InviTED

By Alisa Kim

They were likely among the most nerve-wracking and exhilarating four-and-a-half minutes of Padina Pezeshki's life.

On May 31, Pezeshki, a PhD student co-supervised by Sunnybrook Research Institute scientists Drs. Cari Whyne and Albert Yee, gave a presentation on her research on the use of radiofrequency waves to treat cancer that has spread to the bone—only it wasn't the kind of scientific talk she is used to giving.

That day, Pezeshki participated in a global talent search held by TED, a not-for-profit organization that showcases innovative and inspiring ideas through its website, TED.com.

"I feel like I spent my adrenaline for the year in that afternoon," she says of her experience presenting at "TED@Vancouver," one of 14 global events at which applicants auditioned to speak at next year's annual TED conference in California. Invitations to speak at the conference will be based on the number of views, ratings and comments generated by the talent search videos, now available online. Other cities that hosted TED "salons" include Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo.

In April, Pezeshki, who watches at least one TED talk a day during her commute to Sunnybrook Research Institute, uploaded a one-minute video of herself that was filmed at her home using her cell phone to the TED website. She says it came as a "total shock" when staff at the organization sent her an email in mid-May notifying her that she was one of 22 applicants chosen to audition at the Vancouver event.

"We were all very supportive of her going to Vancouver to participate," says Whyne, who directs the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Lab, in which Pezeshki works. "It was a great opportunity for her to present her work to a large audience and motivate other young women in bioengineering and biomedical research."

Pezeshki, who is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto, spoke about her project. She is testing, validating and helping to optimize a device that uses electromagnetic energy to destroy cancer cells in bone. "It's not that you're delivering heat to the body; you're delivering electricity, which excites your ions. They start jumping around and bumping into each other and that generates heat. It's really the heat generated in the tissue that cooks the tumour," says Pezeshki of how the technology works.

Her research has shown that the device is safe, minimally invasive and can be used to target the tumour within bone without damaging neighbouring healthy tissue in the spine. The technology was developed by Baylis Medical, in collaboration with Whyne's lab. It has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is being tested clinically.

While she found giving the presentation at the sold-out event stressful, Pezeshki says she received moral support from the organizers at TED and the attendees. "The energy was amazing. Even though it was a smaller audience [than that of the annual TED conference], everyone was clearly a TED fan and so excited to be there, and it was awesome to share that with them. The ambiance was very friendly even though it was a competition."

Regardless of how she does in the competition, Pezeshki says she is happy just knowing she can cross giving a TED talk off her bucket list. "My ultimate goal was just to do it. It seemed so impossible. It's checked, but I definitely don't mind being invited back."

To view and vote for Pezeshki's talk, go to http://talentsearch.ted.com/video/Padina-Pezeshki-Zapping-bone-ca;TEDVancouver.