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: Podemos usar bactérias para detectar o câncer (e talvez tratá-lo)

Filmed:
1,329,748 views

O câncer do fígado é um dos mais difíceis de detectar, mas o biólogo sintético, Tal Danino, teve um pensamento pouco convencional: e se pudéssemos criar um probiótico, uma bactéria comestível "programada" para encontrar tumores no fígado? A sua visão explora algo que apenas agora começamos a entender sobre as bactérias: o seu poder de percepção de quorum, ou de fazer algo em massa assim que atingem a densidade crítica. Danino, um Bolsista TED, explica como funciona a percepção de quorum – e como bactérias inteligentes trabalhando em conjunto podem, um dia, mudar o tratamento do câncer.
- 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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Pode ser que não saibam,
00:14
but there are more bacteria in your body
than stars in our entire galaxy.
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mas existem mais bactérias em seu corpo
do que estrelas na nossa galáxia.
00:20
This fascinating universe
of bacteria inside of us
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Este fascinante universo
de bactérias dentro de nós
00:23
is an integral part of our health,
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é parte integral da nossa saúde,
e, a nossa tecnologia está evoluindo
tão rapidamente
00:25
and our technology is evolving so rapidly
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00:27
that today we can program these bacteria
like we program computers.
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que hoje podemos programar essas bactérias
como programamos computadores.
00:33
Now, the diagram that you see here,
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O diagrama que veem aqui,
00:34
I know it looks like
some kind of sports play,
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eu sei que parece com
um tipo de jogo esportivo,
00:37
but it is actually a blueprint of
the first bacterial program I developed.
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mas, na verdade, é um modelo do primeiro
programa de bactérias que desenvolvi.
00:41
And like writing software,
we can print and write DNA
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Tal como escrever um software,
podemos imprimir e escrever DNA
00:44
into different algorithms
and programs inside of bacteria.
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em diferente algoritmos
e programas dentro de bactérias.
00:48
What this program does
is produces fluorescent proteins
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O que este programa faz
é produzir proteínas fluorescentes
00:51
in a rhythmic fashion
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de forma rítmica
00:52
and generates a small molecule
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e gera uma pequena molécula
que permite às bactérias
se comunicarem e se sincronizarem,
00:54
that allows bacteria
to communicate and synchronize,
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00:57
as you're seeing in this movie.
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como veem neste filme.
00:59
The growing colony of bacteria
that you see here
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A crescente colônia
de bactérias que aqui veem
01:01
is about the width of a human hair.
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tem a largura de um cabelo humano.
Mas, o que não podem ver
é que o nosso programa genético
01:03
Now, what you can't see
is that our genetic program
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01:06
instructs these bacteria
to each produce small molecules,
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instrui estas bactérias
para que produzam pequenas moléculas
01:09
and these molecules travel between
the thousands of individual bacteria
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e estas moléculas viajam
entre milhares de bactérias individuais,
01:13
telling them when to turn on and off.
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dizendo-lhes quando ligar e desligar.
01:15
And the bacteria synchronize
quite well at this scale,
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As bactérias sincronizam-se
bastante bem a esta escala,
01:19
but because the molecule that synchronizes
them together can only travel so fast,
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mas, como a molécula que as sincroniza
só pode viajar a determinada velocidade
em colônias de bactérias maiores,
isto resulta em ondas de viagem
01:23
in larger colonies of bacteria,
this results in traveling waves
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01:26
between bacteria that are
far away from each other,
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entre bactérias que estão muito longe
umas das outras;
01:29
and you can see these waves going
from right to left across the screen.
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vocês podem ver estas ondas indo
da direita para a esquerda na tela.
O nosso programa genético
conta com um fenômeno natural
01:33
Now, our genetic program
relies on a natural phenomenon
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chamado percepção de quorum,
01:36
called quorum sensing,
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01:37
in which bacteria trigger coordinated
and sometimes virulent behaviors
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em que bactérias ativam reações
coordenadas e, por vezes, virulentas
01:40
once they reach a critical density.
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quando atingem a densidade crítica.
01:43
You can observe quorum sensing
in action in this movie,
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Podemos ver a percepção de quorum
em ação neste filme,
01:46
where a growing colony of bacteria
only begins to glow
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em que uma crescente
colônia de bactérias só começa a brilhar
01:49
once it reaches a high
or critical density.
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quando atinge
uma densidade alta ou crítica.
01:52
Our genetic program
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O nosso programa genético
continua produzindo estes padrões rítmicos
de proteínas fluorescentes
01:54
continues producing these
rhythmic patterns of fluorescent proteins
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01:57
as the colony grows outwards.
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à medida que a colônia cresce.
01:59
This particular movie and experiment
we call The Supernova,
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Chamamos este filme e experimento
de "A Supernova",
02:03
because it looks like an exploding star.
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por parecer com uma estrela explodindo.
Bom, além de programar
estes belíssimos padrões pensei:
02:06
Now, besides programming
these beautiful patterns,
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que mais poderíamos
fazer com estas bactérias?
02:08
I wondered, what else can we get
these bacteria to do?
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Eu decidi explorar
como programar as bactérias
02:11
And I decided to explore
how we can program bacteria
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para detectar e tratar doenças
em nosso corpo, como o câncer.
02:13
to detect and treat diseases
in our bodies like cancer.
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02:18
One of the surprising facts about bacteria
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Um fato surpreendente sobre as bactérias
02:20
is that they can naturally grow
inside of tumors.
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é que elas podem crescer naturalmente
dentro de tumores.
Isto acontece porque,
normalmente, tumores
02:23
This happens because typically tumors
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02:25
are areas where the immune system
has no access,
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são áreas sem acesso
ao sistema imunológico,
02:27
and so bacteria find these tumors
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e, assim, as bactérias acham estes tumores
02:29
and use them as a safe haven
to grow and thrive.
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e os usam como um refúgio seguro
para crescerem e se propagarem.
Começamos a usar bactérias probióticas,
02:33
We started using probiotic bacteria
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que são bactérias seguras
com benefícios à saúde,
02:35
which are safe bacteria
that have a health benefit,
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e descobrimos que, quando
administrados por via oral a ratos,
02:38
and found that
when orally delivered to mice,
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02:40
these probiotics would selectively
grow inside of liver tumors.
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estes probióticos cresciam seletivamente
dentro dos tumores de fígado.
02:44
We realized that the most convenient way
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Verificamos que a forma mais conveniente
02:46
to highlight the presence
of the probiotics,
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de realçar a presença dos probióticos,
02:48
and hence, the presence of the tumors,
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e, dai, a presença de tumores,
02:50
was to get these bacteria
to produce a signal
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era fazer estas bactérias
produzirem um sinal
02:52
that would be detectable in the urine,
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que fosse detectável na urina.
Portanto, programamos
especificamente estes probióticos
02:55
and so we specifically
programmed these probiotics
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02:57
to make a molecule that would change
the color of your urine
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para fazer uma molécula
que mudasse a cor da urina
para indicar a presença de câncer.
03:00
to indicate the presence of cancer.
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03:03
We went on to show that this technology
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Seguimos mostrando que esta tecnologia
03:05
could sensitively and specifically
detect liver cancer,
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podia sensitiva e especificamente
detectar o câncer do fígado,
03:08
one that is challenging
to detect otherwise.
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que é difícil de se detectar
de outra forma.
03:11
Now, since these bacteria
specifically localize to tumors,
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Já que estas bactérias
se situam especificamente em tumores,
03:14
we've been programming them
to not only detect cancer
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nós as programamos
não só para detectar o câncer,
03:17
but also to treat cancer
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mas para também tratá-lo,
03:19
by producing therapeutic molecules
from within the tumor environment
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produzindo moléculas terapêuticas
dentro do ambiente do tumor,
03:22
that shrink the existing tumors,
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que encolhem os tumores existentes,
e, temos feito isto com programas
de percepção de quórum,
03:24
and we've been doing this
using quorum sensing programs
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03:27
like you saw in the previous movies.
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como viram antes nos vídeos.
03:29
Altogether, imagine in the future
taking a programmed probiotic
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Em suma, imaginem, no futuro,
tomar um probiótico programado
03:33
that could detect and treat cancer,
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que pudesse detectar e tratar o câncer,
03:35
or even other diseases.
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ou até mesmo outras doenças.
Nossa capacidade de programar bactérias
03:38
Our ability to program bacteria
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03:40
and program life
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e programar vida
03:42
opens up new horizons in cancer research,
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abre novos horizontes
na pesquisa do câncer,
e, para partilhar esta visão,
trabalhei com o artista Vik Muniz
03:45
and to share this vision,
I worked with artist Vik Muniz
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03:47
to create the symbol of the universe,
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para criar um símbolo do Universo,
03:49
made entirely out of bacteria
or cancer cells.
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feito inteiramente de células
bacterianas e cancerígenas.
03:53
Ultimately, my hope is that the beauty
and purpose of this microscopic universe
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Enfim, espero que a beleza
e propósito deste universo microscópico
03:58
can inspire new and creative approaches
for the future of cancer research.
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inspire abordagens novas e criativas
no futuro da pesquisa do câncer.
04:03
Thank you.
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Obrigado.
04:06
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Nadja Nathan
Reviewed by Ruy Lopes Pereira

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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

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