ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lee Cronin - Chemist
A professor of chemistry, nanoscience and chemical complexity, Lee Cronin and his research group investigate how chemistry can revolutionize modern technology and even create life.

Why you should listen

Lee Cronin's lab at the University of Glasgow does cutting-edge research into how complex chemical systems, created from non-biological building blocks, can have real-world applications with wide impact. At TEDGlobal 2012, Cronin shared some of the lab's latest work: creating a 3D printer for molecules. This device -- which has been prototyped -- can download plans for molecules and print them, in the same way that a 3D printer creates objects. In the future, Cronin says this technology could potentially be used to print medicine -- cheaply and wherever it is needed. As Cronin says: "What Apple did for music, I'd like to do for the discovery and distribution of prescription drugs."

At TEDGlobal 2011, Cronin shared his lab's bold plan to create life. At the moment, bacteria is the minimum unit of life -- the smallest chemical unit that can undergo evolution. But in Cronin's emerging field, he's thinking about forms of life that won't be biological. To explore this, and to try to understand how life itself originated from chemicals, Cronin and others are attempting to create truly artificial life from completely non-biological chemistries that mimic the behavior of natural cells. They call these chemical cells, or Chells. 

Cronin's research interests also encompass self-assembly and self-growing structures -- the better to assemble life at nanoscale. At the University of Glasgow, this work on crystal structures is producing a raft of papers from his research group. He says: "Basically one of my longstanding research goals is to understand how life emerged on planet Earth and re-create the process."

Read the papers referenced in his TEDGlobal 2102 talk:

Integrated 3D-printed reactionware for chemical synthesis and analysis, Nature Chemistry

Configurable 3D-Printed millifluidic and microfluidic ‘lab on a chip’ reactionware devices, Lab on a Chip

More profile about the speaker
Lee Cronin | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2012

Lee Cronin: Print your own medicine

Lee Cronin: Vytlačte si svoj liek

Filmed:
1,045,687 views

Chemik Lee Cronin pracuje na 3D tlačiarni, ktorá, miesto objektov, dokáže tlačiť molekuly. Vzrušujúce potenciálne dlhodobé využitie: tlač vašich vlastných liekov s použitím chemických atramentov.
- Chemist
A professor of chemistry, nanoscience and chemical complexity, Lee Cronin and his research group investigate how chemistry can revolutionize modern technology and even create life. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
OrganicOrganické chemistschemici make moleculesmolekuly,
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Organickí chemici vytvárajú molekuly,
00:19
very complicatedkomplikovaný moleculesmolekuly,
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veľmi komplikované molekuly,
00:21
by choppingsekanie up a bigveľký moleculemolekula into smallmalý moleculesmolekuly
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tak, že štiepia veľkú molekulu na malé molekuly
00:24
and reversezvrátiť engineeringstrojárstvo.
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pomocou reverzného inžinierstva.
00:26
And as a chemistchemik,
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A ako chemik,
00:27
one of the things I wanted to askopýtať sa my researchvýskum groupskupina a couplepár of yearsleta agopred is,
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jedna z vecí, na ktoré som sa chcel opýtať svojej výskumnej skupiny pred pár rokmi je,
00:31
could we make a really coolchladný universaluniverzálne chemistrychémia setsada?
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mohli by sme vyrobiť naozaj super univerzálnu chemickú sadu?
00:35
In essenceesencie, could we "appaplikácie" chemistrychémia?
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V podstate, mohli by sme pre chémiu vytvoriť aplikáciu?
00:40
Now what would this mean, and how would we do it?
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Takže, čo by to znamenalo a ako by sme to dosiahli?
00:43
Well to startštart to do this,
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Takže, pre začiatok
00:45
we tookzobral a 3D printertlačiareň
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sme zobrali 3D tlačiareň
00:47
and we startedzahájená to printvytlačiť our beakerskadičky and our testtest tubesskúmavky on one sidebočné
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a začali sme jednak tlačiť naše kadičky a skúmavky
00:51
and then printvytlačiť the moleculemolekula at the samerovnaký time on the other sidebočné
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a jednak potom zároveň tlačiť molekuly
00:55
and combinekombinovať them togetherspolu in what we call reactionwarereactionware.
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a spojiť ich do toho, čo nazývame "reactionware".
00:58
And so by printingtlač the vesselnádoba and doing the chemistrychémia at the samerovnaký time,
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A tak vytlačením nádoby a vykonaním chemickej stránky
01:03
we maysmieť startštart to accessprístup this universaluniverzálne toolkitToolkit of chemistrychémia.
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by sme mohli začať získavať prístup k tejto univerzálnej chemickej sade.
01:08
Now what could this mean?
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Takže čo by to mohlo znamenať?
01:09
Well if we can embedvložiť biologicalbiologický and chemicalchemický networkssiete like a searchVyhľadávanie enginemotor,
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Ak vieme zapojiť biologické a chemické siete ako vyhľadávače,
01:15
so if you have a cellbunka that's illchorý that you need to cureliek
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potom ak je tu chorá bunka, ktorá potrebuje liečbu,
01:18
or bacteriabaktérie that you want to killzabiť,
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alebo baktéria, ktorú chcete zabiť,
01:20
if you have this embeddedvstavané in your devicezariadenie
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ak máte toto uložené vo vašom zariadení
01:22
at the samerovnaký time, and you do the chemistrychémia,
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a zároveň vykonáte chemickú stránku veci
01:24
you maysmieť be ableschopný to make drugslieky in a newNový way.
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budeme môcť vyrábať lieky novým spôsobom.
01:28
So how are we doing this in the lablaboratórium?
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Takže, ako to robíme v laboratóriu?
01:30
Well it requiresvyžaduje softwaresoftvér, it requiresvyžaduje hardwaretechnické vybavenie
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Treba na to softvér, treba na to hardvér,
01:33
and it requiresvyžaduje chemicalchemický inksatramenty.
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a treba na to chemické atramenty.
01:36
And so the really coolchladný bittrocha is,
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A naozaj super vecou je,
01:37
the ideanápad is that we want to have a universaluniverzálne setsada of inksatramenty
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myšlienkou je, že chceme vytovriť univerzálnu sadu atramentov
01:40
that we put out with the printertlačiareň,
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ktoré dodáme s tlačiarňou,
01:43
and you downloadStiahnuť ▼ the blueprintBlueprint, the organicorganický chemistrychémia for that moleculemolekula
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a vy si vytlačíte návrh, organické zloženie pre danú molekulu
01:47
and you make it in the devicezariadenie.
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a vyrobíte si to v tomto zariadení.
01:50
And so you can make your moleculemolekula in the printertlačiareň usingpoužitím this softwaresoftvér.
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A tak si môžete vytvoriť svoju molekulu v tlačiarni pomocou tohto softvéru.
01:55
So what could this mean?
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Takže čo by to mohlo znamenať?
01:58
Well, ultimatelynakoniec, it could mean that you could printvytlačiť your ownvlastný medicinemedicína.
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No, mohlo by to dokonca znamenať, že by ste si mohli vytlačiť svoj vlastný liek.
02:03
And this is what we're doing in the lablaboratórium at the momentmoment.
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A to je to na čom práve pracujeme v laboratóriu.
02:05
But to take babydieťa stepskroky to get there,
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Ale aby sme sa tam detskými krôčkami dostali,
02:06
first of all we want to look at drugliek designdizajn and productionvýroba,
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v prvom rade sa chceme pozrieť na návrh liekov a ich produkciu,
02:09
or drugliek discoveryobjav and manufacturingvýrobné.
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alebo objavovanie liekov a ich výrobu.
02:12
Because if we can manufacturevýroba it after we'vemy máme discoveredobjavené it,
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Pretože ak ich dokážeme vyrobiť, po tom čo sme ich objavili,
02:15
we could deploynasadenie it anywherekdekoľvek.
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môžeme ich rozšíriť kamkoľvek.
02:17
You don't need to go to the chemistchemik anymore.
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Už viac nebudete musieť ísť do lekárne.
02:19
We can printvytlačiť drugslieky at pointbod of need.
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Môžeme tlačiť lieky podľa potreby.
02:22
We can downloadStiahnuť ▼ newNový diagnosticsdiagnostika.
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Môžeme si stiahnuť nové diagnózy.
02:24
Say a newNový superSuper bugploštice has emergedvynoril.
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Povedzme, že sa objavil nový super vírus.
02:26
You put it in your searchVyhľadávanie enginemotor,
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Dáte si ho hľadať vo vašom vyhľadávači
02:28
and you createvytvoriť the drugliek to treatzaobchádzať the threathrozba.
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a vytvoríte liek, ktorý sa postará o túto hrozbu.
02:31
So this allowsumožňuje you on-the-flyon--fly molecularmolekulárnej assemblyzhromaždenie.
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Čiže toto vám umožňuje zlučovanie molekúl za letu.
02:35
But perhapsmožno for me the corejadro bittrocha going into the futurebudúcnosť
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Ale pre mňa asi najdôležitejšou vecou, čo sa týka budúcnosti,
02:38
is this ideanápad of takingprevzatia your ownvlastný stemstonka cellsbunky,
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je nápad vziať svoje vlastné kmeňové bunky,
02:41
with your genesgény and your environmentprostredie,
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s vašimi génmi a vašim prostredím,
02:43
and you printvytlačiť your ownvlastný personalosobné medicinemedicína.
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a vytlačiť si váš vlastný osobný liek.
02:46
And if that doesn't seempripadať fancifulfantazijné enoughdosť,
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A ak to neznie dostatočne neskutočne,
02:48
where do you think we're going to go?
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čo myslíte, kam mierime?
02:50
Well, you're going to have your ownvlastný personalosobné matterzáležitosť fabricatortovárnik.
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Tak, budete mať svoj vlastný vyrábač hmoty.
02:55
BeamLúč me up, ScottyScotty.
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Transportuj ma, Scotty.
02:57
(ApplausePotlesk)
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(aplauz)
Translated by Zuzana Halgašová
Reviewed by Ján Špánik

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lee Cronin - Chemist
A professor of chemistry, nanoscience and chemical complexity, Lee Cronin and his research group investigate how chemistry can revolutionize modern technology and even create life.

Why you should listen

Lee Cronin's lab at the University of Glasgow does cutting-edge research into how complex chemical systems, created from non-biological building blocks, can have real-world applications with wide impact. At TEDGlobal 2012, Cronin shared some of the lab's latest work: creating a 3D printer for molecules. This device -- which has been prototyped -- can download plans for molecules and print them, in the same way that a 3D printer creates objects. In the future, Cronin says this technology could potentially be used to print medicine -- cheaply and wherever it is needed. As Cronin says: "What Apple did for music, I'd like to do for the discovery and distribution of prescription drugs."

At TEDGlobal 2011, Cronin shared his lab's bold plan to create life. At the moment, bacteria is the minimum unit of life -- the smallest chemical unit that can undergo evolution. But in Cronin's emerging field, he's thinking about forms of life that won't be biological. To explore this, and to try to understand how life itself originated from chemicals, Cronin and others are attempting to create truly artificial life from completely non-biological chemistries that mimic the behavior of natural cells. They call these chemical cells, or Chells. 

Cronin's research interests also encompass self-assembly and self-growing structures -- the better to assemble life at nanoscale. At the University of Glasgow, this work on crystal structures is producing a raft of papers from his research group. He says: "Basically one of my longstanding research goals is to understand how life emerged on planet Earth and re-create the process."

Read the papers referenced in his TEDGlobal 2102 talk:

Integrated 3D-printed reactionware for chemical synthesis and analysis, Nature Chemistry

Configurable 3D-Printed millifluidic and microfluidic ‘lab on a chip’ reactionware devices, Lab on a Chip

More profile about the speaker
Lee Cronin | Speaker | TED.com