Welcome to Imagination in Action, where we have conversations with compelling people driving the action that will power our futures. These are successful Imaginators you want to know
welcome everyone to Imagination in Action. Today we're going to be talking about re purposing cancer cells. If Collete Shaw, a very distinguished Dr. Collete. To start off our show, we're about finding Imaginators people that are using their imagination and making action happen driving the future. And we see you as such a person, can you talk a little bit about your career, how did you come to the role that that you you have and what are some of your goals in in that role? Yeah,
yes, thank you, John. You know, I, I am originally from Kashmir. So, northern part of India and Pakistan, studied there initially, and then moved to Europe for for my higher studies, and got fascinated by, you know, how cells work and, you know, genetic engineering and editing and, and how they would move from one place to another in the body and how you could sort of knock in jeans knockout jeans inside them, and make them sort of, you know, alter their, their behavior. And this, this, I wanted to, you know, after I finished my studies, I really wanted to apply this. And luckily, I ended up here in Boston, for my fellowship at Mass General and met some amazing mentors which which sort of helped me understand medicine more and how we could apply the the imagination behind the Hi, John, are you there?
Max is clean, comes back. Why don't you play a musical piece? Just to start us off? Clean? We always actually usually start the show with a music piece. And I think you're, if your Wi Fi wasn't great, maybe go to a place where there's good Wi Fi. So Max, why don't why don't you play something and then we'll go back to cleats? First question. Sure thanks.
Great, thank you, Max. That was a live performance Max was a rubric, scholar full scholarship at Berklee College Music. He's a phenom, one of these young jazz pianists that you're all going to appreciate that you've heard of at this point of his career, and he's doing some great things. Thank you, Max and Max, feel free to ask some questions as clique kind of presents his important work on trying to take on cancer. So clearly, the first question was, how did you get to the role you're playing now? And what your vision for what you want to do in this role?
Clean there's a mute button. You may be on mute.
Yeah, can you hear me now? Hear
your perfect? Yep.
All right, thank you. Sorry, there was an alarm on my phone, which turned on. So it stopped me from talking. But anyway, so yeah. So, you know, since I came to Mass General, this is now 1718 years ago, one of the things that that I learned was was to to engineer cells and to bring genes in. But there was this burning question that I always believed that there was something deeper hidden in ourselves that we could explore further to help. And I luckily fell into something very difficult to cure. That was that was the highly aggressive brain tumors. And in the quest to understand brain tumors, so we as people who develop therapies, and people who develop cures for different diseases, sort of are are mostly siloed, in just finding the cure, and sometimes the cure is in the disease itself. And there's a saying, within, within medicine, that you should never operate on a moving target. And I think cancer is more like a moving target, where if we don't understand it, and tame it first is going to be really, really hard to cure. So, understanding cancer is critical, and we are now realizing that our immune system plays a huge role in in, you know, how the tumors develop how the cancer develops, and particularly in the brain, there is a huge brain gut connection, and and what happens within the gut influence of the brain will not we have not uncovered it. And again, the philosophy behind is that if you look at medicine a few 1000 years ago, you will see that the the caregivers always used to ask a question, how was your gut, whatever the disease you went with, to them to be cured, they would always ask this. So I think the imagination is there, that there is a cure within us and immune system is something that we are looking deeply. So understanding the disease itself, and then finding a cure with our technology that we have advanced quite a bit. And, and that's in a bigger picture. That is how I see that I always dream of finding a cure for it. But then at at work, I just bring the technology into the into finding a cure. So merging the two, and the thought behind it, as well as a technology that is sort of, you know, amazing that not only us but others have developed in parallel.
Great to Allison, it's so good to see you. Excited to co host with you today. Let me turn to you. I know, the topic is repurposing cancer, and so many of us have loved ones that have have had cancer or some of us ourselves. And, you know, hearing someone who's using their imagination, and, and doing some very innovative things to try to help people is very refreshing. So we're proud to have you on stage. Allison, what's top of mind for you on this subject?
Well, first of all, ugly, thank you so much for the work that you do. And I apologize that I joined a little bit late. But can you share a little bit about your own experience with this and sort of what it's like to deal with cancer with a family member?
Yeah, Allison, thank you. You know, as as you might have heard my talk yesterday, but, you know, I have been working on this for 1516 years and, and never thought that it would hit home the way I did when my father got diagnosed in 2018. And, and I felt personally, I always, you know, since I work got highlighted three, four years ago, or six, seven years ago was on BBC and CNN and other places. I get an email once or twice a week from loved ones saying that, you know, my father has this My brother has a cancer like this out we heard about the new therapies, what can you do and you know, I always it's difficult to write to these people and say we are still in the preclinical stages. Hopefully The next three to four years we'll find something and then it hits home. And I don't have an answer for myself, that was one of the most difficult things. I said, Okay, what do we do? Should we just take the preclinical stuff and and give it to my father, which is impossible. So there was a sense of helplessness in the beginning, which was, which was extremely difficult. The second part, which was even more difficult was making a decision with the surgeon who was treating him in Delhi. And he, he said, we should not do anything, we shouldn't intervene. Normally, when someone gets a brain tumor, they do get surgery, and then chemo and radiation. And I thought, we'll go through the same process, and we'll have 18 months. And when I talked to the surgeon, and he said, We should do anything, I said, why he said, that, you know, this has gone too far. And you will have to make a decision. But if you think that we should do surgery and radiation, we can, we will listen to you. So but why don't you tell me tomorrow. So I go back to my, my, my mom and my brothers. And I tell them and they, they tell me that you make a decision. And that, and that night, when I had to make a call, whether we should intervene or not, was one of the toughest because I had to see it from both sides, I had to see it from an from a sun science perspective. And I had to see it from somebody who is thinking of GBM or brain tumor every hour or talking about it or emailing about it. So. So I went back to the surgeon next day and said, you know, how much time difference if we intervene versus not intervene. And he said, six months versus three months. And I think it was very clear knowing my father, and he was a proud man and wouldn't like people to be helping him around. And he said, six months will be worse, but three months will be good three months. So we took the three months. And unfortunately, he only lived eight weeks after that. And I'm glad that I spent most of those weeks with him. So that's my personal experience, I felt he had a lot of life left in him. And I felt like he was not ready to go. But that's my personal part of the story.
Alison, do you have a follow up question?
I do. I mean, and first of all, thank you so much for sharing on this level, Kelly, because you know, most of us, you've dealt with cancer personally, and doctors find those moments. So confusing. And it's amazing that with your medical background, you're willing to share that as you look back on that. Do you feel like that is a question of not having the right tools in the tool chest, or also doctors not quite knowing how to articulate the kind of complexity of the choices we face?
Yeah, it's, again, we just, you know, the patient when when they come and we have a protocol, that this is what we should do. And we really, the doctors relate this to the to the patients or the caregivers. And they don't have a choice. But I think as the as there is more and more information out there. I think what has happened in last four or five years is that the patients ask questions to doctors and the caregivers ask questions to doctors. So I think now there are groups who are trying to give choices to patients. Okay, you know, this versus that. What would work better? have long, what are your chances to live even after 15 months, which in this case, are literally three to 4% or even less? So? It's a tricky, we're not yet there. I think there are lots of factors coming into it. The insurance the the the you know, how long it will take? I think it's a tough, tough challenge, particularly for highly aggressive brain tumor patients.
Polina I'm curious, you know, you're you're doing research here at in the Boston area. What are some other countries or regions And how are they approaching? The type of research that you're you're doing? Do they have a different thesis or kind of approach? I know you are in Europe a bit, you know, I'm thinking of China. Are you following? You know, who are some of your peers across the world on this?
Yeah, no, great question. I think, I think most of the countries now, you know, sort of developing countries even are developed for sure Europe, in America, but also developing countries, Turkey, India, and Brazil and other places. I think the standard of care is similar, the research varies, I think we have a lot of opportunities here. Like this idea I had that we should use cancer cells to treat cancer. I mean, say, the reason it was possible, is because the surrounding technology, the technology that was developing in parallel, for example, we use CRISPR, we use lentiviral, transductions, and viruses to make cells. So, you know, sometimes we see the research coming from a group and I don't think my group would have done what we have done with cancer cells treating cancer, if this technology had not evolved in parallel, and I had peers and, and colleagues, and that whom I could collaborate with to make it happen. I think that's what Boston gives you. And I think you said it, rightly yesterday that, that Boston has people that if they, if they come together, really, they can, they can turn mountains around. So I think that that is the research in bits and pieces is happening throughout the world. But I think if you if you really want to make an impact, you have to integrate different disciplines. And that's what Boston gives you. And if if we reach anywhere, it's not because of just me, but because of the environment. We're doing this research.
Great. I also want to remind people that on Imagination in Action, we take questions from the audience. And I know, you know, for a lot of people, cancer is top of mind, and I'm sure there's some questions that may relate to co lead, Shaw's Dr. Clay Charles research and also some questions that may not totally overlap, but that you'd like to ask the doctor because he may have an opinion. Max, do you have a question on this subject? Are you just excited to be our artists and residents and inspire us? With your great music?
Thank you, Jenna. I appreciate it. Yes. First of all, Khaled, thank you so much for doing this. This discussion. It's It's really amazing to hear from professional. I did have a question, actually, in regards to this very topic. I'm very curious to hear your opinion on this. There is, to my knowledge, I've I've learned that there is a something called it's an anti worm drug called fenbendazole. And apparently, there are many studies showing that it's effective at killing cancer cells with a lot of research indicating that it can block sugar uptake in cancer cells, kill cancer cells and reduce tumor size. You know, what do you think about these kinds of treatments with fenbendazole? Do you have any experience working with it with your team in regards to this kind of research?
Now, we haven't missed a great question, Max. Great music. Thank you for playing for us. So thank you for your question, too. I've heard about this. I think fenbendazole is a medication that treats a variety of parasites. I don't know if you're talking about the same, the same fenbendazole and this has now there are lots of experimental studies even there are lots of studies on green tea, treating cancer and other things. treating cancer so you know, before any, any drug that is now in the market reaches the market. It's 15 years average time before a new therapy reaches the market. So in between there's a lot of noise early on this okay, this works for cancer that works for cancer. But then you have different stages. You have the early preclinical stage, you have the late preclinical stage, you have phase one, phase two, phase three. That's why it takes a decade or more than a decade for these drugs too. True to actually reach patients. So yeah, this is interesting. I've heard I don't know much about it, but I've heard about it. It's mostly used in dogs. For, for a variety of para parasites. Um, but, but we have to we cannot as I have always, always said or I always say that we cannot ignore something and I mentioned yesterday, the name of Lady Wortley more Tagu, who was a poet and who brought something and inoculation method into into England, which at that time they were just, they didn't accept it, but it proved out to be it saved more than a billion people or half a billion people in 19/20 century. So, so I think we cannot I think if there is some indication that this is doing well, so we need to explore this further. And I think one of the biggest things we we have to look at currently is microbiome, our own gut microbiota, which will have a huge role down the road, on how we how we treat cancer, and we're seeing that in patients where one patient is responding to cancer immunotherapy other is not, and there is definitely a role of what microbes one person has versus the other in, in, in finding in treating the cancer, I think, again, bringing different disciplines together. I think my personal opinion is we also cannot ignore, like blood flow to different parts of the body that that will ultimately be key as well. So there's different things we should put together to find a cure is not just going to be one magic bullet.
Great. Let me remind people, this is a
rally reasons. We'll be back next week at 6pm. Our topic next week is going to be on Ukraine. And we have Esther Dyson, who is just coming back from Russia is one of the guests. She's on the board of the company that is the Russian Google. And she trained as a cosmonaut there to be a backup in one of the flights to the International Space Station. And we also have Ukrainian who's lived in this country since 92. He's a tech entrepreneur, he was just back in January, and his brother's a colonel in the Ukrainian army, and we're probably going to get a few others. That's next week and the week after that Jacqueline Novogratz, who runs the Acumen Fund and will have a lot of things to talk about. But tonight, or today, we're talking about cancer. And Allison, let me turn to you any questions or pull from the audience?
I think let's pull from the audience.
Great. Is it Mohammed? Do you have a question I asked to understand Mohammed is the most popular first name in the world. Or no Mohammed derivation of Muhammad?
Actually, I think John is the most popular, but anyway, thank you. I have several comments to make. First, and then I do have a question. I have actually question. Double Sided question. Now. I had from 2018 until the end of 2025 members of my immediate family that were, you know, that actually were diagnosed with cancer, and also, you know, some of them passed away, you know, passed away in you in due course, and some of them didn't. Now, the, I agree with what Dr. Khalid was saying that, yes, you know, the biome does have, you know, a great impact on, on how how you can treat cancer. Now, it's been known for a long time that cancers thrive in oxygen depleted environments. Now, I don't know why, you know, the doctors, I know, the industry is, you know, as crooked and they all, you know, look for money. But the doctors, why don't they call out some, you know, some of these well known procedures that have been known to actually, you know, enhance at least, you know, the treatment of cancer. I, you know, oxygen. I think there was a long time ago in New York, there was a I think, I can't remember if it was an injection, oxygen injection, that helped, you know, a lot of cancer patients. Now, things like that don't seem to get, you know, funded or get you know, get any traction in the industry, for example, my mother, when she got diagnosed with cancer, and this was 2010. She, the doctor said, you know, she's got six months maximum to live. And you know, that's the best she could do. And there is nothing else you could do. I took mum home, and I said, Look, I don't agree with what this doctor is saying. And, you know, I'm going to treat mum, with with what I've what with what I've researched, because from the time she got diagnosed until she got, you know, I took her home, there was about three months that I had, I could read a lot about what was actually happening in her body and how to, you know, how to make or, you know, treat the different, different aspects she was going through. Now,
Mohamed just for time, if you could begin to wrap up your question.
Okay. Why why is it that doctors follow this, you know, this this industry? And not treat their patients?
Sorry, for your, for your loss? And for the for the all the people who suffered in your family? I think it's not I think the the FDA approval is is key. And you've seen that with COVID vaccine, even with the with the vaccine, which was needed desperately we still had to go through the, through the approval process. And and as I said earlier, to Mike's responding to Mike's question that you know that there's a diff, there are different stages to every treatment, every treatment that looks promising, like we have this now cancer cells killing cancer, it looks. It looks fantastic, it works so well, it cures tumors in mice. And the problem is that FDA and all these agencies that are at the forefront of making sure that there is no toxicity of these diseases, and it's safer and patients do their due diligence before these drugs come to the come to patients. So they have to we have to go through the process. I agree that these processes should be they should be speeded, there should be a certain timeframe that instead of 10 years, you say, okay, like they did for for for code vaccine, maybe we can have for for certain tumors, like aggressive tumors where people live only more than just a year or six months, maybe there is we can speed that up. We can say okay, let's let's try to get an approval within a few years rather than taking six or seven years. But there is a process, that you have to make sure that there's no toxicity that these drugs are safer. Another thing so I think it's again, a double edged thing, we want it faster, but at the same time, we want it safer.
Great. So let me ask our two people that just joined maybe each ask your question, and we'll stack them and then clean you can answer them any way you want. Sir Davey, good to see you. And is it Aisha? hope I'm saying that right. So I should do want to ask your question, and then we'll go to Davey and then Cleo will take him.
Yeah, sure. So, first of all, why do scientists not focus on the fact that electromagnetic radiation or electricity in general can be a cause for cancer? Like, we don't know exactly what causes cancer? So we have to consider a lot of factors. So why aren't there much studies on the fact that electricity or electromagnetic radiation can be one cause of cancer?
Great now, thank you for that Devi. Love to hear your question.
Yeah. Hi, Dr. Shah. The question I wanted to ask you is you mentioned about integrating cross disciplines in the process of trying to find treatments for cancer. What I wanted to know from you and your lab in particularly, how much are you leveraging the use of AI into your research as well as aspects such as nanotechnology to find cures or treatments or Prevention's?
All right, thank you, Davey. Thank you, Aisha. Let me answer I just question for I think we're all afraid that yes, electromagnetic radiation or electricity causes causes cancer? Well, again, There's not enough documented evidence. I think people have looked at it and and disproved it. I'm not sure. If that is right, I think there is some influence of short waves on our brain and might have some influence on whether a cell becomes cancerous or not. So I think there's enough research has not been done. And I think somehow, if these iPhone companies or or the other sort of companies that make electrical or electromagnetic things can fund this, we will have a better answer. I think it's, again, still in limbo, whether it does influence our body cells or not. So, so but there's some, some people say that there is this is a myth. I don't agree. I think there is there is something in there but needs more research. So Devi to your question. Yes. I'm a big believer of integrating different disciplines, including my philosophical thoughts that I have after 10 in in the evening. And early morning, but AI is huge. The influence of AI will see next 10 years. I think the key is, what do we do with the data? And the AI? How do we incorporate it? How well do we incorporate it? I think that is the key, not not just going with the flow that AI is there. Let's integrate it into everything. I think we need to be very specific. I think the AI is role in pathology is huge. AI is role in surgery, I'm not sure how much that is going to influence it will ultimately influence but at this point, will AI influence therapeutics, for sure. The question is, will it influence delivery of therapeutics? No. So again, we have to be pretty specific into where we apply AI in medicine, but but huge field. And same with nanotechnology. I think nanotechnology will help us deliver. So. So putting marrying fields that can really influence each other is critical. I answered.
Well done. Alison, do you have a question? Or do you want to comment on what's been said?
I would love to know, colleague what most excites you and cancer. I mean, it's so funny, because we've had this war on cancer for so long. And yet, lots of people struggle to figure out, you know, why we've only made progress in a few cancers. But where do you think we are in the war on cancer? And if you look like 20 years out what most excites you in terms of what could allow us to really revolutionize cancer treatment?
It's a great question. It's a great question. I think the simple answer is, we we are trying to reinvent the wheel. And the answer is not always there. So we just have a lot of things. We're not applying them properly. And I think classic examples is, are if you look at T cell therapies now, Carty therapies, these were there in 90s. And, and we gave them up, because we couldn't engineer them properly in 90s. And then 2012, we picked them again. So we forgot about it for 20 years. And we picked up the same thing again 20 years later. And so we knew in in 1990s, that this therapy would have influence immune therapy would have influence and finally, I'm glad that we are recognizing now that that our own immune system has a huge role to play in, in what we in how the cancer develops and how we can find a cure for cancer. So and immune system is influenced by how we live on a day to day basis. I think that excites me the most that people themselves should understand that if I do this, this and this, I might be a better candidate of not getting a devastating disease. Because I think if if you can keep your immune system active, a lot of things I'm not saying this will ultimately cure, but it will aid, the therapies that we're developing in parallel, that are actually immune based. And so, so that's the exciting part. And the other exciting part is, I've my lab has recently started microbiome and cancer work. And and I think there is something there that we will uncover in next two to three years. So there's exciting stories coming out and stay tuned. They will we will find a cure. John, I have to go in a few minutes. I hope it's okay for all of you.
Usually, this is a two hour long form journalism show, it's an opportunity for our Imaginators to really unpack some of their ideas. I think for today, it is going to be shorter. And I think Max is going to play a piece and extended piece as a way to bring our community together. Lt. Let's get a final question from you. And then let's have a final question from Allison, and then colleague. Go on and keep your important research going on. So LT, what's your question?
Thank you, John. And thank you, please. Uh, my question is that you're talking about the brain tumor? I think conceptually, I agree. But then you haven't explained at least maybe coming in late or you I missed the last lesson. How that delivery is going on, you know, the delivery of your brain cancer cell against the cancer, that the immune immunity, also the delivery methods?
Yeah, great question. So I think we we've we've actually figured that out that we cannot deliver intravenously or orally or by injecting we are going to be focused on local delivery. So at the time of surgery and brain tumor patients, so it has to be local or regional delivery within the brain. I hope I answered your question.
Great. Alison, why don't you ask the last question.
I really just want to end with deep thanks and appreciation. Collete I just feel as many people on the call so far has have described who've been involved in the cancer world to find somebody with your intellect, your curiosity, but also your beautiful heart is amazing. And maybe Fung would want to take our last question.
Thank you, Allison. I appreciate CalEPA I actually did some research on GPM in the past. And as you said, delivery, certain issues. We try micro RNA 10 B inhibitors to the local but the complex adaptive system of GBM. Beckett challenging it repeating those things. So you have any strategy to overcome that? Thank you very much.
Now, great question. Again, I think local delivery is fine. But we need local and continuous delivery, something that is continuously being produced. And that's what our cells are doing. They're continuously releasing the therapeutics from the cell. And and we're using nanotechnology to hold our cells within the tumor. by encapsulating our cells in these biocompatible gels that we've we've, we've been sort of working with.
Thank you. So this is Imagination in Action. Next week. We have Esther Dyson, who is just back from Russia, she's on the board of the Google of Russia. I think it's called Yanni. And I'm not sure if I said that, right. And we also have Audrey whose brother's a colonel in the Ukrainian army, and he just got back from Ukraine. He's been living in the US since 92. He's a tech entrepreneur. And we're going to talk about the Ukraine. And the week after that, we have Jacqueline Novogratz, who is a definitely an Imaginator. She has been leading the Acumen Fund really boldly, and can't wait to talk to her about how she sees capitalism and some of the stuff she's written recently. She's prolific and she's always pushing the envelope and can't wait to host those, those two shows in the coming weeks. Does anyone else want to come on stage and Euclid has to leave, but just, you know, maybe share something about cancer. I think cancer touches the soil in many different ways and if anyone has any, any insight they want to share related to Imagination in Action. So if anyone wants to come up, feel free to and max out Do you want to play an extended piece? And just be awesome?
Thank you, John, I have to go. Thank you everyone.
Thank you Felipe,
thank you Thank you? That was Max. So in a moment, I'd like to see if Davey or Alison wants to maybe say a few comments on what Kelly talked about yesterday, we all heard him. And I don't know if you feel comfortable paraphrasing some of what he's doing. He's not here. So he's not here to say that it's wrong. But before I turn to you guys to see if you want to comment, Max, maybe say a little bit about your, your your interest in your experience with music you're so accomplished and what your aspirations are. And I know you've had an interesting medical story, a medical experience over the years, with blood transfusions? I don't know if cancer is involved, but maybe say something about that.
Sure thing, John. Yes. Thank you for bringing that up. I appreciate it. I am thank thanks to you, I had the pleasure of doing a TED talk a couple years ago about my near death experience, which I believe turned me into a jazz musician. I collapsed unconscious at 13 years old, vomiting huge chunks of blood and was transferred to the hospital and they said I had 20 ulcers in my stomach, and I needed to get seven blood transfusions each from a different stranger. And I believe the you know, the effect of the blood transfusions really altered me in a profound way and gave me a drive to learn music and become a jazz musician. And it was interesting how Kalia he brought this up in the discussion that, you know, the blood flow has a lot to do with the the, the the cancer research that he was looking into. And I found it very interesting that you know, he he's very open minded in the sense that he wants to bring, you know cross disciplinary research and ideas together in order to find a solution for the cancer problem.
Great, did you say that you thought one of the seven people who gave you blood was a jazz person? Because I don't know if did you make that connection as to why you think you're a jazz musician? Now?
That's a good question. I really don't know. Um, you know, I'd like to think that I have the blood of a jazz master.
And just so you know, we don't have any scientific evidence for any of this. But I know you and I've talked about this a few times. But But Thanks for always being such a great musician. Can you can you please tell me about your where you are in terms your music career I want people to understand. Like if they want to hire you to play Carnegie Hall or something where you are I know you're down south these days.
Sure. Currently, I'm based in Nashville, Tennessee, I'm, I'm all over. I was living in Spain the last couple of months. And before that, I was living in Sweden. But currently I'm based in the US in Tennessee here. I am a composer for film and TV. I have representation with audio socket, crucial music and various companies that focus on sync licensing and music for film and television. I'm also an award winning jazz pianist. I am a downbeat pianist of the year, as John mentioned earlier, I was a full scholarship, full presidential scholar at Berklee College of Music. I graduated 2020. And yet, if anybody is open to collaborate,
yeah, so all the other conservatories, you can't have they Berkeley got you. So that was nice, win win. scenario. And I know, Kelly settles in the room. And I think she hosted Dolly Parton on clubhouse helped make that happen. And I think that was like a dream come true. So you made me think of that, when you mentioned where you are these days? Allison and Davey? I see Davey has left the room. That may be his way of saying he's not comfortable talking about it. But Alison, did you want to add a little bit as to why we had kool aid in the room?
Allison, you're on mute? Or maybe your voice? Hi.
No, I was just saying I think he's a very special physician. And I think all of us who've been lucky enough to hear him, it's rare to find a doctor who sort of will bring their personal experience to what they're doing. And I just feel he's the best of intellect, research and also heart. So I think that combination is really special. But Jim Kelly, do you have other thoughts to add?
Well, I wanted to add that I got the chance to, to talk to him yesterday, you know, you guys have set up that little mic station outside. And so Sonny and I interviewed him, along with his amazing daughter, who, who I don't know, if you'll get the chance to meet her name is Nadia. And she's a senior in high school. And they first of all, just have the most incredible, sweet relationship. But she is brilliant. And she she's super interested in science, and she learns a lot from her dad. So I think she is going to be the next one to be on stage.
And we're still fitting because we have different generations of your family in this room. So here's here's two great generations 2.0 and 3.0. Jim, do you want to say anything? I see you're you're in the stage. You're the dad of Kelly. And we all love love Kelly.
Sort of that? Yeah. I have. I have just a minor suggestion. This clearly was very, very interesting. And unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, he had to go do some other stuff. Totally understand that. I would encourage y'all to consider having him come back. And also to consider keeping this topic alive along the way. Because Because cancer, as we all know, affects an enormous number of people. And and so I think it'd be it'd be significant interest in learning more. And maybe next time look at having having several people, several other Imaginators share the stage with him to talk about other things. And that could we done to move you know, to move the resource, further insights?
I think that's a great idea. And we'll definitely follow up on that. You know, Kelly, you're in the room. Can you tell us a little bit about how how clubhouse is doing these days? We absolutely love using as the platform. Are there any exciting things to be aware of on the horizon? Is there anything as an insider that that we may not be aware of that you'd like to share? I can
share a couple of good rooms coming up today. And we're today we're sort of celebrating International Women's Day. We're celebrating women throughout the month in the app. And we actually just had I was just in a room with them. Reshma Saujani from a Uh, who's a TED speaker and was in the TED club. But and then coming up later today for any love is blind fans, we've got, we've got a couple of the women who, from who featured hugely in the season finale of love is blind, but we're big popular people on the series. So that's going on. I mean, as far as new, you know, new features and stuff like that, that's pretty much you know, we've got, you know, you get, you kind of see it get updated every every week or two. And we talked about that in Townhall. And those are kind of good to go back and listen to replay. So you can kind of make the most out of the app and stuff. But we're just continuing to really focus on making it easier and easier to find these great rooms for people.
You know, Allison, a few times has said, people on the call, I'm curious, what do people how do people refer to rooms? Like, is there some language that you could, you know, bring us up to speed on so we're using the right language? Is it? Yeah, what are some of the words that people are using in social audio that you want to tell us teach us? Some of the latest and greatest clubhouse slang?
Oh, that's a good one. Well, okay. I don't know, you've probably heard the little moderator. Asterisk, referred to as the green bean. So if you ever hear green bean, that's what you're talking about. If you hear people say, PTR, or my PTR, that's pull to refresh. And so a lot of times people will use the their profile photograph as a way of also displaying visuals, little visuals, you know, like people, you know, talking about, you know, what they wore last night? They can PTR and you can see it talking about what something looks like or whatever. It's kind of great. Then that, yes, this? I mean, as far as I think, I think it's actually, when you call it a call it kind of is I mean, I think that helps people understand that it is audio only, you know, to and then this is a room and then it's this room is hosted in the future, which is the club. Right? Are there any are there any terms that people hear that they go, Oh, that's a clubhouse to reminder, I always wondered what it was, try to answer it that way.
I added a couple just for this good. If you are new, you can come in follow the club, which is always their future. And then like a little greenhouse, on top. And then the second is that a new function is that you will have a chat. On the bottom left corner, there's a chat box, but the Jiang whoever opens the room and needs to enable it, then that becomes a places where everybody can ask questions and comments, including both the speakers like us six people, and in the middle, followed by Speaker for people, and then the bottom group, and people so it's a whole room. So that's a chatter for the whole room. I found that useful. But uh, you need to join, you need to enable it right now to disabled. Thank you. That's my feedback.
Good point on that one, I just want to say and what's great about it, too, is that it's not just for the speakers on the stage. So that allows everyone to connect, which, which is also really nice. And then also to the right of that, you know, when when you're in a room or you hear a moment you particularly like the little icon to the right of that allows you to share it out to your followers either on other social media or on this platform. And you can if you do share it on clubhouse, you can also talk about, you know what you liked about it? So that, you know, get your friends to come join you.
Right, that's right, I see Kelly shared and I shared the you made more like informative for sharing. Thank you.
What's the etiquette of being on clubhouse? And being in the same room with someone else on clubhouse? Like, is that ever a thing? I guess the whole point of this is that people can connect from around the world. But if I'm just wondering when people get together, are there challenges?
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I know you all see my parents in here together often Jim and Carol, Carol's not here today. But But I think I mean, you know, you can do whatever you want, but it's probably easier to hear and interact as an individual if you're on your own. You know, your own device. And you know, and it's kind of nice, I don't know I personally love seeing who I'm sitting by and that sort of thing like it kind of, you know, I love to look at my screen and make it feel Real. So I like to, I like to think that each circle represents an individual just because that's kind of fun to you No.
One worse than John. So since you ask, sometimes when people come in, are you greeting people? You said good morning, good afternoon, good evening, because it's, it's for people all over the planet Earth. You don't know. It's
awesome. I can ever thought of that. Yes. You know, Kelly, someone in this room said, you know, I'm done speaking. You know, what's the etiquette of that? Because I think some people didn't get the memo on that, or some people have chosen not to do that. Like, is that rude if you don't do it? Or is it case by case? Do you do you have a sense?
I think it's kind of case by case like, people do it. And especially if you're in a room where like, like in the news, news news, you hear there's a time limit, and they try to get as, you know, a bunch of people up to comment on an article or something. So by saying I'm done speaking, it is really kind of respectful and clear to the next people. I almost never do it. And not just because I can't remember to do it, you know, but I think I don't think you have to and I do think it kind of can get repetitive, but I think it just sort of depends on the format, you know, and it's a little pauses also, I think, okay, you know, I mean, if somebody disagrees with that advice, you know, please share because I may be doing it wrong myself. You know. One other thing too, by the way that I thought I just realized because I was I was doing this for LTE a second ago when I when you agree with something someone's saying or you like or someone just, you know, sort of spoke and said something or performed and you want to clap. This is what clapping looks like you can only do it as a speaker. But um, yeah.
So yeah, it's
your flashing flashing our mics? Yes. And that's considered clapping and clubhouse.
Great, Alison, anything on your mind, as we're getting ready to finish this room?
Well, Kelly, I'm not sure how much you're willing to be on stage and speak for for clubhouse. But as you know, John and I are big fans. And it's been really fun to use it. But I'm fascinated. I mean, we've had no problems at all in in this room. But I'd love to hear sort of what goes on behind the scenes at clubhouse like, Are there problems with trolls? Are there rooms that are less cordial than our rooms? Like I sort of feel like you guys are handling new levels of diplomacy. And we don't sense any challenge. But it'd be lovely to learn a little bit more like what is required for a new platform like clap clubhouse to be so successful?
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's, I would say, in general, you know, we have a lot of people have a lot of trust and safety, you know, team and all this, but, but, you know, I think I think you also can see, as a, you know, as moderators, there are a lot of tools for managing that stuff. With your moderator tools, you can if somebody comes on, and, you know, starts yelling or whatever, you can send them down to the audience, you can report and block them. You know, you can, you can mute them. So, you know, the idea is that the creators of the room, you know, can manage it can manage this, you know, generally with tools to make sure the room kind of goes as you guys want it to go. I mean, there's certainly different rooms that have different different vibes and sometimes they get, you know, they can get Sparky and sometimes that's what people are looking for.
So like the room, Sparky? Is that like a new?
Kelly currently lingo?
Yeah. Do you guys have analytics on what regions and continents and countries are really taking to compounds that are at your fingertips or I have a whole nother show? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder like the East Coast versus West Coast in the US, you know, who's on it more?
I don't know, let's let's really rally for the East Coast. It was born on the last Yeah. So I'm always like, you know, East Coast, you start to like, you know, sometimes I'm looking for early morning news programming. That's a you know, in some cases that that probably has to come out of the east coast or, you know, Europe and West Africa and that sort of thing. So we can enjoy it in the early hours here.
Majan if like every five years kind of say they switched it up. I actually it's not like the Olympics. But what if every five years they switch the time zones around. But I guess the Earth still spins in one direction. So you couldn't really do that. It's like kind of funny idea that I mean, I always wondered if if you know, North America, the Europeans came and settled it. But what if what if folks from China had had really populated it and set up a civilization here how things might have been different? All right. Well, Alison, you got the last word. What? Anything.
Just deep. Thanks to you, John, for our amazing presenters for guests like David and Jim, and Pam, and Kelly, and Max, who show up all the time for the amazing musicians we have and most of all, for your vision and putting this whole room together. Yeah.
Well, it's such an honor to do it with to do the show with you. And I think next week, the Ukraine, if anyone on the show has someone that you think should listen or someone should be part of the conversation. This is someone who asks a question or one of the Imaginators. I feel like it's changing day by day, but we want to have a dialogue on that. And we have two great, great people. Andre and Esther and then Jacqueline Novogratz. I know she has a big following. If you have any suggestions for that show, let us know. If there's someone that you think should join, let us know. And we're looking forward to it. And we're programming the rest of the shows we've done over 70 shows over 72 hours shows this this one I can say for a fact, is our shortest show. So you can say your part of Imagination in Action history, but by being on it, I knew Cleek can only do a half hour so he didn't bag in the middle. But I took the risk. I thought the topic was so would impress Jim and I knew Jim would come on stage saying you should have him back for a full two hours. So Jim, don't worry, I'll make sure that happens. But ladies and gentlemen, have a good day and we'll see you not this time but three hours later, for Imagination in Action next week.