>> Inside every single cell in
your body there's a library,
like the one in the Peabody Conservatory.
And within it, it contains
all the information
and instructions necessary
to take you from a cell,
smaller than the width of your hair,
to the full fledged human
being you are today.
Aisles and aisles and aisles of books
on how to make you, you.
This library is called your DNA.
Now, despite every
single cell in your body
having the exact same set of books,
they're capable of adopting an
incredibly diverse repertoire
of functions and identities.
Like your muscle cells,
which enable you to move
when Netflix has the audacity to ask you
if you're still watching
The Office after six hours.
Those are very different
from your brain cells
which now arrest you with a sense of guilt
for having spent so much time idling.
Now, the way that your cells
are capable of adopting
such specialized functions
lie in their ability
to be very precise in
the books that they use.
You don't want a brain cell
using a muscle cell's books,
and vice versa.
That's why when you get disarray
in the library's
organizations you see here,
this can often lead to an identity crisis.
And this is associated with cancer.
Now, scientists spend
a lot of time reading
and re-writing books in the library,
trying to understand how misprints
and different editions
of books can contribute
to the development of disease.
This can be called the field of genetics,
what the books say.
But looking at how the
library is organized,
what books are being used
and what areas of the
library are accessible,
as well as how well the
librarians are performing
to maintain all of this,
can be called the field of epigenetics.
In my lab, we're very
interested in understanding
how genetics, what the
books say, and epigenetics,
how the library is organized,
contribute in forming
and shaping cell identity
in diseases like cancer.
For my thesis, I'm gonna be
looking at a specific cancer
called acute myeloid leukemia,
which is the most common adult cancer.
Blood cancer- thank you, different.
This cancer is specifically characterized
by having malfunctioning librarians.
Therefore, what I'm gonna
do, is I'm going to take
blood samples from patients
of acute myeloid leukemia
and I'm gonna look at something
called DNA methylation,
which is a chemical modification
made directly to DNA
which informs the cell on which
parts of the library to use
and which ones not to.
Then, using a mathematical
model that we've developed
in our lab, we can
calculate something called
DNA methylation entropy,
which is a metric for
which parts of the
library are in disarray.
We hope that with this understanding,
we can better improve how
acute myeloid leukemia
progresses and develops, as well as design
better therapies that
could potentially target
and galvanize and improve the performance
of these malfunctioning librarians.
From the single, microscopic
libraries in our cells,
to us as individuals,
it pays to be organized.
Thank you.
(audience clapping)
