WEBVTT

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What if I told you

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I could read your DNA, your genetic
makeup, your "Book of Life?"

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Are you interested?

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I can give you a vast amount
of information about yourself

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that will help you live longer
and better lives.

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Isn't that wonderful?

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Do you want to?

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You don't want to?

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You are not sure?

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Well, you're probably right.

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It's complex.

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Let me explain.

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We are reaching a time


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when more and more people will have
easy access to their DNA.

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Just about 15 years ago,

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it cost the equivalent
of four jumbo jet airplanes

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to read the sequence of one human DNA
from beginning to end.

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Today, it costs around
a bicycle to read the DNA.

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And it takes about the time
to read your DNA

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the same time it'll take you to ride
your bicycle from home to work and back.

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Before you know it,

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it's going to cost like a cup of coffee,

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and it'll take the time to read your DNA

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the same time it'll take you
to drink the coffee.

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Isn't that amazing?

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We are reaching a time
which we call "DNA of Everything."

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We will be able to read the DNA
of everything around us.

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This is a new layer of information
we have never seen before.

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For example, you'll be able to read
the food you're eating

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in order to understand what it contains
and what it's composed of.

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I could read your DNA and figure out

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what you contain
and what you're composed of.

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You could use that to minimize
injuries and diseases.

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For example, imagine you want
to run a marathon,

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and besides the physiological test,

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what if I told you that I could look
at your genes and tell you

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whether your body can stand up
to this extreme stress?

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Wouldn't you want to know that?

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You can then take preventative measures,

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start treatment,

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or look at your genes and decide whether
you want to understand them or not.

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You can change your lifestyle.


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You can change the way you live

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in order to minimize the risks
for these diseases.

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Not only healthy individuals can benefit
from reading their DNA,

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reading your DNA can also assist
in solving complex medical puzzles.

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A few years ago,

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Nicholas Volker from Wisconsin suffered
from an inflamed intestine.

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He underwent more than 150 operations
in the first four years of his life.

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His doctors didn't know what
the cause of his sufferings is,

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but they decided that they wanted
to test a new technology,

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an unproven technology.

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This technology is DNA sequencing.

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They were able to locate
the exact mutation on his DNA,

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the change of his DNA
that probably explained

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much of his suffering
and his medical condition.

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And it also dictated a treatment:
bone marrow transplantation.

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A few weeks later,
Nic was out of the hospital.

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It was certain that DNA
sequencing saved Nic's life

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At Tel Aviv University,
the team that I lead,

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the genomic intelligence team,

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has been reading and sequencing hundreds
of individuals in the past few years.

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We scanned their DNA and we tried
to look for their change,

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the mutation that leads to many
of their severe conditions.

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They come to us with their physicians,

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and we look at their DNA,

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and we identify their exact mutation
that leads to their medical condition.

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We were able to find many
of these novel mutations,

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new mutations that explain
much of their suffering.

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This is the first critical step in
understanding what leads to their disease.

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And it's also a critical step in trying
to alleviate their suffering.

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Some of them also lead to cure
or treatment for these patients.

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So, reading your DNA is wonderful.

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It's terrific.

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We should all read our DNA.

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OK, who's coming up first?

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Many people asked me
if I have read my own DNA.

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And the truth is ... No.

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I haven't.

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Why?

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It's complex.

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I have a game I play with my children.

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We look up at the sky,
and we point at one of the clouds,

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and then we try to figure out
what form the cloud takes.

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Sometimes we see familiar faces;

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other times we see dragons or princesses.

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However, very rarely,
we see the same image

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even if we look at the same cloud.

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When I go back to the lab,
and I look at genetic information,

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sometimes I feel like I'm playing
the same guessing game

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I just played with my children.

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Sometimes, it looks like a dragon,

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and other times, it looks like a princess.

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It doesn't have a definite structure.

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What I mean is that even if
I find the mutation,

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I can't always say if it's good or bad.

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The answer is not straightforward,

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and sometimes it leads to confusion
and to greater uncertainty.

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Let's say, you came to me,
and you wanted to look at your genes.

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We are looking at the genomic cloud,

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and we are trying to define this cloud.

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If I look at your DNA,
while scanning for genes to see

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whether your body can stand up
to the extreme stress,

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maybe I can also see genes

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that are involved
in early cancer development,

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or Alzheimer's disease,

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or Parkinson's disease.

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Now, would you want to know that?

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The most challenging concern
when reading your DNA

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is once you read it, you can't go back.

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You can't erase this information.

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You can't unlearn.

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That's scary.

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What if this information
would get out there?

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It could be used against you.

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12 year-old Colman was expelled
from school in Palo Alto, California

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because he carried a mutation
that increased his risk for infections

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that jeopardized other children at school.

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He wasn't even sick.

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He was just carrying the mutation.

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Would we want to start
testing our politicians to see

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whether they'll suffer from a devastating
disease during their service period -

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you know, it might affect
their decision making.

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Will we start selecting
our lifetime partners based on DNA,

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and checking their loyalty in the DNA
before we get married?

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And after we get married,
what about the next generation?

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We all want perfect babies.

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What if the parents
of this child were told


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that their child will eventually
suffer from ALS?

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Or this child - if his parents were told


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that he will suffer
from severe hearing loss?

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Or what about this sweet child -

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if his parents were told
that at the age of 60

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he will suffer from
Parkinson-like symptoms?

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What would they have done?

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What would the world look like
without these and many other children?

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Will we shape our society
based on DNA sequencing?

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It has already begun.

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Abortions are on the rise
in the past few years

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in parallel to advance
in DNA sequencing technologies.

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Maybe - maybe if we gradually
look at the DNA,

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and not all at once,

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it would be easier
to digest this information.

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In the lab, we call it
responsible genomics:

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meaning giving the right person
the needed information at the right time,

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whether it be prenatal diagnosis,

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or predisposition to diabetes,

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or cardiovascular complication.

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We are scanning the DNA
and dividing it to discreet units,

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and evaluating the private parts
and the open parts.

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We are evaluating the risks versus
the benefits of exposing your DNA.

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We are ranking it, so people
can accept their DNA more readily.

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After we address these concerns,


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I think I will be ready to read my DNA.

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Reading your DNA gives you
great knowledge about yourself.

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Knowledge leads to power.

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And we all know that with great power
comes great responsibility.

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It will not take long before
someone knocks on your door

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and asks you whether you want
to read your DNA.

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What will you say?

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Thank you.

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(Applause)