Ed Boyden: A new way to study the brain's invisible secrets
Ed Boyden: Pañales para bebés inspiraron esta nueva forma de estudiar el cerebro
Ed Boyden is a professor of biological engineering and brain and cognitive sciences at the MIT Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
propiedades interesantes.
when you add water to them,
al agregarles agua;
by millions of kids every day.
este experimento cada día.
in a very clever way.
called a swellable material.
when you add water,
al agregarle agua,
industrial kind of polymer.
in my group at MIT
something similar to the brain.
algo similar con el cerebro.
can peer inside
the biomolecules,
las biomoléculas,
structure of the brain, if you will?
del cerebro, por así decirlo?
of how the brain is organized
cómo se organiza el cerebro
los cambios exactos en el cerebro
the exact changes in the brain
and epilepsy and Parkinson's,
la epilepsia y el Parkinson,
y mucho menos curas,
treatments, much less cures,
we don't know the cause or the origins
desconocemos la causa o el origen
a different point of view
been done over the last hundred years.
en los últimos cien años.
Somos inventores.
how to build technologies
cómo construir tecnologías
y reparar el cerebro.
incredibly complicated.
over the first century of neuroscience
hemos aprendido
complicated network,
cells called neurons
muy especializadas llamadas neuronas
through these complexly shaped neurons.
por estas neuronas en forma compleja.
are connected in networks.
están conectadas en redes.
called synapses that exchange chemicals
las sinapsis, que intercambian químicos
to talk to each other.
our artist's rendition of it.
interpretación artística,
and thousands of kinds of biomolecules,
de tipos de biomoléculas,
organized in complex, 3D patterns,
organizadas en patrones complejos, 3D,
those electrical pulses,
that allow neurons to work together
permiten a las neuronas trabajar juntas
and feelings and so forth.
sentimientos, etcétera.
the neurons in the brain are organized
las neuronas en el cerebro
the biomolecules are organized
las biomoléculas
organizadas y complejas.
of molecules and neurons
de las moléculas y las neuronas
how the brain conducts information
cómo el cerebro lleva información
y el sentimiento,
exacto de cambios moleculares que ocurren
of molecular changes that occur
those molecules have changed,
han cambiado estas moléculas,
or changed in pattern,
o cambiado de patrón,
as targets for new drugs,
para nuevos fármacos,
energía al cerebro,
energy into the brain
computations that are afflicted
cerebrales afectados
from brain disorders.
de trastornos cerebrales.
technologies over the last century
diferentes en el último siglo
imágenes del cerebro
de resonancia magnética.
that they are noninvasive,
de no ser invasivas,
or voxels, as they're called,
o voxels, como se les llama,
and millions of neurons.
y millones de neuronas.
los cambios moleculares que ocurren,
the molecular changes that occur
of these networks
de estas redes
to be conscious and powerful beings.
seres conscientes poderosos.
you have microscopes.
tenemos los microscopios.
to look at little tiny things.
para mirar cosas diminutas.
to look at things like bacteria.
para mirar cosas como bacterias.
were discovered in the first place,
descubrir las neuronas en primer lugar,
con un antiguo microscopio típico.
with a regular old microscope.
to see the brain more powerful,
primordial
even better technologies.
incluso mejores tecnologías.
empezó a pensar:
started thinking:
to zoom in to the brain,
ampliar la vista del cerebro,
Fei Chen and Paul Tillberg.
mi grupo, Fei Chen y Paul Tillberg.
are helping with this process.
están ayudando en este proceso.
if we could take polymers,
si podíamos tomar polímeros,
within the brain.
dentro del cerebro.
and you add water,
y agregáramos agua,
expandir el cerebro
those tiny biomolecules from each other.
biomoléculas unas de otras.
and get maps of the brain.
y obtener mapas del cerebro.
del pañal del bebé.
just to buy it off the Internet
comprarlo por Internet
that actually occur in these diapers.
que realmente tienen estos pañales.
of the baby diaper material
de material del pañal de bebé
by about a thousandfold
en alrededor de mil veces
very interesting molecule,
muy, muy interesante,
to really zoom in on the brain
with past technologies.
con las tecnologías anteriores.
in the baby diaper polymer?
en el polímero del pañal?
what you see on the screen.
lo que se ve en la pantalla.
arranged in long, thin lines.
dispuestas en líneas largas y delgadas.
move everything apart in the brain.
mover todo en el cerebro.
is going to absorb the water,
absorberá el agua,
se separarán unas de otras,
apart from each other,
is going to become bigger.
distancias biomoleculares,
inflar el cerebro
these polymer chains inside the brain
de polímero dentro del cerebro
de verdad el cerebro.
ground truth maps of the brain.
and see the molecules within.
y ver las moléculas que hay.
hicimos algunas animaciones
at, in these artist renderings,
en estas representaciones artísticas,
like and how we might separate them.
y cómo podríamos separarlas.
to do, first of all,
shown in brown here,
aquí aparecen en marrón,
of the brain apart from each other,
del cerebro unas de otras,
to have a little handle
tener un pequeño mango
adherirse a ellos,
polymer and dump it on the brain,
del pañal de bebé en el cerebro,
en la parte superior.
to make the polymers inside.
cómo ubicar el polímero dentro.
los bloques de construcción,
get the building blocks,
las reacciones químicas,
those long chains,
esas largas cadenas,
del tejido cerebral.
around biomolecules
alrededor de las biomoléculas
to pull apart the molecules
separar las moléculas
of those little handles is around,
mangos esté alrededor,
y eso es exactamente lo que necesitamos
and that's exactly what we need
apart from each other.
y separarlas unas de otras.
all the molecules from each other,
las moléculas entre sí,
to start absorbing the water,
empezará a absorber el agua,
will come along for the ride.
darán el paseo.
una imagen en un globo,
a picture on a balloon,
away from each other.
se separaron unas de otras.
to do now, but in three dimensions.
pero en tres dimensiones.
all the biomolecules brown.
las biomoléculas en marrón.
kind of look the same.
out of the same atoms,
por los mismos átomos,
that will distinguish them.
para distinguirlas.
might get a blue color.
podría tener un color azul.
might get a red color.
podría tener un color rojo.
far apart enough from each other
we can make the invisible visible.
visible lo invisible.
podrían parecer pequeñas y oscuras
small and obscure
of information about life.
de información sobre la vida.
of what it might look like.
del aspecto que podría tener.
en una placa...
right before your eyes --
is going to grow.
va a crecer.
or even more in volume.
o incluso más en volumen.
los polímeros son tan pequeños,
those polymers are so tiny,
uniformemente unas de otras.
evenly from each other.
of the information.
de la información.
circuitos del cerebro real
actual brain circuitry --
por ejemplo, con la memoria --
involved with, for example, memory --
how circuits are configured.
cómo se configuran los circuitos.
leer un recuerdo.
at how circuits are configured
la forma de configurar circuitos
of our brain is organized
el cableado actual del cerebro
podemos señalar, con suerte,
at a molecular level.
a nivel molecular.
dentro de las células del cerebro
look into cells in the brain
molecules that have altered
las 17 moléculas alteradas
undergoing epilepsy
que tuvo epilepsia
of things that are going wrong,
de las cosas que van mal,
en objetivos terapéuticos.
que se adhieran.
at different parts of the brain
a diferentes partes del cerebro
with Parkinson's or epilepsy
con Parkinson o epilepsia
over a billion people
a más de mil millones de personas
has been happening.
algo interesante.
that expansion might help with.
en otros problemas.
from a human breast cancer patient.
una paciente de cáncer de mama.
si estudiamos el desarrollo,
if you look at development --
large-scale biological systems.
sistemas biológicos a gran escala.
with those little nanoscale molecules,
con esas pequeñas moléculas a nanoescala,
and the organs in our body tick.
y los órganos del cuerpo palpitan.
to do now is to figure out
mapear los componentes básicos de la vida
to map the building blocks of life
the molecular changes in a tumor
los cambios moleculares en un tumor,
go after it in a smart way
exactly the cells that we want to?
exactamente con las células que queremos?
is very high risk.
es de muy alto riesgo.
what might be a high-risk moon shot
podría ser un gran sueño de alto riesgo
estaba bajo control.
feat of engineering.
gran obra de ingeniería.
tenemos todas las leyes.
necessarily have all the laws.
that are analogous to gravity,
análogas a la gravedad,
that occur in living systems,
ocurren en los sistemas vivos,
the diseases that plague us.
las enfermedades que nos aquejan.
tenemos dos hijos pequeños,
have two young kids,
es hacer la vida mejor para ellos
is to make life better for them
turn biology and medicine
la biología y la medicina
that are governed by chance and luck,
que se rigen por el azar y la suerte,
that we win by skill and hard work,
con capacidad y trabajo arduo;
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ed Boyden - NeuroengineerEd Boyden is a professor of biological engineering and brain and cognitive sciences at the MIT Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute.
Why you should listen
Ed Boyden leads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group, which develops tools for analyzing and repairing complex biological systems such as the brain. His group applies these tools in a systematic way in order to reveal ground truth scientific understandings of biological systems, which in turn reveal radical new approaches for curing diseases and repairing disabilities. These technologies include expansion microscopy, which enables complex biological systems to be imaged with nanoscale precision, and optogenetic tools, which enable the activation and silencing of neural activity with light (TED Talk: A light switch for neurons). Boyden also co-directs the MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering, which aims to develop new tools to accelerate neuroscience progress.
Amongst other recognitions, Boyden has received the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2016), the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2015), the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences (2015), the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award (2013), the Grete Lundbeck Brain Prize (2013) and the NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2013). He was also named to the World Economic Forum Young Scientist list (2013) and the Technology Review World's "Top 35 Innovators under Age 35" list (2006). His group has hosted hundreds of visitors to learn how to use new biotechnologies and spun out several companies to bring inventions out of his lab and into the world. Boyden received his Ph.D. in neurosciences from Stanford University as a Hertz Fellow, where he discovered that the molecular mechanisms used to store a memory are determined by the content to be learned. Before that, he received three degrees in electrical engineering, computer science and physics from MIT. He has contributed to over 300 peer-reviewed papers, current or pending patents and articles, and he has given over 300 invited talks on his group's work.
Ed Boyden | Speaker | TED.com