American scientist (born 1939)
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9 episodes with harold varmus
2 episodes with harold varmus
2 episodes with harold varmus
2 episodes with harold varmus
2 episodes with harold varmus
3 episodes with harold varmus
2 episodes with harold varmus
2 episodes with harold varmus
2 episodes with harold varmus
Former NIH director Dr. Harold Varmus speaks out about what recent budget cuts and policy changes could mean for science.One of the areas targeted by President Trump's administration for cuts has been the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Cost-cutting actions have included the layoffs of some 1,200 NIH employees, the termination of research grants, a pause in the “study sections” that evaluate and award grant funding, and a cap on indirect costs included in research grants. Some of those moves have been paused following court cases. Dr. Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health, joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about the actions, and the impact he fears they could have on the future of biomedical research in the United States.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.
I discuss RFK Jr.'s confirmation as the US Secretary of Health and Human Services; recent layoffs at the CDC and NIH; and some comments by Harold Varmus in criticism of Jay Bhattacharya.
Send us a textDid you or someone you love ever ask: What exactly is cancer? Why did I get cancer? Did I do something to cause it, or was it just bad luck? Noble laureate Dr. Harold Varmus says, "The prevention of cancer requires us to look not just at genetic predisposition but at how our lifestyle choices and environmental exposures interact with our biology to affect cancer risk.”We talk about how cancer develops, lifestyle and environmental factors that contribute to the risk, and empower you with steps you can take for prevention. https://bit.ly/4aNslCP#cancerprevention #understandcancer #knowyourrisk #cancer #knowledgeispower #publichealth #hoosier #clinteastwood #pokerface #jimmybuffett #everyonedies #everydayisagiftIn this Episode:03:41 - Recipe of the Week: Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie05:03 - Perspective on the Glass Half Empty/Full...How Can You Refill the Glass?08:03 - Deep Dive Into Cancer: Why Did I Get Cancer?09:32 - What Exactly is Cancer?12:41 - What Causes Cancer to Develop?13:48 - Lifestyle Choices that Contribute to Cancer18:04 - Environmental Factors that Contribute to Cancer20:01 - What You Can Do To Reduce Cancer Risk30:35 - Jimmy Buffett: Grief Is Like a Wake Behind a Boat31:09 - OutroWith this episode, we are starting our deep dive into cancer itself and we will move on to the details of staging, different types of cancers, and treatment options.Related EpisodesS5E25: The Important Role of the Microbiome to Your Health and Immune FunctionS5E4: Inflammation: What it is, How It Causes Disease, and How You Can Decrease ItS4E46: What You Need to Know about Stomach Cancer – Part 1S5E16: Colorectal Cancer is Increasing in the Young: What You Need to KnowS4E27 – The HPV Vaccine: Important Cancer Prevention for Your ChildS4E23: Skin Cancer, Merkel Cell Carcinoma, and Easy Prevention Steps You Can TakeS5E27: Preventable Death – Learn the Factors to Better Your OddsSupport the showGet show notes and resources at our website: every1dies.org. Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | mail@every1dies.org
In "Responding to Shock, Awe, and Censorship" Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall provide updates on the latest news in the federal government and how it is impacting public health locally and globally. Dr. Osterholm also discusses the latest developments in H5N1 avian flu and answers an ID query about the tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas. Anatomy of a Failure: Why This Latest Vaccine-Autism Paper is Dead Wrong (Jess Steier and Bertha Hidalgo, Unbiased Science, Substack) Making PEPFAR: A Triumph of Medical Diplomacy (Harold Varmus, AAAS) Follow us on Bluesky: Dr. Michael Osterholm (@mtosterholm.bsky.social) and CIDRAP (cidrap.bsky.social) Sign up for CIDRAP's daily newsletter MORE EPISODES
This week's episode of the PW Podcast is celebratory, in honor of our 100th episode. This has been a fantastic adventure, and we have been honored to interview more than 150 health practitioners to date, exposed to so much fantastic clinical science and expertise! We need to thank all our guests, as well as our regular contributors, Dr. Medlaw and Dr. Alex McDonald. This is an opportunity to also thank our sound guys at The Audio and the great staff at Physician's Weekly. But we would especially like to thank you, the listeners!To celebrate this milestone, Dr. Alex McDonald (Physician's Weekly Editorial Board Member and family/sports medicine physician at Southern California Permanente Medical Group) and PW Podcast host Rachel Giles, MD, generated a list of their “Heroes of Medicine,” which they discuss in this episode; this list reflects their personal choices and just scrapes the surface. We would love to hear your suggestions of who was missed! Enjoy Listening! Heroes of Medicine:Hippocrates promoted the idea that gods did not cast illnessesEdward Jenner: 1796, first vaccine à small poxWatson and Crick (and Rosalind Franklin): 1953 - DNALouis Pasteur: 1864, microorganisms in the air and waterAlexander Fleming: 1928, antibioticsIgnaz Semmelweiss: 1846, handwashing, and no one believed him!Harold Varmus: open access publishing (Public Library of Science, PLoS)James Lind: first clinical trial, he was a ship's surgeon in the Royal Navy. While at sea in May 1747, Lind provided some crew members with two oranges and one lemon, proving scurvy could be prevented by citrusJennifer Doudna: 2006, CRISPR gene editingMary Claire King: 1989, not for discovery of breast cancer gene but for her humanitarian work performing pro bono sequencing of children “lost” in the dictatorship of Argentina and placing them back with their familiesPeter Ratcliffe, Bill Kaelin, Greg Semenza: 2019, Nobel prize - hypoxia signalingElizabeth Blackwell: 1849, became the first woman in America to receive an MD. She was soon joined by her younger sister, and together, the Blackwells founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, the first hospital staffed entirely by women.Paul Farmer: with colleagues, pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality healthcare in resource-poor settings. He wrote extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality.Let us know what you thought of this week's episode on Twitter: @physicianswkly Want to share your medical expertise, research, or unique experience in medicine on the PW podcast? Email us at editorial@physweekly.com! Thanks for listening!
Synopsis: Liang Schweizer, Ph.D. is the Founder and CEO of HiFiBiO Therapeutics, a clinical-stage global biotech company mobilizing the human immune system to combat disease. The company employs its unique Drug Intelligence Science (DIS®) platform, which combines its proprietary microfluidic single-cell platform with advanced AI/ML-based data analytics, to gain insights into human disease biology at the single-cell level allowing for precise treatment of patients based on their underlying disease mechanisms. HiFiBiO's approach is distinguished from others in industry by applying single-cell science at every stage of drug development, including discovery of novel targets, therapeutic antibodies, and predictive biomarkers, enabling rapid advancement of new therapeutics into the clinic. Liang shares her perspective on the Chinese biotech ecosystem and how it has evolved over the last couple of years. She also discusses how approaches to drug development have changed, specifically around leveraging technology and the intersection of science and technology. She talks about being a CEO for the first time and how she approaches managing globally distributed teams. Interested to learn more? Check out this paper mentioned in our episode: https://tinyurl.com/d3cv9vjt Biography: Liang Schweizer is the Founder, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of HiFiBiO Therapeutics. She has over 30 years of research and industry experience with numerous publications and global keynote presentations. She is the co-inventor of 12 immuno-modulatory therapeutic antibodies with over 50 patent publications. She also has contributed to 4 marketed drugs and over 20 clinical candidates. Previously, Liang co-founded Harbour Biomed and served as its CSO, successfully transforming a technology platform company to an antibody drug discovery enterprise. Before launching her entrepreneurial career, Liang served as Head of Asian Cancer Research at Sanofi, advancing Sanofi's Asia-Pacific oncology pipeline as well as contributing to global oncology programs from preclinical to clinical efforts. Before joining Sanofi, she was a director at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Liang received a B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and an M.S. in Microbial Engineering and Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. She earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University in Zurich. Her postdoctoral training was with Dr. Harold Varmus, a Nobel Laureate, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).
A pivotal development in the history of cancer research was the discovery that cancers can arise from mutations in genes already present in normal, healthy cells. Joining us in this episode is Dr. Harold Varmus, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1989 with his colleague, J. Michael Bishop, for this discovery. Their work has enabled scientists to explore why certain cancers develop in the human body and how we can develop better cancer treatments that target these genetic mutations. In addition to his pioneering research, Dr. Varmus has served as Director of the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Scientific Advisor to the US Government, World Health Organization, and various other foundations and academic institutions. Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Varmus describes his groundbreaking research, approach to institutional leadership, and his advocacy for the democratization of scientific knowledge through his role in the founding of PubMed Central and the Public Library of Science.In this episode, you will hear about:How Dr. Varmus' broad educational interests led him to pursue a medical career - 2:56How working at the National Institutes of Health drove Dr. Varmus's passion for research and the trailblazing path his career took - 8:48A summary of Dr. Varmus's research on retroviral oncogenes, which led to major advancements in cancer diagnoses and treatments - 16:35How Dr. Varmus became involved in the politics of science after receiving a Nobel Prize - 27:13Dr. Varmus' mission while he was Director of the National Institutes of Health and his perspectives on the elements of effective healthcare institutional leadership - 30:28A discussion of open access publishing, a mechanism of distributing the results of scientific research online for free - 32:37Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor's Art Podcast 2022
I got the opportunity to talk to former NIH Director and 1989 Nobel Prize Winner of Physiology or Medicine, Dr Harold Varmus. ---------------------------------------------------- Thanks to the partners: Newsly: https://newsly.mepromo code: EARLYMORNING. Anchor https://anchor.fm Libysn https://libsyn.compromo code: DG Hardsnake Energy https://www.instagram.com/hardsnakenrgy spikeview https://www.spikeview.comhttps://www.instagram.com/spikeview ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Listen on: Podcast website: https://anchor.fm/diamondgoat Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EuhA6WyuerHtVAqcFrFeO Google Podcast: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80NzE4MzM5MC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/dg-earlymorning-show-WoML4r Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/dg-early-morning-show Podcast YT channel clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPZdwPiE-Rb7yv0qQ_7Nqpw Reason: https://reason.fm/podcast/dg-earlymorning-show Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dg-early-morning-show/id1575451533 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/f050b86c-1dad-4bc3-b12f-6aa5fa62438c -------------------------------------- Check out my other stuff: Instagram: @itzdiamondgoat Twitter: https://twitter.com/lildiamondgoat Main YT channel: youtube.com/diamondgoat Main Tiktok: @lildiamondgoat Second Tiktok: @lildiamondgoatextra Soundcloud: @Lil Diamondgoat Spotify: @Lil Diamondgoat Merch store: https://diamondgoat.creator-spring.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/diamondgoat/support
This episode covers the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Bishop and Varmus the award “for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes”. Topics include Bishop and Varmus' discovery of the first cellular proto-oncogene c-src, how the discovery of that gene lead to a fundamental shift in our understanding of the essence of cancer, and Beowulf.
Why Is It So Hard To Agree On When Human Life Starts? After decades of deliberations involving physicians, bioethicists, attorneys, and theologians, a U.S. presidential commission in 1981 settled on a scientifically derived dividing line between life and death that has endured, more or less, ever since: A person was considered dead when the entire brain—including the brainstem, its most primitive portion—was no longer functioning, even if other vital functions could be maintained indefinitely through artificial life support. In the decades since, the committee's criteria have served as a foundation for laws in most states adopting brain death as a standard for legal death. Now, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and dozens of states rushing to impose abortion restrictions, American society is engaged in a chaotic race to define the other pole of human existence: When exactly does human life begin? At conception, the hint of a heartbeat, a first breath, the ability to survive outside the womb with the help of the latest technology? To read the full article, visit sciencefriday.com. Taxpayer-Funded Science Is Finally Becoming Public Last week, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced a new directive requiring federally-funded science be made available to the public for free, and faster. Set to take effect by the end of 2025, the new rule would do away with the Obama-era policy that journals can keep research with taxpayer funding behind paywalls for up to one year. In addition, more kinds of research would qualify than previous policies have required. So how does freely accessible research benefit the people who pay for it—or the scientists who do the work itself? Nobel Prize-winning medical researcher and open science advocate Harold Varmus joins Ira to discuss. Why You Should Thank Your Local Wasp It's late in the summer, meaning any outdoor gathering with food and drink has a good chance of being visited by a pesky, buzzing wasp. But don't reach for that rolled-up newspaper or can of bug spray. The wasps in your world play an important role that's often overlooked. Far beyond the social hornets and yellowjackets people think about when they picture a wasp, the wasp world includes thousands of species. Some are parasitic, injecting their eggs into unwilling prey. Others hunt, either paralyzing prey for their young to feed on, or by bringing bits of meat back to a nest for their young. Some are strictly vegetarian, and live on pollen. Some are needed for the pollination of figs and certain species of orchids. Dr. Seirian Sumner, a behavioral biologist at University College London, says that if people understood the services provided by wasps the same way that they understand the need for bees, they might be more willing to overlook an occasional wasp annoyance—and might even be thankful for the wasps in their lives. In her book Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps, Sumner makes the case for wasps as nature's pest control agents, as important pollinators that should be celebrated. Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
JAMA Dermatology Author Interviews: Covering research on the skin, its diseases, and their treatment
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
In July 2022, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, took on a new role as the 17th editor in chief of JAMA and the JAMA Network. In conversation with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Bibbins-Domingo discusses her research background, approaches to leadership in health care, and the critical role that journals play in communication about public health and science. Related Content: The Urgency of Now and the Responsibility to Do More—My Commitment for JAMA and the JAMA Network A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (video) A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief (audio)
“It's critical that the general public understand that science is a long process, and that science is a process that often begins with the art of the feasible. […] We wouldn't be anywhere without computers, we wouldn't be anywhere without DNA sequencing methods. That not only gives me confidence, but it also makes me feel that there's an awful lot left to do.” In this week's episode of The G Word, our Chief Ecosystems and Partnership Officer Parker Moss is joined by Harold Varmus, who was previously the director of the National Institute of Health and of the National Cancer Institute and is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a senior associate at the New York Genome Center. He also won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes with J. Michael Bishop. Today they discuss cancer biology, the future of cancer research and the major questions that studying diverse ethnicities will uncover through genomics. Harold and Parker also discussed some of the big challenges of bringing molecular diagnostics and genomics into lower income countries and the technologies that are continuing to help explore functional genomics in cancer.
In existence for over a century, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is arguably one of the most important agencies of the federal government. Its work is so critical that it often enjoys rare and widespread bipartisan support. In this special bonus episode, President Clinton and nationally recognized experts share first-person accounts and unique perspectives of how the Clinton administration's unprecedented investment in research and science at NIH led to some of the most impactful scientific breakthroughs in the last century – including developing antiretroviral treatments for HIV/AIDS, accelerating research which ultimately made it possible to develop COVID-19 vaccines, and the sequencing of the human genome. This episode features talks by: President Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, Founder and Board Chair, Clinton Foundation Dr. Donna E. Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton Administration Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH Dr. John I. Gallin, NIH Associate Director for Clinical Research who served as the inaugural chief scientific officer of the NIH Clinical Center Dr. Gary Nabel, President & CEO of ModeX Therapeutics and the first director of the NIH Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center Dr. Harold Varmus, the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Meyer Cancer Center of Weill Cornell Medicine, former Director of NIH, and Nobel Prize winning scientist Dr. Wendy Chung, Director of Clinical Genetics at Columbia University Dr. Francis Collins, longstanding former NIH Director and Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute Dr. Charles Rotimi, Director of the Trans-NIH Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health This podcast was adapted from an event held in partnership with the Clinton Presidential Center and the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service as part of the Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series. To learn more, visit www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Most likely everyone reading this has been affected by cancer or knows someone who has had cancer. Using natural cell degradation, today's guest and the team at Arvinas are treating previously undruggable diseases like cancer and Parkinson's. Their goal is to cure cancer or at a minimum, reduce it to a disease where you take your medication and continue living a full life without the terrible side effects of today's treatments. Dr. Ian Taylor, Chief Science Officer at Arvinas, explains how his team is accomplishing this with PROTAC. Arvinas is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new therapeutics for cancers and other difficult-to-treat diseases. If you are hoping for another treatment for cancer besides historical approaches (like chemotherapy), you need to listen to what Dr. Taylor has to say. It's innovating and extremely exciting. More about Dr. Ian Taylor:Dr. Taylor came to the company after nearly 10 years at Pfizer Oncology, most recently as an Early Development Team Leader. In this role, Dr. Taylor was responsible for leading a cross-functional drug development team that conducted Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials for multiple assets in several cancer indications. His initial role at Pfizer Oncology was as Senior Director of Translational Oncology. In this role, he was responsible for directing translational science activities, which included designing and executing translational research plans and leading companion diagnostic partnerships for programs in both preclinical and clinical (Phase 1 -3) stages. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Taylor worked at Bayer Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, holding positions of increasing responsibility, including Vice President of Cancer Biology. In this position, he led the department responsible for all biology aspects of small molecule drug discovery of cancer therapeutics in the mechanistic areas of signal transduction, cell cycle regulation, angiogenesis and apoptosis. During his tenure, the Cancer Biology group delivered numerous molecules to the Development organization. He also started and led the Biomarker group, which contributed to the development of sorafenib. Dr. Taylor earned his B.A. from Bowdoin College and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Harvard University. He also completed his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Harold Varmus at the University of California, San Francisco and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).Show noteshttps://www.arvinas.comArvinas treatment pipeline: https://www.arvinas.com/pipeline-programs/pipelineBe a guest on the show: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeEU7Owi8VDv30hzmWbj4JsXPKyfsWvKXHMeghEAyirAbR18A/viewformMusic by keldez
"Science is harmed when scientists don't take into account the bias that comes along with inherently being a human." -Kafui DzirasaAs a result of centuries of discrimination, and lack of access to education and opportunity, African Americans comprise only 5% of active physicians in the United States today. Former-Surgeon General David Satcher, who was also the first African American to lead the CDC, has been working to improve health equity in the United States since his days as a medical student in the 1960s. In this bonus episode of AMERICAN DIAGNOSIS, we’re going to hear about efforts to improve health equity in America from leaders like Dr. Satcher, former-NIH director Harold Varmus, and Kafui Dzirasa. We’ll see how they are seizing this critical moment for racial justice to improve health outcomes and professional opportunities for people of color in the sciences.This podcast was created by Just Human Productions. We're powered and distributed by Simplecast. We're supported, in part, by listeners like you.
Dr. Harold Varmus talks to Dan Rather about his journey from literature major to scientist, and from the discovery of oncogenes to creating PLoS. Varmus reflects on his time as a researcher, as Director of the NIH, and on the importance of open communication in science. He ends by emphasizing why good science communication is important to engage more people in conversations about science.
Dr. Harold Varmus talks to Dan Rather about his journey from literature major to scientist, and from the discovery of oncogenes to creating PLoS. Varmus reflects on his time as a researcher, as Director of the NIH, and on the importance of open communication in science. He ends by emphasizing why good science communication is important to engage more people in conversations about science.
Dr. J. Michael Bishop tells us the story of his Nobel Prize-winning discovery of cellular proto-oncogenes. Bishop was studying how the Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) causes cancer in chickens by expressing the viral protein called Src. Together with Dr. Harold Varmus, Bishop discovered that the chicken genome normally expresses a homolog of the viral Src protein that they called cellular-Src (c-Src). This finding led them to the remarkable conclusion that RSV had incorporated a mutated oncogene version of the normal chicken c-Src protein, and, provided the first evidence that mutations in our own genes can be linked to cancer development.
Dr. J. Michael Bishop tells us the story of his Nobel Prize-winning discovery of cellular proto-oncogenes. Bishop was studying how the Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) causes cancer in chickens by expressing the viral protein called Src. Together with Dr. Harold Varmus, Bishop discovered that the chicken genome normally expresses a homolog of the viral Src protein that they called cellular-Src (c-Src). This finding led them to the remarkable conclusion that RSV had incorporated a mutated oncogene version of the normal chicken c-Src protein, and, provided the first evidence that mutations in our own genes can be linked to cancer development.
The former Director of the National Institutes of Health joins the show to give his perspective on how the sports world is handling COVID-19.
Jeremy talks with Nobel Prize-winning scientist and former NIH Director, Harold Varmus. Plus, a conversation with MLB HOF'er and 18-time All Star, Rod Carew.
Today we have a presentation from our health and medicine segment our panel, Immunotherapy: New Hope for Cancer.There has been an explosion in our knowledge about cancer. Our understanding of genetic mutations has illuminated how cancer is born, grows and metastasizes. Therapies that target cancer mutations and components of the immune system have changed how we treat and even prevent cancer. Recently, the convergence of cancer genetics and the immune system has brought about even more promising results that have had a profound impact on cancer patients’ lives. This panel features Stefanie Joho, Oncology Researcher, patient advocate, and consultant, alongside Luis Diaz, the head of the division of solid tumor oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Harold Varmus, Nobel Laureate and Former Director of the National Cancer Institute.Find more information at: https://kentpresents.orgVideos of the presentations and discussions can be found at our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJSTb4J7gZpeqNXfe9IpRpw
Today we’re continuing our environmentalism segment with our discussion, The (Felicitous) Future of Conservation.For the first time ever in the Anthropocene, there is a possible renaissance of nature. A hundred years from now, the Earth could be inhabited by fewer people, with little extreme poverty and most living in towns and cities. These trends require a historical perspective that is difficult to adopt if one is focused on immediate threats and captivated by apocalyptic futures. But there is hope. As in London during the Blitz, vigilance and exertion are required, but we need not panic or despair because the weight of history is on our side.This panel features Joe Walston, Vice President for Global Conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society in conversation with Harold Varmus, Nobel Laureate and Former Director of the National Cancer Institute.Find more information at: https://kentpresents.orgVideos of the presentations and discussions can be found at our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJSTb4J7gZpeqNXfe9IpRpw
In April 1988 Harvard University was awarded a patent that was the first of its kind. U.S. Patent Number 4,736,866 was small, white, and furry, with red beady eyes. His name was OncoMouse. The mouse, genetically engineered to have a predisposition for cancer, allowed researchers to study the disease in an intact living organism. It promised to transform cancer research, but not everyone was happy. Most critics were wary of patenting life forms at all. But academic scientists were also worried about the collision of commercial and academic science. It forced them to face difficult questions: Who should pay for science? Who does scientific knowledge belong to? And should science be for the good of the public or for profit? Credits Hosts: Alexis Pedrick and Elisabeth Berry Drago. Senior Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Reporter: Jessie Wright-Mendoza Photo illustration by Jay Muhlin. Additional audio production by Dan Drago. Music Additional music courtesy of the Audio Network. Research Notes Interviews: Elizabeth Popp Berman, Associate Professor of Sociology, SUNY Albany, and author of Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine. David Einhorn, House Counsel, Jackson Laboratory. Harold Varmus, Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine. Ken Paigen, Executive Research Fellow and Professor, Jackson Laboratory. Sources: Adler, Jerry. “The First Patented Animal Is Still Leading the Way on Cancer Research.” Smithsonian Magazine, December 2016. Chakrabarty, Ananda. Microorganisms having multiple compatible degradative energy-generating plasmids and preparation thereof. U.S. Patent 4259444A, filed June 7, 1981, and issued March 31, 1981. Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303 (1980). “Fortune Names Its ’88 Products of the Year.” Associated Press, November 17, 1988. Hanahan, Douglas, Erwin Wagner, and Richard Palmiter. “The Origins of Oncomice: A History of the First Transgenic Mice Genetically Engineered to Develop Cancer.” Genes and Development 21 (2007), 2258–2270. Leder, Philip, and Timothy Stewart. Transgenic non-human mammals. U.S. Patent 4736866A, filed June 22, 1984, and issued April 12, 1988. Leonelli, Sabina, and Rachel Ankeny. “Re-Thinking Organisms: The Impact of Databases on Model Organism Biology.” Working paper, University of Exeter, April 5, 2011. Published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C 43:1 (2012), 29–36. Morse, Herbert C. III, ed. Origins of Inbred Mice. New York: Academic Press, 1978. Google Books. Murray, Fiona. “The Oncomouse That Roared: Resistance and Accommodation to Patenting in Academic Science.” Working paper, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. Published in American Journal of Sociology 116:2 (2010), 341–388. National Association for Biomedical Research. “Mice and Rats.” Mice and Rats. Washington, DC, 2018. nabr.org. National Museum of American History. “OncoMouse.” Washington, DC, 2018. americanhistory.si.edu. Palmer, Brian. “Jonas Salk: Good at Virology, Bad at Economics.” Slate, April 13, 2014. Rader, Karen. “The Mouse People: Murine Genetics Work at the Bussey Institution, 1909–1936.” Journal of the History of Biology 31:3 (Autumn 1998), 327–354. Russell, Elizabeth. “Origins and History of Mouse Inbred Strains: Contributions of Clarence Cook Little.” Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine. informatics.jax.org. Schneider, Keith. “New Animal Forms Will Be Patented.” New York Times, April 17, 1987. Specter, Michael. “Can We Patent Life?” New Yorker, April 1, 2013. Archival Sources: Achbar, Mark, and Jennifer Abbott, dir. The Corporation. Canada: Big Picture Media Corporation, 2003. Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. “Lasker Archives: Passion and Optimism in Scientific Research.” April 9, 2017, laskerfoundation.org. On the 1987 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. Murrow, Edward. See It Now (Jonas Salk). CBS, April 12, 1955. paleycenter.org Potter, Deborah, and Dan Rather. “Animal Patents.” CBS Evening News, April 12, 1988. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. “Candidacy for Presidency: Ronald Reagan’s Announcement for President of U.S.” November 13, 1979. youtube.com.
The Science Soapbox team always values an opportunity to talk with someone who brings multiple perspectives on science policy. So we were obviously thrilled to lend our soapbox to Dr. Harold Varmus, Nobel laureate and previous head of the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. He currently runs a lab at Weill Cornell Medical College working on the molecular mechanisms behind the spreading of cancer. In this episode, Dr. Varmus shares his insights into setting priorities for a national agency, the purpose of Ph.D. training, and science funding reform. For show notes, visit sciencesoapbox.org/podcast and subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher. Twitter: twitter.com/science_soapbox Facebook: facebook.com/sciencesoapbox
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler Guest: Harold Varmus The TWiV team is together in New York City for a conversation with Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus about his remarkable career in science. Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Varmus Laboratory Varmus and Kandel on Charlie Rose (transcript) Rescuing biomedical research Letters read on TWiV 400 Video of this episode at YouTube This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream. Get two months free when you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. This episode was made possible by PLoS Pathogens - the leading Open Access journal to publish breakthroughs in understanding pathogens and their interactions with host organisms and each other. PLOS Pathogens fosters the open exchange of ideas across fields, publishing original research on viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and prions. For more information, check out www.plospathogens.org Weekly Science Picks Alan - A year on EarthRich - TWiV #1: West Nile Virus Dickson - Chasing storms, chasing beautyKathy - Bioartography and FASEB image and video competitionVincent - The Art and Politics of Science by Harold Varmus (free download) Listener Picks Trudy - Scientific Studies on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv
Harold Varmus, MD, former director of the National Cancer Institute, talks about his career and his ideas for improving the biomedical research enterprise.
Harold Varmus, MD, former director of the National Cancer Institute, talks about his career and his ideas for improving the biomedical research enterprise.
Dr. Harold Varmus discusses the study of genomics in cancer treatment with Brian Lehrer and The New York Times "Living With Cancer" columnist Susan Gubar fields calls on how to talk to people with cancer.
Guest In this episode we welcome Nobel Prize winning scientist, Dr. Harold Varmus. We talk with Dr. Varmus about a range of topics in the realm of biomedical research as a career and the state…
Multiple Sclerosis Discovery: The Podcast of the MS Discovery Forum
[intro music] Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Fourteen of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller. This week’s podcast features part two of an interview with Professor Gavin Giovannoni about the role of Epstein-Barr virus in MS. But to begin, here is a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org. We've published a blog post from Christine Granfield, the founder of HealthCare Journey. Healthcarejourney.org is a website designed to help MS patients easily navigate the expanse of information about MS. In the blog post, Ms. Granfield says that HealthCare Journey is not meant to replace the doctor-patient relationship but instead provide a place where patients can find answers to questions with accurate, up-to-date information when their physician might not be available. We published another blog post written by our intern, Cynthia McKelvey, on how to interact with the news media. News about science is often sensationalized and over simplified. But that’s all the more reason for researchers and clinicians to be media-friendly. In her post, Cynthia offers 13 tips on how to talk to reporters so you can be sure the best and most accurate information gets to the public. Last week we interviewed Dr. Alan Thompson of the International Progressive MS Alliance about the difficulties of researching progressive MS. We published more information on the Alliance, its goals, and a full list of the 22 recipients for their first round of funding, totaling 22 million euros. To view the article, visit msdiscovery.org and visit our News Briefs section under the News and Future Directions tab. [transition music] Now to the interview. Professor Gavin Giovannoni from Queen Mary University in London is one of the worlds most prolific and most visible MS researchers and clinicians. He's also on the scientific advisory board for MSDF. Two weeks ago we featured the first part of my interview with him about the potential for a cure in MS. This week we’re going to discuss the roll of EBV in MS. Interviewer – Dan Keller Professor Giovannoni, where does it come in? How has it entered the thinking? Interviewee – Gavin Giovannoni We have a causal theory. We don't just switch on a light switch, and we've got a call that said it evolves over time. And if there's one particular thing that looks like it's got the top candidate for being a cause of MS is Epstein-Barr virus. And I think the original observation is epidemiological. People with infectious mononucleosis, which is delayed EBV infection that is symptomatic, have a higher risk of developing MS, and that's been reproduced now across many, many studies as a risk factor. But EBV infection in itself is a risk factor because if you're not infected with the virus, in other words people who don't have the virus, have a very, very low risk…it's almost a zero risk of getting the disease. So in terms of its negative predictive value – that's the strongest value we have – people don't get MS if they don't have EBV. So it looks like it’s an essential component of the causal pathway. How it's acting in the causal pathway? We don't have any idea. We just do know that if you do get EBV infection or infectious mono it's a risk factor throughout life. So in the Danish study, it shows the risk remains even when you go into your 40s, 50s, and 60s, which is interesting. And EBV is a complex biology. We don't know where it's acting. We know it resides as a latent infection in the B cell. And what it's doing to B-cell biology is incredibly complicated. It hijacks B-cell biology, and it affects its antigen-presenting function, it affects its survival, etc. So people are targeting the B cell; I think the B cell is important. And the reason why I think the B cell is important when you look at all the most effective therapies in MS, when you put them on a chart with all the cells they affect, the only common cell to all of them is the B cell. And the link that the B cell may be the Epstein-Barr virus. And how EBV triggers autoimmunity haven't a clue. We originally thought well maybe the link between infectious mono and MS was related to HLA susceptibility. But we did a study on university students in the UK, and we showed that the HLA type that predisposes you to infectious mono is not the HLA type that predisposes you to MS. So we don't think it's at the HLA level that EBV is interacting with MS susceptibility; it's somewhere else. The other risk factors are smoking. And when you start putting smoking and EBV and low vitamin D, which is the other environmental factor, together it looks like there's some interaction of all three components. But how they're working at a biological level that's where research needs to be done. So some people are … I think there's mimicry between EBV and myelin proteins, and there is some data that there are some antigenic epitopes in the EBV proteins and [?] antigens, which is why a lot of people are focused on CD4 cells as being the link. I'm not sure if it is the CD4. Others are focused on the CD8 cells as being the link. Michael Pender in Brisbane, Australia, thinks that Epstein-Barr virus is acting as the innate stimulus, the danger signal, that just upregulates innate immunity that then allows autoimmune responses to occur on top of that. And he thinks that's occurring in the central nervous system. That's his theory. And he thinks that people with multiple sclerosis have a deficiency of cytotoxic CD8 cells that keep the EBV virus in check. So he's now testing the strategy of trying to boost the CD8 response against EBV and kill the Epstein-Barr virus to lower the innate activation and reduce autoimmunity. That's his theory. I wish I could tell him my theory. All I know is that the epidemiological observations are pretty standing. And you know, we probably should be doing a vaccine trial to test the hypothesis. There is a vaccine for EBV, but it's been discontinued. So GSK developed the vaccine. It wasn't that effective in stopping EBV infection, but it was very effective in preventing infectious mono. So what it did was it raised your immunity to a level that stopped you getting infectious mono, and that may be enough for MS prevention. You know, when they sold the EBV vaccine program to MedImmune, and I heard about six months ago that maybe they had stopped the program. There is no EBV vaccine program occurring in the pharmaceutical arena. There's been a recent meeting in Oxford around Epstein's anniversary because it's 50 years since he discovered the virus. And the, Harold Varmus was there, and there's a big push now for the NIH to fund a vaccine study – interesting not to prevent MS but to prevent the secondary malignancies linked to EBV. Because EBV is linked to a whole lot of hematological malignancies. So the idea there would be if you could prevent people getting Epstein-Barr you prevent a whole lot of lymphomas particularly. I'm personally a little worried about that strategy because EBV is one of our most co-evolved viruses. At a population level, it's part of our immune systems. So I actually think at a population level EBV must be doing something good for society and the population. I think it may be a link to B-cell memory or something like that. So if we stop people getting EBV, we may be storing our problems at a population level. But until we do the trials we won't know. So we need a vaccine, and that's the way to test is EBV causal? Coming away from it, it may just be the trigger, or it may be driving the disease continuous. If that's the case, then we need to have anti-EBV drugs. And there is one being tried right now; it's called ocrelizumab. It's an anti-CD20 drug. Itself hasn't been tested as an anti-EBV drug, its predecessor, which is rituximab, is licensed as an anti-EBV. It's actually the only drug that's licensed to treat EBV. It's licensed to treat EBV associated lymphoproliferative disease, which occurs in transplant patients. It's pretty effective at switching off on that condition, and the EBV levels just plummet. A company that's developing ocrelizumab, which is Genentech Roche, wouldn’t like for me to say that it's an anti-EBV drug, but that's exactly how it may be working in MS; it may be targeting EBV. The obvious thing is to test antivirals that target EBV. There are no specific ones that have been designed for EBV, but we've got a particular drug that we would love to test against EBV because it has some activity. Trying to get the funders convinced that we should do a trial of an anti-EBV drug in MS has been difficult. I think we shouldn't ignore the EBV hypothesis, though, because the data out there is pretty compelling that it's causal. And as a community, I think we have a responsibility to test whether or not it is causal. And the only way we can do that is intervention studies – vaccines and targeting the virus with antibiotics. MSDF It seems the geographic distribution of MS may actually be opposite say the distribution of Burkitt’s lymphoma. And what is EBV doing and how does it do it in different regions? And I wonder if that brings in the vitamin D hypothesis again. Dr. Giovannoni MS prevalence pretty much matches infectious mono prevalence. So infectious mono has also got a gradient. The Burkitt's lymphoma thing probably that follows patterns of parasitic infection, particularly in malaria. So I think EBV probably interacts with other infectious agents, and that's one of the theories about EBV; it's not working on its own; it's working as a coinfection with another virus. The other virus that we need to talk about are the family of the HERVs, human endogenous retroviruses. Because the EBV is a potent transactivator of these viruses. In the big body of literature on HERVs being involved in MS, a lot of us think it's associative. In other words, inflammatory response triggers transactivation of HERVs in what we see as an epiphenomenon. But there are people who think it may be linked to the cause of the disease. Again the only way we can test this hypothesis is by treating people with drugs that target EBV and HERVs. Because HERVs are drugable; they are retroviruses, and you've got a whole arsenal of therapy that could target the various components of HERV biology. We should be doing trials in that as well. Coming back to the vitamin D, there has been one small study that needs to be reproduced showing that if you do get EBV infection when your vitamin D levels are low your antibody responses are much more marked. And so there may be some link between low vitamin D and infection, but nobody has actually studied that formally, and I think it's something we tried to do with our epidemiological tools to see vitamin D deficiency or low levels makes it more likely that you're going to get infectious mono, that maybe they are interacting with each other. I don't think it's going to be as simple as that, though, to be honest with you. I think they're probably going to be working in an immunological level. I'm not sure if they're going to be causal; I think they may be associated with each other. EBV triggers a mess of lymphoid proliferation, which consumes vitamin D levels. So if you find someone with infectious mono and they have low D levels, it could be the infectious mono is reverse causation rather than the other way of causation. So we need to do that prospectively, and it's a difficult study to do. But I think also the other thing you've got to look at is when they're starting to put all of these risk factors together in studies, and this has been mainly been done in the Scandinavian databases – and you start putting the HLA-DR15 in, the protective HLA-A2 in, the history of infectious mono, serum levels of anti-EBV antibodies, put smoking in, start putting vitamin D levels in – you're beginning to see relative up about 40. So that's a big signal to me because the doyen of causation theory, Bradford Hill, said that when you start getting relative risks above 40 that you should be thinking causation. So I'm beginning to see a causal pathway where all of these factors now are giving relative risks that are very high compared to the background population. And so, those factors must all be in the causal pathway. And the question is which one can you intervene in? And there's a few you can intervene in. But EBV is the obvious one. If you take it out of the causal pathway, you may be able to prevent this disease. So I'm lobbying – and whole lot of us are lobbying – that we really need to get the public health community and the MS community and the virology community together so we can start thinking about prevention trials. Around about 5 to 10% of the adult population are EBV negative. But that group of people don't get MS. So that's the important factor is those people don’t get MS. MSDF But the flip side is 90% of the population has been exposed to EBV, and most of those people don't get MS. So do you think it's all of these other cofactors you've mentioned? Whereas EBV sort of lights the fire if the fuel is there? Dr. Giovannoni Yes, I think that's true. And Bradford Hill, I mean he developed his theory for causation around common manifestations or re-exposures. Like asbestosis is one of the examples he always used that if you had asbestosis, which is quite of a rare exposure, the chances of getting mesothelioma, which is a rare cancer, was almost 200 times background. So that's easy to understand. But EBV is such a common exposure, and MS is a relatively rare manifestation. So in that situation, the relative risks come down. So even though the relative risk of getting MS is only about 2.2 to 2.5 with infectious mono, it doesn't mean to say it's not causal. It could still be causal. So I'm not worried that the relative risks are low. But I agree with if it's EBV infection on top of something else the genetic susceptibility, the low vitamin D, or all those other factors that then triggers the autoimmune response. But if EBV is a pivotal factor and you stop it, those other factors are irrelevant. That's why we need to do prevention studies. We need the vaccine, though. The original vaccine strategy was developed to prevent EBV completely; that's in terms of oncoprevention. But in terms of MS and autoimmunity, you may not have to prevent Epstein-Barr virus. Maybe what you need is to make sure you're vitamin D replete and get wild-type infection when you're very young. That may be sufficient to lower the risk of MS. You may not necessarily need a lifelong protective immunity against Epstein-Barr, but maybe you just need to be infected at a young age when your immune system can deal with it. It doesn't fertilize the field for autoimmunity later on in life; that may be the strategy. MSDF Does it get into the possibility of tolerance? Dr. Giovannoni Yes. MSDF To EBV? Dr. Giovannoni If we knew about the biology of EBV, I mean I'm not a virologist. And when I delve into the complex biology of Epstein-Barr virus, how it's fooling the B cell into surviving longer and bypasses B-cell signaling pathways, it's a credibly cleaver virus. And there's a lot of biology there that needs to be picked apart in the MS field. So there may be pathways in the EBV biological pathway that could be targeted rather than just targeting the virus itself. So I think there's lots of research to be done. This is why we, as an MS community, really need to bring virologists into the community as much as possible. And at the moment, that doesn't seem to be happening a lot. There's very few virologists interested in MS. You can count them on one hand to be honest with you that are really interested in MS. Most virologists are working on other diseases. And when you go to them, it's hard to get them interested in MS because MS is something on the periphery of their thought. They're usually targeting obviously infectious diseases. But most of the EBV virologists are working in oncology, lymphomas. MSDF Very good. Thank you. [transition music] MSDF Thank you for listening to Episode Fourteen of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery. This podcast was produced by the MS Discovery Forum, MSDF, the premier source of independent news and information on MS research. MSDF’s executive editor is Robert Finn. Msdiscovery.org is part of the non-profit Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Robert McBurney is our President and CEO, and Hollie Schmidt is vice president of scientific operations. Msdiscovery.org aims to focus attention on what is known and not yet known about the causes of MS and related conditions, their pathological mechanisms, and potential ways to intervene. By communicating this information in a way that builds bridges among different disciplines, we hope to open new routes toward significant clinical advances. We’re interested in your opinions. Please join the discussion on one of our online forums or send comments, criticisms, and suggestions to editor@msdiscovery.org. [outro music]
SPARC OPEN ACCESS WEEK PROMO #2
Runtime 04:19 Harold Varmus, co-recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, has served as the President of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center since January 2000. Watch Dr. Varmus introduce the seminar’s senior investigators. read more
Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, President and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the public’s right to access the results of publicly funded scientific research. Dr. Varmus’s lecture is the Arthur Allen Leff Fellowship Lecture at Yale Law School for the 2006-2007 academic year. (March 26, 2007)
Dr. Harold Varmus discusses his new book, The Art and Politics of Science, as well as the National Institutes of Health, stem cell research, and how he hopes to shape scientific policy in the Obama administration. (April 13, 2009)
Vincent, Dick, and Alan review a new macaque model for HIV-1 infection, a possible role for Epstein-Barr virus in multiple sclerosis, accidental release of H5N1 by a vaccine company, resistance of frogs to virus infection, and extreme virology - the biggest and smallest viruses and viral genomes. Links for this episode: Harold Varmus on The Daily Show Macaque model for HIV-1 infection (photo of pig-tailed macaque) Possible role of Epstein-Barr virus in multiple sclerosis Accidental distribution of H5N1 influenza virus by pharmaceutical company Major histocompatibility class I marker and frog resistance to viral infection Smallest virion and DNA genome: Circovirus Largest virion and DNA genome: Mimivirus Biggest RNA genome: (we forgot to mention on the show!) Coronavirus SW1 List of viral genome lengths at NCBI Sputnik virophage Papers for Macintosh and iPhone Science blog of the week: H5N1 by Croft Science podcast pick of the week: MicrobeWorld video Science book of the week: Autism’s False Prophets by Paul A. Offit, MD (podcast with Dr. Ginger Campbell)
Runtime 02:57 Harold Varmus, co-recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, has served as the President of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center since January 2000. Watch Dr. Varmus introduce the seminar’s senior investigators. read more
Runtime 20:43 Students ask our scientists questions about research at Memorial Sloan Kettering and current cancer topics. read more
In this episode, Nobel Prize winner Harold Varmus talks about the challenges facing the U.S. in science and technology competitiveness and some possible plans of action, related to the Brookings Institution's Hamilton Project. And the American Museum of Natural History's Jin Meng discusses a major new fossil find, a flying mammal some 130 million years old. Plus we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Websites mentioned on this episode include www.sciam.com/podcast; www.sciam.com/news; www.sciamdigital.com; www.hamiltonproject.org; www.amnh.org/science; www.nature.com.
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