0:00:02.420,0:00:03.643
I live in Utah,

0:00:03.667,0:00:06.577
a place known for having some[br]of the most awe-inspiring

0:00:06.601,0:00:09.143
natural landscapes on this planet.

0:00:09.167,0:00:12.624
It's easy to be overwhelmed[br]by these amazing views,

0:00:12.648,0:00:16.513
and to be really fascinated by these[br]sometimes alien-looking formations.

0:00:16.537,0:00:20.195
As a scientist, I love[br]observing the natural world.

0:00:20.219,0:00:21.973
But as a cell biologist,

0:00:21.997,0:00:24.791
I'm much more interested[br]in understanding the natural world

0:00:24.815,0:00:27.077
at a much, much smaller scale.

0:00:27.934,0:00:30.713
I'm a molecular animator,[br]and I work with other researchers

0:00:30.737,0:00:33.633
to create visualizations[br]of molecules that are so small,

0:00:33.657,0:00:35.252
they're essentially invisible.

0:00:35.276,0:00:38.138
These molecules are smaller[br]than the wavelength of light,

0:00:38.162,0:00:40.407
which means that we can[br]never see them directly,

0:00:40.431,0:00:42.495
even with the best light microscopes.

0:00:42.519,0:00:44.645
So do I create visualizations of things

0:00:44.669,0:00:46.641
that are so small we can't see them?

0:00:46.665,0:00:48.823
Scientists, like my collaborators,

0:00:48.847,0:00:50.926
can spend their entire[br]professional careers

0:00:50.950,0:00:53.522
working to understand[br]one molecular process.

0:00:53.546,0:00:56.014
To do this, they carry out[br]a series of experiments

0:00:56.038,0:00:59.141
that each can tell us[br]a small piece of the puzzle.

0:00:59.165,0:01:01.953
One kind of experiment can tell us[br]about the protein shape,

0:01:01.977,0:01:03.188
while another can tell us

0:01:03.204,0:01:05.505
about what other proteins[br]it might interact with

0:01:05.529,0:01:08.441
and another can tell us[br]about where it can be found in a cell.

0:01:08.465,0:01:12.474
And all of these bits of information[br]can be used to come up with a hypothesis,

0:01:12.498,0:01:15.595
a story, essentially,[br]of how a molecule might work.

0:01:16.990,0:01:20.948
My job is to take these ideas[br]and turn them into an animation.

0:01:20.972,0:01:22.155
This can be tricky,

0:01:22.179,0:01:25.488
because it turns out that molecules[br]can do some pretty crazy things.

0:01:25.512,0:01:28.837
But these animations[br]can be incredibly useful for researchers

0:01:28.861,0:01:31.657
to communicate their ideas[br]of how these molecules work.

0:01:32.020,0:01:34.766
They can also allow us[br]to see the molecular world

0:01:34.790,0:01:36.057
through their eyes.

0:01:36.377,0:01:38.297
I'd like to show you some animations,

0:01:38.321,0:01:41.871
a brief tour of what I consider to be[br]some of the natural wonders

0:01:41.895,0:01:43.569
of the molecular world.

0:01:43.593,0:01:45.561
First off, this is an immune cell.

0:01:45.585,0:01:48.458
These kinds of cells need to go[br]crawling around in our bodies

0:01:48.482,0:01:51.537
in order to find invaders[br]like pathogenic bacteria.

0:01:51.561,0:01:54.649
This movement is powered[br]by one of my favorite proteins

0:01:54.673,0:01:55.839
called actin,

0:01:55.863,0:01:58.426
which is part of what's known[br]as the cytoskeleton.

0:01:58.450,0:02:00.085
Unlike our skeletons,

0:02:00.109,0:02:03.847
actin filaments are constantly[br]being built and taken apart.

0:02:03.871,0:02:07.268
The actin cytoskeleton plays[br]incredibly important roles in our cells.

0:02:07.292,0:02:09.054
They allow them to change shape,

0:02:09.078,0:02:11.466
to move around, to adhere to surfaces,

0:02:11.490,0:02:13.926
and also to gobble up bacteria.

0:02:13.950,0:02:16.569
Actin is also involved[br]in a different kind of movement.

0:02:16.593,0:02:19.776
In our muscle cells, actin structures[br]form these regular filaments

0:02:19.800,0:02:21.323
that look kind of like fabric.

0:02:21.347,0:02:24.257
When our muscles contract,[br]these filaments are pulled together

0:02:24.281,0:02:26.297
and they go back[br]to their original position

0:02:26.321,0:02:27.823
when our muscles relax.

0:02:27.847,0:02:31.049
Other parts of the cytoskeleton,[br]in this case microtubules,

0:02:31.073,0:02:33.779
are responsible for long-range[br]transportation.

0:02:33.803,0:02:36.422
They can be thought of[br]as basically cellular highways

0:02:36.446,0:02:39.795
that are used to move things[br]from one side of the cell to the other.

0:02:39.819,0:02:42.607
Unlike our roads,[br]microtubules grow and shrink,

0:02:42.631,0:02:44.052
appearing when they're needed

0:02:44.076,0:02:46.449
and disappearing when their job is done.

0:02:46.473,0:02:48.893
The molecular version of semitrucks

0:02:48.917,0:02:51.474
are proteins aptly named motor proteins,

0:02:51.498,0:02:53.958
that can walk along microtubules,

0:02:53.982,0:02:56.680
dragging sometimes huge cargoes,

0:02:56.704,0:02:58.514
like organelles, behind them.

0:02:58.538,0:03:01.410
This particular motor protein[br]is known as dynein,

0:03:01.434,0:03:03.836
and its known to be able[br]to work together in groups

0:03:03.860,0:03:07.315
that almost look, at least to me,[br]like a chariot of horses.

0:03:07.339,0:03:11.172
As you see, the cell is this incredibly[br]changing, dynamic place,

0:03:11.196,0:03:14.323
where things are constantly[br]being built and disassembled.

0:03:14.680,0:03:16.029
But some of these structures

0:03:16.053,0:03:18.156
are harder to take apart[br]than others, though.

0:03:18.180,0:03:20.093
And special forces need to be brought in

0:03:20.117,0:03:23.562
in order to make sure that structures[br]are taken apart in a timely manner.

0:03:23.586,0:03:26.305
That job is done in part[br]by proteins like these.

0:03:26.329,0:03:27.860
These donut-shaped proteins,

0:03:27.884,0:03:29.892
of which there are many types in the cell,

0:03:29.916,0:03:31.995
all seem to act to rip apart structures

0:03:32.019,0:03:35.384
by basically pulling individual proteins[br]through a central hole.

0:03:35.408,0:03:37.965
When these kinds of proteins[br]don't work properly,

0:03:37.989,0:03:40.719
the types of proteins[br]that are supposed to get taken apart

0:03:40.743,0:03:43.180
can sometimes stick together and aggregate

0:03:43.204,0:03:47.084
and that can give rise[br]to terrible diseases, such as Alzheimer.

0:03:47.419,0:03:49.426
And now let's take a look at the nucleus,

0:03:49.450,0:03:52.403
which houses our genome[br]in the form of DNA.

0:03:52.427,0:03:53.847
In all of our cells,

0:03:53.871,0:03:58.164
our DNA is cared for and maintained[br]by a diverse set of proteins.

0:03:58.188,0:04:01.006
DNA is wound around proteins[br]called histones,

0:04:01.030,0:04:05.338
which enable cells to pack[br]large amounts of DNA into our nucleus.

0:04:05.362,0:04:08.441
These machines are called[br]chromatin remodelers

0:04:08.465,0:04:11.203
and the way they work[br]is that they basically scoot the DNA

0:04:11.227,0:04:12.426
around these histones

0:04:12.450,0:04:16.347
and they allow new pieces of DNA[br]to become exposed.

0:04:16.371,0:04:19.307
This DNA can then be recognized[br]by other machinery.

0:04:19.331,0:04:21.856
In this case, this large molecular machine

0:04:21.880,0:04:23.570
is looking for a segment of DNA

0:04:23.594,0:04:25.903
that tells it it's at[br]the beginning of a gene.

0:04:25.927,0:04:27.616
Once it finds a segment,

0:04:27.640,0:04:30.402
it basically undergoes a series[br]of shape changes

0:04:30.426,0:04:32.528
which enables it to bring in[br]other machinery

0:04:32.552,0:04:36.242
that in turn allows a gene[br]to get turned on or transcribed.

0:04:36.704,0:04:39.791
This has to be a very[br]tightly regulated process

0:04:39.815,0:04:42.617
because turning on the wrong gene[br]at the wrong time

0:04:42.641,0:04:45.283
can have disastrous consequences.

0:04:45.307,0:04:48.117
Scientists are now able[br]to use protein machines

0:04:48.141,0:04:49.545
to edit genomes.

0:04:49.569,0:04:52.013
I'm sure all of you have heard of CRISPR.

0:04:52.037,0:04:54.863
CRISPR takes advantage[br]of a protein known as Cas9,

0:04:54.887,0:04:57.823
which can be engineered[br]to recognize and cut

0:04:57.847,0:05:00.212
a very specific sequence of DNA.

0:05:00.236,0:05:01.395
In this example,

0:05:01.419,0:05:05.514
two Cas9 proteins are being used[br]to excise a problematic piece of DNA.

0:05:05.538,0:05:09.019
For example, a part of a gene[br]that may give rise to a disease.

0:05:09.043,0:05:10.530
Cellular machinery is then used

0:05:10.554,0:05:14.067
to basically glue two ends[br]of the DNA back together.

0:05:14.091,0:05:15.337
As a molecular animator,

0:05:15.361,0:05:18.383
one of my biggest challenges[br]is visualizing uncertainty.

0:05:18.720,0:05:22.029
All of the animations I've shown to you[br]represent hypotheses,

0:05:22.053,0:05:24.294
how my collaborators think[br]a process works,

0:05:24.318,0:05:26.680
based on the best information[br]that they have.

0:05:26.704,0:05:28.672
But for a lot of molecular processes,

0:05:28.696,0:05:31.672
we're still really at the early stages[br]of understanding things,

0:05:31.696,0:05:33.038
and there's a lot to learn.

0:05:33.062,0:05:34.212
The truth is,

0:05:34.236,0:05:38.767
that these invisible molecular worlds[br]are vast and largely unexplored.

0:05:39.474,0:05:41.508
To me, these molecular landscapes

0:05:41.532,0:05:44.926
are just as exciting to explore[br]as a natural world

0:05:44.950,0:05:46.883
that's visible all around us.

0:05:47.379,0:05:48.530
Thank you.

0:05:48.554,0:05:51.760
(Applause)