Ed Boyden: A new way to study the brain's invisible secrets
Ed Boyden: I pannolini che hanno ispirato un nuovo metodo di studio del cervello
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
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when you add water to them,
se aggiungete acqua,
by millions of kids every day.
da milioni di bambini ogni giorno.
in a very clever way.
in modo molto intelligente.
called a swellable material.
when you add water,
che, aggiungendo acqua,
industrial kind of polymer.
molto utile.
in my group at MIT
nel mio gruppo al MIT
something similar to the brain.
qualcosa di simile al cervello.
can peer inside
the biomolecules,
le biomolecole,
structure of the brain, if you will?
del cervello?
of how the brain is organized
come è organizzato il cervello
the exact changes in the brain
gli esatti cambiamenti nel cervello
and epilepsy and Parkinson's,
l'epilessia e il Parkinson,
treatments, much less cures,
e molte meno cure,
we don't know the cause or the origins
non sappiamo la causa o le origini
a different point of view
been done over the last hundred years.
degli ultimi cento anni.
how to build technologies
come costruire tecnologie
e riparare il cervello.
incredibly complicated.
è incredibilmente complicato.
over the first century of neuroscience
nell'ultimo secolo di neuroscienze
complicated network,
molto complicata,
cells called neurons
chiamate neuroni
through these complexly shaped neurons.
questi neuroni dalle forme complesse.
are connected in networks.
called synapses that exchange chemicals
chiamate sinapsi
to talk to each other.
our artist's rendition of it.
una rappresentazione artistica.
and thousands of kinds of biomolecules,
di tipi di biomolecole,
organized in complex, 3D patterns,
organizzate in schemi 3D complessi,
those electrical pulses,
questi impulsi elettrici,
that allow neurons to work together
ai neuroni di lavorare insieme
and feelings and so forth.
come pensieri e sensazioni.
the neurons in the brain are organized
i neuroni nel cervello
the biomolecules are organized
come siano organizzate le biomolecole
of molecules and neurons
l'organizzazione di molecole e neuroni
how the brain conducts information
come il cervello trasmette informazioni
of molecular changes that occur
di cambiamenti molecolari che accadono
those molecules have changed,
come sono cambiate queste molecole,
or changed in pattern,
o che sia cambiato lo schema,
as targets for new drugs,
come obiettivo di nuovi farmaci,
energy into the brain
per dare energia al cervello
computations that are afflicted
le elaborazioni del cervello colpite
from brain disorders.
di malattie del cervello.
technologies over the last century
diverse tecnologie del secolo scorso
le TAC al cervello
that they are noninvasive,
di essere non invasive,
or voxels, as they're called,
o voxel, come li chiamano,
and millions of neurons.
milioni e milioni di neuroni.
the molecular changes that occur
i cambiamenti molecolari
of these networks
nelle comunicazioni di queste reti
to be conscious and powerful beings.
di esseri coscienti e potenti.
you have microscopes.
to look at little tiny things.
per osservare cose minuscole.
to look at things like bacteria.
per osservare cose come i batteri.
were discovered in the first place,
la scoperta dei neuroni,
with a regular old microscope.
con un normale microscopio.
to see the brain more powerful,
di analizzare il cervello,
fino alla struttura vera e propria,
even better technologies.
started thinking:
ha cominciato a pensare:
to zoom in to the brain,
Fei Chen and Paul Tillberg.
Fei Chen e Paul Tillberg.
are helping with this process.
stanno aiutando.
if we could take polymers,
se potevamo prendere polimeri,
within the brain.
and you add water,
e aggiungete acqua,
si può far esplodere il cervello
those tiny biomolecules from each other.
le minuscole biomolecole.
and get maps of the brain.
e si farebbe una mappa del cervello.
da pannolino purificato.
just to buy it off the Internet
that actually occur in these diapers.
of the baby diaper material
di materiale da pannolino
by about a thousandfold
di volume di circa 1000 volte
very interesting molecule,
to really zoom in on the brain
di zoomare nel cervello
with past technologies.
con le tecnologie del passato.
in the baby diaper polymer?
what you see on the screen.
arranged in long, thin lines.
organizzate in linee lunghe e sottili.
move everything apart in the brain.
spostare tutto nel cervello.
is going to absorb the water,
assorbirà l'acqua,
apart from each other,
si allontaneranno tra loro,
is going to become bigger.
diventerà più grande.
sono molto piccole
esplodere il cervello
these polymer chains inside the brain
queste catene di polimeri nel cervello
ground truth maps of the brain.
una mappa realistica del cervello.
and see the molecules within.
e vedere le molecole.
abbiamo fatto delle animazioni
at, in these artist renderings,
in queste rappresentazioni artistiche,
like and how we might separate them.
e come potremmo separarle.
to do, first of all,
prima di tutto,
shown in brown here,
qui in marrone,
una piccola maniglia.
of the brain apart from each other,
le molecole del cervello,
to have a little handle
serve una piccola maniglia
polymer and dump it on the brain,
buttato nel cervello,
to make the polymers inside.
di fare entrare il polimero.
get the building blocks,
those long chains,
around biomolecules
to pull apart the molecules
alla fine, di allontanare le molecole
of those little handles is around,
una di queste maniglie,
and that's exactly what we need
ed è quello che ci serve
apart from each other.
l'una dall'altra.
all the molecules from each other,
per allentare le molecole,
to start absorbing the water,
comincerà ad assorbirla,
si allontaneranno,
will come along for the ride.
arriveranno per il giretto.
a picture on a balloon,
away from each other.
si sono allontanate l'una dall'altra.
to do now, but in three dimensions.
ma in tre dimensioni.
all the biomolecules brown.
tutte le biomolecole in marrone.
kind of look the same.
out of the same atoms,
degli stessi atomi,
delle piccole etichette,
that will distinguish them.
might get a blue color.
potrebbe avere un blu.
might get a red color.
potrebbe prendere il rosso.
far apart enough from each other
abbastanza l'una dall'altra
we can make the invisible visible.
è rendere visibile l'invisibile.
small and obscure
apparentemente piccole e oscure
of information about life.
di informazioni sulla vita.
of what it might look like.
in un piattino --
right before your eyes --
è che davanti ai vostri occhi --
is going to grow.
di tessuto cerebrale crescerà.
or even more in volume.
di 100 volte o anche di più.
those polymers are so tiny,
questi polimeri sono così piccoli,
evenly from each other.
uniformemente.
of the information.
delle informazioni.
actual brain circuitry --
un vero circuito cerebrale --
involved with, for example, memory --
attinente alla memoria --
how circuits are configured.
come sono configurati i circuiti.
potremo leggere la memoria.
at how circuits are configured
come sono configurati i circuiti
of our brain is organized
del nostro cervello
lo spero,
at a molecular level.
a livello molecolare.
look into cells in the brain
all'interno delle cellule cerebrali
molecules that have altered
undergoing epilepsy
che ha sofferto di epilessia
per i morbo di Parkinson
of things that are going wrong,
di cose che vanno storto,
i nostri target terapeutici.
che li uniscono.
at different parts of the brain
in diverse parti del cervello
with Parkinson's or epilepsy
con il Parkinson o con l'epilessia
over a billion people
più di un miliardo di persone
has been happening.
that expansion might help with.
per altri problemi.
from a human breast cancer patient.
di un cancro al seno di una paziente.
if you look at development --
large-scale biological systems.
sistemi biologici su larga scala.
with those little nanoscale molecules,
con queste molecole in nanoscala,
and the organs in our body tick.
le cellule e gli organi.
to do now is to figure out
to map the building blocks of life
per mappare i mattoni della vita
the molecular changes in a tumor
i cambiamenti molecolari in un tumore
go after it in a smart way
in modo intelligente
exactly the cells that we want to?
le cellule giuste?
is very high risk.
what might be a high-risk moon shot
trasformare dei tentativi ad alto rischio
erano sotto controllo.
feat of engineering.
una grande impresa ingegneristica.
necessarily have all the laws.
tutte le leggi.
that are analogous to gravity,
analoghe alla gravità,
che con le tecnologie
that occur in living systems,
dei sistemi viventi,
the diseases that plague us.
le malattie che ci affliggono.
have two young kids,
is to make life better for them
turn biology and medicine
trasformare la biologia e la medicina
that are governed by chance and luck,
controllati dal caso e dalla fortuna,
that we win by skill and hard work,
con le capacità e il duro lavoro,
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