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Professor of parasitology at Calgary University, John Gilleard, joins the show to discuss his work and research on parasites and how they become resistant to drugs. In this episode, you will learn:
As a model for studying antiparasitic drug resistance, Gilleard uses Haemonchus contortus, a sheep parasite known as the "king" of drug resistance. He discusses what makes this such a good model for studying various parasites, and details its life cycle, how transmission occurs, what triggers inhibited development of the parasite, what types of drugs have been developed and how Haemonchus contortus becomes resistant to them, whether there is a tradeoff for the parasite to becoming resistant to an antiparasitic drug, recent research on understanding the genetics of C. elegans, the value that could be gained from taking a wider approach to the study of antiparasitic drug resistance (e.g. metabolomics, proteomics), the challenges posed by the genetic variability of worms, and what's on the horizon in terms of further research in the field.
Tune in and learn more at https://vet.ucalgary.ca/contact-us/john-gilleard. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Senior Research Fellow at Duke-NUS Medical School, Dr. Anthony Tanoto Tan, discusses his work in the field of immunopathology as it relates to both hepatitis B and the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 situation. In this episode, you will learn:
For the past 10 to 15 years, Dr. Tan has been trying to understand the immune system response to disease, and its role in clearing infectious diseases. With a special focus on hepatitis B, which causes an infection and can proceed to liver cancer, he ended up researching adaptive T-cell therapy for liver cancer.
With expertise in the analysis of virus-specific T cells, Dr. Tan and his team began researching the T cell response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus with the goal of determining whether there are differences in the immune response in people who are asymptomatic or have a mild case of the virus, and people who develop severe symptoms. They are also trying to understand how the T cell response changes over time, from the acute phase of the infection through to resolution of the infection.
Dr. Tan discusses the details of his recent publication on this research, which shows that people who were infected with SARS-CoV-1 17 years ago still have SARS-CoV-1-specific T cells. Not surprisingly, SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells were found in individuals who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Of particular interest is the finding that people who have NOT been exposed to either virus were shown to have SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells. This suggests that a proportion of unexposed individuals have a preexisting immune response to the virus that's causing COVID-19. Whether the function of this immune response is protective is the question that remains.
In addition to these topics, Dr. Tan talks about the processes in innate and adaptive immunity, how T cells behave during pathogenesis, what causes T cells to have a faster response to infected cells, which proteins to target with a vaccination, and much more. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
GreenTech Environmental has been producing healthy air systems for at least ten years. Kristen Lawson explains their air purification system in this podcast, describing
GreenTech Environmental's Vice President of Marketing and Ecommerce, Kristen Lawson, starts by describing how their ARC system imitates the effect of lightening's charged oxygen molecules. She mentions that the chemistry of air purification they utilize is similar to what NASA has done for decades. Her company has made it work in plug-in portable units that people can use in their homes as well as larger systems for commercial grade applications. Basically, this active system works in part by "hunting" down pathogens and deactivating them through oxygen-bonding.
She mentions the versatility of their products and scalability, with their largest home unit covering up to 3000 sq. ft. She uses them in her own home and notices differences in eliminating odors and allergens. They even have refrigerator models and wearable units for people with allergies to keep their own area clear. While they haven't been able to test it on coronavirus reduction directly, she notes the air purifying system has been tested on a known surrogate virus with success. She notes that schools, airlines, and other travel industries have been ordering their commercial grade systems.
For more, including available products, specifications, and educational videos, see their website: www.greentechenv.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Emily Fletcher joins the show to share her journey from New York City high-performance circles, to Rishikesh, India for a three-year meditation training program, back to the US to establish Ziva Meditation and the world's first online meditation training platform, Ziva Online. Tune in to discover:
Do you perform better when you're less stressed? Is it true that anxiety is making us stupid, sick, and slow? A lot of people would say "Yes," but a lot of those same people are also hesitant to try something that humans have been doing for thousands of years: meditation.
It wasn't until Fletcher could no longer ignore the mental and physical consequences of prolonged stress that she tried it out herself. To her surprise, it quickly transformed her, improving everything from her insomnia to her graying hair. Even more to her surprise was the fact that more people don't practice meditation. She enrolled in a three-year meditation program in India, and upon return, she started Ziva Meditation and Ziva Online. Since then, she has taken a practical approach to meditation and taught 25,000 people to do the same.
"The magic really happens when you're going in and getting rid of that stress from the past, that's what increases your IQ by up to 12 points, that's what reverses your body age by up to 15 years, that's what decreases your chance of being hospitalized; it's that eradication of the backlog of stress from ourselves," says Fletcher. She goes on to explain the three "Ms" of Ziva: mindfulness, meditation, and manifestation. To manifest, she says, is to consciously create a life you love. It's that simple. Fletcher talks in depth about all of this and so much more. Tune in for the full conversation and some inspiration. Learn more by visiting https://zivameditation.com/. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Prof. Igor Cestari works with two parasites for the most part: Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi, which respectively cause sleeping sickness and Chagas disease. He explains for listeners
Igor Cestari is an assistant professor in the Institute of Parasitology at McGill University in Montreal. He gives listeners a solid image of parasitic life cycles and host-parasite interactions as well as why they're such successful life forms. For example, initial parasitic infection symptoms often mimic a cold or flu and then disappear. Therefore, it's hard to know that one is infected until more damaging symptoms reveal themselves. He discusses the parasitic diseases known as sleeping sickness and Chagas disease most specifically and gives some reasons why the parasites that cause these diseases are so successful. Their ability to fool the immune system is one such reason, and while scientists understand some of these mechanisms, there's still much they don't know.
He teaches listeners about two interesting parasitic tricks, namely their ability to coat themselves in some sugars from the host cell that then hides them from the immune system. Another parasite is able to change its coating to one that the immune system lets by its defenses. Some of these techniques make it challenging to create a vaccine to stop the parasites. However, Professor Cestari says that new genome sequencing platforms have really helped in these efforts. He believes that the future is promising because of utilizing combinations of genomics and proteomics that seem to be making headway in stopping these infections.
To learn more, see his website at McGill University: mcgill.ca/parasitology/faculty/igor-cestari. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Co-Founder and CEO Sebastian Weidt tells listeners about exceptional advances his company has made and challenges still to be met. He covers
Universal Quantum aims to build a new kind of quantum computer, says CEO Sebastian Weidt. Quantum computing's impact on society stems from the ability to solve problems contemporary computers could never tackle. In this podcast, he explains how they've developed a number of technologies to get closer to this goal of using the advanced capabilities and applications of quantum computers. For example, he explains how they use trapped ions to form cubits, which are more lenient with temperature. This also enables longer coherence time. He adds that they use microwave radiation to manipulate the atom states and ions and explains the advantages of microwave radiation over other techniques like lasers. He describes more of how this technology works and how they've addressed some of the general problems quantum computing presents.
Universal Quantum is tied to a program at the University of Sussex, where a number of prototypes exist, and the company is able to integrate their research. Currently, they are working on engineering challenges that have made scaling to larger systems difficult. He says they've gotten a handle on some good innovations that will allow their first machines to utilize numbers of cubits not seen before. A significant additional challenge involves integration. Therefore they're developing custom chips that can be connected. He discusses algorithm work as well and says one of the impacts he's most excited about involves quantum computing applications for the pharmaceutical space, thereby allowing tremendous progress in chemical reaction problem-solving.
For more, see their website: universalquantum.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Classically-trained concert pianist and film composer, Matthew Zachary, was about to graduate from college and attend film school when he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Twenty-five years later, he joins the podcast today to share his story as a brain cancer survivor, discuss what he's learned along his journey, and explain how his podcast and nonprofit organization, Stupid Cancer, helps others who face a cancer diagnosis. Tune in to learn:
"It didn't really sink in that I was going to die, and I think that was just a good, natural thing to feel…I never really thought it was going to be anything, out of that invincibility complex…until I was cured…the scariest day, when I finally felt mortal, was when everything was over…then I was terrified," says Zachary. He continues by explaining why he thinks he felt this way and what may have led him to enter remission.
After spending years in advertising and marketing, he discovered patient advocacy and people in their twenties, who just like him, had received a cancer diagnosis. Around the same time, he noticed a void in the space of cancer patient advocacy that he filled with what he wished he'd had when he was sick. "I built the brand and I built the community that I wish I'd had that really did resonate…and that serves a real niche purpose at the right time," he says.
The mission of Stupid Cancer is to give a community to and be the voice of young adults facing cancer, and provide advocacy, research and support to advance a cure. He explains the unique needs and challenges of those who are in their twenties and facing a cancer diagnosis, and how Stupid Cancer addresses these needs and challenges. In particular, he discusses how fertility rights are intimately tied to cancer and the conventional treatments for it.
He also talks about what it means to change the conversation about cancer, so that it more directly and authentically addresses what goes on for the individual who experiences cancer—not what the doctors and academic and experts say about it.
If you're looking for your community or just want to talk to someone about your condition or experience, Zachary recommends visiting https://themighty.com/ and https://www.talkspace.com/. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Connel Fullenkamp is a professor of economics at Duke University who conducts research on financial markets, including their development, failure, and the regulations put on them. Tune in to discover:
How and why do financial markets around the world develop or fail to develop? How are financial markets impacted by regulations, and are there ways to design better regulations that will foster financial market growth and overall economic development? These are a few of the questions at the center of Fullenkamp's research. He shares his insight on these topics and more, including what governments around the world can do to develop stock and bond markets, problems with investing in bonds, and under what circumstances stock markets fail to actually improve economies by failing to fund new companies.
Fullenkamp also discusses what has happened to money markets around the world as an indirect consequence of COVID-19, what sort of financial crisis may be triggered by the recent tremendous loss of small businesses, the equity market in Japan and the US, how the commercial real estate market has been impacted by COVID-19, the recent stock splits at Apple and Tesla, and so much more.
Check out https://econ.duke.edu/people/connel-fullenkamp to learn more. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Author Dr. Thomas Cowan followed his own approach in understanding the importance of medicine that fit what he observed in the human body. In this podcast he discusses
Dr. Thomas Cowan went into the Peace Corp as a young college graduate to teach gardening and was given books that opened his thinking and expanded how he might be able to practice medicine. These books were by philosopher Rudolph Steiner and nutritionist Weston Price and they helped him understand that there was a path to be the kind of doctor he wanted to be. He then explains how mainstream medicine approaches issues like autoimmune disease and disease prevention with treatments like vaccination. He discusses his own view of vaccines and the immune response and gives a very different perspective of our body's mechanisms.
For example, he explains how medical school teaches that something like puss is bad and part of the disease when pus helps our body get rid of dangerous substances and is part of the healing. He elaborates with other examples like the lung-clearing ways of bronchitis and talks about the harmful over-prescription of antibiotics and side effects of vaccines. He believes people get sick because they are starved or poisoned in some way and traditional medicine labels detoxification efforts as part of the disease when they are our body's efforts to heal. He gives examples of how he has treated past patients and discusses an extract he helped develop that addresses causes of heart disease.
For more, see his website: drtomcowan.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Professor Graham Hatfull studies bacteriophages in the human body; these are viruses that infect bacteria. Interested in both "the exploration and exploitation of these" bacteriophages infecting bacteria, he explains
Graham Hatfull is the Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and an HHMI Professor. He tells listeners about the basics and the complexities of phages and potential therapies that might utilize them. He explains that his lab has focused mainly on the mycobacterium group because it contains important human pathogens like Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is responsible for the symptoms and spread of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis causes around 1.7 billion deaths a year.
Studying the phages that infect this group of mycobacterium helps understand such pathogens as well as potential treatments. In order to study these phages, his lab uses bacterium related to these more dangerous bacteria as safer surrogates. This work puts us them a good position to figure out which phages infect TB and which ones don't. He also describes phage biology and coevolution with bacteria, which has led to a complex relationship. For example, he discusses phages that are "temperate," and what that means in relationship to bacteria development. Finally, he talks about a successful case study in which they were able to use a cocktail of phages to successfully kill a particular strain of Mycobacterium abscessus in a Cystic Fibrosis patient.
For more, see his lab's website at hatfull.org. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
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