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On this month's TGen Talks, David Engelthaler, Ph.D., professor and director of TGen's Pathogen and Microbiome Division, discusses the recent surge of bird flu, also known as H5N1. H5N1 has been in the news a lot lately, but what does it all mean? Engelthaler breaks down the science and talks about the effects this particular strain might have on humans. He also explains what constitutes an outbreak, how they fade over time, and why they start anew. Bird flu, like other influenza viruses, changes and mutates over time, and the H5N1 strain is particularly concerning. Although it is currently a low risk for human outbreak (there are only 3 known cases in the U.S. thus far), its impact on other animals, especially poultry and cattle, caught the attention of the CDC, USDA and other groups that monitor such outbreaks. Engelthaler notes that outbreaks are often first noticed by wildlife managers or at zoos, where bird die-offs prompt testing for influenza. Over the past two years, the current bird flu strain has spread significantly by wild birds across North America and the rest of the world. The good news: In Arizona, only one mammal, an Abert's tree squirrel, has tested positive for H5N1 to date. TGen researchers are working with local wildlife and health officials to monitor the situation.
In this interview with Lesa Engelthaler we discuss her new picture book " Joan of Art" and talk about finding your next calling. Learn more at: lesaengelthaler.com findyournextcalling.com
Lesa Engelthaler joins me to talk about her delightful new children's book Joan of Art. It's the perfect book to get into the hands of kids of all ages. It's an inspiring story of self expression where young Joan harnesses the bravery of her namesake, Joan of Arc, as she finds the... The post Lesa Engelthaler – episode 383 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.
Understanding how infectious diseases spread in the past is important to understanding how they affect populations today. The difficulty lie in piecing together information given that so little is known about how microbes spread historically. Applying academic rigor with scientific assessment, two microbiologists teamed with an archaeologist to look at different types of evidence — genetics, anthropology, paleontology and climate — in an attempt to explain how the fungus that causes Valley fever, Coccidioides immitis, ended up in a specific area of Washington state. The review article in mBio by Drs. David Engelthaler, James C. Chatters and Arturo Casadevall details their approach from a historical perspective, applying what they knew about the biology and epidemiology of C. immitis, which led them to propose a new theory for why it has emerged in that region of Washington. Today, a great deal of discussion around the spread of diseases and the expansion of their habitats focuses on the effects of global warming. And while climate change does have an impact on different environments and habitats, this investigation sought to understand how and why different microbes, like fungi, move from one place to another through the lens of modern biology. Their final analysis, climate change may not always be the reason behind the spread of diseases, but it can reveal past events that could be dangerous. Engelthaler explains more in this edition of TGen Talks.
Dr. David Engelthaler of TGen talks vaccines and omicron, masks in schools and more. #1285 Thursday, January 20, 2022 __________ 0:00-63:57 Dr. David Engelthaler of TGen: Jeff spends most of the show with Dr. David Engelthaler of TGen (bio below) talking Covid, where we are now, where we've been and where we may be heading. The vaccines efficacy with the Omicron variant, the CDC, changing messaging and the “cult of personality”. Jeff and Dr. Engelthaler also discuss mask efficacy, should kids be wearing them in school and more. A ton of information in this interview! __________ 63:58-74:07 A couple news updates to end the show including a bill at the Arizona Legislature prohibiting tax dollars for membership dues to AZ teachers union groups. __________ On tomorrows show at 4:06PM on 97.1FM: Representative Shawnna Bolick with updates on legislative bills including election integrity bills and Kelly Broaddus gives a real estate market update. __________ Dr. David Engelthaler is an Associate Professor and the Director of TGen North, the infectious disease arm of the non-profit Translational Genomics Research Institute. He currently oversees the TGen North Clinical Laboratory, which was stood up in March 2020 to specifically provide COVID-19 testing and has provided tests for tens of thousands of Arizonans and has sequenced over 35,000 strains of SARS-CoV-2. Dave also oversees a number of research groups working on detect and characterization of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, valley fever, MRSA, and others. His team at TGen also provides genomic services to CDC, state, local and tribal health departments. He has published ~150 scientific papers and chapters on epidemiology, disease ecology, genetics, and microbiology and he has two dozen patented inventions, including diagnostic assays that received FDA clearance. Dave received his Masters in Microbiology from Colorado State University and his PhD in Biology at Northern Arizona University. Dave was previously the Arizona State Epidemiologist and a biologist for the CDC and the U.S. Forest Service. Dave has worked in federal, state and local government, and has started for-profit and non-profit businesses. Dave sits on a number of local and national Boards and he proudly led the establishment of Flagstaff, AZ as “America's First STEM City”.
For our final episode of TGen Talks in 2021, our host, Karie Dozer, sat down with TGen North Director, Dr. David Engelthaler, who has led TGen's research into COVID since day one. Dr. Engelthaler shares his thoughts on Omicron … what we know, what's left to learn, and why it's spreading so fast. While it may be a bit early to predict how Omicron will play out in the U.S., it appears to follow trends seen with other variants and is on pace to replace Delta as the most dominant variant, which may not be all bad news, particularly if it produces symptoms that are milder than its predecessors. Dr. Engelthaler also discusses which states seem to be hit the hardest, how that changes week-by-week, immunity against Omicron for the fully vaccinated, and how a strong cellular immunity helps prevent serious illness. All this and more in just eighteen minutes on TGen Talks.
With the Delta variant of COVID-19 garnering worldwide attention, it begs the question: When will the pandemic end? This month, on Episode 38, we circle back with David Englethaler, Ph.D., Director of TGen's Pathogen and Microbiome Division, more commonly known as TGen North, for an update on all things COVID-19 related. How much longer will we be dealing with COVID-19? Do we really know where COVID came from? Will we need vaccinations against COVID for years to come? Dr. Engelthaler answers these questions, and also explains how TGen is working with local and state health officials to track variants of COVID-19 — and posting that information freely on Arizona COVID-19 Sequencing Dashboard— and how we're preparing for the next pandemic.
In this episode, we steer away from the politics and emotions surrounding the virus and the vaccines for COVID 19, and look at the science behind the virus. Engelthaler's take on the monumental and historic achievement of the vaccine development and how that effort will be powerfully beneficial for all of us is especially interesting. His view on what's happening in the world around the vaccine and the virus as well as his his positive spin is enlightening. Guest: Dr. David Engelthaler is the Co-Director and Associate Professor of Pathogen Genomics Division at TGen North SHOW LINKS: https://www.tgen.org/faculty-profiles/david-engelthaler/
Dr. David Engelthaler joins the show to discuss the coronavirus "variant of interest" that's emerging in Arizona. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It took under a year to develop, test and begin to deploy vaccines against COVID-19. And despite a few hiccups upon arrival, the rollout is underway... and that's great news for a world that's nearing 100 million cases and over 2 million deaths. Joining TGen Talks to discuss his take on COVID-19 vaccines is Dr. David Engelthaler, Director of TGen North, the Pathogen and Microbiome Division of TGen located in Flagstaff, Arizona. Dr. Engelthaler discusses the vaccine's available today, those that are currently in the development pipeline and why getting vaccinated is important. He also tackles the known side-effects, the speed at which the vaccines were developed, and the recent variant strains that were discovered in the UK, South Africa and elsewhere, and which of these are already being seen in the US. All that and more on this month's edition of TGen Talks.
Freddie Sayers meets David Engelthaler, co-director of the T-Gen Research Institute and former state epidemiologist of Arizona.There are many different theories as to why the western world, namely the US and Europe, was hit so much harder by the Covid pandemic than Asia. Some studies have found evidence of ancient genetic adaptation specific to East Asian populations, while others suggest that this region may have some degree of cross-immunity due to other coronaviruses in circulation. But another interesting theory posits that the difference is not caused by the people, but by the virus; in the early months of the pandemic, a particular genetic strain of Covid-19 known as D14G was shown to be more prevalent in Italy than any Asian countries, which may have helped explain why the disease spread so fast in that country, and elsewhere in Europe and America.Earlier this week, Freddie Sayers spoke to David Engelthaler, co-director of the T-Gen Research Institute and former state epidemiologist of Arizona, who has been investigating this idea. His view is that there is now “really compelling evidence” that this strain replicates faster than earlier strains, which "likely" came out of China and through to Europe. "It's really quickly dominated all of the other strains that were seen in Europe at the time, it became the predominant strain that came into the Americas, spread throughout the United States and is now spread to pretty much every corner of the planet".In his own state, Engelthaler witnessed several of the early introductions to Arizona, coming from the Pacific coast straight from China, but fizzled out quickly, with less effective transmission. “And then all of a sudden we started having explosive outbreaks. When we go back and look genomically, the vast majority of those cases where we had very large outbreaks were being driven by the strains that were coming from the East Coast out of Europe, which all seemed to have this particular mutation in the spike protein.”This doesn't mean that the mutation is more deadly, simply that it may be more faster at transmitting, and therefore it harder to "get our arms around the virus". As such, Engelthaler argues that trying to eliminate the virus was not the right approach and instead we should have been trying to slow its spread: "What we're really seeing is a SARS-like infection that spreads like the common cold. And with there's no way that we could put in mitigation strategies to stop the common cold".So were uniform national lockdowns the right solution? "As an epidemiologist I think they have has just been devastating in a way that we haven't even properly appropriately characterised yet". He says that the "vast majority" of at-risk people "could have been prevented if the focus was on protecting them, rather than on trying to prevent any spread of this virus, which is pretty much is un-containable".Engelthaler is also one of the few epidemiologists to have publicly spoken out against school closures, for which there is "no scientific evidence". "Privately, behind closed doors, there's definitely been a lot of discussion from the very beginning that there's no scientific evidence that shutting down schools actually helps to stop a pandemic...Epidemiologists knew that from the beginning, but that was not a popular opinion to take publicly and seems to have been kind of left to the side".But ultimately, human agency in the midst of a pandemic is overemphasised: "I do think that one thing that does seem to get lost in all of this is that there's a really important factor in this pandemic, and it's the virus, it's not just people's policies and people's behaviours". That is especially true when there are "different strains that are acting differently in different parts of the world, leading to different outcomes, at least in some part because of that virus, not just based off of public policies in response, no matter what you do". See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
For nearly 6 months, COVID-19 has raised numerous questions and concerns, as well as having led to global disruption. In addition to testing, TGen was an early adopter in tracking the virus to learn how it mutates and spreads. Joining TGen Talks to discuss what we've learned is Dr. David Engelthaler, co-director of TGen North, the Pathogen and Microbiome Division of TGen located in Flagstaff, Arizona. Dr. Engelthaler discusses what the epidemiology is telling us about COVID-19, and how that plays into decisions states are making on whether to open, and if so, how broadly? He also discusses the global effort toward vaccine development, the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 in the fall, lessons learned in terms of public health and how we prepare for other viruses in the future.
This is Episode 12 of PsychCrunch the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Download here. Can psychology help us to be funnier? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears how a key ingredient of humour is "incongruity" and the surprise of unexpected meanings. Individual words too can be amusing, but actually most of the time we laugh not because we've seen or heard a joke, but as a natural part of friendly interaction. Our guests, in order of appearance, are: Cardiff University neuroscientist Dean Burnett, author of The Happy Brain; psychologist Tomas Engelthalerat the University of Warwick, who co-authored a paper on the funniest words in English; and "stand up scientist" Sophie Scottat UCL, who gave the 2017 Christmas lectures on the neuroscience of voices, speech and laughter. Background reading for this episode: Research on jokes in the Research Digest archive Research on laughter in the Research Digest archive Engelthaler's study of the funniest words in the English language Special issue of The Psychologiston humour Do psychologists have a particular taste in comedy? Episode credits: Presented and produced by Ginny Smith. Mixing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.
Dr. Carl Anderson of Trinity Fellowship Church teaches on the mountain top experience Jesus had with Moses and Elijah.