TED Community » Kelly Stoetzel

More About Me

I'm passionate about

music, contemporary art, great ideas, and preserving the imaginations of our little ones so they can grow up to be wonderful independent thinkers.

Talk to me about

the best speakers you've ever heard, ways to make TEDActive even better

People don't know that I'm good at

Wii bowling

My TED Story

My dad has been going to TED for something like 20 years, and my brother has been to more TED conferences than I have. They convinced me to give it a try (it wasn't hard) and I was hooked. My mom now goes to TED too, of course. A few years later, TED HQ moved from California to New York, and I was fortunate enough to be able to make it a part of my every day life.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +1262.60 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: How can we make the world even smaller, more accessible? *A TEDActive Mobility Project Question*

  Apr 27 2011: Like many people in the US, I don't live in a city, but do work in one. I have a long commute of 120 miles, which is more the exception than the rule, I know. In my case, public transportation to work is extremely pricey ( > US$100 round-trip) and also somewhat unreliable (lengthy delays + connecting trains), so instead I drive. I feel pretty guilty about it, but because of where I live I don't see much choice. The only solution that makes sense is to move into a city. Working on that!! More people moving to cities and doing our best to support their existing transportation infrastructures seems a relatively easy change to make.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: Two questions. Was the printed kidney FUNCTIONAL, and if the kid had a bladder transplant 10 years ago, why is this not more ubiquitous?!?!

  Mar 10 2011: And he concluded with this para (but I ran out of space in the last post):
  
  The number of technologies in the field or regenerative medicine that are reaching patients is increasing, but most of these technologies are still going through the regulatory process so safety and efficacy can be assured before they are disseminated widely. Although flat, tubular and hollow organs are progressing to the clinic, solid organs are still years away from their use in patients.
• +4

  A comment on Conversation: Two questions. Was the printed kidney FUNCTIONAL, and if the kid had a bladder transplant 10 years ago, why is this not more ubiquitous?!?!

  Mar 10 2011: Anthony Atala asked us to post this response for him:
  
  These are two very good questions.
  
  At TED, we demonstrated the printing of a prototype engineered kidney using human kidney cells. While our research suggests the potential for this type of structure to function in the body, we are years away from achieving that goal and the project does not eliminate the current need for organ donation. The project is based on earlier research in which we were able to show that miniature kidneys could be engineered using scaffolds (biomaterials) and cells. Experimentally, these miniature kidneys were shown to be functional, in that they were able to filter blood and produce dilute urine. This work was first published in 2003 in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology. The printing technology demonstrated at TED is one of the strategies that we are now using to try to make larger functional units for the kidney and other solid organs.
  
  Regarding the bladders … we implanted the first engineered bladder into a patient more than 10 years ago. While this may seem like enough time for this treatment to become widely available, it is important to remember that this was the first time laboratory-engineered organs had been implanted into patients. We did not know what to expect long term and needed to be extra-cautious and proceed slowly to ensure that the technology was safe over time. When we reported the first series of patients in the medical literature, up to 8 years of follow-up was already present, with most patients having their engineered bladder tissue for more than 5 years. In order for medical technologies to be approved for wide dissemination to patients, they must go through a multi-phase evaluation process through FDA- approved clinical trials. Currently, FDA Phase 2 engineered bladder human clinical trials are in progress. Hopefully, the bladder technology can progress through the completion of Phase 3 trials, so it can be made widely available to patients in the f
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: What's the best hidden gem in the TED archive?

  Feb 11 2011: For me, one of the first that springs to mind is The LXD. I never imagined hip hop dance could move me to tears, but this performance did ... more than once.
  
  http://www.ted.com/talks/the_lxd_in_the_internet_age_dance_evolves.html

• A comment on Talk: Vik Muniz: Art with wire, sugar, chocolate and string

  Mar 27 2007: He is clever, entertaining, and speaks so well about his work and ideas. He has recently made photos of well-known historical paintings re-created from pure pigment -- they're stunning to see in person. There is a show of his work in NYC at P.S.1 through the beginning of May.