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From YouTube: TEDxYouth@TorreAve: Sripad Sureshbabu (2019)
Description
Sripad Sureshbabu is a 16-year-old junior from Cupertino High School who is devoted to biology. He has created a 1st-place project in Biological Sciences at the Synopsys Science Fair. He is also a semifinalist for the USABO and loves spending his free time reading and playing basketball. He has focused his attention on the most dangerous threat of the next decade: Superbugs. Strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise, and people are not giving it the attention it deserves. To defeat such a foe—one that evolves much faster than the medicines we create—we have to start implementing experimental nanotechnologies, vaccines, and even phage therapies that bring a whole new meaning to "Out of the Bo(x)." This is his talk, “The Superbug—and the Biological AI Can Fight It.”
A
Malaria,
heart
disease,
cancer
Alzheimer's:
these
are
the
sorts
of
images
that
people
generally
think
about.
Well,
they
think
about
biological
threats
to
people.
In
fact,
if
you
go
down
to
your
local
science
fair
and
see
what
projects
students
are
doing,
it's
going
to
be
about
generally
one
of
these
four
topics
when
they,
oh,
yes
and
in-
and
for
that
in
that
regard,
they'll
be
talking
about
either
some
prognosis
or
a
diagnosis,
tool
and
they'll
probably
be
using
machine
learning.
Well,
what
is
machine
learning?
Well,
machine
learning
has
come
a
long
way
since
it
first
began.
A
Machine
learning
has
now
developed
from
something
that
only
used
to
do
only
used
to
identify
only
you
said:
NFI
neuro
imaging
models
and
has
now
been
able
to
identify
different
areas
of
text-to-speech
and
students
are
also
using
machine
learning
in
order
to
apply
it
in
their
own
programs.
Creating
diagnosis
of
prognosis,
tools
for
tumors
of,
say,
the
brain,
the
chest
and
all
throughout
the
body.
A
So
what
exactly
is
a
superval?
Well,
it's
simply
an
antibiotic
resistant
bacteria.
Well,
what
does
that
mean?
It
simply
means
that
we've
been
so
effective
at
using
antibiotics
for
the
past
few
decades.
Then
now
there
are
bacterial
cultures
all
throughout
the
world
that
are
now
resistant
to
every
single
type
of
antibiotic
we
have,
and
so
you
may
be
thinking
so
what,
after
all,
we
can
just
create
more
antibiotics,
we've
been
doing
that
for
the
past
half
century.
A
A
What
this
means
is
that
we
simply
cannot
use
rudimentary
technologies
technologies
of
the
past
in
order
to
take
us
into
the
future.
Classical
technologies
like
those
of
antibiotics
are
just
that
a
classic.
They
can
be
used
in
rudimentary
fundamental
situations,
but
they
won't
be
able
to
keep
up
with
what
evolution
has
brought
us
with
superbugs,
and
this
is
where
machine
learning
comes
into
play.
A
First,
we
have
vaccines.
Now,
generally,
people
know
what
vaccines
are.
After
all,
we've
all
had
one
say:
the
flu
shot.
A
vaccine
is
simply
when
you
take
a
pathogen
and
you
insert
it
into
an
individual
and
they
concur
an
immune
response
that
leaves
behind
some
memory,
B
cells
and
these
memory
b-cells
are
important
simply
because
they
allow
for
it.
The
next
time
that
the
pathogen
enters
into
the
system,
it
can
allow
for
a
response
to
happen
much
more
quickly.
A
A
Reverse
vaccinology
is
a
technology
that
has
currently
being
used
in
order
to
create
vaccines
at
a
faster
rate
than
ever
before.
Essentially,
you
take
the
genetic
information
of
the
proposed
pathogen
that
you're
looking
for
and
you're,
creating
a
speculative
model
of
what
this
organism
looks
like
you,
don't
know,
you've,
never
isolated
it
in
solution.
A
A
Furthermore,
vaccines
are
preventative
and
not
rehabilitative.
What
this
means
is
that
it
doesn't
allow
for
a
bacterial
pathogen
to
mutate
within
the
individual
once
the
person
becomes
infected,
vaccines
work
by
taking
the
shot
before
you're
infected
with
the
disease,
and
so
it
prevents
other
mutations
for
superbugs
from
occurring
in
the
future.
A
I
guess
that
technology
is
pretty
interesting
right,
but
something
that's
even
more
exciting
and
it's
coming
in
the
near
future.
Is
nanotechnology
I'm
sure
you
guys
have
heard
about
graphene
and
used
to
be
a
buzzword
back
in
the
day,
and
essentially
it's
so
easy
to
create
that
all
you
need
is
a
block
of
graphite
like
the
leaded
step
of
your
pencil,
and
you
need
a
piece
of
tape
and
you
can
create
this
two-dimensional
carbon
material
that
is
applicable
across
a
wide
variety
of
fields
in
terms
of
medicine.
A
This
just
means
that
we
use
a
carbon
oxide
fiber
and
we
insert
it
into
individuals
in
order
to
help
with
parsing
out
between
different
types
of
bacteria,
see,
usually
when
people
think
about
technology
being
used
in
medicine,
we
think
of
either
prosthetics
for
individuals
or,
we
think
about,
say
something
to
help
us
their
hearing
or
with
our
vision.
Well,
we
don't
realize
is
that
the
most
potent
forms
of
technology
that
we
can
use
in
medicine
are
naked
to
the
under
are
invisible
to
the
naked
eye.
A
For
example,
there
was
a
study
done
two
years
ago
in
which
a
carbon-based
structure
was
created
with
an
oxide
in
order
to
determine
between
PA,
K,
P
and
E
coli
types
of
bacteria
and
as
to
parse.
These
sorts
of
bacteria
out
in
our
blood
and
separate
them
and
terminate
them
when
an
in
vitro
study
was
done
with
macrophages,
and
this
and
the
carbon
oxide
fibers
the
KP,
was
eradicated
almost
immediately.
A
A
Now,
the
most
exciting
form
of
technology
that
we
have
in
the
future
is
phage
therapy.
The
thing
that
I
like
most
of
a
face
there
breeze
is
that
they
can
go
toe-to-toe
with
bacteria,
as
bacteria
evolve.
Well,
how
does
that
work?
Well,
first,
what
is
a
phage?
A
phage
is
simply
a
virus
that
infects
bacteria.
Now
some
of
you
may
be
thinking,
but
wait
like
bacteria
and
viruses
are
on
one
side
and
humans,
animals
plants,
every
other
type,
working
on
other
side,
but
usually
lump
bacteria
and
viruses
into
the
same
group.
A
Well,
this
is
not
necessarily
true.
After
all,
viruses,
their
only
goal
is
to
spread
their
genetic
information
and
they'll
do
that
through
bacteria.
In
fact,
they
have
been
doing
that
for
billions
and
billions
of
years.
So
it
only
makes
sense
that
we
employ
these
phages
as
the
best
bet
for
us
to
fight
superbugs
in
the
future.
It
only
makes
sense
that
the
most
formidable
foe
of
bacteria
is
what
we
can
use
to
fight
our
most
formidable
foe.
A
Is
that
not
only
can
these
be
parametrized
at
the
beginning,
but
as
soon
as
you
have
them,
memorization
I'm,
seeing
parametrization
in
order
to
connect
between
machine
learning
and
the
phage
therapy
that
we
have
not
only
is
it
important
and
not
only
is
there
parameterization,
but
there's
also
a
lack
of
interference
later
on.
This
is
because
phage
therapies
can
evolve
alongside
superbugs
the
virus
that
you
have
parameterised
in
order
to
prevent
the
superbug
something
that's
already
evolved.
A
A
It's
bacterial
viruses
in
our
blood.
Doing
this
every
single
day
when
uniting
you
and
nanotech
and
facia
phage
therapy,
we
can
see
that
first
nanotech
is
able
to
parse
out
classifications.
Just
like
we
do
with
machine
learning
algorithms.
We
see
that
phage
therapy
is
able
to
evolve
alongside
information,
taking
information
from
the
superbug,
as
it
is
right
now
and
as
the
super
bug
evolves,
the
phage
can
evolve
alongside
it.
It
doesn't
even
need
any
help.
You
don't
need
to
culture
it
in
a
solution.
A
So
I
guess
what
I'm
saying
is
with
nano
technologies
that
have
fluorescent
lighting
to
filter
out
between
differe
types
of
bacteria
or
with
phage
therapies
like
the
t4
lytic
phage,
that
can
evolve
to
meet
the
demands
of
superbugs
or
with
something
as
simple
as
a
vaccine,
which
actually
was
actually
recently
created
the
meningococcal
vaccine,
the
meningococcal
vaccine,
being
probably
a
vaccine
you've
already
taken.
It
was
created
using
the
reverse
technology
that
I
had
talked
about
earlier.
A
These
are
things
that
are
happening
now
in
order
to
prevent
the
spread
of
superbugs
into
the
future
in
order
to
prove
in
order
to
stay
up
to
date
with
the
superbugs
as
they
evolve
and,
finally,
to
be
able
to
unite
the
world
of
machine
learning
the
world
in
which
we
usually
think
of
computers.
In
computer
design
with
the
world
of
medicine
and
biology
to
be
able
to
help
save
lives,
to
prevent
the
fact
that
10
million
people
are
likely
to
die
of
superbugs
is
such
a
problem.
It's
not
fixed.