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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 the 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)