A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager
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0:00 - 0:04Have you ever experienced a moment in your life
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0:04 - 0:07that was so painful and confusing
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0:07 - 0:09that all you wanted to do
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0:09 - 0:13was learn as much as you could to make sense of it all?
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0:13 - 0:16When I was 13, a close family friend
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0:16 - 0:18who was like an uncle to me
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0:18 - 0:21passed away from pancreatic cancer.
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0:21 - 0:23When the disease hit so close to home,
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0:23 - 0:25I knew I needed to learn more,
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0:25 - 0:28so I went online to find answers.
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0:28 - 0:31Using the Internet, I found a variety of statistics
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0:31 - 0:33on pancreatic cancer,
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0:33 - 0:35and what I had found shocked me.
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0:35 - 0:39Over 85 percent of all pancreatic cancers
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0:39 - 0:41are diagnosed late,
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0:41 - 0:45when someone has less than a two percent chance of survival.
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0:45 - 0:49Why are we so bad at detecting pancreatic cancer?
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0:49 - 0:53The reason? Today's current modern medicine
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0:53 - 0:55is a 60-year-old technique.
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0:55 - 0:57That's older than my dad.
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0:57 - 1:01(Laughter)
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1:01 - 1:03But also, it's extremely expensive,
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1:03 - 1:07costing 800 dollars per test,
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1:07 - 1:09and it's grossly inaccurate,
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1:09 - 1:13missing 30 percent of all pancreatic cancers.
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1:13 - 1:16Your doctor would have to be ridiculously suspicious
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1:16 - 1:19that you have the cancer in order to give you this test.
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1:19 - 1:23Learning this, I knew there had to be a better way.
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1:23 - 1:25So I set up a scientific criteria
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1:25 - 1:27as to what a sensor would have to look like
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1:27 - 1:31in order to effectively diagnose pancreatic cancer.
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1:31 - 1:35The sensor would have to be inexpensive, rapid,
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1:35 - 1:38simple, sensitive, selective,
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1:38 - 1:41and minimally invasive.
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1:41 - 1:43Now, there's a reason why this test
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1:43 - 1:47hasn't been updated in over six decades,
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1:47 - 1:50and that's because, when we're looking for pancreatic cancer,
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1:50 - 1:51we're looking at your bloodstream,
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1:51 - 1:56which is already abundant in all these tons and tons of protein,
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1:56 - 1:58and you're looking for this miniscule difference
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1:58 - 2:00in this tiny amount of protein,
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2:00 - 2:01just this one protein.
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2:01 - 2:03That's next to impossible.
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2:03 - 2:07However, undeterred due to my teenage optimism --
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2:07 - 2:13(Applause) —
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2:13 - 2:16I went online to a teenager's two best friends,
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2:16 - 2:18Google and Wikipedia.
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2:18 - 2:22I got everything for my homework from those two sources.
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2:22 - 2:25And what I had found was an article
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2:25 - 2:29that listed a database of over 8,000 different proteins
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2:29 - 2:31that are found when you have pancreatic cancer.
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2:31 - 2:35So I decided to go and make it my new mission
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2:35 - 2:38to go through all these proteins and see which ones
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2:38 - 2:40could serve as a biomarker for pancreatic cancer.
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2:40 - 2:43And to make it a bit simpler for myself,
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2:43 - 2:47I decided to map out a scientific criteria. And here it is.
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2:47 - 2:49Essentially first, the protein would have to be found
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2:49 - 2:52in all pancreatic cancers at high levels in the bloodstream
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2:52 - 2:57in the earliest stages, but also only in cancer.
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2:57 - 3:00And so I'm just plugging and chugging through this gargantuan task,
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3:00 - 3:03and finally, on the 4,000th try,
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3:03 - 3:05when I'm close to losing my sanity,
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3:05 - 3:07I find the protein.
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3:07 - 3:09And the name of the protein I'd located
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3:09 - 3:11was called mesothelin,
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3:11 - 3:14and it's just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill type protein,
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3:14 - 3:15unless of course you have pancreatic,
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3:15 - 3:17ovarian or lung cancer,
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3:17 - 3:20in which case it's found at these very high levels in your bloodstream.
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3:20 - 3:22But also the key is
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3:22 - 3:25that it's found in the earliest stages of the disease,
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3:25 - 3:27when someone has close to 100 percent chance
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3:27 - 3:28of survival.
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3:28 - 3:32So now that I'd found a reliable protein I could detect,
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3:32 - 3:35I then shifted my focus to actually detecting that protein,
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3:35 - 3:37and, thus, pancreatic cancer.
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3:37 - 3:41Now, my breakthrough came in a very unlikely place,
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3:41 - 3:43possibly the most unlikely place for innovation:
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3:43 - 3:45my high school biology class,
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3:45 - 3:48the absolute stifler of innovation.
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3:48 - 3:53(Laughter) (Applause)
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3:53 - 3:56And I had snuck in this article on these things called
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3:56 - 4:00carbon nanotubes, and that's just a long, thin pipe of carbon
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4:00 - 4:01that's an atom thick
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4:01 - 4:04and one 50 thousandth the diameter of your hair.
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4:04 - 4:06And despite their extremely small sizes,
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4:06 - 4:08they have these incredible properties.
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4:08 - 4:10They're kind of like the superheroes of material science.
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4:10 - 4:13And while I was sneakily reading this article
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4:13 - 4:15under my desk in my biology class,
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4:15 - 4:16we were supposed to be paying attention
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4:16 - 4:20to these other kind of cool molecules called antibodies.
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4:20 - 4:22And these are pretty cool because they only react
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4:22 - 4:24with one specific protein,
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4:24 - 4:26but they're not nearly as interesting as carbon nanotubes.
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4:26 - 4:30And so then, I was sitting in class,
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4:30 - 4:32and suddenly it hit me:
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4:32 - 4:35I could combine what I was reading about,
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4:35 - 4:36carbon nanotubes,
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4:36 - 4:39with what I was supposed to be thinking about, antibodies.
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4:39 - 4:42Essentially, I could weave a bunch of these antibodies
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4:42 - 4:44into a network of carbon nanotubes
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4:44 - 4:46such that you have a network
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4:46 - 4:48that only reacts with one protein,
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4:48 - 4:51but also, due to the properties of these nanotubes,
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4:51 - 4:53it would change its electrical properties
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4:53 - 4:56based on the amount of protein present.
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4:56 - 4:58However, there's a catch.
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4:58 - 5:01These networks of carbon nanotubes are extremely flimsy,
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5:01 - 5:05and since they're so delicate, they need to be supported.
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5:05 - 5:07So that's why I chose to use paper.
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5:07 - 5:09Making a cancer sensor out of paper
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5:09 - 5:11is about as simple as making chocolate chip cookies,
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5:11 - 5:15which I love.
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5:15 - 5:18You start with some water, pour in some nanotubes,
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5:18 - 5:21add antibodies, mix it up,
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5:21 - 5:23take some paper, dip it, dry it,
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5:23 - 5:26and you can detect cancer.
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5:26 - 5:33(Applause)
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5:33 - 5:36Then, suddenly, a thought occurred
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5:36 - 5:41that kind of put a blemish on my amazing plan here.
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5:41 - 5:42I can't really do cancer research
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5:42 - 5:44on my kitchen countertop.
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5:44 - 5:46My mom wouldn't really like that.
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5:46 - 5:49So instead, I decided to go for a lab.
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5:49 - 5:51So I typed up a budget, a materials list,
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5:51 - 5:54a timeline, and a procedure,
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5:54 - 5:56and I emailed it to 200 different professors
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5:56 - 5:58at Johns Hopkins University
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5:58 - 6:00and the National Institutes of Health,
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6:00 - 6:03essentially anyone that had anything to do with pancreatic cancer.
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6:03 - 6:06And I sat back waiting for these positive emails to be pouring in,
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6:06 - 6:07saying, "You're a genius!
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6:07 - 6:09You're going to save us all!"
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6:09 - 6:13And — (Laughter)
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6:13 - 6:14Then reality took hold,
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6:14 - 6:17and over the course of a month,
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6:17 - 6:21I got 199 rejections out of those 200 emails.
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6:21 - 6:24One professor even went through my entire procedure,
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6:24 - 6:27painstakingly -- I'm not really sure where he got all this time --
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6:27 - 6:31and he went through and said why each and every step
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6:31 - 6:34was like the worst mistake I could ever make.
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6:34 - 6:36Clearly, the professors did not have as high
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6:36 - 6:39of an opinion of my work as I did.
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6:39 - 6:42However, there was a silver lining.
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6:42 - 6:45One professor said, "Maybe I might be able to help you, kid."
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6:45 - 6:47So I went in that direction.
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6:47 - 6:51(Laughter)
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6:51 - 6:54As you can never say no to a kid.
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6:54 - 6:56And so then, three months later,
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6:56 - 6:59I finally nailed down a harsh deadline with this guy,
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6:59 - 7:00and I get into his lab,
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7:00 - 7:03I get all excited, and then I sit down,
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7:03 - 7:04I start opening my mouth and talking,
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7:04 - 7:07and five seconds later he calls in another Ph.D.
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7:07 - 7:11Ph.D.'s just flock into this little room,
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7:11 - 7:13and they're just firing these questions at me,
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7:13 - 7:16and by the end, I kind of felt like I was in a clown car.
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7:16 - 7:17There were 20 Ph.D.'s plus me and the professor
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7:17 - 7:20crammed into this tiny office space
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7:20 - 7:23with them firing these rapid-fire questions at me,
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7:23 - 7:25trying to sink my procedure.
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7:25 - 7:28How unlikely is that? I mean, pshhh.
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7:28 - 7:32(Laughter)
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7:32 - 7:35However, subjecting myself to that interrogation,
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7:35 - 7:36I answered all of their questions,
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7:36 - 7:38and I guessed on quite a few but I got them right,
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7:38 - 7:43and I finally landed the lab space I needed.
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7:43 - 7:45But it was shortly afterwards that I discovered
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7:45 - 7:47my once brilliant procedure
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7:47 - 7:49had something like a million holes in it,
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7:49 - 7:51and over the course of seven months,
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7:51 - 7:54I painstakingly filled each and every one of those holes.
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7:54 - 7:57The result? One small paper sensor
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7:57 - 8:00that costs three cents and takes five minutes to run.
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8:00 - 8:04This makes it 168 times faster,
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8:04 - 8:07over 26,000 times less expensive,
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8:07 - 8:09and over 400 times more sensitive
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8:09 - 8:12than our current standard for pancreatic cancer detection.
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8:12 - 8:22(Applause)
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8:22 - 8:24One of the best parts of the sensor, though,
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8:24 - 8:27is that it has close to 100 percent accuracy,
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8:27 - 8:29and can detect the cancer in the earliest stages
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8:29 - 8:33when someone has close to 100 percent chance of survival.
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8:33 - 8:35And so in the next two to five years,
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8:35 - 8:38this sensor could potentially lift for pancreatic cancer survival rates
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8:38 - 8:40from a dismal 5.5 percent
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8:40 - 8:42to close to 100 percent,
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8:42 - 8:45and it would do similar for ovarian and lung cancer.
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8:45 - 8:48But it wouldn't stop there.
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8:48 - 8:49By switching out that antibody,
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8:49 - 8:51you can look at a different protein,
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8:51 - 8:53thus, a different disease,
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8:53 - 8:56potentially any disease in the entire world.
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8:56 - 8:58So that ranges from heart disease
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8:58 - 9:01to malaria, HIV, AIDS,
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9:01 - 9:04as well as other forms of cancer -- anything.
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9:04 - 9:06And so hopefully one day
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9:06 - 9:08we can all have that one extra uncle,
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9:08 - 9:11that one mother, that one brother, sister,
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9:11 - 9:14we can have that one more family member to love,
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9:14 - 9:19and that our hearts will be rid of that one disease burden
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9:19 - 9:22that comes from pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer,
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9:22 - 9:24and potentially any disease,
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9:24 - 9:27that through the Internet anything is possible.
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9:27 - 9:28Theories can be shared,
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9:28 - 9:30and you don't have to be a professor
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9:30 - 9:33with multiple degrees to have your ideas valued.
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9:33 - 9:34It's a neutral space,
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9:34 - 9:37where what you look like, age or gender,
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9:37 - 9:38it doesn't matter.
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9:38 - 9:40It's just your ideas that count.
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9:40 - 9:43For me, it's all about looking at the Internet
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9:43 - 9:45in an entirely new way
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9:45 - 9:47to realize that there's so much more to it
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9:47 - 9:52than just posting duck-face pictures of yourself online.
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9:52 - 9:56You could be changing the world.
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9:56 - 9:58So if a 15-year-old
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9:58 - 10:01who didn't even know what a pancreas was
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10:01 - 10:04could find a new way to detect pancreatic cancer,
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10:04 - 10:07just imagine what you could do.
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10:07 - 10:08Thank you.
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10:08 - 10:14(Applause)
- Title:
- A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager
- Speaker:
- Jack Andraka
- Description:
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Over 85 percent of all pancreatic cancers are diagnosed late, when someone has less than two percent chance of survival. How could this be? Jack Andraka talks about how he developed a promising early detection test for pancreatic cancer that’s super cheap, effective and non-invasive -- all before his 16th birthday.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 10:49
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 5/4/2015.