The Scientist Speaks

What Comes Up Must Go Down: Maintaining Hormone Balance Through RNA Decay

To regulate protein production, cells use sophisticated strategies to keep RNA levels in check. This balance is especially important for hormone production, particularly aldosterone—the master regulator of blood pressure. When this balance is disrupted, the risk for disorders including hypertension and cardiovascular disease increases.

In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Neelanjan Mukherjee, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, to learn more.

Science Philosophy in a Flash: Making Scientific Strides in the Produce Aisle

Welcome to Science Philosophy in a Flash, a mini podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. In this series, we highlight researchers’ unique outlooks on what it means to be a scientist.

Andrew Pelling, a professor at the University of Ottawa with appointments in the Departments of Physics and Biology, has a fresh approach to practicing science. He uses fruits and vegetables to create biodegradable scaffolds for tissue regeneration. His lab is a cross-pollinating hive of diverse disciplines, unencumbered by the rigidity of traditional approaches that favor a narrower focus. With the creative freedom to pursue knowledge for its own sake, Andrew’s lab tests innovative solutions for some of the most challenging medical research questions. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Andrew to learn more about his unique philosophy of science.

To learn more about Pelling's work, check out this article.

Filling in the Gaps: Sequencing the Entire Human Genome

Sequencing the human genome in the early 2000s was an incredible feat, but the sequence was incomplete. Recently, a consortium of researchers published a telomere-to-telomere assembly of a complete human X chromosome. This accomplishment was made possible by advances in sequencing technology, allowing researchers to address the previous technical difficulties in analyzing challenging genomic regions. Filling in these gaps of the human genome represents a breakthrough in human genetics and opens the door to a wealth of future studies that will undoubtedly advance our understanding of health and disease.

In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Karen Miga, an assistant professor of biomolecular engineering at University of California, Santa Cruz’s Genomics Institute and a recent honoree on TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2022, to learn more.

 

The Scientist Speaks is a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services team. Our podcast is by scientists and for scientists. Once a month, we bring you the stories behind news-worthy molecular biology research.

Science Philosophy in a Flash: A Look at Aging Through Young Eyes

Welcome to Science Philosophy in a Flash, a mini podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. In this series, we highlight researchers’ unique outlooks on what it means to be a scientist.

Aimée Parker, a research scientist at the Quadram Institute’s Gut Microbes and Health Research Programme, looks to the gut as the fountain of youth. She studies how rejuvenating the microbiome can subdue chronic inflammation and prevent age-related tissue and organ dysfunction. Motivated by a commitment to collaboration and scientific discovery, her work casts a fresh perspective on aging gracefully. In this episode , Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Parker to learn more about what she values as a scientist.

To learn more about Parker's work, check out this article.

Rising from the Dead: How Soil Bacteria Absorb Antibiotic Resistance Genes

Scientists have known for a long time that microbes can take up extracellular DNA fragments, and they have leveraged this transformation process to genetically modify bacteria in the lab. However, transformation is quite fickle and depends on creating the right balance of reagent concentrations and cellular conditions. How this process takes place outside of the petri dish, in more natural bacterial environments such as soil, has proven more difficult to determine.

In this episode, Nele Haelterman from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Heather Kittredge, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Connecticut, and Sarah Evans, an associate professor of integrative biology at Michigan State University, to learn more about natural transformation in bacteria and its implications for the rise in antibiotic resistance.

The Scientist Speaks is a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services team. Our podcast is by scientists and for scientists. Once a month, we bring you the stories behind news-worthy molecular biology research.

Science Philosophy in a Flash: A Rising Star Launches Brain Power into Outer Space

Welcome to Science Philosophy in a Flash, a mini podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. In this series, we highlight researchers’ unique outlooks on what it means to be a scientist.

Alysson Muotri, a professor at the University of California, San Diego and director of the Stem Cell program, pushes the boundaries of neuroscience research. He builds brains for a living, then sends them on missions to outer space. Motivated by curiosity and creativity, his work is advancing scientists’ understanding of brain development and aging. In this episode narrated by Niki Spahich, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Muotri to learn more about what being a scientist means to him.

To learn more about Muotri's work, check out the upcoming ebook Next-Level Organoids, available on July 29th here.

Mini Episode: Science Philosophy in a Flash - A Scientific Figure of Speech

Welcome to Science Philosophy in a Flash, a mini podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. In this series, we highlight researchers’ unique outlooks on what it means to be a scientist.

Beate Peter, a speech-language pathologist and associate professor at Arizona State University’s College of Health Solutions, practices science at the interface between genetics and speech-language pathology. She created a novel program for infants called Babble Boot Camp, which trains parents to proactively boost their children’s language skills before they begin to speak. In doing so, she hopes to improve the outcomes for children born with a genetic predisposition to speech and language disorders and change the way treatment is delivered. In this episode narrated by Niki Spahich, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist's Creative Services Team spoke with Beate to learn more about what being a scientist means to her.

 

To learn more about Peter's work, see Nurturing Early Language Skills Prevents the Behavioral Expression of a Genetic Trait

Virulence Meets Metabolism: The Unique Evolution of Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus is a versatile pathogen that infects many areas of the body and has a number of strategies for avoiding the immune response. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Anthony Richardson, an associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Pittsburgh, to learn how the bacterium fine-tunes its metabolism to survive in the host and why Staph’s metabolism makes it especially dangerous for people with diabetes.

To Conserve and Protect: The Quest for Universal Vaccines

Viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2 are constantly evolving to better infect their hosts. The appearance of new variants often diminishes the effectiveness of existing vaccines designed to induce immunity against pre-existing strains. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Patrick Wilson, a professor at the Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children’s Health at Weill Cornell Medicine, to learn about strategies for making universal vaccines that would impart long-lasting immunity in spite of pathogen evolution.

Finding that Sweet Spot: Understanding Gut Perception One Cell at a Time

To understand how the gut perceives and communicates information to the brain, scientists are taking a deeper look at the sensory cells lining the gut using cutting-edge techniques such as single-cell sequencing. While there are challenges and limitations to single-cell sequencing, researchers are becoming more adept at integrating the latest sequencing technology with complementary research techniques to answer complex research questions, advance our understanding of health and disease, and develop new treatment approaches.

In this episode narrated by Niki Spahich, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Maya Kaelberer, a sensory neuro-gastroenterologist and assistant professor at Duke University School of Medicine, to learn more.