Two Short Discussion posts with Questions – Description
A) https://www.ted.com/talks/carl_june_a_living_drug_…
After watching Dr. Carl June’s TED Talk about “a ‘living drug’ that could change the way we treat cancers,” please thoughtfully discuss the following questions with your peers. For your initial post, please pick and respond to one of the questions. Be sure to use the correct formatting described in the guidelines and instructions when answering the discussion boards.
What questions do you have about this TED talk for the presenter? What led you to these questions and/or why do you think they are important to ask?
The University of Kansas Cancer Center in Kansas City is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)- designated cancer center – one of just 71 in the United States. According to their website about CAR T-cell therapLinks to an external site., they are “among the world’s 1st providers of FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy and 1 of only a few centers in the country to offer all FDA-approved CAR T-cell treatments and several clinical trials.” If you or a family member were to take advantage of this new treatment or take part in a clinical trial, what scientific information would you want to know about this treatment, current research results, and long-term side effects?
Can you imagine any other creative applications for CAR T-cells besides cancer treatments? The first six minutes of this video might help you better understand how CAR T-cells work and come up with other ideas: https://www.hcp.novartis.com/products/kymriah/acute-lymphoblastic-leukemia-children/mechanism-of-actionLinks to an external site.
During this talk, Dr. June tells us that “It can cost up to 150,000 dollars to make the CAR T-cells for each patient. And when you add in the cost of treating CRS and other complications, the cost can reach one million dollars per patient. We must remember that the cost of failure, though, is even worse. The current noncurative therapies for cancer are also expensive and, in addition, the patient dies. So, of course, we’d like to see research done now to make this more efficient and increase affordability to all patients. Fortunately, this is a new and evolving field, and as with many other new therapies and services, prices will come down as industry learns to do things more efficiently.” Until this is the case, though, what would you do in your aspirational career role (as a scientist, health care provider, policy maker, teacher, etc) to ensure that this therapy is made available to as many people as need it?
B)
What is the most bizarre scientific rumor that you have heard or believed during the COVID pandemic?
Try to recall your level of biological knowledge you had as a freshman in college, now understand that the general public has less than this, how do you think this plays in distrust of vaccination efforts?
Heidi Larson said, “We have a relationship problem, not a misinformation problem. Misinformation is the symptom, not the cause.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your opinion.
Many of us have had friends that disagree with our stance on vaccination. How will this TED talk influence how you engage with them
The post Two Short Discussion posts with Questions first appeared on .
