Have you ever experienced a moment in your life that was so painful and confusing, that all you wanted to do was learn as much as you could to make sense of it all? When I was 13, a close family friend who was like an uncle to me passed away from pancreatic cancer. When the disease hit so close to home, I knew I needed to learn more. So I went online to find answers. Using the Internet, I found a variety of statistics on pancreatic cancer, and what I had found shocked me. Over 85 percent of all pancreatic cancers are diagnosed late, when someone has less than a two percent chance of survival. Why are we so bad at detecting pancreatic cancer? The reason? Today's current "modern" medicine is a 60-year-old technique. That's older than my dad. (Laughter) But also, it's extremely expensive, costing 800 dollars per test, and it's grossly inaccurate, missing 30 percent of all pancreatic cancers. Your doctor would have to be ridiculously suspicious that you have the cancer in order to give you this test. Learning this, I knew there had to be a better way. So, I set up scientific criteria as to what a sensor would have to look like in order to effectively diagnose pancreatic cancer. The sensor would have to be: inexpensive, rapid, simple, sensitive, selective, and minimally invasive. Now, there's a reason why this test hasn't been updated in over six decades. And that's because when we're looking for pancreatic cancer, we're looking at your bloodstream, which is already abundant in all these tons and tons of protein, and you're looking for this miniscule difference in this tiny amount of protein. Just this one protein. That's next to impossible. However, undeterred due to my teenage optimism -- (Laughter) (Applause) I went online to a teenager's two best friends, Google and Wikipedia. I got everything for my homework from those two sources. (Laughter) And what I had found was an article that listed a database of over 8,000 different proteins that are found when you have pancreatic cancer. So, I decided to go and make it my new mission to go through all these proteins, and see which ones could serve as a bio-marker for pancreatic cancer. And to make it a bit simpler for myself, I decided to map out scientific criteria, and here it is. Essentially, first, the protein would have to be found in all pancreatic cancers, at high levels in the bloodstream, in the earliest stages, but also only in cancer. And so I'm just plugging and chugging through this gargantuan task, and finally, on the 4,000th try, when I'm close to losing my sanity, I find the protein. And the name of the protein I'd located was called mesothelin, and it's just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill type protein, unless, of course, you have pancreatic, ovarian or lung cancer, in which case it's found at these very high levels in your bloodstream. But also, the key is that it's found in the earliest stages of the disease, when someone has close to 100 percent chance of survival. So now that I'd found a reliable protein I could detect, I then shifted my focus to actually detecting that protein, and thus, pancreatic cancer. Now, my breakthrough came in a very unlikely place, possibly the most unlikely place for innovation -- my high school biology class, the absolute stifler of innovation. (Laughter) (Applause) And I had snuck in this article on these things called carbon nanotubes, and that's just a long, thin pipe of carbon that's an atom thick, and one 50,000th the diameter of your hair. And despite their extremely small sizes, they have these incredible properties. They're kind of like the superheroes of material science. And while I was sneakily reading this article under my desk in my biology class, we were supposed to be paying attention to these other kind of cool molecules, called antibodies. And these are pretty cool because they only react with one specific protein, but they're not nearly as interesting as carbon nanotubes. And so then, I was sitting in class, and suddenly it hit me: I could combine what I was reading about, carbon nanotubes, with what I was supposed to be thinking about, antibodies. Essentially, I could weave a bunch of these antibodies into a network of carbon nanotubes, such that you have a network that only reacts with one protein, but also, due to the properties of these nanotubes, it will change its electrical properties, based on the amount of protein present. However, there's a catch. These networks of carbon nanotubes are extremely flimsy. And since they're so delicate, they need to be supported. So that's why I chose to use paper. Making a cancer sensor out of paper is about as simple as making chocolate chip cookies, which I love. (Laughs) You start with some water, pour in some nanotubes, add antibodies, mix it up, take some paper, dip it, dry it, and you can detect cancer. (Applause) Then, suddenly, a thought occurred that kind of put a blemish on my amazing plan here. I can't really do cancer research on my kitchen countertop. My mom wouldn't really like that. So instead, I decided to go for a lab. So I typed up a budget, a materials list, a timeline, and a procedure, and I emailed it to 200 different professors at Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health -- essentially, anyone that had anything to do with pancreatic cancer. I sat back waiting for these positive emails to be pouring in, saying, "You're a genius! You're going to save us all!" And -- (Laughter) Then reality took hold, and over the course of a month, I got 199 rejections out of those 200 emails. One professor even went through my entire procedure, painstakingly -- I'm not really sure where he got all this time -- and he went through and said why each and every step was like the worst mistake I could ever make. Clearly, the professors did not have as high of an opinion of my work as I did. However, there is a silver lining. One professor said, "Maybe I might be able to help you, kid." So, I went in that direction. (Laughter) As you can never say no to a kid. And so then, three months later, I finally nailed down a harsh deadline with this guy, and I get into his lab, I get all excited, and then I sit down, I start opening my mouth and talking, and five seconds later, he calls in another Ph.D. Ph.D.s just flock into this little room, and they're just firing these questions at me, and by the end, I kind of felt like I was in a clown car. There were 20 Ph.D.s, plus me and the professor crammed into this tiny office space, with them firing these rapid-fire questions at me, trying to sink my procedure. How unlikely is that? I mean, pshhh. (Laughter) However, subjecting myself to that interrogation -- I answered all their questions, and I guessed on quite a few but I got them right -- and I finally landed the lab space I needed. But it was shortly afterwards that I discovered my once brilliant procedure had something like a million holes in it, and over the course of seven months, I painstakingly filled each and every one of those holes. The result? One small paper sensor that costs three cents and takes five minutes to run. This makes it 168 times faster, over 26,000 times less expensive, and over 400 times more sensitive than our current standard for pancreatic cancer detection. (Applause) One of the best parts of the sensor, though, is that it has close to 100 percent accuracy, and can detect the cancer in the earliest stages, when someone has close to 100 percent chance of survival. And so in the next two to five years, this sensor could potentially lift the pancreatic cancer survival rates from a dismal 5.5 percent to close to 100 percent, and it would do similar for ovarian and lung cancer. But it wouldn't stop there. By switching out that antibody, you can look at a different protein, thus, a different disease -- potentially any disease in the entire world. So that ranges from heart disease, to malaria, HIV, AIDS, as well as other forms of cancer -- anything. And so, hopefully one day, we can all have that one extra uncle, that one mother, that one brother, sister, we can have that one more family member to love. And that our hearts will be rid of that one disease burden that comes from pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer, and potentially any disease. But through the Internet, anything is possible. Theories can be shared, and you don't have to be a professor with multiple degrees to have your ideas valued. It's a neutral space, where what you look like, age or gender -- it doesn't matter. It's just your ideas that count. For me, it's all about looking at the Internet in an entirely new way, to realize that there's so much more to it than just posting duck-face pictures of yourself online. (Laughter) You could be changing the world. So if a 15 year-old who didn't even know what a pancreas was could find a new way to detect pancreatic cancer -- just imagine what you could do. Thank you. (Applause)
Aţi trecut vreodatǎ printr-un moment în viaţǎ, atât de dureros şi derutant încât tot ce v-ați fi dorit era sǎ învǎţați orice era nevoie ca sǎ descifrați misterul? Când aveam 13 ani, un prieten apropiat de familie care mi-a fost ca un unchi, a murit de cancer pancreatic. Lovindu-mă atât de profund, am realizat cǎ trebuia sa aflu mai mult, aşa cǎ am intrat pe internet să caut răspunsuri. Pe internet am gǎsit o varietate de statistici referitoare la cancerul de pancreas şi ce am aflat m-a șocat. Peste 85% din cazurile de cancer pancreatic sunt descoperite târziu, când pacientul are șanse mai mici de 2% de supravieţuire. De ce suntem atât de înceţi în detectarea acestui cancer? Motivul? Medicina actuală foloseşte o metodă veche de 60 de ani. Până și tata e mai tânǎr de atât. (Râsete) Dar testele sunt şi foarte scumpe, costă 800$ un test, şi sunt teribil de imprecise, ratând 30% din totalul cazurilor de cancer pancreatic. Doctorul ar trebui sǎ fie aproape convins cǎ aveți acest cancer ca sǎ comande testul. Când am aflat, am intuit cǎ trebuia sǎ existe o cale mai bună. Am decis criteriile ştiinţifice pentru un senzor eficient în semnalarea cancerului de pancreas. Testul trebuia sǎ fie ieftin, rapid, simplu, precis, selectiv, şi neinvaziv. Existǎ un motiv pentru care testul n-a fost îmbunătățit în mai bine de şase decenii. Când cǎutăm semnele de cancer pancreatic, ne uitǎm la circuitul sangvin, oricum abundent cu mii de proteine, iar noi cǎutăm o diferenţă cantitativă minusculǎ la doar una din proteine, doar una singurǎ. E aproape imposibil. Cu toate astea, mulțumitǎ optimismului copilăresc, nu m-am descurajat. (Aplauze) -- M-am dus online la cei mai buni prieteni ai adolescenţilor: Google şi Wikipedia. Găsesc totul pentru teme la aceste două surse. Şi am gǎsit un articol listând o bazǎ de date cu peste 8.000 de proteine distincte prezente în sânge când ai cancer de pancreas. Aşadar mi-am propus să verific toate aceste proteine să văd care ar putea servi drept biomarker pentru cancerul pancreatic. Pentru a-mi simplifica misiunea am stabilit o listǎ de criterii ştiinţifice. Iat-o. Mai întâi, proteina trebuia sǎ fie prezentǎ în toate formele de cancer pancreatic în concentrații ridicate, în stadii incipiente, dar specifice cancerului. Aşadar mă arunc în această muncă astronomică şi într-un final, la a 4.000-a încercare, când sunt aproape sǎ-mi pierd minţile, gǎsesc proteina cu pricina. Numele acestei proteine e Mesotelinǎ. Nu e decât o proteinǎ de rând, cu excepția cancerului pancreatic, ovarian sau pulmonar, când proteina e în concentrații foarte mari în sânge. E important cǎ mesotelina apare în stadiile incipiente ale bolii, când există aproape 100% şanse de supravieţuire. Acum cǎ stabilisem o proteinǎ specifică, mi-am îndreptat atenţia cǎtre detectarea efectivă a proteinei, şi, prin urmare, a cancerului pancreatic. Succesul mi-a surâs într-un loc neaşteptat, poate cel mai improbabil pentru o inovaţie, laboratorul de biologie al liceului, sufocarea absolută a inovației. (Râsete) (Aplauze) Am furișat un articol despre nanotuburi de carbon, tuburi subţiri şi lungi de carbon de grosimea unui atom – de 50.000 de ori mai subţiri decât firul de pǎr. În ciuda dimensiunilor extrem de reduse, au proprietǎţi incredibile. Sunt un fel de supereroi ai fizicii materialelor. În timp ce citeam pe furiş articolul sub standul din laboratorul de biologie, trebuia să fim atenți la alte molecule interesante, numite anticorpi. Anticorpii sunt interesanți pentru cǎ fiecare reacţionează cu o singură proteină specificǎ, dar nu la fel de interesanţi ca nanotuburile de carbon. Şi cum stăteam aşa la oră, mi-a cǎzut fisa. Aş putea combina ce citisem despre nanotuburi, cu ce se preda la oră despre anticorpi. În esenţǎ, aş putea incorpora anticorpi într-o rețea de nanotuburi de carbon încât sǎ rezulte o reţea care sǎ reacţioneze cu o proteinǎ unicǎ, dar care, datoritǎ proprietǎţilor specifice ale nanotuburilor, ar schimba proprietǎţile electrice ale reţelei în funcţie de cantitea de proteinǎ prezentă. Totuși, existǎ un dezavantaj. Reţelele de carbon sunt foarte fragile, din cauza asta au nevoie de un suport. De asta am ales să folosesc hârtia. Confecţionarea unui detector de cancer din hârtie e la fel de simplu ca și coptul fursecurilor cu ciocolatǎ, care îmi plac mult. Iei apǎ, adaugi nanotuburi, plus anticorpi, amesteci bine, scufunzi o bucǎţicǎ de hârtie, o usuci, şi detectezi cancerul. (Aplauze) Apoi deodatǎ, un gând mi-a umbrit planul meu uimitor. Nu se cuvine sǎ investighez cancerul pe masa din bucǎtǎrie. Mamei nu i-ar plăcea deloc. Am decis sǎ caut un laborator. Am fǎcut o listǎ cu preţuri, materiale, timpul necesar, metodologie, și am trimis emailuri la 200 de profesori de la Universitatea John Hopkins şi la Institutul Naţional al Sǎnǎtǎţii, adică tuturor celor implicaţi în cercetarea cancerului de pancreas. Mă așteptam la un duium de emailuri încurajatoare, care sǎ declare: „Ești genial!" „O sǎ ne salvezi pe toţi!" (Râsete) În schimb m-a întâmpinat realitatea şi pe parcursul unei luni întregi am fost refuzat în 199 din cele 200 de emailuri trimise. Un profesor chiar a studiat propunerea mea, în detaliu – nu ştiu cum a găsit atâta timp – şi mi-a explicat de ce fiecare din etapele metodei mele era cea mai mare greşealǎ posibilǎ. Evident profesorii nu erau la fel de încântaţi de munca mea pe cât eram eu însumi. Cu toate astea, a apǎrut ceva la orizont. Unul dintre profesori a spus: „Poate te-aş putea ajuta, tinere". Şi am plecat în aceastǎ direcţie. (Râsete) Nu poți spune „nu” unui copil. Aşadar, dupǎ trei luni, am reușit în final sǎ cǎdem de acord asupra unui plan, am ajuns la laborator, cu mare nerǎbdare, am luat loc pe scaun, am deschis gura şi am început sǎ vorbesc. Cinci secunde mai târziu cheamă un alt doctor în științe. Alţii cercetători se înghesuie în laborator, şi încep sǎ mǎ interogheze. Mă cam simţeam ca la circ. Erau 20 de doctori, plus eu şi profesorul, înghesuiţi într-un mic birou, cu toţii punând întrebare dupǎ întrebare, încercând sǎ-mi anuleze metoda. Cine se aştepta la aşa ceva...?! (Râsete) Cu toate astea, trecând cu bine de interogare, şi rǎspunzând la toate întrebǎrile – unele le-am inventat, dar le-am nimerit – am obținut în final locul în laborator de care aveam nevoie. Dar am descoperit ulterior cǎ metoda, iniţial considerată genialǎ, avea un milion de fisuri. Pe parcursul urmǎtoarelor şapte luni am cârpit conștiincios toate fisurile. Rezultatul? Un mic senzor din hârtie care costǎ trei cenţi și ia cinci minute să testezi. Asta înseamnǎ de 168 de ori mai rapid, de 26.000 de ori mai ieftin, şi de 400 de ori mai precis decât standardul curent pentru detectarea cancerului pancreatic. (Aplauze) Cea mai mare realizare a testului însǎ e precizia de aproape 100%, semnaleazǎ prezenţa cancerului şi în stadiul iniţial când pacientul are aproape 100% şanse de supravieţuire. Aşadar în urmǎtorii doi pânǎ la cinci ani, testul ar putea îmbunǎtǎţi şansele de supravieţuire în cazurile de cancer pancreatic de la procentul minuscul de 5,5% pânǎ la aproape 100% și ar reduce similar şi în cazurile de cancer ovarian și pulmonar. Dar asta nu e tot. Dacǎ înlocuim anticorpul, putem investiga o altǎ proteinǎ, prin urmare o altǎ boalǎ, poate chiar orice boalǎ din lume. De la boli cardiace, la malarie, SIDA, alte forme de cancer – absolut orice. Să sperăm cǎ într-o zi vom putea salva un unchi, o mamǎ, un frate, o soră, un membru drag al familiei, şi cǎ vom fi scutiţi de povara grea cauzatǎ de cancerul pancreatic, ovarian sau pulmonar, şi poate oricare altă boalǎ, şi poate cu ajutorul internetului orice e posibil. Ideile pot fi împǎrtǎşite, şi nu trebuie sǎ fii profesor cu nenumǎrate diplome ca sǎ îţi fie apreciate ideile. E un spaţiu neutru, unde aspectul fizic, vârsta sau sexul, nu au importanţǎ. Ceea ce contează cu adevarat sunt ideile. Dupǎ mine, secretul e sǎ privim internetul dintr-un unghi cu totul nou ca sǎ realizăm cǎ oferǎ mult mai mult decât un loc pentru poze cu strâmbături. Am putea schimba lumea. Dacǎ un tânăr de 15 ani care nici nu ştia ce e un acela pancreas poate descoperi o modalitate nouǎ de a detecta cancerul pancreatic, imaginează-ți cum ai putea contribui chiar tu. Vǎ mulţumesc. (Aplauze)