2
[Music]
Hello, good afternoon, how are you?
it’s a pleasure for me to be here today with
you and share them on two of my
greatest passions the microbes and the
ants transmitting the message that
when one works on what we
passionate it’s easier to give the extra mile
let’s say the extra mile is how we
we integrate high-level teams and it’s
in that way as we overcome the
difficulties to do science
of high level in costa rica and
we maximize our advantages like that
wonderful biodiversity with which
we count the ones we started with the microbes
you see that word probably
think of something piggy in something that
sick I do not think about good beer
my bread also other things that give us
the microbes I also think about health in
welfare in balance because the
microbes are part of us we have
microbes practically in all
few exceptions like the brain just
in your intestine
imagine yourself alone in your gut there is more
bacteria that humans on the
Earth
Remember that when you feel lonely
you are the planet for your
bacteria this knowledge is
relatively new and it’s because I already
we can study all the microbes that
they live in an environment we call that
the microbiome and we study them from
of your DNA it turns out that the advances
technological innovations have made the
cost of sequencing the DNA to give them
a perspective when I started my
mastery in 2001 sequencing the genome
of a bacterium cost 15 thousand dollars and
a company could charge you up to 100
thousand dollars today they charge us 100
dollars because the real cost is 5
cents is to say that if here
in costa rica there would be a center
high level genomics where we could
Doing this at cost would be more expensive
travel from San Pedro to San Jose by bus
that sequence the genome of a bacterium
we generate many opportunities
it’s not that there are no bad microbes still
having very bad microbes can you
kill but like people there are people
bad that can kill you most are
good majority of microbes are
good and this is not just our kind
that’s a rule in nature and that
The next ants take me passion
they can also be affected by microbes
bad indeed a microbe so bad that
turns them into zombies since I do not
make believe that story I brought them
[Music]
that happens to the bullet ants that are
very large ants very common in
our forests it turns out that this fungus
a bad fungus makes some spores penetrate
where the ant breathes and once
that invades the body starts to
expand the infection until you reach
control the brain produces substances
who take control of the nervous system
central and the ant becomes
zombie
he leaves the colony abandons his
sisters and you start to climb a tree and
there it goes up like a zombie is a
can not control anymore goes to
look for a branch well up and in that
branch like a zombie let’s see and die and
once it dies something else happens
world the parasitic fungus starts to come out
of the ant’s head are and that’s what
do then from up there
from the branch where the zombie died
more spores and infect more ants
they are probably scared and says
my god, that fungus can infect me
me the only reported case is in the
last of os a playstation game nothing
plus
freelance
now those ants can not go to the
pharmacy how do you protect yourself from that
parasite our hypothesis is that it
protect through beneficial bacteria
then we go to the forest we look for the
bullet ants and we get those
bacteria in fact that was the job of
thesis of bernal matarrita a
station-based researcher
biological the jungle to do this
bernal work had to isolate the fungus
that makes zombie ants that’s what
It took more than six months for them to see that
science as in life the
perseverance pays and once we had
to the fungus that makes them zombie that grows
as well as a brown fluffy substance
we can do good things we do in
those essays we look for those of
inhibition see that circle where the
coffee growth can not penetrate the
the center of the circle is the bacterium
charitable as a little white circle that
fungus can not grow because the bacteria
beneficial of the ant is generating
antibiotics that control it
then doing this kind of good
sayos we can discover new
antibiotics which is a need for
our society on the one hand every time
there are more resistant bacteria and on the other
side every time we discover less
antibiotics traditional sources
as the ground seem to be exhausted there
is where we say we look in
the ants swims our ants
favorites are the few
probably you have seen the
big mounds or those rows
endless of ants hauling
leaves but we do not know very few we know
what happens what happens under the
land thanks to researchers from the
University of Sao Paulo in Brazil
they went to one of these mega anthills and
they put liquid cement for 3 days 10
tons to see how that was under
of the earth after three months of
excavation can you see the
magnitude of what a toad is but look
to the curtains that gives us the scale
human a toad but so can have
five million or more ants
that is, there are more individuals in a field
but what about people in costa rica
what happens if we get closer let’s see
what is a series of connected caves
by tunnels in those tunnels the ants
grow a fungus say the leaves are not
to eat them is to grow a mushroom
they are ants farmers cultivate their
own food
but just as it happens to us with
corn and beans are parasites the
food of the ants also has a
parasite is another mushroom called Scope
sis and destroys the food of
ants
to protect yourself from that parasite guess
what beneficial bacteria in some cases
the ant completely covers the
beneficial bacteria and it looks like a
Little sheep like that we see in the picture
the bacterium is able to sample the saw
test to inhibit the parasite fungus is
so important the bacterium for the
ant that have developed some
glands is to say a way to
feed your friend microbe
if we grab those ants
we can see those glands and we can
recover the bacteria and study it in the
lab and see what antibiotics
produces using that strategy with some
ants that are relatives of the are
potatoes of the biological station the jungle
we managed to describe a new antibiotic
due to its origin it was called jungle
medicine the jungle medicine serves to
treat a bad fungus that affects us
us that is called candida is a
fungus that causes very annoying infections
especially in young children and people who
they have problems in their defenses what
special jungle medicine is that it
it looks like the best antibiotics
there are in the market but bacteria from
the ants that live in our
forests used a genetic trick to
put an extra piece that extra piece
I show it to you and in a circle that piece
of extra I know it’s the boom and it’s more
soluble if it’s more light means you
that can travel better in the blood and
then you can eliminate it better is to say
has the potential to be better
antibiotic than anyone in the market
currently in this investigation that
did in collaboration with the university
from wisconsin the harvard university
we have a patent that we share the
three institutions is in phase
preclinical and if it ever reaches the
market part of those profits come back
to costa rica to be reinvested in
education and conservation of
biodiversity so that we can
keep studying these stories so
interesting that there are more details these
ants not only use antibiotics
naturals also use fertilizers
natural have developed a
association with fixing bacteria
nitrogen from the air and make it
a chemical form that ants
you can use if that sounds familiar to you is
what we do in our
agriculture when we want to improve the
soil quality beans sow the
bean has bacteria that take the
nitrogen from the air and deposit it in the
soil improving health
likewise the bacteria forgive the
ants in their agriculture explode
these beneficial bacteria this was the
research for which I was granted
the national prize
then the ants have really
done a lot for me but what can they do
for you
If you do not believe me, believe in the bible
proverbs 66 look at the ant and
acquire wisdom let’s look at the are
few who first do nothing
in his own food all the
functions of the colony are made
so that the mushroom the food grows happy
they work continuously that is to say they do
a lot of physical exercise but also
they have rest periods very well
established is that ladies and gentlemen
that is the key if we care about
what we eat we have a diet
balanced mostly with fiber and
vegetables if we exercise
regularly and if we sleep well is the
best strategy to take care not only to
our own cells but also
to take care of our microbes another
great lesson
we use these antibiotics well
ants have been using antibiotics for 50 years
millions of years
we as humanity began to use
antibiotics in the forties not
We have not been 100 years and there are already many
what is the key in the
ants only use antibiotics
when it is strictly necessary
every time we as humans
we take an antibiotic the risk is created
that resistant bacteria appear and
also our microbes never go
to return to be the same as Think
well and for me without a doubt the lesson more
important of the are potatoes is to work
well as a team not only with the people who
surrounds us but also with microbes
for me it’s a pride to be part of a
work team which I show you here
at the University of Costa Rica
I take this opportunity to thank my
students and collaborators and also
to thank the sources of
financing for our
Science Ministry investigations and
technology to the national council of
guiding the support that the web gives us for
our field work an ally
wonderful in conservation of the
biodiversity and in passing I tell you that
we have a place called are potatoes
dotcom to visit it is no joke
it’s not joke really there
and good if they were as they say chopped
with the subject of the microbiome there is a
gigantic citizen science project
at the University of California San
diego where you can write them
american ghost dog
org and they send you a kit
samples to take their own
sample or that of your splint and request to
your pets then return it to the
university with a small donation
they are going to analyze their data and they are going
to tell how their bacteria are how they
compare with the rest of the population and
what recommendations could you have for
improve those microbes that live with
you although this type of project still
is not available in costa rica if
we dream that we may soon have
similar initiatives in our country and
is that assume the microbiome issue
promote our beneficial microbes is
essential to preserve health
nowadays they are considered more microbe
as an organ can weigh up to five
pounds
and it has more genes 200 times more than
our own organism
so if the microbiome is an organ
of the body is the only organ whose
genetic composition we can change with
good habits eat well do
exercise and sleep well so with that
I say goodbye, I hope you can sleep
well and dream about the little angels
chiquiticos that are the microbes that
they always take care of us thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
Hello, good afternoon, how are you?
it’s a pleasure for me to be here today with
you and share them on two of my
greatest passions the microbes and the
ants transmitting the message that
when one works on what we
passionate it’s easier to give the extra mile
let’s say the extra mile is how we
we integrate high-level teams and it’s
in that way as we overcome the
difficulties to do science
of high level in costa rica and
we maximize our advantages like that
wonderful biodiversity with which
we count the ones we started with the microbes
you see that word probably
think of something piggy in something that
sick I do not think about good beer
my bread also other things that give us
the microbes I also think about health in
welfare in balance because the
microbes are part of us we have
microbes practically in all
few exceptions like the brain just
in your intestine
imagine yourself alone in your gut there is more
bacteria that humans on the
Earth
Remember that when you feel lonely
you are the planet for your
bacteria this knowledge is
relatively new and it’s because I already
we can study all the microbes that
they live in an environment we call that
the microbiome and we study them from
of your DNA it turns out that the advances
technological innovations have made the
cost of sequencing the DNA to give them
a perspective when I started my
mastery in 2001 sequencing the genome
of a bacterium cost 15 thousand dollars and
a company could charge you up to 100
thousand dollars today they charge us 100
dollars because the real cost is 5
cents is to say that if here
in costa rica there would be a center
high level genomics where we could
Doing this at cost would be more expensive
travel from San Pedro to San Jose by bus
that sequence the genome of a bacterium
we generate many opportunities
it’s not that there are no bad microbes still
having very bad microbes can you
kill but like people there are people
bad that can kill you most are
good majority of microbes are
good and this is not just our kind
that’s a rule in nature and that
The next ants take me passion
they can also be affected by microbes
bad indeed a microbe so bad that
turns them into zombies since I do not
make believe that story I brought them
[Music]
that happens to the bullet ants that are
very large ants very common in
our forests it turns out that this fungus
a bad fungus makes some spores penetrate
where the ant breathes and once
that invades the body starts to
expand the infection until you reach
control the brain produces substances
who take control of the nervous system
central and the ant becomes
zombie
he leaves the colony abandons his
sisters and you start to climb a tree and
there it goes up like a zombie is a
can not control anymore goes to
look for a branch well up and in that
branch like a zombie let’s see and die and
once it dies something else happens
world the parasitic fungus starts to come out
of the ant’s head are and that’s what
do then from up there
from the branch where the zombie died
more spores and infect more ants
they are probably scared and says
my god, that fungus can infect me
me the only reported case is in the
last of os a playstation game nothing
plus
freelance
now those ants can not go to the
pharmacy how do you protect yourself from that
parasite our hypothesis is that it
protect through beneficial bacteria
then we go to the forest we look for the
bullet ants and we get those
bacteria in fact that was the job of
thesis of bernal matarrita a
station-based researcher
biological the jungle to do this
bernal work had to isolate the fungus
that makes zombie ants that’s what
It took more than six months for them to see that
science as in life the
perseverance pays and once we had
to the fungus that makes them zombie that grows
as well as a brown fluffy substance
we can do good things we do in
those essays we look for those of
inhibition see that circle where the
coffee growth can not penetrate the
the center of the circle is the bacterium
charitable as a little white circle that
fungus can not grow because the bacteria
beneficial of the ant is generating
antibiotics that control it
then doing this kind of good
sayos we can discover new
antibiotics which is a need for
our society on the one hand every time
there are more resistant bacteria and on the other
side every time we discover less
antibiotics traditional sources
as the ground seem to be exhausted there
is where we say we look in
the ants swims our ants
favorites are the few
probably you have seen the
big mounds or those rows
endless of ants hauling
leaves but we do not know very few we know
what happens what happens under the
land thanks to researchers from the
University of Sao Paulo in Brazil
they went to one of these mega anthills and
they put liquid cement for 3 days 10
tons to see how that was under
of the earth after three months of
excavation can you see the
magnitude of what a toad is but look
to the curtains that gives us the scale
human a toad but so can have
five million or more ants
that is, there are more individuals in a field
but what about people in costa rica
what happens if we get closer let’s see
what is a series of connected caves
by tunnels in those tunnels the ants
grow a fungus say the leaves are not
to eat them is to grow a mushroom
they are ants farmers cultivate their
own food
but just as it happens to us with
corn and beans are parasites the
food of the ants also has a
parasite is another mushroom called Scope
sis and destroys the food of
ants
to protect yourself from that parasite guess
what beneficial bacteria in some cases
the ant completely covers the
beneficial bacteria and it looks like a
Little sheep like that we see in the picture
the bacterium is able to sample the saw
test to inhibit the parasite fungus is
so important the bacterium for the
ant that have developed some
glands is to say a way to
feed your friend microbe
if we grab those ants
we can see those glands and we can
recover the bacteria and study it in the
lab and see what antibiotics
produces using that strategy with some
ants that are relatives of the are
potatoes of the biological station the jungle
we managed to describe a new antibiotic
due to its origin it was called jungle
medicine the jungle medicine serves to
treat a bad fungus that affects us
us that is called candida is a
fungus that causes very annoying infections
especially in young children and people who
they have problems in their defenses what
special jungle medicine is that it
it looks like the best antibiotics
there are in the market but bacteria from
the ants that live in our
forests used a genetic trick to
put an extra piece that extra piece
I show it to you and in a circle that piece
of extra I know it’s the boom and it’s more
soluble if it’s more light means you
that can travel better in the blood and
then you can eliminate it better is to say
has the potential to be better
antibiotic than anyone in the market
currently in this investigation that
did in collaboration with the university
from wisconsin the harvard university
we have a patent that we share the
three institutions is in phase
preclinical and if it ever reaches the
market part of those profits come back
to costa rica to be reinvested in
education and conservation of
biodiversity so that we can
keep studying these stories so
interesting that there are more details these
ants not only use antibiotics
naturals also use fertilizers
natural have developed a
association with fixing bacteria
nitrogen from the air and make it
a chemical form that ants
you can use if that sounds familiar to you is
what we do in our
agriculture when we want to improve the
soil quality beans sow the
bean has bacteria that take the
nitrogen from the air and deposit it in the
soil improving health
likewise the bacteria forgive the
ants in their agriculture explode
these beneficial bacteria this was the
research for which I was granted
the national prize
then the ants have really
done a lot for me but what can they do
for you
If you do not believe me, believe in the bible
proverbs 66 look at the ant and
acquire wisdom let’s look at the are
few who first do nothing
in his own food all the
functions of the colony are made
so that the mushroom the food grows happy
they work continuously that is to say they do
a lot of physical exercise but also
they have rest periods very well
established is that ladies and gentlemen
that is the key if we care about
what we eat we have a diet
balanced mostly with fiber and
vegetables if we exercise
regularly and if we sleep well is the
best strategy to take care not only to
our own cells but also
to take care of our microbes another
great lesson
we use these antibiotics well
ants have been using antibiotics for 50 years
millions of years
we as humanity began to use
antibiotics in the forties not
We have not been 100 years and there are already many
what is the key in the
ants only use antibiotics
when it is strictly necessary
every time we as humans
we take an antibiotic the risk is created
that resistant bacteria appear and
also our microbes never go
to return to be the same as Think
well and for me without a doubt the lesson more
important of the are potatoes is to work
well as a team not only with the people who
surrounds us but also with microbes
for me it’s a pride to be part of a
work team which I show you here
at the University of Costa Rica
I take this opportunity to thank my
students and collaborators and also
to thank the sources of
financing for our
Science Ministry investigations and
technology to the national council of
guiding the support that the web gives us for
our field work an ally
wonderful in conservation of the
biodiversity and in passing I tell you that
we have a place called are potatoes
dotcom to visit it is no joke
it’s not joke really there
and good if they were as they say chopped
with the subject of the microbiome there is a
gigantic citizen science project
at the University of California San
diego where you can write them
american ghost dog
org and they send you a kit
samples to take their own
sample or that of your splint and request to
your pets then return it to the
university with a small donation
they are going to analyze their data and they are going
to tell how their bacteria are how they
compare with the rest of the population and
what recommendations could you have for
improve those microbes that live with
you although this type of project still
is not available in costa rica if
we dream that we may soon have
similar initiatives in our country and
is that assume the microbiome issue
promote our beneficial microbes is
essential to preserve health
nowadays they are considered more microbe
as an organ can weigh up to five
pounds
and it has more genes 200 times more than
our own organism
so if the microbiome is an organ
of the body is the only organ whose
genetic composition we can change with
good habits eat well do
exercise and sleep well so with that
I say goodbye, I hope you can sleep
well and dream about the little angels
chiquiticos that are the microbes that
they always take care of us thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
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