[Applause]
by a show of hands who in the audience
has been affected by cancer has been a
caregiver or knows someone who has
cancer Wow
like many of you I too have someone in
my life who’s been affected by cancer
back in 2013
my cousin Karthik received admission
into a top-flight research university in
Great Britain to obtain his PhD he was
so excited not knowing any friends or
family he got on a plane alone to embark
on the next step of his academic journey
within a few weeks of Karthik settling
in to his new life in Great Britain he
noticed some weakness in his right arm
and started having difficulties in
simple tasks such as brushing his teeth
and taking notes in class worried he
sought out medical advice and soon
enough the university physicians had
diagnosed him with cancer
I remember how devastated Karthik
sounded when he called to tell me the
bad news the only thing that crossed my
mind was what his younger brother was
feeling thinking about the possibility
of losing his hero and best friend all
alone 5,000 miles away from his family
in a country that he barely knew karthik
started his long fight against cancer
beginning with an aggressive round of
chemotherapy as karthik entered into his
long battle with cancer in Great Britain
I was then entering into a new phase of
my life the seventh grade you know
everyone has a favorite class and
favorite teacher in middle school and
for me that was mrs. Susan Hanbury and
seventh grade biology the
information-packed lectures and hands-on
experiments had for the first time
exposed me to the wonders of plant
science and botany at the ripe age of 11
this initial exposure opened my eyes to
the possibilities of nature and science
very quickly leading to an internship at
the Department of plant biotechnology at
Fort Valley State University I was only
less a shadow and
various experiments taking place during
my first year at the lab but my desire
to actually perform the experiments I
was seeing to do the things I was
observing led to an invitation to come
back the following year
it’s a pursuer research project of my
own the following year I conducted my
first official set of experiments in the
plant reproductive biology field oh boy
let me tell you that was a mess the
number of plants I killed the number of
glass beakers I broke and the number of
tools I misplaced anyway so during this
project I discovered why two medicinal
plants are going extinct in nature which
is actually a really fun project while
performing these experiments I also
learn numerous other skills and
techniques such as tissue culture
scanning electron microscopy southern
blotting and PCR and not to mention the
most crucial skills of picking up broken
glassware and disposing of dead plants I
thought I was the luckiest person on
this earth to have at my fingertips all
of this cutting-edge scientific
instrumentation throughout all of this
thoughts of Karthik’s battle with cancer
and great britain constantly hovered in
the back of my mind one of the plants I
worked with at the time was known as
Bukoba Maneri which is found all over
the world it’s killed as a weed and
regarded as a nuisance in many parts of
the globe but do you know what else is
regarded as a nuisance but as far
deadlier consequences glioblastoma
multiforme a also known as GBM now if
you’ve heard of this deadly form of
brain cancer it’s because the same
disease that is taking the lives of Beau
Biden former Vice President Joe Biden’s
son as well as former senator Ted
Kennedy GBM is also the same cancer that
current Senator John McCain has recently
been diagnosed with this disease does
not discriminate between the old and the
young or anywhere in between so let me
tell you a little bit more about GBM it
is the most aggressive and deadliest
form of cancer found in the brain
g.b.m patients have an average survival
time range from 7 to 15 months and
they’re very limited effective
treatments available imagine someone
being told by their doctor that they
have GBM and even with the best
treatments available they only have 15
months to live
imagine that long ride home telling
their parents telling their spouse
telling their kids now imagine that
there’s a plant out there a simple weed
that could potentially be used to treat
this lethal disease and that is exactly
where Bukoba Maneri comes back into play
how did I draw a relationship between
GBM and Bukoba the answer lies in my
plant research days at Fort Valley State
it was there that I learned about
terpenoids a group of organic compounds
found in the plants I was researching at
the lab many of these compounds have
been shown to have beneficial effects on
human ailments
for example numerous terpenoids have
been shown to have anti-cancer
properties on a host of various cancer
cell types specifically a terpenoid
known as back aside a has been shown to
be present in bukoba Maneri the plant
which i’ve been working with over the
past few years then it clicked so I had
to actually perform this experiment so
to do this I discussed an experimental
framework with my mentors and the
hypothesis I reached to was that since
mokuba Maneri contains terpenoids such
as back aside a and such terpenoids
have been shown in time anti-tumor
properties perhaps Bokova Maneri
could also exhibit anti-tumor properties
on GBM brain tumor cells to test the
experiment after discussing this
experimental framework with my mentors
at Fort Valley State and karmanís
Cancer Institute I developed a project
procedure the actual experimentation was
done in two major series of steps step
one was to actually produce a leaf
extract from Bukka women re at Fort
Valley State essentially I walked over
to the greenhouse harvested leaves from
the plants of Baca women re and produced
a crude leaf extract
step two was to actually apply this
extract on to the GBM brain tumor cells
now I couldn’t just a sprinkle some
bacopa powder onto some GBM cells rather
there was a complex application process
which involved culturing GBM cells
creating and diluting working solutions
of Bukoba applying diluted solutions of
bukoba onto GBM cells and finally
obtaining results three WS t1 tetras or
reduction assay microplate photometry
reading now I know that may have sounded
like quite the mouthful but in reality
there’s a logic with sequence of steps
that optimize applying such an extract
onto tumor cells during all of this
I had no foresight or expectations going
into the project and to be completely
honest with you the whole process was
extremely tiring
there are many long days and nights
spent with the full understanding that
all of this work could he owed no
results but on that sunny summer day on
that moment when I viewed the results of
the experiment under the plate reader
machine I saw that the extract of this
plant bacopa Maneri that nuisance weed
we kill all over the world actually
inhibited the proliferation of these
deadly GBM brain tumor cells
[Applause]
[Music]
this was a finding that has never before
been reported or published in previous
scientific literature I couldn’t believe
it I remember standing there in pure
disbelief staring at the computer screen
in front of me is this real am i
imagining this were the first two
thoughts to cross my mind and I had an
immediate urge to share this good news
with my research mentors and my family
so I picked up the phone and called my
dad yeah I know okay what sane teenager
actually calls and talks to their dad
anyway so I told my dad that it worked
and jumping up and down in sheer joy
calm down calm down what worked he asked
completely confused both by my words and
by the mere fact that I had called him
the extract the extract from the plant
bacopa Maneri I said it actually shrunk
and stopped the growth of these deadly
GBM brain tumor cells but I knew that
even though this news was truly exciting
there was only the first step of many
that would be needed to take this
initial research into clinical testing
this was only the beginning
although many more hours and tests in
the lab are needed I’m truly optimistic
that with further research but Koba
Maneri has a potential to be developed
into a novel treatment option targeting
GBM this brings me back to my cousin
Karthik he received conventional
chemotherapy for many months but I’m
happy to share that he successfully won
his battle and is now
a cancer survivor
like Bukoba there’s many other hidden
gifts out there in nature that we as a
human society can harness in order to
fight many of our diseases for example
we’ve already taken the willow tree and
produced a crucial everyday medication
known as aspirin or the foxglove plant
from which we produced digoxin a crucial
heart medication nature’s so graciously
offers a plethora of compounds that can
be used in treating our diseases and all
we have to do is look it’s truly
unbelievable how some of the things that
can be found in our own backyards things
that we disregard on a daily basis have
the power to change lives around the
world
and maybe just maybe one day deadly
diseases such as glioblastoma multiforme
a can be treated using a simple weed
like Paco Bowman re and as a mili a bar
a British novelist once said it is
always a simple that produces the
marvelous thank you
you
[Applause]
by a show of hands who in the audience
has been affected by cancer has been a
caregiver or knows someone who has
cancer Wow
like many of you I too have someone in
my life who’s been affected by cancer
back in 2013
my cousin Karthik received admission
into a top-flight research university in
Great Britain to obtain his PhD he was
so excited not knowing any friends or
family he got on a plane alone to embark
on the next step of his academic journey
within a few weeks of Karthik settling
in to his new life in Great Britain he
noticed some weakness in his right arm
and started having difficulties in
simple tasks such as brushing his teeth
and taking notes in class worried he
sought out medical advice and soon
enough the university physicians had
diagnosed him with cancer
I remember how devastated Karthik
sounded when he called to tell me the
bad news the only thing that crossed my
mind was what his younger brother was
feeling thinking about the possibility
of losing his hero and best friend all
alone 5,000 miles away from his family
in a country that he barely knew karthik
started his long fight against cancer
beginning with an aggressive round of
chemotherapy as karthik entered into his
long battle with cancer in Great Britain
I was then entering into a new phase of
my life the seventh grade you know
everyone has a favorite class and
favorite teacher in middle school and
for me that was mrs. Susan Hanbury and
seventh grade biology the
information-packed lectures and hands-on
experiments had for the first time
exposed me to the wonders of plant
science and botany at the ripe age of 11
this initial exposure opened my eyes to
the possibilities of nature and science
very quickly leading to an internship at
the Department of plant biotechnology at
Fort Valley State University I was only
less a shadow and
various experiments taking place during
my first year at the lab but my desire
to actually perform the experiments I
was seeing to do the things I was
observing led to an invitation to come
back the following year
it’s a pursuer research project of my
own the following year I conducted my
first official set of experiments in the
plant reproductive biology field oh boy
let me tell you that was a mess the
number of plants I killed the number of
glass beakers I broke and the number of
tools I misplaced anyway so during this
project I discovered why two medicinal
plants are going extinct in nature which
is actually a really fun project while
performing these experiments I also
learn numerous other skills and
techniques such as tissue culture
scanning electron microscopy southern
blotting and PCR and not to mention the
most crucial skills of picking up broken
glassware and disposing of dead plants I
thought I was the luckiest person on
this earth to have at my fingertips all
of this cutting-edge scientific
instrumentation throughout all of this
thoughts of Karthik’s battle with cancer
and great britain constantly hovered in
the back of my mind one of the plants I
worked with at the time was known as
Bukoba Maneri which is found all over
the world it’s killed as a weed and
regarded as a nuisance in many parts of
the globe but do you know what else is
regarded as a nuisance but as far
deadlier consequences glioblastoma
multiforme a also known as GBM now if
you’ve heard of this deadly form of
brain cancer it’s because the same
disease that is taking the lives of Beau
Biden former Vice President Joe Biden’s
son as well as former senator Ted
Kennedy GBM is also the same cancer that
current Senator John McCain has recently
been diagnosed with this disease does
not discriminate between the old and the
young or anywhere in between so let me
tell you a little bit more about GBM it
is the most aggressive and deadliest
form of cancer found in the brain
g.b.m patients have an average survival
time range from 7 to 15 months and
they’re very limited effective
treatments available imagine someone
being told by their doctor that they
have GBM and even with the best
treatments available they only have 15
months to live
imagine that long ride home telling
their parents telling their spouse
telling their kids now imagine that
there’s a plant out there a simple weed
that could potentially be used to treat
this lethal disease and that is exactly
where Bukoba Maneri comes back into play
how did I draw a relationship between
GBM and Bukoba the answer lies in my
plant research days at Fort Valley State
it was there that I learned about
terpenoids a group of organic compounds
found in the plants I was researching at
the lab many of these compounds have
been shown to have beneficial effects on
human ailments
for example numerous terpenoids have
been shown to have anti-cancer
properties on a host of various cancer
cell types specifically a terpenoid
known as back aside a has been shown to
be present in bukoba Maneri the plant
which i’ve been working with over the
past few years then it clicked so I had
to actually perform this experiment so
to do this I discussed an experimental
framework with my mentors and the
hypothesis I reached to was that since
mokuba Maneri contains terpenoids such
as back aside a and such terpenoids
have been shown in time anti-tumor
properties perhaps Bokova Maneri
could also exhibit anti-tumor properties
on GBM brain tumor cells to test the
experiment after discussing this
experimental framework with my mentors
at Fort Valley State and karmanís
Cancer Institute I developed a project
procedure the actual experimentation was
done in two major series of steps step
one was to actually produce a leaf
extract from Bukka women re at Fort
Valley State essentially I walked over
to the greenhouse harvested leaves from
the plants of Baca women re and produced
a crude leaf extract
step two was to actually apply this
extract on to the GBM brain tumor cells
now I couldn’t just a sprinkle some
bacopa powder onto some GBM cells rather
there was a complex application process
which involved culturing GBM cells
creating and diluting working solutions
of Bukoba applying diluted solutions of
bukoba onto GBM cells and finally
obtaining results three WS t1 tetras or
reduction assay microplate photometry
reading now I know that may have sounded
like quite the mouthful but in reality
there’s a logic with sequence of steps
that optimize applying such an extract
onto tumor cells during all of this
I had no foresight or expectations going
into the project and to be completely
honest with you the whole process was
extremely tiring
there are many long days and nights
spent with the full understanding that
all of this work could he owed no
results but on that sunny summer day on
that moment when I viewed the results of
the experiment under the plate reader
machine I saw that the extract of this
plant bacopa Maneri that nuisance weed
we kill all over the world actually
inhibited the proliferation of these
deadly GBM brain tumor cells
[Applause]
[Music]
this was a finding that has never before
been reported or published in previous
scientific literature I couldn’t believe
it I remember standing there in pure
disbelief staring at the computer screen
in front of me is this real am i
imagining this were the first two
thoughts to cross my mind and I had an
immediate urge to share this good news
with my research mentors and my family
so I picked up the phone and called my
dad yeah I know okay what sane teenager
actually calls and talks to their dad
anyway so I told my dad that it worked
and jumping up and down in sheer joy
calm down calm down what worked he asked
completely confused both by my words and
by the mere fact that I had called him
the extract the extract from the plant
bacopa Maneri I said it actually shrunk
and stopped the growth of these deadly
GBM brain tumor cells but I knew that
even though this news was truly exciting
there was only the first step of many
that would be needed to take this
initial research into clinical testing
this was only the beginning
although many more hours and tests in
the lab are needed I’m truly optimistic
that with further research but Koba
Maneri has a potential to be developed
into a novel treatment option targeting
GBM this brings me back to my cousin
Karthik he received conventional
chemotherapy for many months but I’m
happy to share that he successfully won
his battle and is now
a cancer survivor
like Bukoba there’s many other hidden
gifts out there in nature that we as a
human society can harness in order to
fight many of our diseases for example
we’ve already taken the willow tree and
produced a crucial everyday medication
known as aspirin or the foxglove plant
from which we produced digoxin a crucial
heart medication nature’s so graciously
offers a plethora of compounds that can
be used in treating our diseases and all
we have to do is look it’s truly
unbelievable how some of the things that
can be found in our own backyards things
that we disregard on a daily basis have
the power to change lives around the
world
and maybe just maybe one day deadly
diseases such as glioblastoma multiforme
a can be treated using a simple weed
like Paco Bowman re and as a mili a bar
a British novelist once said it is
always a simple that produces the
marvelous thank you
you
[Applause]
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