Transcriber: rokhshid r Reviewer: Emma G
(Laugther) Love you.
Well, in 2019, I joined an event
that was organized by large pharmaceutical companies.
They showed the audience the life story of patients,
who were struggling with devastating, rare blood cancer from childhood.
Who volunteered to participate in clinical trial
of a new cell therapy treatment.
Then these patients went on the stage to share their experience.
They were healthy, smiling, and cancer-free.
That moment loaded my heart with indescribable joy.
Because for the past 20 years as a scientist, I devoted my time
to understand the wonder what is gene and cell therapy?
Many of us have family histories of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease,
cancer or genetic disorders.
Or we may know someone who is battling an incurable disorder.
And we are all collectively impacted by this struggle, directly or indirectly.
My name is Nafiseh. I’m a mom, a scientist and an inventor.
I’m here to tell you how my passion and science will change your lives.
After nearly 50 years of research,
gene and cell therapy is the future of medicine
and it will change the way we understand treatment.
But it’s going to take a collective effort to make the incurable, curable.
Well, let me take you back to 1995 when I was a teenager.
Now you can guess how old I am.
(Laughter)
At that age, I was inspired by an incredible mentor,
my brother-in-law, Dr. Zayn-ali.
He pioneered molecular medicine in Iran, my home country.
His stories at the dinner table, inspired me to learn
how genetic engineering could save lives.
So I decided to take molecular biology in university
and work on a multinational organization
called Pasteur Institute,
a research hub for cutting-edge technologies.
During that time, I met many parents
who were struggling with genetic history of untreatable disorders.
Going through prenatal genetic testing to understand
whether the preborn baby was healthy or not.
Then they had to make a difficult decision;
either keeping the baby or terminating the pregnancy.
That makes me think, is it possible that one day,
we can cure genetic disorders
so that families wouldn’t have to endure this type of suffering?
So with my husband, we moved to Canada in 2005
to pursue the answer to this question.
Being in a new country with a new language, new culture,
knowing no one with no support and connection, was not easy.
But I learned from my parents to never give up.
And eventually coming to Canada was the best decision we made.
In 2009, I felt, this is not enough, I need to learn more.
So I decided to start PhD in Pharmaceutical science.
I visited different labs and talked to different professors.
And eventually met an incredible mentor
at University of Waterloo,
Dr. Roderick Slavcev,
who was thinking about gene therapy from a completely different angle.
He walked me through some of his novel ideas,
and a lot of drawing on a big whiteboard in his office.
Wow, my eyes lit up!
The inspiration and connection happened instantly.
Together, we develop a foundational research of a gene therapy platform,
which would potentially shift the paradigm in gene therapy,
providing a safer and more effective solution.
Fast forward to 2017, I joined Roderick’s company,
Mediphage Bioceuticals, where we advance our technology.
Everything in your body is determined by your genes.
The tone of your skin, your eye colors, and the size of your heart.
Sometimes, the genes that we inherit from our parents are defective,
or some other times mutations change our genes.
Just imagine, the genes in your eyes are defective
causing you to be born blind.
What we mean by gene therapy is fixing the defective genes
to treat or cure an illness.
Most of the research right now is focusing
to treat different types of cancers.
However, gene therapy can also address deafness, blindness,
skin, muscle, blood disorders.
Even potentially MS [Multiple sclerosis] depression, or many other problems
that has roots in our genes.
It takes ten years or more to bring gene therapy to the patients’ hands.
With the number of innovations at the latest stages of gene therapy,
where we will be, the potential actually to where we will be,
with new therapies in 5 to 10 years is incredible
and that fuels my passion.
I came to Canada 17 years ago,
because I know this is the place that I, I as a woman,
would have access to a lot of opportunities.
We have some of the best and most brilliant scientific minds
in Canada, working hard to make new medications and vaccines.
But only 1%, yes only 1%, of the gene therapy work
happening globally is taking place in Canada.
We are missing important resources
to bring innovations to the patients’ hands.
From process development resources to manufacturing,
investment in Canadian-born companies,
and a better coast-to-coast networking and collaborations.
Mediphage and other innovations
continue to make gene therapies safer.
We are currently working on pushing our platform to the clinical stage,
with the help of our wonderful colleagues,
but we face roadblocks.
We need your help. This is not an easy job.
More investment means more infrastructure and more development.
It means more lives to be saved.
I was born right after Iran’s revolution
and grew up during the tough time of Iran and Iraq’s war.
I still remember the fear, alarms, bombings,
running to the shelters and moving from my home
to a different city to find a safe place.
Those memories still stick with me.
But what I learned then and still believe now
is that time builds resilience.
I think nothing can stop me.
Given the long decades of hard work and research around gene therapy
and the tireless work of many scientists,
this field has become a resilient and viable future option
for how we can take care and cure some of our toughest disorders.
I urge you, across different sectors,
from government to educators, to parents,
to pay attention and take pride of the great work
and innovations happening in Canada.
Go to the front lines, to the scientists
to see what we are developing here.
There needs to be a cultural shift in how we look at the great work
happening right here in our own backyard.
Just imagine exposing the next generation
to the process of innovation
opening their minds to find their passion.
After all, that was the stories that my brother-in-law told me
that sparked my passion to science at the first place.
If you have patients in your families or you know someone who needs help,
encourage them to talk to their doctors and to the patient advocate groups
about the new clinical trials and therapies available to them.
This field is growing, with many great products
lined up for success.
It is indeed possible to completely cure
some of the toughest disorders in the very near future.
But we need all of you to care.
We need a collective effort to make it a reality, now and in the future.
Thank you.
(Applause)