Recorded at | April 24, 2017 |
---|---|
Event | TED2017 |
Duration (min:sec) | 10:00 |
Video Type | TED Stage Talk |
Words per minute | 170.74 medium |
Readability (FK) | 60.28 easy |
Speaker | David Brenner |
Official TED page for this talk
Synopsis
Since the widespread use of antibiotics began in the 1940s, we've tried to develop new drugs faster than bacteria can evolve -- but this strategy isn't working. Drug-resistant bacteria known as superbugs killed nearly 700,000 people last year, and by 2050 that number could be 10 million -- more than cancer kills each year. Can physics help? In a talk from the frontiers of science, radiation scientist David Brenner shares his work studying a potentially life-saving weapon: a wavelength of ultraviolet light known as far-UVC, which can kill superbugs safely, without penetrating our skin. Followed by a Q&A with TED Curator Chris Anderson.
1 | 00:13 | So ... we're in a real live war at the moment, | ||
2 | 00:18 | and it's a war that we're truly losing. | ||
3 | 00:20 | It's a war on superbugs. | ||
4 | 00:25 | So you might wonder, | ||
5 | 00:27 | if I'm going to talk about superbugs, | ||
6 | 00:29 | why I'm showing you a photograph of some soccer fans -- | ||
7 | 00:33 | Liverpool soccer fans celebrating a famous victory | ||
8 | 00:37 | in Istanbul, a decade ago. | ||
9 | 00:40 | In the back, in the red shirt, | ||
10 | 00:42 | well, that's me, | ||
11 | 00:44 | and next to me in the red hat, that's my friend Paul Rice. | ||
12 | 00:49 | So a couple of years after this picture was taken, | ||
13 | 00:52 | Paul went into hospital for some minor surgery, | ||
14 | 00:56 | and he developed a superbug-related infection, | ||
15 | 01:00 | and he died. | ||
16 | 01:02 | And I was truly shocked. | ||
17 | 01:05 | He was a healthy guy in the prime of life. | ||
18 | 01:08 | So there and then, | ||
19 | 01:09 | and actually with a lot of encouragement from a couple of TEDsters, | ||
20 | 01:13 | I declared my own personal war on superbugs. | ||
21 | 01:18 | So let's talk about superbugs for a moment. | ||
22 | 01:20 | The story actually starts in the 1940s | ||
23 | 01:24 | with the widespread introduction of antibiotics. | ||
24 | 01:27 | And since then, | ||
25 | 01:29 | drug-resistant bacteria have continued to emerge, | ||
26 | 01:33 | and so we've been forced to develop newer and newer drugs | ||
27 | 01:37 | to fight these new bacteria. | ||
28 | 01:40 | And this vicious cycle actually is the origin of superbugs, | ||
29 | 01:45 | which is simply bacteria for which we don't have effective drugs. | ||
30 | 01:51 | I'm sure you'll recognize at least some of these superbugs. | ||
31 | 01:55 | These are the more common ones around today. | ||
32 | 01:58 | Last year, around 700,000 people died | ||
33 | 02:02 | from superbug-related diseases. | ||
34 | 02:05 | Looking to the future, | ||
35 | 02:09 | if we carry on on the path we're going, | ||
36 | 02:12 | which is basically a drugs-based approach to the problem, | ||
37 | 02:16 | the best estimate by the middle of this century | ||
38 | 02:18 | is that the worldwide death toll from superbugs will be 10 million. | ||
39 | 02:24 | 10 million. | ||
40 | 02:25 | Just to put that in context, that's actually more | ||
41 | 02:28 | than the number of people that died of cancer worldwide last year. | ||
42 | 02:32 | So it seems pretty clear that we're not on a good road, | ||
43 | 02:37 | and the drugs-based approach to this problem is not working. | ||
44 | 02:42 | I'm a physicist, | ||
45 | 02:44 | and so I wondered, could we take a physics-based approach -- | ||
46 | 02:48 | a different approach to this problem. | ||
47 | 02:51 | And in that context, | ||
48 | 02:53 | the first thing we know for sure, | ||
49 | 02:55 | is that we actually know how to kill every kind of microbe, | ||
50 | 02:59 | every kind of virus, | ||
51 | 03:00 | every kind of bacteria. | ||
52 | 03:02 | And that's with ultraviolet light. | ||
53 | 03:05 | We've actually known this for more than 100 years. | ||
54 | 03:08 | I think you all know what ultraviolet light is. | ||
55 | 03:11 | It's part of a spectrum that includes infrared, | ||
56 | 03:14 | it includes visible light, | ||
57 | 03:16 | and the short-wavelength part of this group is ultraviolet light. | ||
58 | 03:21 | The key thing from our perspective here | ||
59 | 03:24 | is that ultraviolet light kills bacteria by a completely different mechanism | ||
60 | 03:29 | from the way drugs kill bacteria. | ||
61 | 03:32 | So ultraviolet light is just as capable of killing a drug-resistant bacteria | ||
62 | 03:38 | as any other bacteria, | ||
63 | 03:40 | and because ultraviolet light is so good at killing all bugs, | ||
64 | 03:45 | it's actually used a lot these days to sterilize rooms, | ||
65 | 03:48 | sterilize working surfaces. | ||
66 | 03:51 | What you see here is a surgical theater | ||
67 | 03:54 | being sterilized with germicidal ultraviolet light. | ||
68 | 03:59 | But what you don't see in this picture, actually, | ||
69 | 04:02 | is any people, | ||
70 | 04:03 | and there's a very good reason for that. | ||
71 | 04:06 | Ultraviolet light is actually a health hazard, | ||
72 | 04:09 | so it can damage cells in our skin, | ||
73 | 04:11 | cause skin cancer, | ||
74 | 04:13 | it can damage cells in our eye, | ||
75 | 04:14 | cause eye diseases like cataract. | ||
76 | 04:18 | So you can't use conventional, germicidal, ultraviolet light | ||
77 | 04:21 | when there are people are around. | ||
78 | 04:23 | And of course, | ||
79 | 04:24 | we want to sterilize mostly when there are people around. | ||
80 | 04:28 | So the ideal ultraviolet light | ||
81 | 04:31 | would actually be able to kill all bacteria, | ||
82 | 04:35 | including superbugs, | ||
83 | 04:36 | but would be safe for human exposure. | ||
84 | 04:40 | And actually that's where my physics background kicked into this story. | ||
85 | 04:45 | Together with my physics colleagues, | ||
86 | 04:47 | we realized there actually is a particular wavelength of ultraviolet light | ||
87 | 04:53 | that should kill all bacteria, | ||
88 | 04:56 | but should be safe for human exposure. | ||
89 | 04:58 | That wavelength is called far-UVC light, | ||
90 | 05:02 | and it's just the short-wavelength part of the ultraviolet spectrum. | ||
91 | 05:07 | So let's see how that would work. | ||
92 | 05:10 | What you're seeing here is the surface of our skin, | ||
93 | 05:14 | and I'm going to superimpose on that some bacteria in the air above the skin. | ||
94 | 05:19 | Now we're going to see what happens | ||
95 | 05:21 | when conventional, germicidal, ultraviolet light impinges on this. | ||
96 | 05:27 | So what you see is, | ||
97 | 05:28 | as we know, germicidal light is really good at killing bacteria, | ||
98 | 05:34 | but what you also see | ||
99 | 05:35 | is that it penetrates into the upper layers of our skin, | ||
100 | 05:38 | and it can damage those key cells in our skin | ||
101 | 05:41 | which ultimately, when damaged, can lead to skin cancer. | ||
102 | 05:46 | So let's compare now with far-UVC light -- | ||
103 | 05:48 | same situation, | ||
104 | 05:50 | skin and some bacteria in the air above them. | ||
105 | 05:54 | So what you're seeing now | ||
106 | 05:55 | is that again, far-UVC light's perfectly fine at killing bacteria, | ||
107 | 06:00 | but what far-UVC light can't do is penetrate into our skin. | ||
108 | 06:05 | And there's a good, solid physics reason for that: | ||
109 | 06:08 | far-UVC light is incredibly, strongly absorbed by all biological materials, | ||
110 | 06:13 | so it simply can't go very far. | ||
111 | 06:16 | Now, viruses and bacteria are really, really, really small, | ||
112 | 06:20 | so the far-UVC light can certainly penetrate them and kill them, | ||
113 | 06:25 | but what it can't do is penetrate into skin, | ||
114 | 06:28 | and it can't even penetrate the dead-cell area | ||
115 | 06:31 | right at the very surface of our skin. | ||
116 | 06:33 | So far-UVC light should be able to kill bacteria, | ||
117 | 06:40 | but kill them safely. | ||
118 | 06:43 | So that's the theory. | ||
119 | 06:44 | It should work, should be safe. | ||
120 | 06:47 | What about in practice? | ||
121 | 06:49 | Does it really work? | ||
122 | 06:50 | Is it really safe? | ||
123 | 06:52 | So that's actually what our lab has been working on | ||
124 | 06:55 | the past five or six years, | ||
125 | 06:57 | and I'm delighted to say the answer to both these questions | ||
126 | 07:00 | is an emphatic yes. | ||
127 | 07:01 | Yes, it does work, | ||
128 | 07:02 | but yes, it is safe. | ||
129 | 07:04 | So I'm delighted to say that, | ||
130 | 07:06 | but actually I'm not very surprised to say that, | ||
131 | 07:08 | because it's purely the laws of physics at work. | ||
132 | 07:13 | So let's look to the future. | ||
133 | 07:16 | I'm thrilled that we now have a completely new weapon, | ||
134 | 07:21 | and I should say an inexpensive weapon, | ||
135 | 07:25 | in our fight against superbugs. | ||
136 | 07:28 | For example, | ||
137 | 07:29 | I see far-UVC lights in surgical theaters. | ||
138 | 07:33 | I see far-UVC lights in food preparation areas. | ||
139 | 07:38 | And in terms of preventing the spread of viruses, | ||
140 | 07:40 | I see far-UVC lights in schools, | ||
141 | 07:44 | preventing the spread of influenza, | ||
142 | 07:46 | preventing the spread of measles, | ||
143 | 07:48 | and I see far-UVC lights in airports or airplanes, | ||
144 | 07:52 | preventing the global spread of viruses like H1N1 virus. | ||
145 | 07:58 | So back to my friend Paul Rice. | ||
146 | 08:00 | He was actually a well-known and well-loved local politician | ||
147 | 08:04 | in his and my hometown of Liverpool, | ||
148 | 08:06 | and they put up a statue in his memory in the center of Liverpool, | ||
149 | 08:11 | and there it is. | ||
150 | 08:12 | But me, | ||
151 | 08:14 | I want Paul's legacy to be a major advance in this war against superbugs. | ||
152 | 08:20 | Armed with the power of light, | ||
153 | 08:22 | that's actually within our grasp. | ||
154 | 08:25 | Thank you. | ||
155 | 08:26 | (Applause) | ||
156 | 08:31 | Chris Anderson: Stay up here, David, I've got a question for you. | ||
157 | 08:34 | (Applause) | ||
158 | 08:37 | David, tell us where you're up to in developing this, | ||
159 | 08:41 | and what are the remaining obstacles to trying to roll out | ||
160 | 08:44 | and realize this dream? | ||
161 | 08:46 | David Brenner: Well, I think we now know that it kills all bacteria, | ||
162 | 08:49 | but we sort of knew that before we started, | ||
163 | 08:51 | but we certainly tested that. | ||
164 | 08:54 | So we have to do lots and lots of tests about safety, | ||
165 | 08:56 | and so it's more about safety than it is about efficacy. | ||
166 | 09:00 | And we need to do short-term tests, | ||
167 | 09:03 | and we need to do long-term tests | ||
168 | 09:05 | to make sure you can't develop melanoma many years on. | ||
169 | 09:09 | So those studies are pretty well done at this point. | ||
170 | 09:13 | The FDA of course is something we have to deal with, | ||
171 | 09:19 | and rightly so, | ||
172 | 09:20 | because we certainly can't use this in the real world without FDA approval. | ||
173 | 09:24 | CA: Are you trying to launch first in the US, | ||
174 | 09:27 | or somewhere else? | ||
175 | 09:29 | DB: Actually, in a couple of countries. | ||
176 | 09:31 | In Japan and in the US, both. | ||
177 | 09:35 | CA: Have you been able to persuade biologists, doctors, | ||
178 | 09:40 | that this is a safe approach? | ||
179 | 09:42 | DB: Well, as you can imagine, there is a certain skepticism | ||
180 | 09:45 | because everybody knows that UV light is not safe. | ||
181 | 09:49 | So when somebody comes along and says, | ||
182 | 09:51 | "Well, this particular UV light is safe," | ||
183 | 09:55 | there is a barrier to be crossed, | ||
184 | 09:56 | but the data are there, | ||
185 | 09:58 | and I think that's what we're going to be standing on. | ||
186 | 10:02 | CA: Well, we wish you well. | ||
187 | 10:04 | This is potentially such important work. | ||
188 | 10:06 | Thank you so much for sharing this with us. | ||
189 | 10:08 | Thank you, David. | ||
190 | 10:09 | (Applause) |