Luhan Yang: How to create a world where no one dies waiting for a transplant
Luhan Yang: Cum putem crea o lume în care nimeni nu moare în așteptarea unui transplant
Dr. Luhan Yang is the co-founder and chief scientific officer at eGenesis, working to make xenotransplantation a routine medical procedure for the delivery of safe and effective human transplantable cells, tissues and organs. Full bio
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a very cute pig.
Laika e doar un purceluș drăguț.
of patients in need of a lifesaving organ
ce au nevoie de un transplant,
became a real option
a devenit o opțiune reală
and other organ diseases,
și alte boli ale organelor,
has exponentially increased.
care a crescut exponențial.
will be added to this list.
will get a new organ,
vor primi un organ nou,
să facă mai mult.
a disturbing social issue.
o problemă socială îngrijorătoare.
that desperate patients
că pacienții disperați
from the cruel black market.
is needed to this crisis.
la această problemă.
to help solve this problem.
la rezolvarea acestei probleme.
that we are on our way there,
pe drumul cel bun,
a human-transplantable organ
transplantabil omului,
fără niciun risc în porcine.
science that makes it happen,
ce face asta posibil,
what xenotransplantation is.
ce înseamnă xenotransplant.
animal organs into humans.
omului organe prelevate de la animale.
with similar size and physiology
au aceeași dimensiune și fiziologie
have tried hard to make it happen,
din greu să facă asta posibil,
le stăteau în cale.
sees a new organ as foreign,
un organ nou ca fiind străin,
to the organs from the pig,
cu organele de la porc,
that is benign to the pig,
al unui virus inofensiv acestuia,
endogenous retrovirus (PERV),
endogen porcin (PERV),
to cause a viral epidemic similar to HIV.
o epidemie virală asemănătoare HIV-ului.
to address these issues,
la aceste probleme,
has been on hold for more than one decade.
pentru mai mult de un deceniu.
how I got here today with Laika.
cum am ajuns astăzi aici cu Laika.
from Emei Mountain in China.
la muntele Emei, în China.
in a lot of legendary stories,
în multe legende,
a strong connection with nature.
strânsă cu natura.
of an ancient Buddhist temple
how my friends and I
cum aruncam alune în jur
to distract the monkeys
ca să distragem maimuțele
to hike through the valley.
to choose a field of study,
un domeniu de studiu,
at Peking University in Beijing.
la Universitatea Peking din Beijing.
be so similar to animals
să fie atât de asemănător cu al animalelor
of fighting off so many pathogens
să combată atâția agenți patogeni,
să nu ne atace?
but you know I'm a scientist.
dar sunt un om de știință.
I didn't want to just ask the questions,
doar să pun întrebări,
și asta am făcut.
la Universitatea Harvard
with the genetic makeup of mammals.
cu structura genetică a mamiferelor.
took me closer to Laika.
m-a adus mai aproape de Laika.
made changes in a human cell
am efectuat schimbări într-o celulă umană
de care probabil ați auzit,
două grupuri ce au raportat
of such a tool in changing our DNA.
pentru schimbarea ADN-ului uman.
in scientific discovery.
pentru descoperirile științifice.
has two components.
are două componente.
with a microscope.
cu un microscop.
to the place we want to cut
în care vrem să tăiem
and repairs the DNA in the way we want.
și repară ADN-ul așa cum vrem.
were intrigued by the medical applications
au fost intrigați de aplicațiile medicale
the potential to use CRISPR
potențialul de a utiliza CRISPR
in a pig's cell to make it virus-free
într-o celulă de porc, pentru a-l face
cu sistemul imunitar uman.
is then implanted into a pig egg
într-un ovul porcin
into the uterus of a surrogate mother
în uterul unei mame purtătoare
whose genetic makeup
al căror profil genetic
by the human immune system.
de sistemul imunitar uman.
the viral transmission problem first.
problema transmiterii virale.
all 62 copies of the PERV virus
ale virusului PERV
it was nearly mission impossible.
o misiune imposibilă.
modifications within a cell.
modificări într-o celulă.
we can do in a particular cell was five.
efectua într-o celulă era de cinci.
by more than tenfold to achieve that.
de zece ori pentru a reuși.
and hundreds of trials,
studiile noastre au arătat
the possibility of this dangerous virus
ca acest virus periculos
and cloning technology,
și datorită tehnologiei clonării,
eGenesis, a produs-o pe Laika,
born without PERV.
fără pericol.
genetic modification on
suplimentare
more than 30 pigs without PERV,
peste 30 de porcine fără PERV,
geno-modified animal living on earth.
animale modificate genetic de pe pământ.
to orbit the earth.
să orbiteze Pământul.
of science and medicine.
a științei și a medicinei.
who suffer from liver failure
ce suferă de insuficiență hepatică,
cu diabet
on insulin after every meal
după fiecare masă
with good pancreatic cells
celule pancreatice bune,
where patients with kidney failure
în care pacienții cu insuficiență renală
the burden of dialysis.
cu chinul dializei.
to tackle the problem
să soluționăm problema
the beginning of our journey.
călătoriei noastre.
in front of nature,
în fața naturii,
to be addressed,
probleme ce trebuie abordate,
anticipate at this point.
anticipa în acest moment.
to translate the cutting-edge science
noastră să traducem știința de ultimă oră
of all the patients who are waiting.
tuturor pacienților care așteaptă.
this is extraordinary work here.
aceasta e o muncă extraordinară.
You've got rid of the virus.
Ați scăpat de virus.
trying to get to the point
won't reject a transplant.
nu va mai respinge un transplant.
complicated process.
the antigen of the pigs.
a lot from cancer.
or circumvent our immune system
sau să evite sistemul nostru imunitar,
to not attack the organ.
să nu atace organul.
when do you hope
transplant would happen?
to give you any number.
să vă dau o dată.
We're always irresponsible.
for the patients.
pentru pacienți.
that you think it could happen
dacă se va putea întâmpla
five years or something?
sau ceva de genul?
within one decade.
într-un deceniu.
who would be very, very excited at that,
care vor fi foarte entuziasmați,
people here who are going,
care vor spune:
something so cute for our benefit."
aceste ființe pentru beneficiul nostru."
can save eight people's lives.
poate salva opt vieți umane.
one kidney from the pig,
la aceste probleme,
the unmet medical need
necesităților medicale nesatisfăcute
if they eat bacon, right?
asta dacă mănâncă șuncă, nu-i așa?
LY: Thank you so much.
LY: Mulțumesc mult!
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Luhan Yang - Biologist, geneticistDr. Luhan Yang is the co-founder and chief scientific officer at eGenesis, working to make xenotransplantation a routine medical procedure for the delivery of safe and effective human transplantable cells, tissues and organs.
Why you should listen
With the mission to translate scientific innovation into a life-saving medical procedure, Dr. Luhan Yang is leading a team of world-renowned scientists to leverage CRISPR technology and its potential to deliver safe and effective human transplantable organs to the hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide who are in dire need.
In the US alone, more than 116,000 people annually are in need of a lifesaving organ transplant, and 20 people die every day waiting for a transplant. To address this issue, scientists have been trying to engineer animal organs for human transplantation for more than 100 years. However, concern for issues such as pig-to-human immunological compatibility and cross-species transmission of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) have proven to be two insurmountable obstacles -- until now.
In a breakthrough paper published in Science, Yang and her team demonstrated for the first time the inactivation of PERV to prevent cross-species viral transmission, an important milestone for xenotransplantation. As co-founder and chief scientific officer, Yang has been at the center of eGenesis' success. In addition to recruiting and leading a high-caliber scientific team, she has played an integral role in daily management of the company, business strategy and planning, as well as negotiating with investors for early round funding.
Yang holds BS degrees in biology and psychology from Peking University and a PhD in human biology and translational medicine from Harvard Medical School.
Luhan Yang | Speaker | TED.com