# Programming bacteria to detect cancer (and maybe treat it)

- Institution: TED
- Department: TED2015
- Speaker: Tal Danino
- Year: 2015
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Biology, Medicine and health
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/tal_danino_programming_bacteria_to_detect_cancer_and_maybe_treat_it)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

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.

## Lectures

1. [Programming bacteria to detect cancer (and maybe treat it)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/tal_danino_programming_bacteria_to_detect_cancer_and_maybe_treat_it/7624df6001e4), 4 min (TED's player)