WEBVTT 1 00:00:09.602 --> 00:00:11.172 If you're a Star Trek fan, 2 00:00:11.172 --> 00:00:13.557 you know that space is the final frontier. 3 00:00:13.557 --> 00:00:14.869 But if you're in the areas 4 00:00:14.869 --> 00:00:16.448 of biological or medical research, 5 00:00:16.448 --> 00:00:19.764 you might agree that the brain actually deserves that title. 6 00:00:19.764 --> 00:00:21.712 While we've made significant strides 7 00:00:21.712 --> 00:00:23.529 in the areas of neurological research 8 00:00:23.529 --> 00:00:26.511 and development of neurological treatments of disease, 9 00:00:26.511 --> 00:00:28.080 we are still severely limited 10 00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:30.000 in our understanding of the brain. 11 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.377 But why is that? 12 00:00:31.377 --> 00:00:34.157 To put it simply, the brain doesn't want us inside of it. 13 00:00:34.157 --> 00:00:36.313 Even minute perturbations of the brain's 14 00:00:36.313 --> 00:00:38.544 homeostatic balance can be debilitating. 15 00:00:38.544 --> 00:00:41.557 This makes any form of invasive investigation or imaging 16 00:00:41.557 --> 00:00:43.786 dangerous and potentially even deadly. 17 00:00:43.786 --> 00:00:45.122 But what if there was a way 18 00:00:45.122 --> 00:00:47.399 to safely view not only brain structure 19 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:51.596 but also brain function to find and treat blood clots, 20 00:00:51.596 --> 00:00:54.771 or to treat behavioral disorders and neurodegenerative 21 00:00:54.771 --> 00:00:57.944 disorders in real-time in living systems? 22 00:00:57.944 --> 00:01:01.394 With nanotechnology that is swiftly becoming a possibility. 23 00:01:01.394 --> 00:01:04.465 Quantum dots are small fluorescent nanoparticles 24 00:01:04.465 --> 00:01:06.404 that are so bright that they can be seen 25 00:01:06.404 --> 00:01:08.648 even deep within living tissue. 26 00:01:08.648 --> 00:01:10.893 In my research, I'm using quantum dots 27 00:01:10.893 --> 00:01:14.217 to view reproductive pathways within living amphibians. 28 00:01:14.217 --> 00:01:16.392 Why amphibians, you might ask. 29 00:01:16.392 --> 00:01:19.199 Over 1/3 of all amphibian species are considered 30 00:01:19.199 --> 00:01:20.904 endangered or threatened. 31 00:01:20.904 --> 00:01:23.821 This makes the implementation of captive breeding programs 32 00:01:23.821 --> 00:01:25.689 and artificial reproductive techniques 33 00:01:25.689 --> 00:01:28.704 increasingly valuable for stemming their decline. 34 00:01:28.704 --> 00:01:30.937 The problem is that we don't fully understand 35 00:01:30.937 --> 00:01:34.116 all the reproductive pathways within these animals. 36 00:01:34.116 --> 00:01:36.602 So, as you can see imagine, 37 00:01:36.602 --> 00:01:38.935 this can make implementing artificial reproductive 38 00:01:38.935 --> 00:01:40.628 technologies very difficult. 39 00:01:40.628 --> 00:01:41.885 That is where I come in. 40 00:01:41.885 --> 00:01:44.065 In my research I'm attaching reproductive hormones 41 00:01:44.065 --> 00:01:46.412 to quantum do not nanoparticles 42 00:01:46.412 --> 00:01:48.985 and nasally administering them into living amphibians. 43 00:01:48.985 --> 00:01:51.227 This allows me to view hormone binding 44 00:01:51.227 --> 00:01:53.871 and pathway illumination in real time 45 00:01:53.871 --> 00:01:55.484 within these animals. 46 00:01:55.484 --> 00:01:58.807 Then the subsequent behavioral effects elicited 47 00:01:58.807 --> 00:02:01.154 by these hormones downstream will show me 48 00:02:01.154 --> 00:02:02.875 that these pathways being illuminated 49 00:02:02.875 --> 00:02:06.018 and the behaviors are related. 50 00:02:06.018 --> 00:02:08.577 If these are successful, these techniques 51 00:02:08.577 --> 00:02:11.999 can be applied to a wide variety of other areas of research 52 00:02:11.999 --> 00:02:14.360 such as tumor localization and treatment, 53 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:16.347 treatment of neurological disorders, 54 00:02:16.347 --> 00:02:18.416 simple anatomy studies, 55 00:02:18.416 --> 00:02:20.398 and a wide variety of others. 56 00:02:20.398 --> 00:02:23.067 The key to success within the quantum dots 57 00:02:23.067 --> 00:02:25.107 lies within their small size. 58 00:02:25.107 --> 00:02:27.226 Not only are they small enough to permeate 59 00:02:27.226 --> 00:02:29.064 the blood brain barrier which generally 60 00:02:29.064 --> 00:02:32.055 restricts large molecules and substances from entry, 61 00:02:32.055 --> 00:02:33.987 but they're so small they can fly 62 00:02:33.987 --> 00:02:36.057 under the brain's defensive radar 63 00:02:36.057 --> 00:02:37.713 without triggering an immune response 64 00:02:37.713 --> 00:02:40.726 or subsequent inflammation causing damage. 65 00:02:40.726 --> 00:02:43.166 Sometimes, when you want to boldly go 66 00:02:43.166 --> 00:02:45.319 where no one else has in the brain, 67 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:46.837 it helps to think small. 68 00:02:46.837 --> 00:02:47.754 Thank you.