cells,

00:04:10.055 --> 00:04:13.228
they communicate with themselves
and their environment around them.

00:04:13.252 --> 00:04:15.434
So we would like to find venom components

00:04:15.458 --> 00:04:19.354
that are very good at disrupting
how the tumor cells communicate.

00:04:19.378 --> 00:04:24.188
Similar to how the venom disrupted
how the fish cells communicated

00:04:24.212 --> 00:04:26.291
and the fish couldn't swim away.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:26.315 --> 00:04:29.654
In my lab, we study cancer
as a channelopathy.

00:04:29.998 --> 00:04:33.405
What this means is, basically,
we're looking for venom components

00:04:33.429 --> 00:04:37.231
that will target channels
that are overexpressed in tumor cells

00:04:37.255 --> 00:04:38.540
versus normal cells.

00:04:38.564 --> 00:04:41.085
The cancer that we're most
focused on right now

00:04:41.109 --> 00:04:42.442
is liver cancer.

00:04:42.466 --> 00:04:44.808
And that's because since the 1980s,

00:04:44.832 --> 00:04:47.537
the death rate of liver
cancer has doubled,

00:04:47.561 --> 00:04:49.942
and it's an emerging threat in the US.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:49.966 --> 00:04:52.260
In a screen in which we had cervical,

00:04:52.284 --> 00:04:55.483
neuroblastoma, prostate
and liver cancer cells,

00:04:55.507 --> 00:04:57.998
we found a compound from a terebrid snail

00:04:58.022 --> 00:05:01.315
that seems to attack liver cancer cells,

00:05:01.339 --> 00:05:05.022
and only liver cancer cells,
and none of the others that were tested.

00:05:05.046 --> 00:05:08.490
And then, when we took this compound
and we injected it into mouse models

00:05:08.514 --> 00:05:10.507
that were expressing liver cancer cells,

00:05:10.531 --> 00:05:13.766
it significantly inhibited
the growth of the tumors.

00:05:13.790 --> 00:05:16.006
We're not quite sure how this works yet,

00:05:16.030 --> 00:05:17.895
we're still investigating the mechanism

00:05:17.919 --> 00:05:20.673
and how we can make
this compound more effective,

00:05:20.697 --> 00:05:22.640
so you can't rush out to the pharmacy

00:05:22.664 --> 00:05:26.847
and order up a killer snail
liver-cancer therapy treatment.

00:05:26.871 --> 00:05:28.109
Not yet.

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:28.450 --> 00:05:30.283
Basically, what we think is happening

00:05:30.307 --> 00:05:33.823
is that the compound is blocking
a specific channel,

00:05:33.847 --> 00:05:36.609
prohibiting the transmission
of a specific chemical

00:05:36.633 --> 00:05:38.846
that leads to downstream signaling

00:05:38.870 --> 00:05:43.132
that enables the tumor to multiply
and draw blood to itself.

00:05:43.156 --> 00:05:46.133
What we're doing in studying
the components of venom

00:05:46.157 --> 00:05:48.848
to find treatments for human
diseases and disorders,

00:05:48.872 --> 00:05:50.156
is not new,

00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:52.950
it's what we call natural
products drug discovery,

00:05:52.974 --> 00:05:54.784
and it's been happening for centuries,

00:05:54.808 --> 00:05:56.990
and in cultures all over the world.

00:05:57.014 --> 00:05:59.474
Venoms are not only giving us
cool new compounds,

00:05:59.498 --> 00:06:02.284
but they're also giving us
new ways of thinking

00:06:02.308 --> 00:06:05.185
about how we treat
human diseases and disorders.

00:06:05.521 --> 00:06:07.267
And I'll give you three examples.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:07.291 --> 00:06:10.117
The first is from killer
snails, of course.

00:06:10.141 --> 00:06:14.037
And so the first drug from these snails
that is on the market

00:06:14.061 --> 00:06:16.863
is called ziconotide, or Prialt,

00:06:16.887 --> 00:06:20.989
and it's used to treat chronic pain
in HIV and cancer patients.

00:06:21.013 --> 00:06:23.790
Prialt is a nonaddictive pain therapy.

00:06:24.227 --> 00:06:28.185
Three magic words when you think
about how we're treating pain currently.

00:06:28.209 --> 00:06:31.550
We're using things that have
a huge cost of addiction.

00:06:31.574 --> 00:06:32.743
So think of morphine

00:06:32.767 --> 00:06:35.609
or think of any of your favorite
opioid out there.

00:06:35.633 --> 00:06:36.895
What the snails have done

00:06:36.919 --> 00:06:41.332
is they've shown us a way to treat pain
without the addiction,

00:06:41.356 --> 00:06:42.506
which is huge.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:43.055 --> 00:06:46.364
The next example comes
from the Brazilian pit viper.

00:06:46.388 --> 00:06:49.776
From these snakes, we've derived
a compound called captopril.

00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:52.879
Captopril is used to treat
high blood pressure,

00:06:52.903 --> 00:06:55.403
and captopril is a breakthrough drug.

00:06:55.427 --> 00:06:57.577
But not only in and of itself,

00:06:57.601 --> 00:07:00.529
but because it advanced
a whole class of drugs,

00:07:00.553 --> 00:07:02.609
what we know as ACE inhibitors,

00:07:02.633 --> 00:07:06.133
which are the most commonly [prescribed]
for treating hypertension

00:07:06.157 --> 00:07:07.585
and heart failure.

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:07.609 --> 00:07:11.387
The last example is from the Gila monster.

00:07:11.411 --> 00:07:15.332
And this is a really exciting example
of understanding the ecology

00:07:15.356 --> 00:07:16.705
of these organisms,

00:07:16.729 --> 00:07:19.037
and pairing it with efficient
drug discovery.

00:07:19.061 --> 00:07:21.125
And Gila monsters are binge eaters.

00:07:21.149 --> 00:07:23.537
So when they bite into a large meal,

00:07:23.561 --> 00:07:26.955
they release things in their venom
that lower blood sugar.

00:07:26.979 --> 00:07:30.892
So what's the drug that you think
we found from the Gila monster?

00:07:30.916 --> 00:07:35.116
A compound that is used to lower
the blood sugar in diabetic patients.

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:35.140 --> 00:07:37.188
Now these are three marvelous examples,

00:07:37.212 --> 00:07:39.260
but we've just scratched the surface.

00:07:39.284 --> 00:07:42.077
There's so much more venom
out there for us to study.

00:07:42.101 --> 00:07:45.673
In fact, we think that 15 percent
of all the animals on the planet

00:07:45.697 --> 00:07:46.880
are venomous.

00:07:46.904 --> 00:07:48.594
And I think this is a low estimate,

00:07:48.618 --> 00:07:51.959
given the fact that we haven't surveyed
all the animals on the planet.

00:07:51.983 --> 00:07:54.630
But nature seems to have found
something that she likes,

00:07:54.654 --> 00:07:57.853
and she's repeated it
over and over and over again,

00:07:57.877 --> 00:08:00.615
leading to the vast array of animals
that we see around us

00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:02.576
and all throughout the tree of life.

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:06.156
So whether we're talking
about my fave, killer snails,

00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:07.449
or jellyfish,

00:08:07.473 --> 00:08:10.228
or the larvae of butterflies and moths,

00:08:10.252 --> 00:08:12.863
or platypus or slow lorises,

00:08:12.887 --> 00:08:15.887
whether by sea, land or air,

00:08:15.911 --> 00:08:18.633
you're sure to encounter
a venomous creature.

00:08:18.657 --> 00:08:20.069
Remember when I told you

00:08:20.093 --> 00:08:24.188
that venom can be both
a superhero and a supervillain,

00:08:24.212 --> 00:08:25.768
and you doubted me?

00:08:25.792 --> 00:08:26.974
Mhm.

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:26.998 --> 00:08:30.086
We're in a race to harness
all of this venom goodness

00:08:30.110 --> 00:08:33.110
before we lose the vast majority
of animals on our planet.

00:08:33.134 --> 00:08:34.840
It's a holistic process.

00:08:34.864 --> 00:08:39.426
You can't have the therapeutic treatments
without having the animals.

00:08:39.450 --> 00:08:41.085
And you can't have the animals

00:08:41.109 --> 00:08:42.856
without having their ecosystems.

00:08:42.880 --> 00:08:44.539
So for me and the snails,

00:08:44.563 --> 00:08:47.318
what it means is
we have to save the oceans.

00:08:47.342 --> 00:08:49.739
And because venomous animals
are found everywhere,

00:08:49.763 --> 00:08:51.778
we basically have to save the planet.

00:08:51.802 --> 00:08:53.548
So do it for the venomous animals,

00:08:53.572 --> 00:08:55.491
if you don't want to do it for yourself.

00:08:55.515 --> 00:08:56.682
And who knows,

00:08:56.706 --> 00:08:59.992
some day, snail venom
might just save your life.

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:00.952 --> 00:09:02.102
Thank you.