WEBVTT

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What do you do when you have a headache?

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You swallow an aspirin.

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But for this pill to get
to your head, where the pain is,

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it goes through your stomach, intestines
and various other organs first.

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Swallowing pills is the most effective
and painless way of delivering

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any medication in the body.

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The downside, though, is that swallowing
any medication leads to its dilution.

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And this is a big problem,
particularly in HIV patients.

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When they take their anti-HIV drugs,

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these drugs are good for lowering
the virus in the blood,

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and increasing the CD4 cell counts.

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But they are also notorious
for their adverse side effects,

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but mostly bad, because they get diluted
by the time they get to the blood,

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and worse, by the time
they get to the sites

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where it matters most:
within the HIV viral reservoirs.

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These areas in the body --
such as the lymph nodes,

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the nervous system,
as well as the lungs --

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where the virus is sleeping,

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and will not readily
get delivered in the blood

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of patients that are under
consistent anti-HIV drugs therapy.

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However, upon discontinuation of therapy,

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the virus can awake
and infect new cells in the blood.

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Now, all this is a big problem in treating
HIV with the current drug treatment,

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which is a life-long treatment
that must be swallowed by patients.

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One day, I sat and thought,

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"Can we deliver anti-HIV directly
within its reservoir sites,

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without the risk of drug dilution?"

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As a laser scientist,
the answer was just before my eyes:

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Lasers, of course.

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If they can be used for dentistry,

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for diabetic wound-healing and surgery,

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they can be used for anything imaginable,

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including transporting drugs into cells.

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As a matter of fact,
we are currently using laser pulses

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to poke or drill extremely tiny holes,

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which open and close almost
immediately in HIV-infected cells,

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in order to deliver drugs within them.

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"How is that possible?" you may ask.

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Well, we shine a very powerful
but super-tiny laser beam

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onto the membrane of HIV-infected cells

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while these cells are immersed
in liquid containing the drug.

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The laser pierces the cell,
while the cell swallows the drug

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in a matter of microseconds.

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Before you even know it,

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the induced hole
becomes immediately repaired.

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Now, we are currently testing
this technology in test tubes

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or in Petri dishes,

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but the goal is to get
this technology in the human body,

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apply it in the human body.

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"How is that possible?" you may ask.

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Well, the answer is:
through a three-headed device.

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Using the first head, which is our laser,

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we will make an incision
in the site of infection.

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Using the second head, which is a camera,

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we meander to the site of infection.

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Finally, using a third head,
which is a drug-spreading sprinkler,

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we deliver the drugs directly
at the site of infection,

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while the laser is again used
to poke those cells open.

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Well, this might not seem
like much right now.

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But one day, if successful,
this technology can lead

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to complete eradication
of HIV in the body.

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Yes. A cure for HIV.

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This is every HIV researcher's dream --

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in our case, a cure led by lasers.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)