WEBVTT

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You may not realize this,

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but there are more bacteria in your body
than stars in our entire galaxy.

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This fascinating universe
of bacteria inside of us

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is an integral part of our health,

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and our technology is evolving so rapidly

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that today we can program these bacteria
like we program computers.

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Now, the diagram that you see here,

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I know it looks like
some kind of sports play,

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but it is actually a blueprint of
the first bacterial program I developed.

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And like writing software,
we can print and write DNA

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into different algorithms
and programs inside of bacteria.

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What this program does
is produces fluorescent proteins

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in a rhythmic fashion

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and generates a small molecule

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that allows bacteria
to communicate and synchronize,

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as you're seeing in this movie.

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The growing colony of bacteria
that you see here

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is about the width of a human hair.

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Now, what you can't see
is that our genetic program

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instructs these bacteria
to each produce small molecules,

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and these molecules travel between
the thousands of individual bacteria

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telling them when to turn on and off.

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And the bacteria synchronize
quite well at this scale,

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but because the molecule that synchronizes
them together can only travel so fast,

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in larger colonies of bacteria,
this results in traveling waves

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between bacteria that are
far away from each other,

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and you can see these waves going
from right to left across the screen.

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Now, our genetic program
relies on a natural phenomenon

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called quorum sensing,

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in which bacteria trigger coordinated
and sometimes virulent behaviors

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once they reach a critical density.

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You can observe quorum sensing
in action in this movie,

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where a growing colony of bacteria
only begins to glow

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once it reaches a high
or critical density.

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Our genetic program

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continues producing these
rhythmic patterns of fluorescent proteins

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as the colony grows outwards.

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This particular movie and experiment
we call The Supernova,

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because it looks like an exploding star.

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Now, besides programming
these beautiful patterns,

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I wondered, what else can we get
these bacteria to do?

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And I decided to explore
how we can program bacteria

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to detect and treat diseases
in our bodies like cancer.

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One of the surprising facts about bacteria

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is that they can naturally grow
inside of tumors.

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This happens because typically tumors

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are areas where the immune system
has no access,

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and so bacteria find these tumors

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and use them as a safe haven
to grow and thrive.

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We started using probiotic bacteria

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which are safe bacteria
that have a health benefit,

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and found that
when orally delivered to mice,

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these probiotics would selectively
grow inside of liver tumors.

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We realized that the most convenient way

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to highlight the presence
of the probiotics,

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and hence, the presence of the tumors,

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was to get these bacteria
to produce a signal

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that would be detectable in the urine,

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and so we specifically
programmed these probiotics

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to make a molecule that would change
the color of your urine

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to indicate the presence of cancer.

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We went on to show that this technology

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could sensitively and specifically
detect liver cancer,

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one that is challenging
to detect otherwise.

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Now, since these bacteria
specifically localize to tumors,

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we've been programming them
to not only detect cancer

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but also to treat cancer

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by producing therapeutic molecules
from within the tumor environment

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that shrink the existing tumors,

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and we've been doing this
using quorum sensing programs

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like you saw in the previous movies.

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Altogether, imagine in the future
taking a programmed probiotic

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that could detect and treat cancer,

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or even other diseases.

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Our ability to program bacteria

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and program life

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opens up new horizons in cancer research,

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and to share this vision,
I worked with artist Vik Muniz

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to create the symbol of the universe,

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made entirely out of bacteria
or cancer cells.

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Ultimately, my hope is that the beauty
and purpose of this microscopic universe

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can inspire new and creative approaches
for the future of cancer research.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)