WEBVTT

00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:12.073
When I was a boy,
I used to love playing with Legos

00:00:12.791 --> 00:00:15.054
It was something I was truly fond of.

00:00:15.089 --> 00:00:19.378
I remember I had a box
with a castle drawn on it

00:00:19.378 --> 00:00:22.578
and obviously, it came
with the instructions to build that castle

00:00:22.578 --> 00:00:25.300
and I liked taking those blocks

00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:27.260
to build something completely different,

00:00:27.260 --> 00:00:29.490
that had nothing to do with a castle.

00:00:30.080 --> 00:00:31.861
That's what I loved most about Legos,

00:00:31.896 --> 00:00:35.123
the creative freedom they gave me.

00:00:35.123 --> 00:00:38.409
Of course, at some point,
I stopped playing with Legos,

00:00:38.409 --> 00:00:40.984
I finished Elementary School,
then High School

00:00:40.984 --> 00:00:42.987
and I was lucky enough to get into College

00:00:43.022 --> 00:00:46.693
and studied Computer Sciences, here,
at Buenos Aires University.

00:00:46.693 --> 00:00:50.155
I found in programming
that same creative freedom

00:00:50.190 --> 00:00:53.340
I had with Legos when I was a boy.

00:00:53.765 --> 00:00:58.440
To me, programming has to do
with taking code blocks,

00:00:58.440 --> 00:01:02.045
pieces of code that already exist,
assemble them, combine them

00:01:02.080 --> 00:01:05.675
to build completely new software
with a new function.

00:01:06.210 --> 00:01:11.008
Two years ago,
during my last days as a student,

00:01:11.008 --> 00:01:15.618
so to speak, I came across
a different kind of block

00:01:15.653 --> 00:01:19.115
that made me feel again
that same creative freedom

00:01:19.150 --> 00:01:22.094
as those Legos did when I was little.

00:01:22.129 --> 00:01:24.779
Two years ago, I discovered
Synthetic Biology

00:01:24.779 --> 00:01:28.379
and came across bioblocks,
also called "biobricks"

00:01:28.379 --> 00:01:31.981
for the first time in my life.

00:01:32.016 --> 00:01:36.304
A biobrick is not made out
of plastic or code.

00:01:36.339 --> 00:01:42.239
A biobrick is made out of DNA,
one of life's essential molecules.

00:01:42.274 --> 00:01:47.213
DNA is the molecule that holds
all the genetic data of a living being.

00:01:47.248 --> 00:01:50.763
A biobrick is a tiny piece of DNA,

00:01:50.798 --> 00:01:52.465
a portion of DNA

00:01:52.465 --> 00:01:57.932
that codes or captures
a basic biological function.

00:01:59.192 --> 00:02:03.651
As, for example, the ability
that fireflies have to produce light,

00:02:03.651 --> 00:02:06.202
or the capacity that many plants
and animals have

00:02:06.202 --> 00:02:09.326
to emanate certain
odors or irradiate certain colors

00:02:09.326 --> 00:02:11.643
or the ability that certain microorganisms

00:02:11.643 --> 00:02:14.360
have to degrade sustances and materials.

00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:18.360
What's interesting and potentially useful
about biobricks

00:02:18.395 --> 00:02:21.271
is that just like with Legos,

00:02:21.271 --> 00:02:25.283
we can assemble and combine them
in many different ways

00:02:25.283 --> 00:02:30.505
in order to build new organisms
that don't exist in nature,

00:02:30.505 --> 00:02:33.403
with completely new capabilities.

00:02:34.128 --> 00:02:37.363
When you start to play
with these biobricks,

00:02:37.398 --> 00:02:40.262
really crazy stuff can happen!

00:02:40.297 --> 00:02:46.960
For instance, light sensitive
photographic film,

00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:50.892
but made out of bacterias
instead of chemicals.

00:02:50.897 --> 00:02:53.028
So, it's film that's actually alive!

00:02:53.063 --> 00:02:57.112
Some have built microorganisms
with biobricks

00:02:57.147 --> 00:02:58.854
able to generate light.

00:02:58.854 --> 00:03:01.376
Just like fireflies,
but they're not fireflies

00:03:01.376 --> 00:03:05.528
they're bacteria that only need a couple
of nutrients in the water they live in

00:03:05.528 --> 00:03:07.903
to produce light.

00:03:07.903 --> 00:03:10.794
Some people, using biobricks,
have even developed

00:03:10.794 --> 00:03:13.699
micro-organisms capable
of producing different colors.

00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:16.574
You may not see it clearly,
but they're very different colors

00:03:16.574 --> 00:03:18.543
as different as the colors of a rainbow.

00:03:18.543 --> 00:03:21.761
And working with biobricks,
some people went even further

00:03:21.796 --> 00:03:26.518
and built bacteria that can produce

00:03:26.553 --> 00:03:31.444
some very little filaments of spider web,

00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:33.639
made out of the same material
as spider webs,

00:03:33.639 --> 00:03:34.870
which is very resistent.

00:03:34.870 --> 00:03:36.945
But they're not spiders, they're bacteria,

00:03:36.945 --> 00:03:39.329
similar to those we can find in yoghurt.

00:03:39.814 --> 00:03:44.175
Furthermore, bacteria communities
that behave like digital circuits

00:03:44.175 --> 00:03:48.043
have been built using biobricks.

00:03:48.078 --> 00:03:51.872
Circuits like those found
in our computers, our iPads.

00:03:51.872 --> 00:03:54.655
All those things I'm telling you

00:03:54.690 --> 00:03:57.408
sound like Sci-fi, but they're not.

00:03:57.408 --> 00:04:00.853
They're things that already exist,
that have already been developed

00:04:00.888 --> 00:04:02.779
and I'm sure you're thinking,

00:04:02.814 --> 00:04:05.379
"OK, but I'm sure that this kind of stuff

00:04:05.414 --> 00:04:08.243
is made by Nobel Prize winners
in great research centers,

00:04:08.278 --> 00:04:10.679
with cutting-edge technology"

00:04:10.714 --> 00:04:12.751
No, actually, they are not.

00:04:12.786 --> 00:04:16.702
These things are made
by university students,

00:04:16.737 --> 00:04:18.517
graduate students,

00:04:18.553 --> 00:04:22.374
that is young people
aged 19, 23, under 25.

00:04:23.019 --> 00:04:29.116
Ok, but now you're thinking,
"Well, but I'm sure that these are MIT,

00:04:29.116 --> 00:04:33.524
Harvard, Imperial College,
or Boston University students"

00:04:33.559 --> 00:04:37.266
Well, I'm sure there are people
from those universities

00:04:37.301 --> 00:04:38.988
working with biobricks;

00:04:39.023 --> 00:04:41.731
but here at the Natural
and Exact Science Faculty,

00:04:41.731 --> 00:04:44.635
part of our own Buenos Aires University,

00:04:44.635 --> 00:04:49.344
a group of students is
working and assembling biobricks.

00:04:50.299 --> 00:04:53.814
We, and I say "we"
because with these students,

00:04:53.849 --> 00:04:56.619
there is a group of graduates with them,

00:04:56.654 --> 00:05:00.360
we set as our goal to use biobricks

00:05:00.395 --> 00:05:03.510
to tackle some important problem
within our country.

00:05:03.545 --> 00:05:06.533
An Argentinian problem.

00:05:06.568 --> 00:05:11.538
You may not know this, but our country
is one of the top 5 countries

00:05:11.573 --> 00:05:15.848
with the most arsenic
within its territory.

00:05:15.883 --> 00:05:20.018
Arsenic is a natural pollutant
that's in the ground

00:05:20.033 --> 00:05:22.815
and when you ingests it,
it has very serious consequences

00:05:22.815 --> 00:05:24.957
to your health in the long term.

00:05:24.957 --> 00:05:27.216
Cancer, for example.

00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:30.717
Oops.
(Laughter)

00:05:30.977 --> 00:05:35.366
The problem is, there are hundreds
of thousands of Argentinians

00:05:35.401 --> 00:05:38.348
that are consuming it unknowingly.

00:05:38.383 --> 00:05:40.711
And they don't know it
because nobody checked

00:05:40.711 --> 00:05:42.831
if their water supply was polluted or not,

00:05:42.831 --> 00:05:46.201
because they don't have
a simple, safe and cheap way

00:05:46.236 --> 00:05:48.046
to check for themselves.

00:05:48.351 --> 00:05:52.645
And that's what we're trying
to achieve with biobricks.

00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:56.766
What did we do?
Well, we went to the "box" of biobricks,

00:05:56.801 --> 00:05:59.284
a free access central repository

00:05:59.284 --> 00:06:02.501
because this is open technology,
you don't have to pay to use it,

00:06:02.536 --> 00:06:06.641
and started browsing in this biobrick
repository to see what was available;

00:06:06.676 --> 00:06:10.639
and we found, on the one hand,
a biobrick that captured the capacity

00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:15.956
that some organisms have to know
whether there is arsenic near them.

00:06:16.696 --> 00:06:20.671
And on the other hand, we found
a biobrick that captures

00:06:20.706 --> 00:06:24.469
the ability of some other organisms
to generate color.

00:06:24.504 --> 00:06:28.827
We took these biobrick, assemble them

00:06:28.862 --> 00:06:32.436
and through a series of technical
intricate processes, we managed to build

00:06:32.471 --> 00:06:36.093
a new organism
that doesn't exist in nature

00:06:36.128 --> 00:06:40.790
and when in arsenic polluted
water, it produces a color.

00:06:41.395 --> 00:06:44.746
What has this organism got to do
with the problem we wanted to tackle?

00:06:44.781 --> 00:06:49.654
This new organism is the key technology

00:06:49.689 --> 00:06:53.843
behind an arsenic detection kit
we are building.

00:06:53.878 --> 00:06:56.714
I'd like to say that we're building it
with people

00:06:56.719 --> 00:06:59.667
from the F.A.D.U. (Architecture,
Design and Urbanism College).

00:06:59.702 --> 00:07:03.256
An arsenic detection kit
that we designed it to be palm size

00:07:03.291 --> 00:07:05.626
so it can be delivered
anywhere in the country,

00:07:05.661 --> 00:07:07.446
so it can be simple and safe to use,

00:07:07.446 --> 00:07:10.021
and, above all, cheap to manufacture.

00:07:10.401 --> 00:07:12.966
Because no technical knowledge
is required to use it,

00:07:13.001 --> 00:07:15.428
you just need to take a sample
from the water tap,

00:07:15.463 --> 00:07:20.449
the water pump, or wherever, put it
in the device and wait a couple of hours

00:07:20.484 --> 00:07:22.101
and it'll generate a color.

00:07:22.101 --> 00:07:24.488
The only thing left to do
is to observe that color.

00:07:24.488 --> 00:07:28.066
and the intensity
of that color and you'll know

00:07:28.101 --> 00:07:33.149
if the water you were about to drink
had any arsenic or not.

00:07:33.404 --> 00:07:35.942
We really hope, at some point,

00:07:35.977 --> 00:07:40.310
to mass produce this device,
distribute it and provide a solution

00:07:40.315 --> 00:07:42.644
to those hundreds of thousands
of our compatriots

00:07:42.644 --> 00:07:46.143
poisoning themselves with the water
they drink without even knowing it.

00:07:47.773 --> 00:07:48.812
Now,

00:07:49.712 --> 00:07:51.213
think for a second

00:07:52.468 --> 00:07:56.425
If we, a group of fewer than
20 people, working a lot,

00:07:56.460 --> 00:08:00.213
in less than a year, and also
working on a side projet -

00:08:00.248 --> 00:08:02.567
because this wasn't our main project -

00:08:02.602 --> 00:08:06.538
and using some biobricks,

00:08:06.538 --> 00:08:11.460
were able to embark in the development
of this arsenic detection kit,

00:08:12.730 --> 00:08:16.022
how many other things can we build

00:08:16.022 --> 00:08:19.485
if we start combining
hundreds of biobricks

00:08:19.520 --> 00:08:22.700
that are available for free
inside that "box"?

00:08:23.115 --> 00:08:24.733
How many Argentinian problems

00:08:24.733 --> 00:08:26.451
and wordwide problems

00:08:26.451 --> 00:08:29.337
could we tackle with this technology?

00:08:31.607 --> 00:08:33.283
I'm convinced...

00:08:33.283 --> 00:08:35.109
I'm absolutelly convinced

00:08:35.144 --> 00:08:38.390
that Sinthetic Biology will be
one of the most impotant technologies

00:08:38.390 --> 00:08:40.227
for the years to come.

00:08:40.263 --> 00:08:44.171
And I'm also convinced
that our country, Argentina,

00:08:44.206 --> 00:08:48.429
and the whole region - Latin America -
not only has the capacity

00:08:48.464 --> 00:08:53.665
but also the opportunity to pioneer
in the development of this technology.

00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:58.104
What we need is that all of you,
who are here today,

00:08:58.139 --> 00:09:03.573
and also those who aren't, to dare -

00:09:03.608 --> 00:09:05.519
as I dared 2 years ago -

00:09:05.554 --> 00:09:08.770
and start to play with biobricks.

00:09:08.805 --> 00:09:12.705
Especially the young ones, that I can see
are many in this auditorium.

00:09:12.740 --> 00:09:17.529
What I want is for young people to play
with biobrick at their high schools.

00:09:17.564 --> 00:09:21.039
I want young people to assemble
and build using biobricks

00:09:21.074 --> 00:09:24.271
in universities all over the country.

00:09:24.306 --> 00:09:28.101
I also want young people
to play with biobricks

00:09:28.101 --> 00:09:31.071
outside the formal places of education.

00:09:31.071 --> 00:09:35.021
And, why not, let's say,
middle school students

00:09:35.056 --> 00:09:39.125
taking their first steps
into Synthetic Biology.

00:09:39.160 --> 00:09:45.731
I know this is a very ambitious goal,
a huge goal.

00:09:46.396 --> 00:09:49.499
But if there's something I learned,

00:09:49.499 --> 00:09:52.219
it's that in this life, if you want
to build something big

00:09:52.254 --> 00:09:55.715
if you want to build something really big,

00:09:55.750 --> 00:09:58.011
not only do you need a lot pieces


00:09:58.481 --> 00:10:01.012
but also a lot of hands.

00:10:01.012 --> 00:10:02.144
Thank you.

00:10:02.540 --> 00:10:04.361
(Applause)