Rewriting the Genetic Code: A Cancer Cure In the Making | Tal Zaks | TEDxBeaconStreet

Hacking the Software of Life

The speaker discusses how mRNA is changing the way we think about prevention and treatment of diseases.

Introduction

• The speaker started as a nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit.

• mRNA transmits critical information from DNA to protein, which determines what cells will do.

Flu Vaccine

• Traditional vaccines inject bits and pieces of virus proteins into our arms.

• An mRNA vaccine has cells in our body make the vaccine by giving instructions on how to make the protein.

• Cells dial 9-1-1 and make the protein when an mRNA vaccine is introduced.

• Proven to work in animal models and humans.

Personalized Cancer Vaccine

• Cancer occurs when DNA is screwed up, leading to screwed up information that makes screwed up protein, causing cells to lose control.

• Sequencing human genomes allows us to figure out what's wrong with a patient's cancer.

• A personalized cancer vaccine can be made for each patient based on their sequence and immune system.

Personalized Cancer Vaccine

In this section, the speaker talks about a personalized cancer vaccine that was created for a patient and how it could potentially wake up the immune system against somebody's cancer.

Personalized Cancer Vaccine

• The first patient was treated with a personalized cancer vaccine.

• The experiment will determine whether we can actually wake the immune system against somebody's cancer with a personalized cancer vaccine.

• The results of the experiment will be known in months or years to come.

Methylmalonic Acidemia (MMA)

In this section, the speaker talks about MMA, which is caused by an enzyme that's critical for metabolism. Children born with MMA lack this one crucial gene and their body is not able to fight infection properly.

Methylmalonic Acidemia (MMA)

• MMA is caused by an enzyme that's critical for metabolism.

• Children born with MMA lack one crucial gene and their body is not able to fight infection properly.

• About 1/3 of children with MMA don't make it to the age of 10 due to impaired survival.

• Currently, there isn't much that can be done because the missing protein is actually missing inside their cells.

Information Therapy

In this section, the speaker talks about information therapy as a new class of invention that fuses our understanding of information transmission in cells and medicine.

Information Therapy

• Information therapy fuses our understanding of information transmission in cells and medicine.

• Messenger RNA can be used to replace missing information in cells.

• Messenger RNA has been studied in a mouse model and was able to replace the missing protein that causes MMA.

• Clinical trials for messenger RNA therapy are expected to start soon.

Conclusion

In this section, the speaker concludes by talking about Jonathan, a patient she cared for 30 years ago who died due to an infection. She talks about how advancements in medicine could help diagnose diseases and create vaccines to wake up the immune system against cancer and fix missing information for children with diseases like Jonathan.

Conclusion

• The speaker cared for a patient named Jonathan 30 years ago who died due to an infection.

• Advancements in medicine could help diagnose diseases and create vaccines to wake up the immune system against cancer and fix missing information for children with diseases like Jonathan.