full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Kathryn A. Whitehead: The tiny balls of fat that could revolutionize medicine
Unscramble the Blue Letters
flainly, one more ingredient. This one is a polymer cllaed polyethylene glycol. So let's call it PEG. That's much easier. PEG is a water-loving molecule. So it surrounds the liipd nanoparticle and it holds it all together. You can think of the other three lpdiis as the box and the bubble wrap for the mRNA, and the PEG as the packing tape. You may have heard in the news about a tiny fraction of people that have allergic responses to the vaccine. There is some eednicve that PEG could be contributing to these allergic reactions. And that's because people are routinely exposed to PEG in cosmetic and holsouehd products, and some people have already doeevlped aiotedbins against PEG. But why would this haeppn to some people and not to others? It turns out that every person's immune system is different, and just the same way that some people are allergic to ltaex, other people are allergic to PEG. It's important to keep in mind, however, that PEG has had a long history of safe use as part of FDA-approved drug formulations, and these vaccine allergies could be caused by things other than PEG. More research is needed to get to the btotom of these side effects.
Open Cloze
_______, one more ingredient. This one is a polymer ______ polyethylene glycol. So let's call it PEG. That's much easier. PEG is a water-loving molecule. So it surrounds the _____ nanoparticle and it holds it all together. You can think of the other three ______ as the box and the bubble wrap for the mRNA, and the PEG as the packing tape. You may have heard in the news about a tiny fraction of people that have allergic responses to the vaccine. There is some ________ that PEG could be contributing to these allergic reactions. And that's because people are routinely exposed to PEG in cosmetic and _________ products, and some people have already _________ __________ against PEG. But why would this ______ to some people and not to others? It turns out that every person's immune system is different, and just the same way that some people are allergic to _____, other people are allergic to PEG. It's important to keep in mind, however, that PEG has had a long history of safe use as part of FDA-approved drug formulations, and these vaccine allergies could be caused by things other than PEG. More research is needed to get to the ______ of these side effects.
Solution
- antibodies
- developed
- finally
- household
- evidence
- lipid
- latex
- called
- happen
- bottom
- lipids
Original Text
Finally, one more ingredient. This one is a polymer called polyethylene glycol. So let's call it PEG. That's much easier. PEG is a water-loving molecule. So it surrounds the lipid nanoparticle and it holds it all together. You can think of the other three lipids as the box and the bubble wrap for the mRNA, and the PEG as the packing tape. You may have heard in the news about a tiny fraction of people that have allergic responses to the vaccine. There is some evidence that PEG could be contributing to these allergic reactions. And that's because people are routinely exposed to PEG in cosmetic and household products, and some people have already developed antibodies against PEG. But why would this happen to some people and not to others? It turns out that every person's immune system is different, and just the same way that some people are allergic to latex, other people are allergic to PEG. It's important to keep in mind, however, that PEG has had a long history of safe use as part of FDA-approved drug formulations, and these vaccine allergies could be caused by things other than PEG. More research is needed to get to the bottom of these side effects.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
lipid called |
3 |
mrna vaccines |
2 |
bubble wrap |
2 |
similar role |
2 |
ionizable lipids |
2 |
immune cells |
2 |
Important Words
- allergic
- allergies
- antibodies
- bottom
- box
- bubble
- call
- called
- caused
- contributing
- cosmetic
- developed
- drug
- easier
- effects
- evidence
- exposed
- finally
- formulations
- fraction
- glycol
- happen
- heard
- history
- holds
- household
- immune
- important
- ingredient
- latex
- lipid
- lipids
- long
- mind
- molecule
- mrna
- nanoparticle
- needed
- news
- packing
- part
- peg
- people
- polyethylene
- polymer
- products
- reactions
- research
- responses
- routinely
- safe
- side
- surrounds
- system
- tape
- tiny
- turns
- vaccine
- wrap