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Talk4 min

Programming bacteria to detect cancer (and maybe treat it)

Tal Danino · TED

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About

Liver cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to detect, but synthetic biologist Tal Danino had a left-field thought: What if we could create a probiotic, edible bacteria that was "programmed" to find liver tumors? His insight exploits something we're just beginning to understand about bacteria: their power of quorum sensing, or doing something together once they reach critical mass. Danino, a TED Fellow, explains how quorum sensing works -- and how clever bacteria working together could someday change cancer treatment.

The talk

  1. Programming bacteria to detect cancer (and maybe treat it) 4 min · TED's player

Credits and licence

Institution
TED
Department
TED2015
Speaker
Tal Danino
Year
2015
Level
For everyone
Language
English
Subjects
Biology, Medicine and health
Source
TED
Licence
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, as TED states it. Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions. TED's terms
Attribution
TED Talks are licensed by TED under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International and are shown here in TED's own player, as TED's usage policy asks.
Who can watch
TED gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed