Science is Fun!

Today I'm joined by another floor-mate of mine at UCSF, Bassem Al-Sady. Bassem's lab does beautiful and elegant work on how genes are silenced in cells ranging from yeast to stem cells. He explains all the mysteries that remain about this fundamental process and that aspects of it date back to the earliest types of cells. We also talk about his innovative teaching efforts and how to improve graduate education.

This week I'm so thrilled to interview Dr. Stephen Hauser, author of "The Face Laughs While the Brain Cries." He discusses a remarkable career as a physician-scientist, in which he uncovered a key role for B cells in the debilitating autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis. More remarkably, his perseverance led to the transformative drugs that are now available for this disease, emphasizing the importance of basic science for addressing long-standing healthcare challenges and the unique lens that practicing physicians can bring to biomedical research.

This week I'm so thrilled to interview Dr. Ron Krauss. Ron has make seminal contributions to our understanding of heart disease, including early work on cholesterol and his ongoing studies of statins. He explains why human nutrition is so hard and what is needed to provide more predictive dietary guidelines.

Synthetic biologist Kole Roybal joins us today. Kole is a leader in the emerging area of cell therapy, and has developed sophisticated ways of controlling immune cells for the treatment of cancer. He explains what led to these very recent breakthroughs and what he's excited about next.

This week I'm joined by Jay Levy, a world expert in HIV. Jay was one of the first people to isolate the virus and had made numerous contributions to our understanding of HIV and AIDS. He walks us through this fascinating history and the current challenges in this area.

I'm thrilled to interview Lewis Lanier this week, who recently stepped down as my department chair. Lewis has had a remarkable career in science and industry, including the early days of flow cytometry and the discovery of a new type of immune cell dubbed the "natural killer cell". He explains how these NK cells were found and why they're so unique and fascinating.

This week my guest is Dr. Susan Fisher, a world renowned expert in the placenta. She explains how truly remarkable the placenta is and how it overturns a lot of what we normally assume about the body.

I'm am so excited to welcome Dr. Shaeri Mukherjee to the show. Shaeri is my next-door neighbor at UCSF and has been dubbed the "bacteria whisperer". Her lab uses bacteria as tools to uncover fundamental insights into cell biology.

We're back this week with Seth Shipman from the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco. Seth has built molecular recording devices that can record data within living cells. He even used these methods to re-create one of the first movies put to film. This work has clear technological implications and is also providing insights into phage biology.

We're back this week with Polly Fordyce. Polly is an Assistant Professor of Genetics and Bioengineering at Stanford. She has built remarkable tools for studying transcription factors and enzymes, really accelerating what is possible and opening up new areas of study. She explains why hydrogels are so cool and how you too can use them in your research program.

Science is Fun is finally back after a long hiatus. Where have we been? I've been doing science now that the pandemic slow-down has lifted. So much science to do, so little time! I've got an exciting line-up for the next few weeks - a mini-season of shows. I hope you enjoy it and stay subscribed to the show for when our next full season launches. This week I welcome Dr. Yvette Fisher to the show. Yvette is a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley. She does wild experiments, including putting fruit flies into virtual reality simulations to study how their brains work. I hope you'll enjoy our chat as much as I did!

I'm am so excited to welcome Dr. Monica Gandhi to the show. Throughout the pandemic, Monica has been a source of reliable and clear headed insight, especially with regards to the importance of re-opening schools. This conversation remains timely given the increasing rate of infections and stalled vaccination effort.

This week I chat with another talented chemist: Bill DeGrado from UCSF. Bill is a pioneer in the de novo design of proteins. He talks about how he got into this area and how it has created opportunities to treat disease.

This week I'm joined by Charly Craik, a chemist at UCSF who develops sophisticated tools for studying biology. He talks about his quest to watch enzymes function in real-time in cells and even whole mice, and how his research is paving the way for new therapies for HIV, cancer, and COVID-19.

Keith Yamamoto, the Vice Chancellor for Science Policy and Strategy at UCSF, explains why he has been committed throughout his career to reform the funding, publication, and practice of science. He also discusses his vision for the future of precision medicine and how team-based projects could accelerate scientific progress.

Dr. Alan Venook is a renowned expert on gastrointestinal malignancies at UCSF. He discusses the innovative ways doctors are treating cancer, the challenges of designing clinical trials, and the future of cancer therapy.

KC Huang, a physicist at Stanford with one of the most eclectic research histories I've seen, patiently explains photons, the biophysics of cell shape, and why biologists should embrace theory.

Dr. Hiten Madhani is an expert in yeast biology, including the neglected human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Hiten's lab has made major contributions to our understanding of gene splicing, gene silencing, and quorum sensing. These eclectic areas arise organically from his group's ability to follow the data and their own curiosity, coupled to his strategy of encouraging trainees to follow their passion.

Dr. Abby Buchwalter, my former classmate from Washington University in Saint Louis, tells us why everyone should care about the nuclear lamina. She also talks about the winding path of discovery and her efforts to found the SciChats outreach program at the Salk Institute.

My guest this week is Dr. Seemay Chou, my colleague at UCSF who uses ticks as a model system for host-microbial interactions. She talks about her remarkable discovery of bacteria genes that have transferred into ticks and how they serve to protect ticks from microbes found on human skin.

My guest this week is Dr. Emily Goldberg, a brand new faculty member at UCSF. She talks about growing up with academic parents and how she got into the rapidly growing field of immunometabolism, as well as the complex role of ketogenic diets and caloric restriction is shaping aging and susceptibility to infection.

My guest this week is Dr. Sarkis Mazmanian, a Professor at Cal Tech, and certified Genius by the MacArthur Foundation. Sarkis talks about how he got into microbiome research and his remarkable contributions to infectious disease, immunology, and neurology.

My first international guest, the renowned Irish microbiome researcher Fergus Shanahan, talks about his new book "The Language of Illness" and his eclectic research on the inflammatory bowel diseases (plural!), physical fitness (not exercise!), and Irish Travelers (popularized by the movie Snatch).

My guest this week is Dr. Rachel Dutton from UCSD who is recognized in both scientific and culinary circles for her ingenious use of cheese rinds as a model system to study microbial ecology. Learn more about what inspired her to take up this line of research and what they have learned so far.

My guest this week is Dr. Gerry Wright, a Professor at McMaster who is renowned for his efforts to understand and combat antibiotic resistance in pathogenic microbes. This interview is especially timely given the ongoing pandemic and the need to invest more heavily in infectious disease research.

My guest this week is Dr. Aspen Reese, a new faculty at the University of California, San Diego. Aspen talks about the unique challenges of starting a lab during a pandemic and shares how her background in ecology and evolution has provided a unique lens to understand the human microbiome.

My guest this week is Dr. Garret Fitzgerald, the Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania. We discuss his current work at Calico, a Google backed company that aims to combat aging, including Garet's fascination with circadian rhythms. He also explains his key role in revealing the dangerous side effects of selective inhibitors of COX-2, leading to removing Vioxx from the market in 2004 and a black box warning on its competitor Celebrex.

My guest this week is Dr. Martin Blaser. I know Marty well due to his more recent work on antibiotics and their off-target impacts on the gut microbiome, described in his book "Missing Microbes". We discuss the origins of this work during his time tracking epidemics at the CDC, his love for the rare but fascinating Campylobacter fetus, and his seminal work on identifying a "symbiosis factor" for Helicobacter pylori.

My guest this week is Dr. Matt Redinbo from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Matt has had a remarkable career in both academia and industry. He discusses the challenges of translating basic research and the importance of doing the killer experiment as soon as possible. We talk about his evolution from focusing solely on human enzymes for drug metabolism to studying microbes, and the vast potential for the microbiome as a novel drug target.

This week I'm joined by my friend and collaborator Dr. Suneil Koliwad, the Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at UCSF. Suneil discusses how the pandemic has changed medicine, the perplexing differences between ethnic groups in metabolic disease,  and his research on the complex links between diet, inflammation, and obesity.

My guest this week is Dr. Joe DeRisi, a pioneer in functional genomics and leader of a collaborative effort to accelerate SARS-CoV-2 testing and discovery. Joe is the co-President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub and has had a remarkable series of technological breakthroughs throughout his career, including the invention of DNA microarrays. He talks about applying these approaches to diagnose mysterious diseases in humans and pets as well as his current focus on COVID-19.

My guest this week is Dr. Kristin Bibbins-Domingo. Her pioneering studies have used computational simulations to predict the public health implications of changes to diet, including a focus on salt and sugar intake. We discuss how she got into nutrition and some of the controversies around what we should and should not eat. We also discuss her current efforts to address inequalities in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovery.

My guest this week is Dr. Adam Arkin, our first interview outside of UCSF! Adam works across the Bay at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and is a leader in the emerging fields of systems and synthetic biology. He has published more than 300 papers on a wide range of subjects and tells us about some of the large-scale initiatives he is currently leading and his fascination with viruses and bacteria.

My guest this week is immunologist Dr. Alex Marson. Alex talks about his recent work on SARS-CoV-2, his efforts to translate CRISPR technology to treat patients, and his long-standing collaboration with the Dr. Jennifer Doudna, recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. We also discuss how he’s managed to accumulate so many titles at such an early stage in his career: Scientific Director for Biomedicine at the Innovative Genomics Institute and Founding Director of the Gladstone Institute for Genomic Immunology.

My guest this week is Dr. Hobart Harris, who was the Chief of General Surgery at UCSF for 18 years. Hobart talks about the challenges and innovations happening in the surgery field and his research on developing strategies to accelerate the healing process following a surgery. We also talk in-depth about the Black Lives Matter movement and challenges around race and equality in science and medicine.

My guest this week is Esteban Burchard an expert in pharmacogenetics and asthma. Esteban’s prolific scientific contributions have been featured on Science Friday and other shows. He also served on President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative. I was particularly excited to discuss issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with him, as he is a leader in emphasizing the importance of studying drug response across diverse individuals.

Last July I had the pleasure of talking with Dr. Melanie Ott, the Director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology in San Francisco. While I would have been thrilled to talk to her under any circumstance, the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has made one-on-one time with a virologist more valuable than ever. In addition to catching up on the latest news about COVID-19, we discussed her long-standing interest in HIV and the surprising similarities between unrelated viruses.

Last March, as the pandemic was picking up steam, I had the pleasure to interview a friend and colleague Dr. Rushika Perera, a rising star and Assistant Professor at UCSF. Before our conversation, I had heard about the lysosome but just had some vague notion that it is similar to recycling, an essential service for sure but not one I want to think about everyday. By the end of our interview, I was almost ready to scrap the microbiome and devote my life to becoming a lysosome-ologist. She’s just that convincing and passionate, having clearly found an ideal niche with broad relevance for cancer and other diseases. But that’s not all! Stay tuned for the end where Rushika gives her pro tips for making the successful shift from a bench scientist to leading your own lab.

My guest this week is Tiffany Scharschmidt, a close colleague of mine in the UCSF Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine. I really admire how well-spoken she is and how carefully considered her research and other scholarly work is, a stark contrast to my own “fire, ready, aim” approach. Another remarkable fact about Tiffany is that she never got a Ph.D. Instead, she transitioned directly from an M.D. to a translational research program that spans deep molecular mechanism to clinical studies. Hear why and how she made that switch, whether or not microbes may someday cure skin disease, and what the big questions are in skin microbiome research.

My guest this week is Max Krummel, whose career has been truly remarkable. As a graduate student, he generated antibodies to CTLA-4, which not only helped to identify an inhibitory pathway of T cell regulation but can also be used to block that pathway. This work, which led the way to cancer immunotherapy, was featured in the recent documentary "Jim Allison: Breakthrough." To Max, these breakthroughs emphasized to him the importance of technology in driving innovation, a theme that runs through his use of fluorescent imaging, live-imaging, and immune-profiling as well as his leadership of the ImmunoX Initiative. Max talks about the need to question the scientific establishment, which he refers to as the "Masters of the Universe," and to embrace change.

My guest this week is Lindsey Criswell, who was recently named the director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Lindsey has deep experience in clinical rheumatology and human genetics. She talks about the intricacies of medical training and practice, then explains the history and importance of genome-wide association studies and how they set the stage for her current focus on epigenetics.

Welcome back! After an easy start with Oren last July, I was able to catch a big fish - a world-renowned UCSF faculty member in our Diabetes Center, Jeff Bluestone. Jeff has made remarkable contributions to our understanding of T-cell activation, co-stimulation, and immune tolerance including >400 peer-reviewed publications. He shares his passion for collaborative science, including his leadership roles at UCSF, the Immune Tolerance Network, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and more. Despite these "big science" projects, Jeff remains closely involved in his lab's research and is a committed mentor.

Dr. Lynch is the Director of the UCSF Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine and exemplifies the benefits of studying human biology at a range of scales, from “ecosystems to molecules.” Her translational research program has deepened our understanding of the role of the microbiome in allergy and asthma with a particular focus on the establishment of the microbiome early in life. Her team has identified microbes that could be administered to high-risk infants for prevention of childhood allergy and asthma, leading to a spin-off company. She talks about the importance of microbiology for understanding human biology and her path from environmental microbial ecology to the human microbiome.

Oren, my friend and colleague at UCSF, got an MD and a PhD from Yale and has deep expertise in structural biology. This includes using all sorts of fancy techniques that I don’t understand: crystallography, electron microscopy, and small-angle x-ray scattering. After cutting his teeth on eukaryotes, he joined the dark side (microbiology) focusing on tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. His lab continues to push the field of structural biology forward into new and exciting areas, while also developing innovative new genetic techniques like a mobile CRISPR-Cas system that can be used to study diverse pathogenic and commensal bacteria. Hear how he made the shift from art (sculpture) to science and his remarkable journey from the ivy league, to Africa, and beyond.

My guest this week is Zena Werb, whose research has had a profound impact on our understanding of development, cancer, and the epithelial microenvironment. Her publication list is truly inspiring with >500 papers and counting, including multiple seminal manuscripts. Despite this rich history, I was struck by how deeply involved she still was in her active projects and her infectious passion for scientific discovery. Many senior faculty go the administrative route, spending more and more time leading large projects and campus initiatives. In contrast, Zena proves that it is possible to stay focused on the science and that there’s always something new and exciting to work on. Finally, Zena received the UCSF Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award in 2015 and shares her pro tips for how to train students and postdocs.

Welcome to Science is Fun! I hope you enjoy our first ever episode. Episodes will drop weekly, possibly less frequently due to COVID-19 and my general lack of expertise. Visit www.scienceisfuncast.com for more information. My guest this week is Richard Locksley, who is a remarkable and quite accomplished immunologist who has made seminal contributions to our understanding of T cells, innate lymphoid cells, and Tuft cells. He is an investigator with HHMI, a full Professor at UCSF, and the Director of the Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center. Rich was actually one of the more recent interviews I did for this show, but I thought that his comments on COVID-19 and infectious disease would be of interest right now. A word of warning, it has been a couple months and the science on COVID-19 is always changing, so some of what we discussed is likely out of date. I hope to have Rich and other guests on in the near future to bring you up to date. In addition to COVID-19, Rich and I discussed all sorts of equally pressing topics like video games, finance, aging, publishing, why cardiology can be boring, and a lot more. I think you're really going to like it and hope that you'll stick around for the next episode.