50 years ago humanity began the war
against cancer when the war against
cancer began we were relying on
chemotherapy as the main treatment for
cancer now almost 50 years later we are
still relying on chemotherapy as the
main treatment for cancer what is going
on because we have spent billions of
dollars on cancer research and yet we
don’t seem to see the productive results
of this investment we are still relying
on chemotherapy radiotherapy and surgery
as the main treatment against cancer
despite spending all these billions of
dollars and despite all the many years
that have passed
so what is going on with Cancer Research
is it possible that we don’t want to
treat cancer that would be absurd is it
possible that we are approaching cancer
research the wrong way
luckily the number of cancer survivors
is on the rise but we still haven’t
wound the war against cancer
scientists are now working on the second
generation of cancer treatment once the
ones that are supposed to replace
chemotherapy radiotherapy and surgery in
fact two of these treatments were
approved last year one is called immune
therapy and the second one is called
gene therapy now immune therapy works
like this you take immune cells from a
cancer patient and these are called
t-cells you send them to a lab where
they are genetically engineered to fight
cancer and then you inject them into the
patient three months later and the
as exciting as it sounds many people and
many scientists believe that immune
therapy is the future of cancer
treatment but I don’t think so there are
three problems actually four problems
with this treatment the first problem is
that so far it only works against one
type of cancer which is called
lymphoblastic leukemia and we all know
that we have too many types of cancers
to deal with breast cancer brain cancer
the second problem with this treatment
is that it only works on people who are
younger than 25 years old and we all
know that cancer can strike at any age
the third problem actually with the two
treatments that were approved last year
is that they are extremely expensive the
cost of immunotherapy is four hundred
and seventy-five thousand dollars and
that’s not the telephone number of your
health insurance company actually that’s
the cost of treating only one patient
against only one type of cancer what is
it about cancer treatment that makes
them so expensive
why why do people have to sell an organ
to treat another it is a devastating
future that we are heading to unless we
do something so what we really need is a
cancer treatment that is efficient that
works for the long run and that is
available when you need it now the other
problem with these treatments is that by
the time they are cheap enough for you
to afford they won’t be efficient it’s
going to take many years before somebody
from the middle class can afford immune
therapy and by then it won’t be
efficient because cancer cells tomorrow
will not respond to the same treatment
the way they do today so we need
something that also works for the long
run now what if I told you that instead
of wasting four hundred and seventy five
thousand dollars on treating only one
patient against only one type of cancer
we could at the same cost prevent almost
the human body is equipped with the
natural defense mechanism which protects
us against cancer and it’s working in
your body right now it is called DNA
repair mechanism when DNA makes copies
of itself there are chances of errors
called mutations and these mutations can
be exhilarated when you expose yourself
to chemicals radiation when you adopt an
healthy lifestyle sometimes family
history and genetics they also play a
role but there are proteins that are
tasked with repairing these mutations as
soon as they happen and this is
happening in your cells right now so
what if there is a way by which we could
enhance the cell’s ability
to repair DNA at a maximum efficiency in
fact we could do that we know which
proteins are involved in DNA repair
mechanism and we know how to control
them with the help of gene editing
technique called CRISPR which you have
heard about in the news CRISPR is the
most precise gene editing technique ever
invented in human history and it is
proving to be very efficient so we could
use this technique to enhance the cell’s
ability to repair its DNA at all time at
all cost
but there is one problem if we want to
protect you against all types of cancers
then we have to make sure that your
entire body is genetically engineered
that every cell is programmed to resist
cancer but we can’t do it in adult
humans because your body consists of 37
trillion cells and that is impossible to
engineer in fact there isn’t any
technology or gene delivery technique
that can deliver genes to all this
massive number of cells but what if we
could do it with human embryos in state
why because human embryos have only
eight cells in the third day after
fertilization and we can manage in fact
we can engineer eight cells in human
embryos in fact we are already doing it
right now take a look at these
remarkable results scientists
genetically engineer human embryos they
manage to correct a mutation responsible
for a serious heart condition in human
embryos they also managed to treat a
condition responsible for a blood
disorder what’s more amazing also they
managed to introduce HIV resistance to
human embryos so technically speaking if
that embryos
if these embryos were allowed to develop
into adult humans then the chances of
getting HIV infection in these humans
are so slim they may never happen so if
we can do it with these diseases by
engineering human embryos and we can
also do it with cancer and it is called
embryonic cancer therapy which I believe
could be the ultimate cure for cancer
what’s beautiful about embryonic cancer
therapy is that we only have to engineer
eight cells in human embryos these
embryos will grow to become adult humans
with 37 trillion genetically engineered
cells and we only have to do it once
with one generation because future
generations
already by default get this genetic
change as we pass on so they will pass
it on to the next generation
what’s also beautiful about this
treatment is that it’s cost-efficient we
are already doing part of the treatment
you know about in vitro fertilization it
takes sperms eggs you fused them in the
lab you create embryos and you implant
them this is a procedure for people who
can’t conceive so it’s very much the
same procedure except that we are adding
one additional step which is genetic
engineering we are engineering the human
embryo before implantation and the cost
is really not so much for I mean in
comparison to four hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars the cost
of in vitro fertilization is not more
than fifteen thousand dollars in fact
you can get it cheaper in some countries
and the cost of genetically engineering
human embryos is also not more than ten
thousand in fact you can buy CRISPR kit
for one thousand and five hundred and
you can use it to engineer at least one
hundred embryos so think think of the
possibilities here yes maybe you know we
have to rely on vitro fertilization at
the beginning but eventually we will
find a way by which we could engineer
the embryos right in the spot inside the
now there are many ways by which we can
enhance human embryos to fight cancer we
can tweak molecular processes we have
great deal of knowledge about the
molecules that are involved with cancer
and we could manipulate them long before
birth we could also manipulate human
cells in a state of immune therapy after
birth we could do it before birth what’s
more fascinating is we could adopt
certain traits from other creatures now
you have heard of the tardigrades the
toughest animals on earth tardigrade
that they can survive in space radiation
in the vacuum of space they can survive
extreme radiation they can turn into
glass under dehydrated conditions but
what’s fascinating is that they can
survive extreme radiations which could
cause cancer in humans what scientists
did is that they studied what causes
this why are they protected against
radiation and they found the gene
responsible for that they took that gene
they added it to human cells now you
have a human cell but with the gene from
another creature they took these
engineered cells they expose them to UV
radiation and what happened the immune
cells were resistant to radiation they
gained 40 percent resistance so we could
acquire this trait we could add it to
human embryos which would definitely be
helpful against cancer and there are
many other creatures that have
incredible super-strength which we could
also add to the human genome now let’s
imagine a future where we have
eradicated cancer and it no longer
exists do you know how much money do we
spend on cancer medication in 2015 the
world spent 107 billion dollars on
cancer medication by 2020 it’s expected
to be 150
billion dollars and that is just on
cancer medication there are still
billions of dollars that are spent on
cancer research we are flooding a lot of
money into cancer research and we are
ignoring other diseases that are also as
important
Elsa hai MERS multiple sclerosis heart
failure spinal cord injuries and the
list goes on and on these diseases also
kill people they make them terminally
ill as well and if we just keep flooding
all the resources that we have into
cancer research then we are not hitting
into the right future so imagine a world
where we don’t have to spend that money
on cancer research anymore the cancer
has been eradicated everybody is born
with a built-in mechanism that protects
them against cancer we can now use that
money to study other diseases learn
about their genetics and in a few short
years we will use what we learn about
their genetics to apply the same
technique and treat them so this will be
our gate not only to treating cancer but
also other diseases so if we have the
knowledge and the technology to do
something as remarkable as this in what
is stopping us well there are a number
of challenges that we have to overcome
before we can make this a reality the
first challenge is bioethics as I said
we’re working with embryos here and most
of the countries now do not allow
research on human embryos beyond 14 days
so in the 14 days the human embryos are
destroyed they’re not allowed for
scientific research so how are we
supposed to understand the potential of
this treatment if we don’t be less
strict with the rules
the problem with bioethics is that the
rules that we put against scientific
research do not change Science and
Technology they continue to evolve
but the rules that we put 50 years ago
do not change we turn we don’t revisit
them and that is a big problem and this
is why I believe that the rule of 14
days on embryonic therapies should be
revisited we should discuss it more and
we should be less straight so we can
understand the potential of embryonic
treatment we will unlock and limited
potential of such treatment if we become
less strict with the rules the second
challenge is business interest and it’s
quite clear that cancer is a stable
source of income it’s a problem and as
long as the problem exists some people
will continue to profit from it and it
is those people who invest their money
in cancer research so why would they
invest it into the right area of
research that could eradicate cancer
once and for all so that is a big
problem business interests if we
eradicated cancer we’re going to destroy
many business interest for companies and
individuals a profit from the condition
but luckily part of the money that is
spent on cancer research also comes from
public funding government where do they
get their money from you the taxpayer
but if your money goes to cancer
research and we have control over that
so if we spend that money on new areas
of cancer research then we might be into
something any state of having the
monopoly of only focusing on the same
areas and as I say it almost 50 years we
haven’t seen remarkable progress the
last challenge is public awareness now
the problem with the society today is
that we keep our minds shut were not
open minded when it comes to a new
we just don’t accept it even if we
haven’t learned a great deal about it
even if we didn’t educate ourselves and
that is a big problem you have seen in
online forums the rise of ignorant
comments and people who are objecting
scientific knowledge rise of Technology
simply because they don’t understand it
simply because they don’t learn about it
or maybe we’re not doing a good job of
educating in educating them so it’s very
important for people to keep open minds
towards technology and signs learn more
about these available options before
saying yes or no
and it is your responsibility since you
know about this now to bring this
discussion to other people who don’t
know about it more people will know we
can influence the decision makers to
break the rule of 14 days so scientists
can now study embryos we can unlock the
potential of embryonic treatments
the applications of science are endless
and the possibilities are limitless and
the choice is only ours now either to
keep cancer as a friend by embracing
ignorance and greed or defeat our enemy
once and for all by embracing
selflessness and rational thinking thank
you
[Applause]
[Music] [Applause]
against cancer when the war against
cancer began we were relying on
chemotherapy as the main treatment for
cancer now almost 50 years later we are
still relying on chemotherapy as the
main treatment for cancer what is going
on because we have spent billions of
dollars on cancer research and yet we
don’t seem to see the productive results
of this investment we are still relying
on chemotherapy radiotherapy and surgery
as the main treatment against cancer
despite spending all these billions of
dollars and despite all the many years
that have passed
so what is going on with Cancer Research
is it possible that we don’t want to
treat cancer that would be absurd is it
possible that we are approaching cancer
research the wrong way
luckily the number of cancer survivors
is on the rise but we still haven’t
wound the war against cancer
scientists are now working on the second
generation of cancer treatment once the
ones that are supposed to replace
chemotherapy radiotherapy and surgery in
fact two of these treatments were
approved last year one is called immune
therapy and the second one is called
gene therapy now immune therapy works
like this you take immune cells from a
cancer patient and these are called
t-cells you send them to a lab where
they are genetically engineered to fight
cancer and then you inject them into the
patient three months later and the
as exciting as it sounds many people and
many scientists believe that immune
therapy is the future of cancer
treatment but I don’t think so there are
three problems actually four problems
with this treatment the first problem is
that so far it only works against one
type of cancer which is called
lymphoblastic leukemia and we all know
that we have too many types of cancers
to deal with breast cancer brain cancer
the second problem with this treatment
is that it only works on people who are
younger than 25 years old and we all
know that cancer can strike at any age
the third problem actually with the two
treatments that were approved last year
is that they are extremely expensive the
cost of immunotherapy is four hundred
and seventy-five thousand dollars and
that’s not the telephone number of your
health insurance company actually that’s
the cost of treating only one patient
against only one type of cancer what is
it about cancer treatment that makes
them so expensive
why why do people have to sell an organ
to treat another it is a devastating
future that we are heading to unless we
do something so what we really need is a
cancer treatment that is efficient that
works for the long run and that is
available when you need it now the other
problem with these treatments is that by
the time they are cheap enough for you
to afford they won’t be efficient it’s
going to take many years before somebody
from the middle class can afford immune
therapy and by then it won’t be
efficient because cancer cells tomorrow
will not respond to the same treatment
the way they do today so we need
something that also works for the long
run now what if I told you that instead
of wasting four hundred and seventy five
thousand dollars on treating only one
patient against only one type of cancer
we could at the same cost prevent almost
the human body is equipped with the
natural defense mechanism which protects
us against cancer and it’s working in
your body right now it is called DNA
repair mechanism when DNA makes copies
of itself there are chances of errors
called mutations and these mutations can
be exhilarated when you expose yourself
to chemicals radiation when you adopt an
healthy lifestyle sometimes family
history and genetics they also play a
role but there are proteins that are
tasked with repairing these mutations as
soon as they happen and this is
happening in your cells right now so
what if there is a way by which we could
enhance the cell’s ability
to repair DNA at a maximum efficiency in
fact we could do that we know which
proteins are involved in DNA repair
mechanism and we know how to control
them with the help of gene editing
technique called CRISPR which you have
heard about in the news CRISPR is the
most precise gene editing technique ever
invented in human history and it is
proving to be very efficient so we could
use this technique to enhance the cell’s
ability to repair its DNA at all time at
all cost
but there is one problem if we want to
protect you against all types of cancers
then we have to make sure that your
entire body is genetically engineered
that every cell is programmed to resist
cancer but we can’t do it in adult
humans because your body consists of 37
trillion cells and that is impossible to
engineer in fact there isn’t any
technology or gene delivery technique
that can deliver genes to all this
massive number of cells but what if we
could do it with human embryos in state
why because human embryos have only
eight cells in the third day after
fertilization and we can manage in fact
we can engineer eight cells in human
embryos in fact we are already doing it
right now take a look at these
remarkable results scientists
genetically engineer human embryos they
manage to correct a mutation responsible
for a serious heart condition in human
embryos they also managed to treat a
condition responsible for a blood
disorder what’s more amazing also they
managed to introduce HIV resistance to
human embryos so technically speaking if
that embryos
if these embryos were allowed to develop
into adult humans then the chances of
getting HIV infection in these humans
are so slim they may never happen so if
we can do it with these diseases by
engineering human embryos and we can
also do it with cancer and it is called
embryonic cancer therapy which I believe
could be the ultimate cure for cancer
what’s beautiful about embryonic cancer
therapy is that we only have to engineer
eight cells in human embryos these
embryos will grow to become adult humans
with 37 trillion genetically engineered
cells and we only have to do it once
with one generation because future
generations
already by default get this genetic
change as we pass on so they will pass
it on to the next generation
what’s also beautiful about this
treatment is that it’s cost-efficient we
are already doing part of the treatment
you know about in vitro fertilization it
takes sperms eggs you fused them in the
lab you create embryos and you implant
them this is a procedure for people who
can’t conceive so it’s very much the
same procedure except that we are adding
one additional step which is genetic
engineering we are engineering the human
embryo before implantation and the cost
is really not so much for I mean in
comparison to four hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars the cost
of in vitro fertilization is not more
than fifteen thousand dollars in fact
you can get it cheaper in some countries
and the cost of genetically engineering
human embryos is also not more than ten
thousand in fact you can buy CRISPR kit
for one thousand and five hundred and
you can use it to engineer at least one
hundred embryos so think think of the
possibilities here yes maybe you know we
have to rely on vitro fertilization at
the beginning but eventually we will
find a way by which we could engineer
the embryos right in the spot inside the
now there are many ways by which we can
enhance human embryos to fight cancer we
can tweak molecular processes we have
great deal of knowledge about the
molecules that are involved with cancer
and we could manipulate them long before
birth we could also manipulate human
cells in a state of immune therapy after
birth we could do it before birth what’s
more fascinating is we could adopt
certain traits from other creatures now
you have heard of the tardigrades the
toughest animals on earth tardigrade
that they can survive in space radiation
in the vacuum of space they can survive
extreme radiation they can turn into
glass under dehydrated conditions but
what’s fascinating is that they can
survive extreme radiations which could
cause cancer in humans what scientists
did is that they studied what causes
this why are they protected against
radiation and they found the gene
responsible for that they took that gene
they added it to human cells now you
have a human cell but with the gene from
another creature they took these
engineered cells they expose them to UV
radiation and what happened the immune
cells were resistant to radiation they
gained 40 percent resistance so we could
acquire this trait we could add it to
human embryos which would definitely be
helpful against cancer and there are
many other creatures that have
incredible super-strength which we could
also add to the human genome now let’s
imagine a future where we have
eradicated cancer and it no longer
exists do you know how much money do we
spend on cancer medication in 2015 the
world spent 107 billion dollars on
cancer medication by 2020 it’s expected
to be 150
billion dollars and that is just on
cancer medication there are still
billions of dollars that are spent on
cancer research we are flooding a lot of
money into cancer research and we are
ignoring other diseases that are also as
important
Elsa hai MERS multiple sclerosis heart
failure spinal cord injuries and the
list goes on and on these diseases also
kill people they make them terminally
ill as well and if we just keep flooding
all the resources that we have into
cancer research then we are not hitting
into the right future so imagine a world
where we don’t have to spend that money
on cancer research anymore the cancer
has been eradicated everybody is born
with a built-in mechanism that protects
them against cancer we can now use that
money to study other diseases learn
about their genetics and in a few short
years we will use what we learn about
their genetics to apply the same
technique and treat them so this will be
our gate not only to treating cancer but
also other diseases so if we have the
knowledge and the technology to do
something as remarkable as this in what
is stopping us well there are a number
of challenges that we have to overcome
before we can make this a reality the
first challenge is bioethics as I said
we’re working with embryos here and most
of the countries now do not allow
research on human embryos beyond 14 days
so in the 14 days the human embryos are
destroyed they’re not allowed for
scientific research so how are we
supposed to understand the potential of
this treatment if we don’t be less
strict with the rules
the problem with bioethics is that the
rules that we put against scientific
research do not change Science and
Technology they continue to evolve
but the rules that we put 50 years ago
do not change we turn we don’t revisit
them and that is a big problem and this
is why I believe that the rule of 14
days on embryonic therapies should be
revisited we should discuss it more and
we should be less straight so we can
understand the potential of embryonic
treatment we will unlock and limited
potential of such treatment if we become
less strict with the rules the second
challenge is business interest and it’s
quite clear that cancer is a stable
source of income it’s a problem and as
long as the problem exists some people
will continue to profit from it and it
is those people who invest their money
in cancer research so why would they
invest it into the right area of
research that could eradicate cancer
once and for all so that is a big
problem business interests if we
eradicated cancer we’re going to destroy
many business interest for companies and
individuals a profit from the condition
but luckily part of the money that is
spent on cancer research also comes from
public funding government where do they
get their money from you the taxpayer
but if your money goes to cancer
research and we have control over that
so if we spend that money on new areas
of cancer research then we might be into
something any state of having the
monopoly of only focusing on the same
areas and as I say it almost 50 years we
haven’t seen remarkable progress the
last challenge is public awareness now
the problem with the society today is
that we keep our minds shut were not
open minded when it comes to a new
we just don’t accept it even if we
haven’t learned a great deal about it
even if we didn’t educate ourselves and
that is a big problem you have seen in
online forums the rise of ignorant
comments and people who are objecting
scientific knowledge rise of Technology
simply because they don’t understand it
simply because they don’t learn about it
or maybe we’re not doing a good job of
educating in educating them so it’s very
important for people to keep open minds
towards technology and signs learn more
about these available options before
saying yes or no
and it is your responsibility since you
know about this now to bring this
discussion to other people who don’t
know about it more people will know we
can influence the decision makers to
break the rule of 14 days so scientists
can now study embryos we can unlock the
potential of embryonic treatments
the applications of science are endless
and the possibilities are limitless and
the choice is only ours now either to
keep cancer as a friend by embracing
ignorance and greed or defeat our enemy
once and for all by embracing
selflessness and rational thinking thank
you
[Applause]
[Music] [Applause]
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