From DNA to Disease, Understanding the Human Body’s Hidden Systems and How to Heal Them

This talk is all about gene therapy – what it is, how it works, and who it’s for. The audience will learn about different types of cutting-edge medicines and the diseases they treat. We will cover the basics like what even is a gene, and how do mutations cause diseases. Then we will explore the mechanisms of available therapies by highlighting successful FDA-approved treatments.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men — and when it spreads in the process called metastasis, it becomes far harder to treat. This talk explores how prostate cancer cells escape the primary tumor, travel through the body, and adapt to new environments, and why understanding that journey is one of the most urgent challenges in cancer research today. By mapping the routes these metastatic cells take, we can begin to identify the hidden highways they rely on — and, crucially, where we might build the roadblocks to stop them.

Most people assume they’d notice if something were wrong with their vision. But glaucoma, one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness, can quietly steal sight without pain or obvious symptoms. In this talk, we’ll explore how vision really works, why the brain is surprisingly good at hiding damage, and how the eye’s delicate pressure and plumbing system can fail without us realizing it. Through visual demonstrations and real clinical stories, you may never think about your next eye exam the same way again.