SPEAKER 1: My research matters because our lab
is attempting to combat a disease named Osteoarthritis.
You might have heard of this disease
from the elderly's in your family,
which is the most common form of human right arthritis.
It affects 250 million people, globally.
And in the US alone, affects 46 million people,
leading to a direct cause of $89 billion US dollars spent
on medical expenditure annually.
This is astronomical.
It's equivalent to four years of a NASA budget,
or 2/3 of the entire Apollo project.
Because there's no drug to cure this disease, by the year 2030
these numbers will be tripled.
Why is Osteoarthritis so common?
Why does it prefer to affect the aged population?
And what's the relationship between Osteoarthritis
and our daily lives?
All these seemingly disparate questions
have implications within our daily lives.
One such implication is that we all walk on our legs
since millions of years ago.
You might wonder, will kangaroo get Osteoarthritis
since they jump on their hind limbs?
[LAUGHTER]
The short answer is, they might if they
had a similar lifespan of ours, because Osteoarthritis
is age dependent disease.
That's why young people don't get it until a certain age.
So it seems Osteoarthritis is inevitable
since aging is a manifestation of time on our bodies.
So how do we cope with this?
First, we need to look into the mechanism of Osteoarthritis
pathogenesis.
You might not have Osteoarthritis yet,
but you might have a car.
[LAUGHTER]
So what's a part on a car most likely to break down?
The tires, because the car is run on tires,
and tires are like our cartilage.
The cartilage absorbs mechanical forces all the time.
Every movement you make, every step
you take, we load mechanical forces onto the cartilage
in our joint.
Years after years-- you're unaware, sitting there--
but your cartilage knows.
And it responds not only to those mechanical forces,
but also the subsequent inflammatory stimulation.
Nothing lasts forever.
One day, our cartilage will break down.
What will you do when you have a worn tire?
You fix it, or you probably replace one by going to BJs.
This is exactly what do we do to manage end stage
Osteoarthritis.
However, that could only last for 20 years, maximally.
Although there are tissues that can fix themselves--
namely, regeneration-- sadly, our cartilage
is a hardly regenerated tissue.
Therefore, we need to prevent Osteoarthritis
from the very beginning or make cartilage
to regenerate properly.
Luckily, alongside with my advisor, Dr. Qian Chen,
we have made an interesting discovery
of mechano-sensitive microRNA, a very short form of RNA,
and it can convert mechanical signals into biologic ones
by regulating Cytokine production.
The Cytokines are small, inflammatory proteins.
They are the key culprits of Osteoarthritis progression.
They are like the salt on the road of a New England winter.
Originally, we hypothesized this microRNA
would promote inflammation.
And we indeed discovered a [? negative ?] regulator
of Cytokine production that, itself,
will be negatively regulated by this microRNA.
Therefore, negative and negative becomes positive,
which fits exactly to our hypothesis.
However, this implies that, actually, exercise
would deteriorate our joint health, which
is contradictory to our clinical or animal study observations.
Then we rethought, and realized mother nature
is indeed a dedicated designer-- there's always a loop.
When the cells in the cartilage sense
excesses Cytokine production in surrounding,
this microRNA will switch it's target
to inhibit those that are [INAUDIBLE] directly
to promote regeneration, reminiscent of a thermostat.
This mechanism finally elucidates
that a normal level of exercise is required
and beneficial for our joint health,
while too much exercise could trigger OA.
Imagine if we could target this microRNA.
Imagine if we could control the progression of Osteoarthritis.
Imagine if we could even prevent Osteoarthritis at, all.
We would, on a micro scale, significantly
improve the quality of life of aged population.
That could include our grandparents.
Or on a macro scope, dramatically
cut down socio-economic burden.
That could include the health systems there we are in.
That's how my research matters.
Because everyone, including us and our families,
will benefit from this sooner or later.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]