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Copyright: © Richard Jacobs
Because the parasites that cause toxoplasmosis and malaria are somewhat similar and are accessible, they offer researchers important information.
Dr. Sheinber explains her work by discussing
Senior lecturer at the Royalty Society of Edenborough, research fellow in parasitology, and leading expert in eukaryotic cell biology, Dr. Lilack Sheiner runs a lab that closely studies the parasites responsible for toxoplasmosis and malaria. This close examination of parasite cell biology has revealed a better understanding of how they function and how we might better prevent disease caused by these parasites.
Her incentives for this study is twofold: the diversity in parasite cell biology itself is an important part of understanding organisms in the larger picture of biology. Additionally, because parasites are responsible for some human diseases, a better understanding of parasite cell biology may lead to disease prevention. She describes numerous examples that reveal this diversity and explains how useful the knowledge is in turn. For example, because mitochondria have different mechanisms for different organisms, doctors can implement a drug that kills the malarial parasite by mitochondrial harm while leaving the human cell alive.
Dr. Sheiner also talks about abilities parasites have that may help us create new drugs. For example, she describes scientists studying how the toxoplasmosis parasite is able to do something scientists haven't been able to implement in drugs: crossing the blood/brain barrier. If scientists could create drugs that can do this, they might make headway into treating many neurological conditions. Therefore, if researchers learn more about this parasite's ability, they may discover a drug-delivery technology.
For more, see her website: http://lilachsheiner.wixsite.com/sheinerlab-wtcmp
She's also on twitter: @SheinerLab
Dr. Daniel Griffin, physician, and associate research scientist/instructor (clinical medicine) Columbia University, provides an overview of infectious disease research and treatment, and his career in clinical medicine.
Podcast Points:
Dr. Griffin discusses his important work and research in infectious diseases, including HIV, tropical medicine, and especially parasitic diseases. Dr. Griffin has a long history in the field of medical and clinical research and he has a particular interest in HIV, stem cells, and malignancies. As a medical doctor he provides care for patients with infectious diseases, in addition to his role as an educator, teaching medical students, residents and fellows in NYC.
Dr. Griffin discusses New York City as the center of the developing world, and as he explains, people come in from all over the world, for tourism, but also for treatment and ongoing medical care. The research doctor talks about his experiences and cites examples of patients he sees regularly through the year, who come to NYC for their healthcare treatment.
Dr. Griffin discusses tropical diseases, and he speaks about the many cases of malaria, Zika, and more, and the ill patients that find their way to his office seeking treatment. Dr. Griffin talks about public health issues, how they are handled, detailing specific diseases such as TB and others.
He discusses the types of therapies that are effective and how some nations handle disease management better than others seemingly. The research physician continues his discussion, providing information about the impact of HIV in the United States versus abroad. And he explains how many parasitic diseases exist right here in the United States, and how they can be recognized and subsequently treated.
Researcher and author Dr. Richard J. Johnson has looked into the role fructose plays in many modern disease epidemics. He discusses this by describing.
Dr. Richard J. Johnson is a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado. He researches how fructose causes diseases like hypertension, kidney disease, and obesity and diabetes. He's written two books about this epidemic—The Fat Switch and The Sugar Fix—and has written numerous papers on fructose as well.
Dr. Johnson discusses the role fructose plays in the excessive obesity and diabetes rates in our society. He talks about how hard to avoid, from an ingredient in table sugar to the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup, an easy addition for manufactures looking for something cheap and appealing to put in processed foods. He also explains why it is so dangerous by first explaining it evolutionary role.
Dr. Johnson discusses how it can be helpful to animal systems in dire survival mode. He uses an analogy to explain its function, commenting that it's akin to an alarm system for our body: it sends a signal to our system that we're in trouble .In order to protect ourselves, we become insulin resistant to guard our brain and increase inflammation to protect our physiology. Of course these measures completely undermine our health in times of plenty and increase risks for obesity and diabetes.
He finishes the discussion with suggestions for ways to ween ourselves, from more effective ways to eat fruits to what alternatives to fructose are best.
For more, find his papers in pub med, his books and, see his lab web site at https://physiology.case.edu/person/richard-j-johnson/
Professor Aaron Kaplan studies ecological processes in photosynthetic organisms, and is looking particularly close at green algae—the fastest growing photosynthetic organism on the planet.
On today's podcast, he talks about the "crust" that this cyanobacteria helps form, called biological soil crust. He explains a number of interesting topics, including the following:
Professor Kaplan discusses a range of compelling, technical details about some of the most unique habitats on Earth characterized by biological soil crust, which is a complex system comprised of many organisms which thrive off the metabolites produced by cyanobacteria or green algae.
He talks about the effects of algal blooms on ecological systems—particularly lakes in parts of China, why he aims to better understand the biological role of toxic secondary metabolites, oxidative stress and signaling between different organisms, and how one toxin can actually bind to and protect proteins from oxidative stress.
Professor Kaplan expounds on the technical aspects of the science behind his work, and emphasizes the importance and relevance of it to the health of both humans and the environment.
In this podcast, Eugene B. Chang, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, discusses his team's research studying the microbiome and microbes.
Podcast Points:
Chang's lab is interested in the important connection between intestinal microbiota and their human host, and what happens when there is conflict. Chang was an important voice in the Human Microbiome Project, a US National Institutes of Health (NIH) research initiative created to increase understanding of the microbial flora that play a pivotal role in human health and disease progression.
Chang discusses the uniqueness of a person's microbiome. But he states that we all actually share some types of microbes. Chang explains core microbiomes, and their important functions. He provides examples of how the microbiome works, and the role of microbes. Continuing, Chang discusses stability issues regarding the microbiome, and their need for resiliency. He talks about the many factors that are involved, outlining and detailing how select microbial communities function, in regard to networks and stability. And he explains that the interplay between dietary and environmental issues can certainly affect the stability of the microbiome. He talks about diversity within the microbiome, and how it may not be as important as many have proposed.
Chang talks about immune disorders and he provides an overview of what microbial communities can do to maintain stability. He continues, discussing probiotics, and why they may not stay around as long as we'd like because nonresident microbes often have trouble breaking into very established microbial communities.
Dr. Carolina Soekmadji studies different types of extracellular vesicles, specifically trying to understand their connection to prostate cancer. In this discussion, she describes
Dr. Carolina Soekmadji works as a senior research officer at the University of California, Irvine. She studied for her Master's in Japan and completed her PhD work in Australia, where she studied the exocytosis and endocytosis of synoptic vesicles.
She discusses the typical therapy for prostate cancer where doctors decrease the androgen presence, also called ADT. While this usually has the desired effect, there's always a group of patients that don't seem to show an effective response. While cancer cells initially die in this group, the cancer cells return and start growing again. Dr. Soekmadji has located a specific vesicle that appears to grow under both conditions: androgen presence or absence. She thinks that this vesicle may make the difference between these two populations and their response.
Dr. Soekmadji covers general causes of prostate cancer as well. She continues to study the activity of extracellular vesicles, and how and why this particular vesicle responds as it does and why this happens in some patients but not others.
Dr. Carolina Soekmadji offers a general course on extracellular vesicles and health issues through Coursera and the University of California that's open to the general public.
For more about her work and contact information, see https://www.qimrberghofer.edu.au/people/dr-carolina-soekmadji/
Stephen Greiman, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Georgia Southern University where he studies diverse groups of parasitic organisms. He discusses the following:
Dr. Greiman focuses on the study of tapeworms and flukes, which have complex life cycles and use at least one intermediate host before reaching the final or definitive host. He explains the difference between parasitic function in intermediate versus definitive hosts and the pathologies that can be caused by parasites in both types of hosts.
He gives an example of how parasites change the behavior of intermediate hosts as a way of making them more susceptible to predation, such as parasitic flukes which cause a snail's tentacles to pulsate and change colors, making them look more like maggots. In other cases, a fluke may cause a snail to crawl on vegetation and thereby become more visible by predators.
Dr. Greiman also talks about how the consumption of undercooked beef or pork can cause a human to become an incidental intermediate host for tapeworm larvae which can cause all kinds of diseases and pathologies, such as seizures.
Currently, there is a lot of interest in host-microbiome and parasite microbiome interactions, and this research is being aided by genomic sequencing and transcriptomics.
For more information about Dr. Greiman's research, visit http://www.stephengreiman.com/.
As Head of Molecular Proteomics at the Baker Institute and Senior Research Fellow at La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, David Greening brings a significant amount of insight to the podcast today, discussing the following:
Greening's molecular proteomics group focuses mainly on two areas: the study of extracellular vesicles, the components they contain, and the role they serve in cell communication and signaling, and proteomics, which is a field of study that looks at thousands of proteins in the body at a particular time, seeks to identify where they are located, and how they are expressed in states of health and disease.
Greening expounds on the many ways in which proteomics can advance our understanding of key regulators in biological processes, diseases such as cancer, what types of proteins are packaged in different EVs released by different cell types, and which components are secreted all at once from particular cells. He also discusses one of the main challenges in the field of proteomics, which is how to identify and analyze low expressed vesicle components.
When it comes to EVs and proteomics, Greenings is a wealth of knowledge. Tune in for all the details.
For more, visit https://www.baker.edu.au/research/laboratories/molecular-proteomics.
Dr. Rechavi's lab studies C elegans nematodes to explore the heritability of memories-- how reactions to encounter could be passed down through multiple generations.
In this podcast, you'll hear him explain:
University of Tel Aviv professor Oded Rechavi details his research with C elegans worms to discover more regarding epigenetic inheritance in humans. He clarifies that generally we think of memories as encodings that stay in our brain rather than being passed along.
It had been thought that parental responses to some environmental stresses such as starvation wouldn't mark their offspring's reaction. But studies show this notion was incorrect and these responses do travel and make their mark in the germline, being passed down for at least three more generations.
He discusses why they believe small RNAs are responsible for this heritable process. He also explains generally the different types of small RNAs and how this involves a particular type with this specialized behavior.
What they don't understand but are attempting to further research is the process by which the environment changes the small RNAs. These studies may change the way we understand epigenetic inheritance in humans.
For more, including links to papers they've written, see his lab's web site at http://www.odedrechavilab.com/#about .
Andreas Baur, of the College of Science & Technology at Fairmont State University, talks in detail about his interesting research studying extracellular vesicles (EVs).
Podcast Points:
Dr. Baur earned his doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Regensburg before settling into his current duties, and lab work, at Fairmont State. Dr. Baur talks about his research, past, and present. Some of his current work in the lab focuses on the systematic analyzation of vesicles in patients (in plasma). And as a medical doctor, Baur has the kind of access to patients that is necessary for this work.
Dr. Baur discusses his past work studying HIV and proteins, considering in vitro studies and the pivotal role of vesicles. He discusses his curiosity, and the questions about why certain proteases were found within, why are certain vesicles in plasma, and why are there even more in HIV, that drove him to dig deeper into his research to find the answers.
The research investigator and medical doctor talks about various types of cancers, discussing relapse factors, select patterns, and the continuing role of vesicles. Dr. Baur explains how they use purified vesicles for two types of important diagnostic tests—measuring enzymatic activity as well as looking at proteases, and also in the analysis of factors found in these vesicles.
Wrapping up, Dr. Baur discusses coronavirus, transmission, and disease conditions. He talks in-depth about neurodegenerative diseases, other types of diseases, and the various connections, pertaining to vesicles.
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