Stay ConnectedPodcast interviews with genius-level (top .1%) practitioners, scientists, researchers, clinicians and professionals in Cancer, 3D Bio Printing, CRISPR-CAS9, Ketogenic Diets, the Microbiome, Extracellular Vesicles, and more.
Subscribe today for the latest medical, health and bioscience insights from geniuses in their field(s).
Copyright: © Richard Jacobs
He's had countless interests over the course of his career as a gastroenterologist and professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, but Dr. David Cave's most current interest is an approach in gastroenterology called video capsule endoscopy. This procedure involves a pill not much larger than a pill of aspirin that has the capability of taking pictures all throughout the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. By providing an unprecedented way of looking at the GI tract, this technology has resulted in a treasure trove of new, incredibly useful diagnostic information. Dr. Cave was the first in the U.S. to utilize this technology and was the only one using it for over a year since the first device was introduced in 2001.
He joins the podcast today to discuss how the technology had advanced and evolved over the years, the information that's been discovered as a result of this technology, the recent development of a magnetically controlled capsule, the possibility of using artificial intelligence in reading the images captured by these capsules, the results of a randomized controlled trial that compared capsule endoscopy with the standard of care in detecting active bleeding in patients, and so much more.
Dr. James Hickman, Ph.D., and Chief Science Officer of Hesperos (hesperosinc.com), the 'Human-on-a-Chip' company, delivers a thorough overview of his work designing custom systems for disease modeling and drug testing.
Hickman is a pioneer in his field and noted for Hesperos' technological 'Human-on-a-Chip' platform. Dr. Hickman is renowned for his work in general, and for publishing the very first serum-free, defined culture system specifically for neuronal systems (Schaffner, Barker, et al. 1995), which has now been extended from rat to mouse, and more recently—to human. Hickman is also recognized for his work that established functional in vitro systems.
Dr. Hickman explains the origins of Hesperos. As the Ph.D. explains, he combined his technology… functional in vitro systems and his collaborator's multi-organ metabolic systems to create, as the old axiom states, an end result in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This collaboration between Dr. Hickman and Michael L. Shuler, Ph.D. led to the beginning of Hesperos.
Dr. Hickman explains functional readouts, and how they recreate functions such as muscle contractions, cardiac electrical activity, and force, neuronal communication, etc. and combine them into a multi-organ system where the fluid is recirculating. Dr. Hickman explains the Hesperos method and what they offer. Hesperos can provide four human-on-a-chip systems specifically designed for disease modeling and drug testing. And their multi-organ, human-based screening platforms are successful as a means to identify first-in-class drugs and develop unique medicines for complex diseases.
The Ph.D. explains the differences between in vivo tissue engineering and in vitro tissue engineering in regard to reproducing function. Further, he discusses their hopes and expectations for approval to the clinical trial phase, for drugs that have been tested in the Hesperos systems. He talks about some of the FDA requirements for drugs, in regard to how the drugs work within systems, how long they stay active, etc. Dr. Hickman explains how the Hesperos system is especially great for difficult, rare diseases, as they can build a phenotypic model, produce aspects of the disease, and then demonstrate that the disease can be reversed or ameliorated.
Wrapping up, Dr. Hickman talks about the specific types of models that their clients have requested. And as most of what Hesperos delivers is custom designed, there is a great scientific opportunity on the horizon.
It's about the size of a credit card and contains nothing but several microfluidic channels which connect to a 3D chamber where segments of human organs are grown and subjected to a multitude of tests that have historically only been carried out in vitro or using animal models: this is the Organ-on-Chip technology being developed at Nortis. CEO of the company, Dr. Thomas Neumann, joins the podcast to discuss the ins and outs of the science behind this technology, as well as the benefits of testing on human tissues directly as opposed to animal models, how the Organ-on-Chip technology allows them to zoom in on particular functions of complex organs like kidneys and livers in a way that would be impossible with the model of an entire organ, how the technology allows for the modelling of diseases such as polycystic kidney disease, the tracking of drug pathways in the body and measurements of drug secretion, and the variety of tissue-engineered structures they're creating.
Dr. Neumann discusses how this technology could advance personalized medicine and the development of drugs for the treatment of cancer, as well as the potential it holds in the near and long-term future.
Interested in learning more? Tune in and visit https://www.nortisbio.com/.
Jamie Burke, Founder, and CEO of Outlier Ventures provides an overview of bitcoin and blockchain and the ways that companies can aggressively push their businesses forward with emerging technologies.
Burke is a pioneer in the blockchain industry. As Europe's 1st Web 3.0 blockchain venture builder, he and his team have pushed forward on utilizing blockchain as a significant key to emerging trends (AI, Mixed Reality, IoT, and Autonomous Robotics) that will play key roles in multiple industries such as Industry 4.0, eGovt, Health, Mobility, and Smart Cities.
Burke talks about his background in blockchain and cryptocurrency. He explains that he wanted to launch Outlier Ventures as a means to deal with the technology and tools that would be fundamentally changing the web and how it is structured, and subsequently society as a whole. Discovering bitcoin, he decided to immerse himself in the space, studying the technology, rooting out the problems, and identifying areas that could be improved upon.
Burke discusses the disconnect with proprietary business models building on open source technologies, meaning that even if an entity could create something truly unique, there was the problem of someone else potentially coming in and copying what you've created, and doing it at a lower price even.
The technology guru explains the many ways that Outlier Ventures can assist companies, as an advisor or board member, helping them find the most efficient and aggressive ways to utilize emerging technologies. As he discusses, Outlier Ventures can help them design their token economy or assist them in designing their governance model. He explains how their staff of analysts really dig into the technology and the technology layers to maximize a company's market-forward position.
Continuing, Burke talks about how Outlier Ventures invests in projects that reinforce their previous investments, which is a markedly different approach than what is considered a traditional VC path in which investments are diversified to offset risk.
Burke is a regular speaker at various conferences around the globe, and throughout his career he has amassed a strong network of significant corporate partners, investors, and government agencies as well, working together to build better tech for the benefit of many industries.
In this podcast, Dr. Michael Skinner, School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University, discusses epigenetic transgenerational inheritance and the potential long term impact of toxins.
Dr. Skinner discusses his research within the area of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance. He explains the different ways males versus females are potentially impacted. He outlines how gestating females may be exposed to toxins, and what type of affect exposure can have on not only the offspring but future generations as well.
Dr. Skinner discusses the various types of toxins, toxins that could come via our nutrition, from factors such as smoking and alcohol, and of course detrimental environmental toxicants. The biological expert's work centers upon the study of gonadal growth and differentiation, as it pertains to reproductive biology.
The PhD talks about the differences between men and women in terms of how they are affected. Dr. Skinner explains that men 'turn over' their sperm at a rapid rate, and that a man's environmental exposures can change the epigenetics of the stem cell within, that produces the sperm. This change could then impact all the subsequent sperm that is generated thereafter. Additionally, Dr. Skinner discusses how females are affected by toxins, and how the research shows that females have an ability to somewhat ward themselves against environmental toxins, etc. and are therefore more resistant.
Dr. Skinner recounts some of their research with the finches on the Galápagos Islands. Some of the finches there, as he explains, showed changes within their phenotypes—alterations of metabolism, color, beak structures, and more, even though the genetics was the same for all the finches across all sites. After their research was complete they were then able to say with confidence that environmental epigenetics does generate a shift in the phenotype that is independent of the internal genetics.
Despite the human ability to adapt to new and changing environments, our bodies simply weren't designed to live in the modern world. Take for instance the physiological stress response: you see a bear, your heart starts pumping harder and faster, your system fills with adrenaline, digestion gets put on hold, and all of your body's attention is focused on survival. In this day and age, our bodies are being triggered to show this stress response multiple times a day—whether, during an argument with a significant other, the ping of an email notification that you know is from your boss or an alert for a new exam result on your college account. We're constantly bombarded by signals, messages, requests, expectations, and demands, and we've entered a state of chronic stress as a result. The result? Burnout, a term recently recognized by the World Health Organization as an actual medical syndrome characterized by exhaustion, the inability to focus, a feeling of disengagement from our surroundings, and the inability to fall asleep.
CEO and co-founder of Apollo, Kathryn Fantauzzi, joins the podcast to discuss a potential remedy for burnout, which is a software platform, mobile app, and wearable device that sends vibrations to the body which the brain interprets as safety, and when you feel safe, your heart rate and breathing even out, which makes it easier to concentrate, feel calm, and fall asleep. Fantauzzi explains that this technology harnesses and amplifies the benefits of practices such as mindfulness and meditation without requiring the user to do anything other than wear the device on their wrist or ankle. In clinical studies, users have shown a 25% improvement in cognitive performance and accuracy under stress, as well as the ability to fall asleep faster, and improve heart rate variability, an indicator of the body's overall resilience and recovery from stress. And since the software is integrated with Apple Healthkit, it can pull from a user's biometric data to curate the best solution for their experience with burnout.
Tune in for the full conversation, and check out https://apolloneuro.com/.
For the first 23 years of her life, Sasha Stephens never thought twice about sleep, and she never really had to because she never had a problem with it. But after a bout of sleepless nights during her college years, the problem that seemed to come out of nowhere only seemed to worsen. And when she sought relief from sleeping pills, things got even worse. This was the beginning of a 15-year case of insomnia for Sasha, and it took over her life. But if it weren't for this experience, Sasha likely wouldn't have the insight she has today, nor be the author of The Effortless Sleep Method: The Incredible New Cure for Insomnia and Chronic Sleep Problems, nor the creator of Sleep for Life, an insomnia cure program that's received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
"Having the odd bad night of sleep or even the odd run of bad nights is completely and absolutely normal, and I think this is something we don't allow people to realize. The reason that people suffer for years…and the reason that I suffered for such a long time…is because…we start throwing all sorts of things at the problem…without actually realizing that the more you do about insomnia the worse it becomes," says Sasha. She goes on to explain the unhelpful habits that lead to and reinforce insomnia, misconceptions that many people hold about insomnia, some of her main recommendations for setting the right circumstances for sleep, and what a person can expect by enrolling in her program. "The main crux of my advice is in changing the way that you think about this problem," she says.
Interested in hearing the full conversation and learning more about her program? Tune in and visit https://sleepforlife.com/.
"Soft tissue dysfunction is the etiology of malocclusion." Those were the words that ultimately compelled Barry Raphael, Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry (DMD), to take a deeper look into the way the posture and functions of the tongue determine how well the jaw grows, how well the teeth come in, and how well the airway takes shape—all of which impact quality of sleep. For 27 years, Dr. Raphael practiced conventional orthodontics, but the way he practices now is completely different, aided by an approach that encourages healthy breathing, tongue posture, nutrition, and sleep.
Dr. Raphael is a wealth of information on these topics and many more, so tune in, and visit https://www.alignmine.com/ to learn more. To locate a dentist who recognizes the critical importance of and connection between airway formation, dental health, and sleep, visit aapmd.org.
In the West, the main facets of Chinese medicine have historically been ridiculed or otherwise dismissed as ineffective, and this includes acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. But today, perceptions of Chinese medicine are changing, in part because of the rise of notable and respectable physicians who began their careers in conventional Western medicine before realizing the value and effectiveness of Chinese medical practices. Dr. Shiroko Sokitch is one such physician, who abandoned her surgical residency after just two years to pursue an approach to medicine that blends the best of Western and Chinese medical practices and principles.
It's now been over three decades since Dr. Sokitch began this approach to the treatment of her patients, and she sees an 85 percent success rate in treating and alleviating her patient's symptoms. She joins the podcast to discuss how effective acupuncture can be in immediately relieving pain, Chinese herbal medicines that can improve quality of sleep by balancing the body's energy, the strengths and weaknesses of Western and Chinese medicine, the way that Chinese medicine categorizes and understands the body's organ systems, and some of the most common conditions she treats in her patients on a daily basis.
Press play for the full conversation and visit https://hearttoheartmedicalcenter.com/ to learn more about her work and philosophy.
Stephanie Schnorr, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, discusses her work studying digestion and the gut microbiome.
Schnorr is fascinated with diet, digestion, and what's going on in our guts. She is a biological anthropologist who studies the human diet and gut microbiome as they pertain to human evolution. Of particular interest is how humans have such large brains. Schnorr studies dietary behavior, physiological adaptations, as well as the complete gut microbiome in relation to various environments humans have occupied. She takes a scientific eye to the study of these elements and environments, seeking evidence of the basic components that ultimately enable the existence of large-brained hominins.
As a trained biological anthropologist, Schnorr talks about the path she took from early education to her current advanced study and research. As she explains, her interest in sports performance, as well as muscle function and metabolism, made her more curious about what it takes to sustain a human organism. And her graduate dissertation work existed within this area of study. Her fascination with the gut microbiome pushed her to expand her research and look at what may be the greatest contributions it provides.
She discusses human development historically and poses the questions: what are we specialized to do, to eat, etc. Answering her question, she states that we actually have no specialization historically, that we are extremely adaptable. These questions pushed her to dig deeper into the power of the gut microbiome, metabolism, etc. Everyone, to some degree, has allergic reactions she states, which indicates there is a reaction to the environment. She discusses antibiotics, sleep, foods we eat, sanitation, stress, and pesticides, etc., and how it all affects us. She explains the connection to a healthier life via a mineral-fueled, more nutritious diet. And ultimately, the higher nutritional value in a diet helps one's body to better adjust or combat allergies and other things that our bodies must contend with. Our immune system, as she states, is there to keep the microbial community in line.
Schnorr has worked in a wide variety of locations and laboratories, from deep within the beauty of East Africa, to specialized, ultra clean lab spaces designed for the study of ancient DNA, and many other kinds of labs and environments in between. Her detailed research and analyses have been published in many academic journals and noted in some of the most well known scientific periodicals and papers.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
