1
00:00:01,404 --> 00:00:04,912
What if you could take a pill or a vaccine

2
00:00:04,936 --> 00:00:06,666
and, just like getting over a cold,

3
00:00:06,690 --> 00:00:08,785
you could heal your wounds faster.

4
00:00:08,809 --> 00:00:12,331
Today, if we have
an operation or an accident,

5
00:00:12,355 --> 00:00:13,976
we're in the hospital for weeks,

6
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,626
and often left with scars
and painful side effects

7
00:00:16,650 --> 00:00:21,785
of our inability to regenerate
or regrow healthy, uninjured organs.

8
00:00:22,436 --> 00:00:24,462
I work to create materials

9
00:00:24,486 --> 00:00:28,689
that instruct our immune system to give us
the signals to grow new tissues.

10
00:00:29,497 --> 00:00:32,571
Just like vaccines instruct
our body to fight disease,

11
00:00:32,595 --> 00:00:35,323
we could instead instruct
our immune system

12
00:00:35,347 --> 00:00:38,211
to build tissues
and more quickly heal wounds.

13
00:00:38,886 --> 00:00:42,664
Now, regrowing body parts out of nowhere
might seem like magic,

14
00:00:42,688 --> 00:00:45,879
but there are several organisms
that can achieve this feat.

15
00:00:45,903 --> 00:00:48,346
Some lizards can regrow their tails,

16
00:00:48,370 --> 00:00:52,315
the humble salamander
can completely regenerate their arm,

17
00:00:52,339 --> 00:00:55,228
and even us mere humans
can regrow our liver

18
00:00:55,252 --> 00:00:57,823
after losing more than half
of its original mass.

19
00:00:58,615 --> 00:01:01,250
To make this magic
a bit closer to reality,

20
00:01:01,274 --> 00:01:05,369
I'm investigating how our body
can heal wounds and build tissue

21
00:01:05,393 --> 00:01:07,522
through instructions
from the immune system.

22
00:01:08,387 --> 00:01:11,912
From a scrape on your knee
to that annoying sinus infection,

23
00:01:11,936 --> 00:01:14,617
our immune system defends
our body from danger.

24
00:01:15,199 --> 00:01:16,660
I'm an immunologist,

25
00:01:16,684 --> 00:01:19,714
and by using what I know
about our body's defense system,

26
00:01:19,738 --> 00:01:21,914
I was able to identify key players

27
00:01:21,938 --> 00:01:24,626
in our fight to build back
our cuts and bruises.

28
00:01:25,436 --> 00:01:28,105
When looking at materials
that are currently being tested

29
00:01:28,129 --> 00:01:30,327
for their abilities to help regrow muscle,

30
00:01:30,351 --> 00:01:34,510
our team noticed that after treating
an injured muscle with these materials,

31
00:01:34,534 --> 00:01:36,857
there was a large number of immune cells

32
00:01:36,881 --> 00:01:39,438
in that material
and the surrounding muscle.

33
00:01:40,010 --> 00:01:41,168
So in this case,

34
00:01:41,192 --> 00:01:45,406
instead of the immune cells rushing off
towards infection to fight bacteria,

35
00:01:45,430 --> 00:01:47,517
they're rushing towards an injury.

36
00:01:47,922 --> 00:01:50,755
I discovered a specific
type of immune cell,

37
00:01:50,779 --> 00:01:52,073
the helper T cell,

38
00:01:52,097 --> 00:01:54,826
was present inside
that material that I implanted

39
00:01:54,850 --> 00:01:57,247
and absolutely critical for wound healing.

40
00:01:58,325 --> 00:02:01,767
Now, just like when you were a kid
and you'd break your pencil

41
00:02:01,791 --> 00:02:04,329
and try and tape it back together again,

42
00:02:04,353 --> 00:02:05,507
we can heal,

43
00:02:05,531 --> 00:02:07,776
but it might not be
in the most functional way,

44
00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:09,173
and we'll get a scar.

45
00:02:09,515 --> 00:02:12,499
So if we don't have these helper T cells,

46
00:02:12,523 --> 00:02:14,110
instead of healthy muscle,

47
00:02:14,134 --> 00:02:16,745
our muscle develops
fat cells inside of it,

48
00:02:16,769 --> 00:02:19,246
and if there's fat in our muscle,
it isn't as strong.

49
00:02:20,033 --> 00:02:22,433
Now, using our immune system,

50
00:02:22,457 --> 00:02:24,954
our body could grow back
without these scars

51
00:02:24,978 --> 00:02:27,890
and look like what it was
before we were even injured.

52
00:02:29,128 --> 00:02:31,688
I'm working to create materials

53
00:02:31,712 --> 00:02:33,991
that give us the signals
to build new tissue

54
00:02:34,015 --> 00:02:35,855
by changing the immune response.

55
00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:41,055
We know that any time
a material is implanted in our body,

56
00:02:41,079 --> 00:02:43,134
the immune system will respond to it.

57
00:02:43,158 --> 00:02:47,667
This ranges from pacemakers
to insulin pumps

58
00:02:47,691 --> 00:02:51,357
to the materials that engineers are using
to try and build new tissue.

59
00:02:51,932 --> 00:02:55,997
So when I place that material,
or scaffold, in the body,

60
00:02:56,021 --> 00:03:00,426
the immune system creates
a small environment of cells and proteins

61
00:03:00,450 --> 00:03:03,322
that can change the way
that our stem cells behave.

62
00:03:03,817 --> 00:03:07,715
Now, just like the weather
affects our daily activities,

63
00:03:07,739 --> 00:03:09,064
like going for a run

64
00:03:09,088 --> 00:03:13,573
or staying inside and binge-watching
an entire TV show on Netflix,

65
00:03:13,597 --> 00:03:15,565
the immune environment of a scaffold

66
00:03:15,589 --> 00:03:18,414
affects the way that
our stem cells grow and develop.

67
00:03:18,883 --> 00:03:20,899
If we have the wrong signals,

68
00:03:20,923 --> 00:03:22,598
say the Netflix signals,

69
00:03:22,622 --> 00:03:25,486
we get fat cells instead of muscle.

70
00:03:26,790 --> 00:03:29,917
These scaffolds are made
of a variety of different things,

71
00:03:29,941 --> 00:03:33,306
from plastics to naturally
dried materials,

72
00:03:33,330 --> 00:03:36,081
nanofibers of varying thicknesses,

73
00:03:36,105 --> 00:03:38,518
sponges that are more or less porous,

74
00:03:38,542 --> 00:03:40,661
gels of different stiffnesses.

75
00:03:40,685 --> 00:03:42,795
And researchers
can even make the materials

76
00:03:42,819 --> 00:03:44,858
release different signals over time.

77
00:03:45,473 --> 00:03:50,719
So in other words, we can orchestrate
this Broadway show of cells

78
00:03:50,743 --> 00:03:54,601
by giving them the correct
stage, cues and props

79
00:03:54,625 --> 00:03:56,846
that can be changed for different tissues.

80
00:03:56,870 --> 00:03:59,066
Just like a producer would change the set

81
00:03:59,090 --> 00:04:02,013
for "Les Mis" versus
"Little Shop of Horrors,"

82
00:04:02,398 --> 00:04:05,082
I'm combining specific types of signals

83
00:04:05,106 --> 00:04:09,814
that mimic how our body responds to injury
to help us regenerate.

84
00:04:10,283 --> 00:04:13,811
In the future, we could see
a scar-proof band-aid,

85
00:04:13,835 --> 00:04:17,813
a moldable muscle filler
or even a wound-healing vaccine.

86
00:04:17,837 --> 00:04:21,414
Now, we aren't going to wake up tomorrow
and be able to heal like Wolverine.

87
00:04:21,438 --> 00:04:23,304
Probably not next Tuesday, either.

88
00:04:23,328 --> 00:04:24,512
But with these advances,

89
00:04:24,536 --> 00:04:28,741
and working with our immune system
to help build tissue and heal wounds,

90
00:04:28,765 --> 00:04:30,994
we could begin seeing
products on the market

91
00:04:31,018 --> 00:04:34,884
that work with our body's defense system
to help us regenerate,

92
00:04:34,908 --> 00:04:38,963
and maybe one day be able
to keep pace with a salamander.

93
00:04:39,876 --> 00:04:41,027
Thank you.

94
00:04:41,051 --> 00:04:44,690
(Applause)