Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Yeah,
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many of you in the room here with me today will know
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someone who will have known someone who has suffered from Alzheimer's disease
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is a horrible neurodegenerative disease,
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which begins with the inability to perform new learn tasks
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and short term memory loss and progresses to hallucination,
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confusion and the inability to live independently.
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There is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease,
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but this is all about to change all thanks to genetic editing.
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Since its discovery in 19 oh six,
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countless researchers all across the globe have been
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working towards finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease.
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None thus far have been successful.
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Current treatments available only work to prolong the development
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of symptoms and do not prevent the disease.
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This means that all patients do eventually pass away from Alzheimer's
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as Alzheimer's can largely be attributed to genetic genetic factors.
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I believe the best way to go about treating
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Alzheimer's is by tackling it at a genetic level.
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There are about 50 genes which are linked to Alzheimer's
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specific variations of this gene of these genes.
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Increase a patient's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and
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can be tested for using Genome Wide Association studies.
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Wants to test detected.
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These high risk variations could also be rectified
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by making small changes using genetic editing.
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And this is what I'm going to be talking to you about today,
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Okay,
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Alzheimer's affects a whopping 30% over adults over the age of 85.
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This means that for those of us in the room who live past 85 years old,
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almost one third of us will develop Alzheimer's.
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This is an incredibly large portion of the of us,
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and this is why billions of dollars have been spent in the
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health care industry to try and find a cure for Alzheimer's.
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In the past decade alone,
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there have been over 400 failed clinical trials for Alzheimer's cures.
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This really highlights the fact that we need to start
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start to seek alternative solutions to solve Alzheimer's disease.
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The alternative solution that I believe to be the best is crisp.
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Chris Barr is the most commonly used genetic editing tool,
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and many of you here today may have heard of.
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It
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is the technology that allows us to make small,
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precise changes in the genetic code to rewrite genes.
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CRISPR has already been trialled for a variety of applications,
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including the treatment of hereditary diseases such as sickle cell anaemia
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for the production of biofuels for bioremediation
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and in gene drives in mosquitoes.
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To decrease the prevalence of malaria in many Third World countries,
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CRISPR has even been used illegally to modify human embryos
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in China to decrease the risk of developing autism.
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The implications of this, however, are not yet known.
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Chris by uses a specific
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restriction enzyme to make a cut in DNA.
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The restriction enzyme is guided to the correct
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cutting site by a strand of complementary DNA,
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complementary to the section of DNA which is being cut.
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The cut is then made and DNA is repaired according
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to instructions provided by the CRISPR CAS nine complex.
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Okay,
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there are four main genes which are associated with Alzheimer's disease.
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It is specific known mutations in these genes, which confer risks,
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risked Alzheimer's and affect the severity between different patients.
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Thanks to genomics,
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we are aware of these genes and mutations and the roles which they play.
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We can therefore use genetic editing to rectify these mutations
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in genes and significantly reduce the risk of developing out sums
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in the brain.
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Alzheimer's is characterised by amyloid plaques,
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plaques which are the accumulation of amyloid proteins.
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A neuro February tangles the accumulation of tau protein.
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Both of these accumulate in the brain between nerve cells and hinder
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brain function and the built in ability to form new memories.
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CRISPR will therefore target genes,
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which led to the overproduction of tower and amyloid proteins in the brain.
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We could use a combination of genetic testing to find those who are
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most susceptible to Alzheimer's and then
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genetic editing to decrease their susceptibility.
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A team from a Canadian university have
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recently identified a genetic variant which,
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when present, can reduce the production of amyloid protein by a factor of four.
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The variant was identified after a Genome Wide Association study of
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an Icelandic population with a very low incidence of Alzheimer's disease.
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The Canadian researchers proposed that CRISPR could
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be used to introduce the mutation that
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they found into individuals who are more
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susceptible to Alzheimer's disease as it can wreak
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reduce the accumulation of amyloid proteins by up to 40%.
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The researchers tested this theory by culturing hek cells,
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which are an established human cell line, and modifying them using CRISPR
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to mimic the mutation, which they found in the Icelandic population.
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They managed to establish this modification in over
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30 over half of the cells that they
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cultured and hypothesis that this also could be done in human cells in the future.
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There is therefore a lot more research which needs to
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be done before we see this happen in human brains.
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The next step would be to test this theory in brain organ IEDs,
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which our brains created using stem cells in vitro,
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which are used for research as they mimic many functions of normal brain tissue.
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All risks can also be tested for using these organised organ oId,
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such as off targeting effects of
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Chris Parr and then implemented for the use in humans.
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Research states that over 44 million
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people globally suffer from Alzheimer's disease.
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Imagine the massive impact that we could have
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on people's lives if we were able to cure
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Alzheimer's at the root and stop it progressing
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to the horrible disease which we see today.
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I have first hand experience what it's like to
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watch the loved one go through Alzheimer's disease,
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and this is not someone which I wish
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something that I wish upon anyone or anyone's family
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after over 100 years of Alzheimer's disease. It is really time that we find a cure.
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Yeah.
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Anyway, on a lighter note, I hope that everyone really enjoys their weekend away.
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We've got an amazing opportunity to be here all together,
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and I can't wait to hear everyone else's talk and
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to have a chat with you over the weekend.
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If anyone wants to talk to me anymore about Alzheimer's, Chris Bar or anything else,
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you will most likely find me somewhere at the cocktail bar or at the pool.
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Thanks, everyone.