ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Tal Danino - Synthetic biologist
Tal Danino explores the emerging frontier of combining biology and engineering (and art). He is a 2015 TED Fellow.

Why you should listen

Tal Danino's research explores the emerging frontier of combining biology, engineering and medicine. His work as a synthetic biologist focuses on reprogramming bacteria to detect and treat diseases in our bodies such as cancer.

Originally from Los Angeles, Danino received B.S. degrees from UCLA in Physics, Chemistry and Math, and received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from UCSD. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently an assistant professor at Columbia University in New York.

Danino's work has been published in scientific journals and highlighted in several popular press venues. He actively develops "Bio-Art" projects that share perspectives and stories about science with recent projects featured in the New York Times, WIRED, and the Wall Street Journal.

More profile about the speaker
Tal Danino | Speaker | TED.com
TED2015

Tal Danino: Programming bacteria to detect cancer (and maybe treat it)

Tal Danino: Mund te perdorim bakteret per te zbuluar kancerin (dhe ndoshta per ta trajtuar ate)

Filmed:
1,329,748 views

Kanceri i mëlçisë është një prej kancereve më të vështirë për të zbuluar, por biologu sintetik Tal Danino kishte një mendim surprizues: Po sikur të krijojmë një bakter probiotic, ushqimor që "programohet" për të gjetur tumoret e mëlçisë? Depërtimi i tij shfrytëzon diçka që ne jemi vetëm në fillimet e të kuptuarit në lidhje me bakteret: fuqia e koordinimit te sjelljes, ose të bërit diçka së bashku sapo ata arrijnë masën kritike. Danino, një TED Fellow, shpjegon se si punon koordinimi i sjelljes - dhe se si bakteret e zgjuar duke punuar së bashku mund të ndryshojë një ditë trajtimin e kancerit.
- Synthetic biologist
Tal Danino explores the emerging frontier of combining biology and engineering (and art). He is a 2015 TED Fellow. Full bio

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

00:12
You may not realize this,
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Ndoshta nuk keni dijeni,
00:14
but there are more bacteria in your body
than stars in our entire galaxy.
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por ka me shume baktere ne trupin tuaj
sesa yje ne te gjithe galaksine.
00:20
This fascinating universe
of bacteria inside of us
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Ky univers magjepses bakteresh brenda nesh
00:23
is an integral part of our health,
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eshte pjese e shendetit tone ne teresi,
00:25
and our technology is evolving so rapidly
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dhe teknologjia po perparon kaq shpejt
00:27
that today we can program these bacteria
like we program computers.
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sa sot ne mund te programojme bakteret
ashtu si programojme kompjuterat.
00:33
Now, the diagram that you see here,
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Skema qe ju shihni ketu,
00:34
I know it looks like
some kind of sports play,
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e di qe duket si nje lloj skeme sportive,
00:37
but it is actually a blueprint of
the first bacterial program I developed.
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por ne fakt eshte nje projekti im per
programimin e pare bakterial.
00:41
And like writing software,
we can print and write DNA
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Ashtu si krijojme nje software,
ne mund te shkruajme dhe krijojme ADN
00:44
into different algorithms
and programs inside of bacteria.
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ne algoritme te ndryshme
dhe programe brenda baktereve.
00:48
What this program does
is produces fluorescent proteins
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Ky program prodhon proteina fluoreshente
00:51
in a rhythmic fashion
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ne menyre ritmike
00:52
and generates a small molecule
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dhe jep nje molekule te vogel
00:54
that allows bacteria
to communicate and synchronize,
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qe i lejon bakteret
te komunikojne dhe sinkronizohen,
00:57
as you're seeing in this movie.
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ashtu si po shikoni ne kete filmim.
00:59
The growing colony of bacteria
that you see here
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Kolonite bakteriale ne rritje
qe ju shihni ketu
01:01
is about the width of a human hair.
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jane sa gjeresia e nje fije floku.
01:03
Now, what you can't see
is that our genetic program
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Ajo qe nuk duket eshte se
programimi yne gjenetik
01:06
instructs these bacteria
to each produce small molecules,
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i udhezon bakteret
te prodhojne cdonjera molekula te vogla,
01:09
and these molecules travel between
the thousands of individual bacteria
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te cilat kalojne ndermjet mijera
baktereve te vecanta
01:13
telling them when to turn on and off.
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dhe i udhezojne kur te ndizen dhe fiken.
01:15
And the bacteria synchronize
quite well at this scale,
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Bakteret sinkronizohen shume mire
ne kete nivel,
01:19
but because the molecule that synchronizes
them together can only travel so fast,
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Por meqe molekulat qe i sinkronizojne
levizin shume shpejt,
01:23
in larger colonies of bacteria,
this results in traveling waves
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ne koloni bakteriale te medha,
kjo shkakton vale qe levizin
01:26
between bacteria that are
far away from each other,
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midis baktereve qe jane shume larg
ndermjet tyre,
01:29
and you can see these waves going
from right to left across the screen.
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dhe ju mund te shihni valet qe levizin
nga e djathta ne te majte ne ekran.
01:33
Now, our genetic program
relies on a natural phenomenon
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Programi yne gjenetik
bazohet ne kete dukuri natyrore
01:36
called quorum sensing,
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qe quhet ndijim grupi,
01:37
in which bacteria trigger coordinated
and sometimes virulent behaviors
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bakteret krijojne sjellje
te koordinuara dhe ndonjehere virulente
01:40
once they reach a critical density.
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nese arrijne dendesi kritike.
01:43
You can observe quorum sensing
in action in this movie,
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Mund te verehet ne kete filmim
si vepron ky ndijim,
01:46
where a growing colony of bacteria
only begins to glow
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nderkohe qe nje koloni bakteriale
fillon te shkelqeje
01:49
once it reaches a high
or critical density.
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vetem kur arrin nje dendesi te larte
ose kritike.
01:52
Our genetic program
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Programimi yne gjenetik
01:54
continues producing these
rhythmic patterns of fluorescent proteins
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vijon te prodhoje keto
skema ritmike proteinash fluoreshente
01:57
as the colony grows outwards.
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me rritjen e kolonise se jashtmi.
01:59
This particular movie and experiment
we call The Supernova,
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Kete filmim ne vecanti dhe eksperimentin
ne e quajme Supernova
02:03
because it looks like an exploding star.
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sepse duket si nje yll qe shperthen.
02:06
Now, besides programming
these beautiful patterns,
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Pervec programimit te ketyre
skemave te bukura
02:08
I wondered, what else can we get
these bacteria to do?
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une po mendoja: "Cfare behet
tjeter me keto baktere?"
02:11
And I decided to explore
how we can program bacteria
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Keshtu vendosa te hulumtoj
si programohen bakteret
02:13
to detect and treat diseases
in our bodies like cancer.
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per te pikasur dhe trajtuar semundjet
si psh tumoret.
02:18
One of the surprising facts about bacteria
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Nje fakt mahnites per bakteret
02:20
is that they can naturally grow
inside of tumors.
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eshte se ato rriten natyralisht
ne brendesi te tumoreve.
02:23
This happens because typically tumors
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Arsyeja eshte se tumoret
02:25
are areas where the immune system
has no access,
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jane zona ku sistemi imunitar
nuk mund te veproje,
02:27
and so bacteria find these tumors
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per kete bakteret i gjejne keto tumore
02:29
and use them as a safe haven
to grow and thrive.
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dhe i perdorin si nje vend te sigurte
per tu rritur dhe shumuar.
02:33
We started using probiotic bacteria
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Ne filluam me baktere probiotike,
02:35
which are safe bacteria
that have a health benefit,
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qe jane baktere te sigurta
dhe mund te jene me dobi,
02:38
and found that
when orally delivered to mice,
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dhe pame se kur u jepeshin
minjve ne menyre orale,
02:40
these probiotics would selectively
grow inside of liver tumors.
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keto probiotike rriteshin
ne menyre selektive brenda tumoreve.
02:44
We realized that the most convenient way
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Kuptuam se menyre me e mire
02:46
to highlight the presence
of the probiotics,
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per te vene ne pah pranine
e ketyre probiotikeve,
02:48
and hence, the presence of the tumors,
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pra, dhe pranine e tumoreve
02:50
was to get these bacteria
to produce a signal
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ishte qe keto baktere
te prodhonin nje sinjal
02:52
that would be detectable in the urine,
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qe te ishte i kapshem ne urine,
02:55
and so we specifically
programmed these probiotics
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dhe per kete programuam keto baktere
02:57
to make a molecule that would change
the color of your urine
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te prodhonin nje molekule
per te ndryshuar ngjyren e urines
03:00
to indicate the presence of cancer.
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duke treguar keshtu pranine e kancerit.
03:03
We went on to show that this technology
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Na duhej te tregonim se kjo teknologji
03:05
could sensitively and specifically
detect liver cancer,
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do te ishte e ndjeshme dhe specifike
per kancerin e melcise,
03:08
one that is challenging
to detect otherwise.
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qe eshte veshtire te identifikohet.
03:11
Now, since these bacteria
specifically localize to tumors,
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Meqe keto baktere
vendosen te tumoret,
03:14
we've been programming them
to not only detect cancer
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i programuam qe jo vetem
te identifikonin tumorin
03:17
but also to treat cancer
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por dhe ta trajtonin ate
03:19
by producing therapeutic molecules
from within the tumor environment
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duke prodhuar molekula terapeutike
ne brendesi te mjedisit tumoral
03:22
that shrink the existing tumors,
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qe do te reduktonin tumorin,
03:24
and we've been doing this
using quorum sensing programs
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dhe kete e beme duke perdorur
ndijimin e grupit
03:27
like you saw in the previous movies.
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ashtu si pate ne filmime me pare.
03:29
Altogether, imagine in the future
taking a programmed probiotic
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Imagjinoni sesi ne te ardhmen
duke mare probiotike te programuar
03:33
that could detect and treat cancer,
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do te mund te identifikohen dhe
trajtohen tumoret,
03:35
or even other diseases.
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ose dhe semundje te tjera.
03:38
Our ability to program bacteria
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Aftesia per te programuar bakteret
03:40
and program life
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dhe programuar jeten
03:42
opens up new horizons in cancer research,
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hap horizonte te reja
ne hulumtimet per tumoret,
03:45
and to share this vision,
I worked with artist Vik Muniz
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dhe per te ndare me ju kete vizion,
punova me Vik Muniz
03:47
to create the symbol of the universe,
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per te krijuar simbolin e universit,
03:49
made entirely out of bacteria
or cancer cells.
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teresisht me baktere ose qeliza tumorale.
03:53
Ultimately, my hope is that the beauty
and purpose of this microscopic universe
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Ne fund, shpresoj se bukuria dhe qellimi
i universit mikroskopik
03:58
can inspire new and creative approaches
for the future of cancer research.
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te frymezoje perqasje te reja dhe
krijuese per hulumtime tumorale.
04:03
Thank you.
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Faleminderit!
04:06
(Applause)
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(duartrokitje)
Translated by Eleni Zhupa
Reviewed by Helena Bedalli

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Tal Danino - Synthetic biologist
Tal Danino explores the emerging frontier of combining biology and engineering (and art). He is a 2015 TED Fellow.

Why you should listen

Tal Danino's research explores the emerging frontier of combining biology, engineering and medicine. His work as a synthetic biologist focuses on reprogramming bacteria to detect and treat diseases in our bodies such as cancer.

Originally from Los Angeles, Danino received B.S. degrees from UCLA in Physics, Chemistry and Math, and received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from UCSD. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently an assistant professor at Columbia University in New York.

Danino's work has been published in scientific journals and highlighted in several popular press venues. He actively develops "Bio-Art" projects that share perspectives and stories about science with recent projects featured in the New York Times, WIRED, and the Wall Street Journal.

More profile about the speaker
Tal Danino | Speaker | TED.com