 Around the world, 42 million people are currently suffering from cancer. That's almost equivalent to the entire population of Spain. And incredibly, by the time I finish this 4 minute talk, 137 more people will be diagnosed with a big C. I know it sounds scary, but thanks to tools from nature, we will beat this monster once more step at a time. Life on Earth is extremely diverse, and there are a lot of species that gives us tools to solve biological problems. In my case, the journey begins with an apple that's fallen from a tree. It's nothing special at first, but who knew that once it begins to rot, it becomes the ideal home for these tiny worms that will help us fight cancer. We've taken these worms, called Xenirebditis elegans, from nature to the lab because of many special reasons. But what truly sets them apart is its transparency, allowing us to see what's happening inside them. But then you might be thinking, worms and humans are nothing alike. But, believe it or not, 80% of the genes that we have can also be found in these worms, which is why they make great models for studying human diseases like cancer. Now, most types of cancers are caused by small changes in our DNA that lead to big changes in proteins. What I do in my PhD thesis is to visualize proteins involved in cancer by attaching them to another protein that glows so that we can see how they behave inside transparent worms. To do this, I enlist the help of three more tools from nature, the deadliest killer in the world, the bacteriophage, their target, luckily not us, but bacteria, and I also get some help from a jellyfish with the power to glow. Just like how viruses infect us and give us the flu, there's a special kind of virus called a bacteriophage that can infect bacteria by landing on their surface and injecting them with their DNA. To defend themselves from this attack, bacteria evolved a protein called Cas9, which act like molecular scissors by cutting the foreign DNA at the exact location where a special molecule called a guide RNA tells it to cut. I took advantage of these molecular scissors by injecting worms with a Cas9 protein and a guide RNA to create a precise break in their DNA. Remember the glowing jellyfish? Well, I took part of its DNA that makes the fluorescent protein and inserted it in the worm's DNA so that the worms acquire the ability to glow as well. I used the system to visualize a protein that transports cisplatin, which is a drug that's currently being used to treat 28 different types of cancers thanks to its cheap price. So I light up these transporters by attaching the fluorescent protein, making the worms glow red. Then I give the worms cisplatin, which passes through the transporters into the cell. However, there's bad news. Continuous exposure to cisplatin causes the degradation of these transporters. Less transporters means less light coming from the worms, but more importantly, it means that less drug can be absorbed by the patient cells, making them resistant to chemotherapy. However, I'm using these glowing worms to find new ways of preventing these transporters from degrading so that cisplatin can continue to be an effective drug for cancer patients worldwide. So in this short time, I've shown you how I use these tools from nature to fight cancer in my own little way, and I also hope it makes us realize the importance of protecting all species in our planet as one of them may hold the key to finally ending cancer one day. Thank you.