Lunch Program | This Changes Everything: How Technology Is Revolutionizing Medicine

Faster Cures Mission and Context

• Faster Cures, a center of the Milken Institute based in Washington, D.C., aims to optimize the biomedical research system rather than focus on specific diseases.
• Current statistics highlight a massive gap: there are approximately 10,000 known diseases, yet only about 500 treatments or cures exist within the current pipeline.
• The organization's core pillars include public policy advocacy, system-wide collaboration, and placing patients at the center of research design.

Historical Progress and Economic Impact

• Life expectancy rose from 26 years (1800) to 31 years (1900), but surged to 49 years by 1950 following the introduction of sanitation, vaccines, and antibiotics.
• Today, global life expectancy is 67 years, and U.S. life expectancy is near 80 years.
• The Human Genome Project (1990–2003) cost $3.8 billion over 13 years; it generated significant economic benefits, created thousands of jobs, and revolutionized the diagnosis of over 4,000 genetic diseases.
• Public health and medical research are accountable for 50% or more of all economic growth; in Southeast Asia, life expectancy doubled in two generations, while in sub-Saharan Africa, it doubled in one generation.

Technological Acceleration in Genomics

• In 1993, sequencing a single human genome took 13 years and cost over $3 billion.
• By 2016, a $5,000 machine (developed by "Flick") sequenced a human genome in 7.3 seconds, a speed increase of nearly a billion times compared to 1990s capabilities.
• Data storage costs have dropped from $1 million per megabyte (1976) to less than one cent per megabyte today.
• The rate of progress is expected to continue accelerating due to advancements in 5G connectivity and data processing power.

Microbiome Research (Dr. Jack Gilbert)

• The human body contains 100 trillion bacterial cells, which collectively hold 100 times more genetic information than the human genome.
• Over the last century, the eradication of microbial exposure through antibiotics and sanitizers has negatively impacted health, correlating with rising rates of asthma and allergies.
• Microbiome-wide association studies link microbial changes to conditions including cancer, depression, autism, and neurodegenerative disorders.
• Adding specific probiotics to immunotherapy protocols significantly accelerates success rates in patients who previously did not respond to treatment.
• A new "microbial GPS" concept aims to provide personalized dietary and lifestyle interventions to maintain optimal microbiome health.
• Novel surgical therapies that "feed" the microbiome during procedures aim to eradicate 90% of surgical infections by preventing bacteria from attacking the host.

Telomere Science and Precision Medicine (Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn)

• Telomeres, caps on chromosomes that shorten over time, are causal factors in cellular senescence, which contributes to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and dementia.
• Short telomere length is a significant predictor of mortality; individuals in the bottom 10th percentile of telomere length are twice as likely to die within three years compared to those in the top percentile.
• Precision medicine involves combining multiple data points (e.g., telomere length and depression status) to improve prediction accuracy; for bladder cancer patients, having both risk factors resulted in 100% mortality within five years, whereas other groups had significantly lower mortality.
• Telomere length can be influenced by lifestyle factors, offering a potential avenue to "make disease optional" through non-pharmacological interventions.

Early Cancer Detection via Nanocytology (Dr. Vadim Bakhman)

• The most effective cancer strategy is early detection and prevention rather than late-stage treatment; for example, cervical cancer mortality dropped >90% following the introduction of the Pap smear (two-tier screening).
• Current screening gaps exist for major cancers like colon and lung cancer due to the high cost and invasiveness of definitive tests (e.g., colonoscopy, CT scans).
• Dr. Bakhman's lab developed "nanocytology," a technology capable of detecting nanoscale chromatin alterations in cells, which occur during "field carcinogenesis" before a tumor forms.
• A proposed "nanotech Pap smear" for lung cancer (brushing cheek cells) demonstrated 90% sensitivity for early-stage, curable lung cancer.
• The technology is applicable to lung, colon, ovarian, prostate, pancreatic, esophageal, liver, and thyroid cancers, with clinical implementation targeted for lung cancer screening in 2017.

Regenerative Medicine and Living Implants (Dr. Nina Tandon)

• EpiBone, co-founded by Tandon, produces living, personalized bone grafts from a patient's own adipose stem cells, eliminating rejection risks associated with titanium implants or bone harvesting.
• The process involves a 3D-printed scaffold, stem cell seeding, and a three-week bioreactor cultivation period.
• Pig trials show successful vascular ingrowth and host-tissue integration of the grafts over nine months.
• The company targets craniofacial reconstruction first, with future expansion planned for joint trauma, arthritis, and dental applications.
• Tandon advocates shifting the medical paradigm from viewing the body as a machine (mechanics) to a living ecosystem (gardeners).

Synthetic Biology and "Life Code" (Juan Enriquez)

• Humanity is transitioning into Homo evolutus, a species capable of deliberately controlling its own evolution through "intelligent design" rather than relying on natural selection and random mutation.
• We are moving from "natural selection" to "unnatural selection" (e.g., ordered rows of crops, domesticated animals) and "non-random mutation" via CRISPR gene editing.
• Synthetic biology allows cells to be programmed like computer chips; Craig Venter's team created the world's first synthetic life form ("green goo") capable of manufacturing fuel, vaccines, and food.
• Eight of the top ten best-selling medicines are now grown in living organisms.
• Data storage capacity has expanded to the point where all human-generated data could be stored in one teaspoon of DNA.
• Synthetic biology kits are now commercially available for under $500, democratizing access to gene programming technology.

Event Logistics and Interactive Elements

• The Milken Institute Global Conference utilized a mobile quiz system (texting "global2016" to 22333) to engage the audience on historical and scientific facts.
• The quiz confirmed that eyeglasses originated in 13th-century Venice, while other technologies like Band-Aids (1920s, USA) and Aspirin (1897, Germany) had different origins.
• Participants were invited to support the work of the featured scientists and Faster Cures financially.