Podcasts about Medical Research Council

What if a digital tool could help bridge the gap between hearing loss and informed action?In this session from the 2025 Future of Hearing Healthcare Conference, Dr. Mel Ferguson of Curtin University introduces the Hear Choice project—a co-designed, evidence-based decision aid developed to empower adults with hearing loss. Backed by Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council, Hear Choice is designed to address long-standing barriers in the hearing care pathway, from lack of knowledge and stigma to limited care options.Dr. Ferguson outlines how the tool was developed through stakeholder engagement, usability testing, and ongoing clinical evaluation. Early feedback from users and clinicians suggests that Hear Choice not only improves understanding but may also prompt meaningful behavior change. Watch now to learn how this scalable, brand-agnostic resource could support better-informed decisions and earlier intervention in hearing healthcare.Be sure to subscribe to our channel for the latest episodes each week and follow This Week in Hearing on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).- https://twitter.com/WeekinHearing- https://www.linkedin.com/company/this-week-in-hearing- https://hearinghealthmatters.org/thisweek/

Solvonis Therapeutics PLC CEO Anthony Tennyson talked with Proactive's Stephen Gunnion about the company's £2 million raise and its strategic plan to acquire Awakn Life Sciences. This acquisition will enable Solvonis to create a UK-based, LSE-listed biotech focused on developing treatments for addiction and mental health disorders, which Tennyson identified as among the largest unmet medical needs. Post-acquisition, the company will prioritise severe alcohol use disorder (AUD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Tennyson highlighted the commercial potential of tackling AUD, noting the current poor standard of care and limited innovation over the past two decades. “75% of people typically relapse within 12 months post treatment,” he said. The lead program, referred to as AWKN-001, is currently in phase three trials. According to Tennyson, previous phase two results showed participants increasing sobriety from just 2% of the time to 86% in the six months post-treatment. The UK Department of Health, recognising the promise of the therapy, is co-funding the phase three trial through the Medical Research Council, with trials being run within the NHS. The raise also received support from Awakn and Solvonis shareholders and board members, which Tennyson described as a strong validation of the company's direction. For more updates from Proactive, like this video, subscribe to our channel and turn on notifications. #SolvonisTherapeutics #AnthonyTennyson #AlcoholAddictionTreatment #MentalHealthInnovation #BiotechInvestment #AwaknLifeSciences #AUDTreatment #NHSResearch #ClinicalTrials #AddictionRecovery #UKBiotech

Sleep is not just a luxury—it's a foundational pillar of health that influences nearly every aspect of our well-being. Sleep deprivation doesn't just cause fatigue; it disrupts hormones, drives inflammation, damages metabolism, and accelerates aging. From the gut microbiome to stress hormones like cortisol, sleep is deeply intertwined with brain, immune, and metabolic health. Yet our modern world—filled with late-night screens, ultra-processed foods, and chronic stress—works against quality rest.  In this episode, I discuss, along with Dr. Matt Walker and Shawn Stevenson, why we need to address sleep as a core health priority to unlock healing, prevention of chronic disease, and renewed vitality. Matthew Walker earned his PhD in neuroscience from the Medical Research Council in the UK, and subsequently became a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is currently a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. Matt's research focuses on the effect of sleep on human health and disease, brain, and body. He has published more than 100 scientific research studies and has received numerous funding awards from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Matt has given a main-stage TED Talk that has been viewed over 13 million times, has also created several TED Miniseries on sleep, a MasterClass series on sleep, and is author of the New York Times bestseller, Why We Sleep. Matt is also the host of the 5-star-rated, The Matt Walker Podcast. Shawn Stevenson is the author of the USA Today National bestseller Eat Smarter, and the international bestselling book Sleep Smarter. He's also the creator of The Model Health Show, featured as the number #1 health podcast in the U.S. with millions of listener downloads each month. A graduate of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Shawn studied business, biology, and nutritional science and became the cofounder of Advanced Integrative Health Alliance. Shawn has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, The New York Times, Muscle & Fitness, ABC News, ESPN, and many other major media outlets. This episode is brought to you by BIOptimizers. Head to bioptimizers.com/hyman and use code HYMAN10 to save 10%. Full-length episodes can be found here: How to Optimize Your Sleep with Dr. Matthew Walker How To Stay Asleep And Sleep More Deeply Hack Your Sleep

Rare condition research is evolving, and patient communities are driving the breakthrough. In this special Rare Disease Day episode, we explore the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of rare condition therapies. From groundbreaking gene therapy trials to the power of patient-driven research, our guests discuss how collaboration between families, clinicians, researchers, and regulators is paving the way for faster diagnoses, equitable access to treatments, and innovative approaches like nucleic acid therapies and CRISPR gene editing. With insights from Myotubular Trust, we follow the journey of family-led patient communities and their impact on advancing gene therapy for myotubular myopathy - showcasing how lived experience is shaping the future of medicine. However, while patient-driven initiatives have led to incredible progress, not every family has the time, resources, or networks to lead these research efforts. Our guests discuss initiatives like the UK Platform for Nucleic Acid Therapies (UPNAT), which aims to streamline the development of innovative treatments and ensure equitable access for everyone impacted by rare conditions. Our host Dr Ana Lisa Tavares, Clinical lead for rare disease at Genomics England, is joined by Meriel McEntagart, Clinical lead for rare disease technologies at Genomics England, Anne Lennox, Founder and CEO of Myotubular Trust and Dr Carlo Rinaldi, Professor of Molecular and Translational Neuroscience at University of Oxford. "My dream is in 5 to 10 years time, an individual with a rare disease is identified in the clinic, perhaps even before symptoms have manifested. And at that exact time, the day of the diagnosis becomes also a day of hope, in a way, where immediately the researcher that sent the genetics lab flags that specific variant or specific mutations. We know exactly which is the best genetic therapy to go after." You can download the transcript, or read it below. Ana Lisa: Welcome to Behind the Genes.    [Music plays]  Anne: What we've understood is that the knowledge and experience of families and patients is even more vital than we've all been going on about for a long time. Because the issue of there being a liver complication in myotubular myopathy has been hiding in plain sight all this time, because if you asked any family, they would tell you, “Yes, my son has had the odd liver result.”  There were some very serious liver complications but everybody thought that was a minor issue, but if we are able to engage the people who live with the disease and the people who observe the disease at a much more fundamental level we may be able to see more about what these rare genes are doing.  [Music plays]  Ana Lisa: My name is Ana Lisa Tavares, I'm Clinical Lead for Rare Disease research at Genomics England and your host for this episode of Behind the Genes. Today I'm joined by Anne Lennox, Founder and CEO of the Myotubular Trust, Dr Meriel McEntagart, an NHS consultant and Clinical Lead for Rare Disease Technologies at Genomics England, and Dr Carlo Rinaldi, Professor of Molecular and Translational Neuroscience at the University of Oxford.    Today we'll be hearing about the importance of involving the patient community, particularly as new rare therapies are developed, and discussing the forward-facing work that's happening that could have potential to unlock novel treatments for many rare conditions.  If you enjoy today's episode we'd love your support. Please like, share and rate us on wherever you listen to your podcasts. Thank you so much for joining me today.  Please could you introduce yourselves.   Anne: I'm Anne Lennox, I'm one of the founders of the Myotubular Trust, a charity that raises research funds for and supports families affected by the rare genetic neuromuscular disorder myotubular myopathy.  Meriel: I'm Meriel McEntagart, I'm a consultant in clinical genetics in the NHS and I have a special interest in neurogenic and neuromuscular conditions.  Carlo: Hi, I'm Carlo Rinaldi, I'm Professor of Molecular and Translational Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. I'm a clinician scientist juggling my time between the clinic and the lab where we try to understand mechanisms of diseases to develop treatments for these conditions.  And I'm also here as a representative of the UK Platform for Nucleic Acid Therapies, UPNAT. Thanks for your invitation, I'm very pleased to be here.  Ana Lisa: Thank you. Meriel, I'd love you to tell us a bit about your work and how you met Anne, how did this story start?  Meriel: Thank you. Well prior to being a consultant in clinical genetics, I spent 2 years as a clinical research fellow in neuromuscular conditions, and as part of that training I worked on a project where the gene for myotubular myopathy had just been identified, and so there was a big international effort to try and come up with sort of a registry of all the genetic variants that had been found as well as all the clinical symptoms that the affected patients had, and then do kind of a correlation of the particular variant mutation with symptoms.   I worked when I was training to be a clinical geneticist because of my interest in neuromuscular conditions so when I eventually became a consultant at St George's Hospital I was actually interviewed by the Professor of Paediatrics and he knew Anne and her son, when Anne was looking for more information about the condition he suggested that perhaps I might be a good person for Anne to talk to.  Ana Lisa: Thank you. Interesting connections. Anne, can you tell us your story and how this led you to found the Myotubular Trust?  Anne: Yes, thanks Ana-Lisa.  Well, as many families will tell you when they're newly diagnosed with a rare disease, you go from knowing nothing about a condition to being one of the few deep experts in that condition because there are so few deep experts. So this happened to us in 2003 when our son, Tom, was born, and when he was born he was floppy and his Apgar scores, the scores they do on new-born babies, were pretty poor, and before long we knew that it was more than just momentary issues at birth.  And, cutting a very long story short, 5 weeks later he was diagnosed with this very rare neuromuscular genetic disorder that we didn't know we had in the family.  We were told that this was a very serious diagnosis.    At that time – more than 20 years ago – over 80% of those boys didn't make it to their first birthday and the stark statistic we had in our head a lot was that only 1% made it past the age of 10. And that has changed due to better ventilator and breathing equipment, etc, but at the time we expected that he might not make it to his first birthday.    We were very lucky, we had Tom longer than one year, we had him for nearly 4 years, 4 very lovely years where it was tough, but he was a really lovely member of our family.  Despite being really weak he managed to be incredibly cheeky and bossy, and he was a great little brother for his big sister. We were also very lucky that he was being looked after by Professor Francesco Muntoni, who is Head of the Paediatric Neuromuscular Service at Great Ormond Street. And, like Carlo, he is a clinical researcher and actually that I found to be amazing as a family member because you knew what was happening out there and Professor Muntoni, other than living with the reality day to day you want to know where things are going.    We began to realise that back then 20 years ago the more common rare neuromuscular diseases were finally beginning to get some fundamental research funds, like Duchenne, spinal muscular atrophy, and Professor Muntoni was very good at explaining to lay non-scientific parents like us that one day the technologies that would lead to a cure, that would re-engage proteins for other conditions and would translate down eventually into the possibility of replacing myotubularin, which is the protein not being produced or not being produced enough in myotubular myopathy. And then we began to understand actually what the barriers to that would be, that translating developments in more common, or let's say more prevalent conditions, would be hard to do without some translation research being done; you could not just not lag years behind, you could lag decades behind if you haven't done some other work.    So, I met Wendy Hughes, another mother, of a boy called Zak who was a few years older than Tom, and these were the days before social media, and it was amazing to be in contact with another family going through something similar and we had great conversations. But then they were also looked after by Professor Muntoni and we particularly began to develop the idea as 2 families that we might be able to raise some research funds towards this concept of keeping pace with the scientific developments.  And then we discovered there was no charity we could channel those funds through. Even the umbrella body for neuromuscular diseases who were covering 30 to 40 conditions, frankly, they just couldn't trickle their funding down into investing in every neuromuscular disease, and slowly but surely it dawned on us that if we did want to make that difference we were going to have to set up our own charity.   So that's what we eventually did and back in 2006, we founded what was actually the first charity in Europe dedicated to myotubular myopathy – luckily, more have come along since – and we were dedicated to raising research funding. In fact, it wasn't our goal to set up another charity but around that time, about a year in, we happened to go to a meeting where the Head of the MRC, the Medical Research Council, was giving a talk and he said that in the last few years the MRC had begun to really realise that they couldn't cure everything, that they couldn't cure the diseases that would be cured in the next millennium from a top down perspective. There had to be a trick, there had to be a bottom up as well, because that was the only way this was going to happen. And I have to say that that was a really reassuring moment in time for us to realise that we weren't just chasing pipe dreams and trying to do something impossible, that there was a role for us.    Ana Lisa: I think it would be really interesting for people to hear your story and the amazing set-up and fundraising that you've done, and at the same time it would be really good for us to reflect on how this isn't feasible for every patient and every family and how we're going to need to work cooperatively to move forwards with rare therapies.  Anne: When we explored the idea with Professor Muntoni and Meriel and others about setting up a charity one of the really reassuring things that Professor Muntoni got across to us was that this wasn't about raising the millions and millions it would take to fund clinical trials but the issue in the rare disease space was funding the proof of principle work, the work where you take a scientist's hypothesis and take it over the line, and the rarer the disease, the less places there are for a scientist to take those ideas. And the example he gave us was a piece of research like that might cost a hundred to a couple of hundred thousand, if you fund a piece of work like that and if it is successful, if the scientist's principle gets proven, then behind you it's much easier for the bigger muscle disease charities to also invest in it. It's harder for them to spread their money across all the very rare diseases hypothesis out there, but if you've helped a scientist get over the line they'll come in behind you and then they won't be the ones who fund the tens of millions that it takes to run a clinical trial.    If it's got potential, then that's where the commercial world comes in, and that's where the biotechs come in. So he'd given the example of if you spent £ten0,000 on a piece of research and it actually is proven, in behind you will come the bigger charities that would put in the million that takes it to the next phase, and in behind them will come the bio-checks that'll provide biotechs that'll provide the tens of millions.    And then, you know, a lot of what happens relies on serendipity as well, we know that, and you could easily run away with the idea that you made everything happen but you don't, you stand on the shoulders of others. And our very first grant application in our first grant round, which received extraordinary peer review for how excellent the application was, was a £100,000 project for a 3-year project that had gene therapy at the core of it by a researcher called Dr Ana Buj Bello at Généthon in Paris. This piece of research was so promising that 18 months in she and another researcher were able to raise $780,000 and, as Professor Muntoni predicted, from the French muscle disease charity AFM and the American muscle diseases charity MDA.  And 18 months into that 3 years it was so promising that a biotech company was started up with $30 million funding, literally just on her work.    So that doesn't always happen but, as Professor Muntoni explained, our job was not that $30 million, our job was that first £100,000, and our job was also to make ourselves known to the people in the neuromuscular field.  If you have lab time, if you have research time and you have a choice where you're putting it there is a place you can go to for a myotubular myopathy related grant application, so it's not just that this will come to us out of the blue, people will have done prior work, and our existence makes it worth their while, hopefully, to have done that prior work.  Ana Lisa: That's an amazing story how you've set up this charity and how successful that first application for gene therapy was. I'd love to hear more about that gene therapy and did it get to the clinic and to hear that story from you.  Because I think there are a lot of learnings and it's really important that the first patients who are treated, the first families that are involved, the researchers who start researching in this area, the first treatments lead the way and we learn for all the other treatments for all the other rare conditions that we hope and that together as a community we can share these learnings.  Anne: Yeah. I sometimes describe it a bit like going out into space. When you see a rocket going off look at how many people are behind and the amount of work that's been done, the degree of detail that's managed, and then you go out into space and there are a whole load of unknowns, and you can't account for all of them.  Who knows what's out there in this sphere.  But the amount of preparation, it feels similar to me now, looking back.  We were so idealistic at the beginning.  Our grant to Dr Buj Bello was 2008 and actually it is a really fast time in, the first child was dosed in the gene therapy trial in September 2017.  Ana Lisa: So, we're talking less than 1 years.  Anne: Yeah. And in the meantime obviously as a charity we're also funding other proof of principle research. One of the founding principles of the charity was to have a really excellent peer review process and scientific advisory board so that we wouldn't get carried away with excitement about one lab, one research team, that everything would always come back to peer review and would be looked at coldly, objectively. I don't know how many times I've sat in a scientific advisory board meeting with my fingers crossed hoping that a certain application would get through because it looked wonderful to me, and then the peer review comes back and there are things you just don't know as a patient organisation. So, yes, in those 9 years we were also funding other work.  Ana Lisa: You've just given an interesting perspective on sharing the learnings between the scientists, clinicians, the experts in a particular condition, if you like, and the families, and I'd be really interested to hear your views on what's been learnt about how families and the patient community can also teach the clinical and scientific community.  Anne: So, the first child was dosed in September 2017 and by the World Muscle Society Conference 2 years later in October 2019 the biotech had some fantastic results to show. Children who had been 24-hour ventilated were now ventilator-free, which, unless you know what it's like to have somebody in front of you who's ventilator-dependent, the idea that they could become ventilator-free is just extraordinary.    However, one of the things we've learnt about gene therapy is that we are going out into space so there are extraordinary things to be found, and extraordinary results are possible, as is evidenced here, but there is so much that we don't know once we are dealing with gene therapy. So unfortunately, in May, June and August of 2020, 3 little boys died on the clinical trial. So we have a clinical trial where the most extraordinary results are possible, and the worst results are possible, and both of those things are down to the gene…  What we discovered and what is still being uncovered and discovered is that myotubular myopathy is not just a neuromuscular disorder, it is a disorder of the liver too, and these children didn't die of an immune response, which is what everybody assumes is going to happen in these trials, they died of liver complications.    And one of the things that has come out of that, well, 2 sides to that. Number one is that it is extraordinary that we have found a treatment that makes every single muscle cell in the body pick up the protein that was missing and produce that protein, but also what we've understood is that the knowledge and experience of families and patients is even more vital than we've all been going on about for a long time. Because the issue of there being a liver complication in myotubular myopathy has been hiding in plain sight all this time, because if you asked any family they would tell you, “Yes, my son has had the odd liver result, yes.”    We could see something that looked like it was not that relevant because it was outside the big picture of the disease, which was about breathing and walking and muscles, but actually there was this thing going on at the same time where the children had liver complications. There were some very serious liver complications but everybody thought that was a minor issue but if we are able to engage the people who live with the disease and the people who observe the disease at a much more fundamental level we may be able to see more about what these rare genes are doing.  Ana Lisa: Yeah, thank you very much for sharing such a moving story and with such powerful lessons for the whole community about how we listen to the expertise that families have about their condition, and also I think the really important point about how we tackle the research funding so that we're including and sharing learnings from the conditions that are initially studied in greater depth, and we hope that many more conditions will be better understood and more treatments found and that actually the learnings from these first gene therapy trials will really help inform future trials, not just for gene therapies but also for many other novel therapies that are being developed.  [Music plays] If you're enjoying what you've heard today, and you'd like to hear some more great tales from the genomics coalface, why don't you join us on The Road to Genome podcast. Where our host Helen Bethel, chats to the professionals, experts and patients involved in genomics today. In our new series, Helen talks to a fantastic array of guests, including the rapping consultant, clinical geneticist, Professor Julian Barwell, about Fragile X syndrome, cancer genomics and a holistic approach to his practice - a genuine mic-drop of an interview. The Road to Genome is available wherever you get your podcasts. [Music plays] Ana Lisa: Carlo, I would really like to come to you about some of the initiatives that are happening in the UK, and particularly it would be really interesting to hear about the UK Platform for Nucleic Acid Therapies as a sort of shining example of trying to do something at a national scale across potentially many different rare conditions.    Carlo: Thanks, Ana-Lisa. Thanks very much, Anne, for sharing your fantastic story. I mean, I just want to iterate that as clinician scientists we do constantly learn from experiences and constantly learn from you, from the patient community, and this is absolutely valuable to push the boundary. And I really liked your vision of a rocket being launched in space and I would imagine that this is a similar situation here. So, we are facing a major challenge. So, there is over 7,000 rare diseases in the world and with improvements of genetic diagnosis this is only increasing. So, in a way rare diseases is the ultimate frontier of personalised medicine and this poses incredible challenges.   So, you mentioned the bottom-up approach and the top-down approach and in a way, both are absolutely necessary. So your story is a fantastic story but also makes me think of all the other families where they don't share perhaps the same spirit, you know, they are in areas of the world that are not as well connected or informed, where patient community simply cannot be ‘nucleated', let's say, around the family. So, there is definitely an issue of inclusivity and fair access.    So, what we're trying to do at UPNAT, which is the UK Platform for Nucleic Acid Therapy, is to try to streamline the development both at preclinical and clinical level of nucleic acid therapies. So, we'll start with antisense oligonucleotides just because those are the molecules of the class of drugs that are most ‘mature', let's say, in clinic. So, there are several antisense oligonucleotides already approved in the clinic, we know that they are reasonably safe, we understand them quite well, but of course the aspiration is to then progress into other forms of gene therapy, including gene editing approaches, for example.   And one of the activities that I'm involved, together with Professor Muntoni, is to try to streamline the regulatory process of such therapies and in particular curate a registry of, for example, side effects associated with nucleic acid therapy in the real world, and you would be surprised that this is something that is not yet available.  And the point is exactly that, it's trying to understand and learn from previous mistakes perhaps or previous experiences more in general.    And this is very much in synergy with other activities in the UK in the rare disease domain.  I'm thinking of the Rare Disease Therapy Launchpad, I'm thinking of the Oxford Harrington Centre, I am thinking of the recently funded MRC CoRE in Therapeutic Genomics. These are all very synergistic. Our point is we want to try to amplify the voice of the patient, the voice of the clinicians working on rare disease, and we want to systematise. Because of course one of the risks of rare disease therapies is the fragmentation that we do all these things in isolation. And I would argue that the UK at the moment leveraging on the relatively flexible and independent regulatory agencies, such as the MHRA, on the enormous amount of genetics data available through Genomics England, and of course the centralised healthcare system, such as the NHS, is really probably the best place in the world to do research in the rare disease area, and probably I'm allowed to say it because I'm a non-UK native.       Ana Lisa: Thank you, that's a brilliant perspective, Carlo, and across all the different therapeutic initiatives that you're involved with. And, Carlo, presumably - we're all hoping - these different initiatives will actually lead to ultimately a bigger scaling as more and more novel therapies that target both our RNA and DNA and actually are working, I guess further upstream in the pathway.    So classically in the past it's been necessary to work out all the underlying biology, find a druggable target somewhere in that pathway and then get a larger enough clinical trial, which can be nearly impossible with many of the rare and ultra-rare conditions or even, as you've said, the sub-setting down of more common condition into rarer subtypes that perhaps can be treated in different ways.  And with the many new different treatments on the horizon, ASO therapies, as you've said, is a place that's rapidly expanding, and also crisper gene editing. I'd be really interested to hear your reflections on how this might scale and also how it might extend to other new treatments.  Carlo: Yeah, that's exactly the right word, ‘scaling up'. I mean, there will be of course very unique challenges to every single rare disease but I would argue that with genetic therapies, such as ASOs or crisper gene editing, the amount of functional work that you need to do in a lab to prove yourself and the scientific community that this is the right approach to go for can be certainly very important but can be less just because you're addressing very directly because of the disease.    And then there are commonalities to all these approaches and possibly, you know, a platform approach type of regulatory approval might serve in that regard. You know, if you are using the same chemistry of these antisense oligonucleotides and, you know, similar doses, in a way the amount of work that you need to produce to again make sure that the approach is indeed a safe approach and an effective approach might be also reduced.    I would say that there are also challenges on other aspects of course, as you were saying, Ana-Lisa. Certainly the typical or standard randomised placebo control trial that is the standard and ultimate trial that we use in a clinical setting to prove that a molecule is better than a placebo is many times in the context of rare diseases simply not possible, so we need to think of other ways to prove that a drug is safe and is effective.   This is something that we all collectively as a scientific community are trying to address, and the alliance with the regulatory agencies, such as the MHRA, and you said that you have found your interaction with the MHRA very positive, and I can tell you exactly the same. So we are all trying to go for the same goal, effectively, so trying to find a way to systematise, platformise these sort of approaches. And I guess starting with antisense oligonucleotides is really the right place to go because it's a class of drugs that we have known for a long time, and we know it can work.  Ana Lisa: Meriel, can you tell us a little about the National Genomic Research Library at Genomics England and how this could link with initiatives to find many more patients as new treatments become available for rare and ultra-rare conditions?  Meriel: Yes, I think what's wonderful now is actually that what we're really trying to do is give everybody the opportunity to have their rare condition specifically diagnosed at the molecular level, and the way in which that is being done is by offering whole genome sequencing in the NHS currently in England but to all patients with rare diseases.    And so, it's about trying to establish their diagnosis. And as well as that, even if the diagnosis isn't definitely made at the first pass when the clinical scientists look at the data, because the whole genome has been sequenced, actually all that information about their genome, if they consent, can then be put into the National Genomics Research Library.  And that is a fantastic resource for national and international researchers who get approved to work in this trusted research environment to make new disease gene discoveries and identify these diagnoses for patients.  What's also offered by Genomics England as well is when the National Genomics Library data results in a new publication, the discovery of a new gene or perhaps a new molecular mechanism that causes a disease we already know about, that feeds back into the diagnostic discovery pathway within Genomics England back onto the diagnostic side of all the data.    So, patients who may have had genetic testing previously using whole genome sequencing where they've, if you like, had their sequencing done before the diagnosis was sort of known about, will also be picked up. And so, what this is really doing is trying to kind of give this really equal platform for everybody having testing to all have the same opportunity to have their diagnosis made, either on the diagnostic side or with research.  Ana Lisa: So, sort of on a cohort-wide scale as new discoveries are made and published you can go back and find those patients that may actually have that diagnosis and get it back to them, which is brilliant.  Meriel: Exactly. And this speeds up the whole process of getting these diagnoses back to people. So on a regular basis in the NHS, we will get feedback from the Diagnostic Discovery Pathway about “Here's some patients who you requested whole genome sequencing from a number of years ago and actually now we think we know what the particular molecular condition is.”  And so, it's key of course for our patients with rare conditions to make that molecular diagnosis because then we're able to have them identified for our colleagues who are doing this ground-breaking research trying to bring therapies for these rare conditions.  Ana Lisa: Thank you. And I hope that, as currently, if a novel genetic mechanism, as you've just described, is identified that could explain a rare condition that those patients can be found and they can receive that diagnosis, even many years later, and hopefully as novel treatments become available and say there's a chance to individualise ASO therapies, for example, to start with, that one could also go and look for patients with particular variants that could be amenable potentially to that treatment. And that's really sort of exciting that one could look for those patients across England, irrespective of which clinic they're under, which specialist they're under, and I think that could be really powerful as new treatments develop. I suppose, Meriel, if somebody comes to see you now in clinic are things different?  Meriel: Well, I think one of the things for me when patients come to clinic now is we might have an idea about what we think their condition is, maybe even we think it's a specific gene. And we can offer whole genome sequencing and so it's not just the way we used to do things before by looking just at the coding regions of the gene, we can find more unusual ways in which the gene can be perturbed using whole genome sequencing.  But let's say we don't make the diagnosis. I encourage my patients, if they're comfortable with it, to join the National Genomics Research Library, because really it's been incredibly productive seeing the new genetic discoveries that are coming out of that, but as well I say to them, even if we don't get the diagnosis the first time round when we look at the data, actually this is a constant cycle of relooking at their data, either if they're in the NGRL or as well on the Diagnostic Discovery Pathway side of the service that's run by Genomics England. So yeah, I feel like it's a very big difference; they don't have to keep coming every year and saying, “Is there a new test?” because actually they've had an excellent test, it's just developing our skills to really analyse it well.  Ana Lisa: Yes, and our knowledge, the technology and the skills keep evolving, certainly.  And I think one of the things that I'm sort of hearing from this conversation is that balance of hope and realism, Carlo we were talking about earlier how you need all the pieces of the puzzle to be lined up - so the regulatory agency, the clinicians, all the preclinical work has to have been done, monitoring afterwards for side effects - every piece of the puzzle has to be lined up for a new treatment to make it to a patient.    And, Anne, I'd like to come back to you because we've talked about this before, how one balances these messages of optimism and hope which are needed for bringing everybody together as a community to crack some of these very difficult challenges highlighted by treatments for rare and ultra-rare conditions and at the same time the need for realism, a balance conversation.  Anne: Yeah, that was one of our big learnings through the gene therapy trial and other trials we've had in the condition. As a rare disease charity, you do everything. You know, my title is CEO, but I tell people that's Chief Everything Officer because there's only a few of you and you do everything. So, you go and you lead the London Hope Walk and you also are a layperson on the Scientific Advisory Board and you also send out the emails about grants... And so, you could easily as a small rare disease charity conflate different communication messages because you're in a certain mode.  And so we have been from the early days in the mode of raising hope for people to say, “Look, we can make a difference as a patient community, we could raise funds, we might be able to move things forward, you've got the power to make a difference if you want to.” That's one set of hope.  And it's not dreamlike hope, we're linked to the reality of there are great breakthroughs.  So, you know, in the world of spinal muscular atrophy these clinical trials have led somewhere very quickly, so we're not selling false hope, we're talking about the difference we can make.    But then as soon as you flip into “There's a clinical trial being run” that's a completely different type of communication and you cannot conflate that message with the previous message.  And we always say to everybody, “We're your team, we're a family, we're a team, we all help each other.  When you are considering joining a clinical trial your team is the clinical trial team.    The other team does other things for you but the people you need to work with and ask hard questions of and listen hard to, that's your clinical trial team led by the principal investigator because then you're in that with them. And, you know, the reality of the fact that many, many clinical trials don't work as we wish they would be and the decision you make for your child, your baby, your little one, to join a clinical trial… because that's what it comes down to in our disease, has to be made with that team, not the team that's selling you a fundraising event. It's worth reminding rare disease patient organisations we're wearing different hats and the hope and the realism are different tracks you have to go down.    But at the same time as being realistic you also have to keep remembering that there is still grounds for hope, we are moving forward. And 21 years ago, when Tom was born the idea that you would be able to get all of the muscles in the body to switch back on – putting it in lay terms – seemed like a bit dream. Well, that is what has happened in the gene therapy clinical trial, we just have to now make it safer and understand more about what we're dealing with. So, the 2 things, the hope and the realism, do exist side by side.  Ana Lisa: I think that perfectly encapsulates a lot of the messages around rare disease therapies where there's such hope that novel treatments will really target directly the DNA or RNA to potentially correct the problem across many different rare conditions and therefore actually making treatments one day suddenly available to a much, much bigger population of people with rare conditions than we could've dreamt of 20 years ago or perhaps now, and at the same time this massive need to work cooperatively to all make this as fair, as equitable. Not everybody is going to have the opportunity to fundraise massively to be an expert about their condition, and the importance of sharing these learnings and also really, really listening to the patient community and really, as Carlo was saying, keeping track of side effects, having registries/databases to share these is going to be incredibly important.  [Music plays]  Ana Lisa:  Anne, can you tell us a little about your reflections on equity from the patient community perspective?  Anne: Well I mentioned serendipity early and one of the aspects of serendipity that played into our favour for setting up the Myotubular Trust was that by hook or by crook Wendy Hughes, who set up the charity with me, and I were both able to devote time at that period of our lives to setting up a charity. When my husband, Andrew, and I were told that Tom would more than likely die before his first birthday, one of the decisions we made as a family was that he would never not be with a parent, we would always have someone around, and that kind of meant someone had to give up a full-time job and that was me.  We thought, “If Tom has a few scarce months on the planet, we'll be with him.” And then when Tom lived to be nearly 4, as a family we got used to living on one salary and we were very lucky that we could pay the mortgage that way and run our family that way and eventually that meant I had the time to run the charity.    That doesn't happen that easily, that's a tall order, particularly when you have somebody in the family who has such high needs. And one of the things that I have often thought about is that in the rare disease space we could do with a different funding model for rare disease charities, we could, in an ideal world I have this nirvana that I imagine where there's a fund that you can apply to that is contributed to by the people who make profits out of finding rare disease cures - so the pharmaceutical companies and the biotechs - and there's a fund that they contribute to and that if you have a rare disease and you are willing to set up an organisation that supports families, that raises research funds, that provides a way of hearing the patient voice, then you could apply to that for running cost funds and then you'd be able to run this charity. And then you wouldn't have to rely on whether you live in an area where people will raise money for you or…  We were very lucky that we came across a few great benefactors who would give us money for running the charity, which is actually how we fund it.    All the research money we raise goes 100% into research, not a penny of it goes towards running costs because we have serendipitously found people who will be benefactors for the charity, but we're relying on a lot of good luck for that kind of model to work. And when you look at how much profit is made from developing rare disease treatments and cures – which is fine because that's what puts the passion and that gets people working on it – then why not have an advance fund to run rare disease charities? One of my nirvana dreams.  Ana Lisa: It's good to dream. Indeed, my hope is that there will be some amazing shining examples that lead the way that open doors, make things possible, prove that something can work and how and that then that will enable many other treatments for many additional rare conditions to be added in so that if you've learnt how this particular treatment modality works for this rare condition and there was funding behind it and everything else that's needed that then you can, the learning from that, I'm going to use the word ‘tweak', which sounds minor and could be very major but actually the concept that you can then tweak all those learnings and findings so that that same type of treatment modality could be adapted to treat somebody else with a different rare condition in a different location would be absolutely incredible and really powerful, given that if something like 85% of rare conditions affect less than one in a million people it's not going to be feasible to use the same strategies that have been used in the past for very common conditions.    One of the other big barriers is the cost of developing treatment for ultra-rare conditions.  Where it's a small number of patients that you have and therefore all the challenges that come with monitoring, checking for efficacy, monitoring safety and ultimately funding the challenges are much greater, however if some of these treatment modalities are also going to be used to treat common conditions it might be that actually there's a lot more cross-talk between the nano-rare, ultra-rare, rare and common conditions and that we can share a lot of that learning. I'd love to hear from each of you where you hope we will be for rare disease and rare therapies.  Carlo: Well my dream is that in 5 to 10 years' time an individual with a rare disease is identified in the clinic, perhaps even before symptoms have manifested, and at that exact time the day of the diagnosis becomes also a day of hope in a way where immediately the researcher, the centre, genetics lab, flags that there are the specific mutations, we know exactly which is the best genetic therapy to go after, antisense oligonucleotides as opposed to CRISPR editing, and a path forward, both at the preclinical and clinical level, to demonstrate and to cure these patients eventually is already laid out in front of the patient.  So, transforming the day of their diagnosis as a day of hope, this is my dream with the next ten years.  Ana Lisa: Thank you, that's a wonderful dream. Meriel, can I come to you?  Meriel: Yes, I think I just want to echo Carlo.  We've had great developments and progress with getting whole genome sequencing into the NHS for testing but what we really need is for it to be fast and efficient and getting those diagnoses established quickly. And we have had that set up now and we're really getting there in terms of speed, but then what we need is exactly what's the next step and actually structure like UPNAT that are developing these processes that we can then say to the patient, “And from there, now that we've established your diagnosis, this is what we have options to offer.”  Ana Lisa: Brilliant. And presumably that if the diagnosis isn't achieved now there is a hope that it will be achieved in the future as well. Anne...  Anne: Well, stepping one hundred per cent into the patient's shoes rather than the scientific side that we don't so much influence....  stepping in the patient's shoes, in 5 years' time I would absolutely love it if we were in a situation where all the parties that have come to the table looking at a therapy or in the earlier research genuinely want to bring the patient voice into the room. As Carlo talked about, there's even going to be more and more and more of these rare diseases, then those voices, those few people who have experience of it, they may be able to shed light on something. Maybe even sometimes don't even know it's a fact that they know but that were brought to the table as passionately as everything else is brought to the table.  [Music plays]  Ana Lisa: We'll wrap up there. Thank you so much to our guests, Anne Lennox, Carlo Rinaldi and Meriel McEntagart, for joining me today as we discuss the collaborative power of working together and look to the future of rare therapies that could have the potential to unlock treatments for many rare conditions. If you'd like to hear more like this, please subscribe to Behind the Genes on your favourite podcast app.  Thank you for listening.  I've been your host, Ana-Lisa Tavares. This podcast was edited by Bill Griffin at Ventoux Digital and produced by Naimah Callachand.  

Stem cell treatments are being offered around the globe as an almost ‘miracle’ intervention promising to help patients avoid major surgeries and treat untreatable conditions. While commercialised and able to be accessed internationally, the bulk of stem cell related therapies in Australia remain ‘experimental,’ with only a limited amount of uses approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the National Health and Medical Research Council. So what exactly are stem cells, why are Australians traveling overseas to get them and is it time for a regulatory rethink? In Part Two of this two-part deep dive of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by Professor Megan Munsie, an expert in stem cell ethics and policy at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, and Professor James St John, Head of the Clem Jones Centre for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research, to break down the future of stem cell treatments in Australia. Listen to Part One here. Follow The Briefing: TikTok: @listnrnewsroom Instagram: @listnrnewsroom @thebriefingpodcast YouTube: @LiSTNRnewsroom Facebook: @LiSTNR Newsroom See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to season 4 of GC Chat Podcast! In this episode, we introduce our first case of the season, which raised several ethical issues for the genetic counsellor. Reflections will follow in our next episode.  Support us by buying a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/gcchatpod Sound engineer: Shaun Allen You will find suggestions for support, our privacy statement and disclaimer, and more information about topics referenced in our discussion on our website. https://gcchatpodcast.libsyn.com/  You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky. Join the discussion with #GCchatpodcast References mentioned in our discussion: Gould & Griffin (2017). Karyomapping and how is it improving preimplantation genetics? Expert Rev Mol Diagn. https://doi.org/10.1080/14737159.2017.1325736. Handyside et al., (2010). Karyomapping: a universal method for genome wide analysis of genetic disease based on mapping crossovers between parental haplotypes, Journal of Medical Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1136/jmg.2009.069971 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (2017). Ethical guidelines on the use of assisted reproductive technology in clinical practice and research 2017 (updated 2023). Canberra: National Health and Medical Research Council. www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines-publications/e79   

Barry Snell chats to Optometrist  Dr Jonathan Denniss from University of Bradford, who is chief investigator for a new new study which aims to improve the way Glaucoma is detected. The project, which is funded by the Medical Research Council, also aims to reduce misdiagnosis of the disease. If you would like to find out more about the trial please email j.denniss@bradford.ac.uk 

In this presentation, Prof. Robert Gilbert, Professor of Biophysics in the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford, explain how science, for the scientist, is a source of enchantment.Prof. Gilbert and his team work on molecular mechanisms underlying pathology in humans, specifically cancer and membrane pore formation and cell adhesion. Their work is funded by Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, the Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust.In this presentation, he talks about: Scientific discoveries that have drastically changed the worldUnpacking the mechanistic lens of scienceHow delight and play are crucial for scientistsThe beauty of the form and fit of scienceOn aesthetic delight in scienceHow enchantment is essential to the scientific processTo learn more about Robert, you can find him at: Website: https://www.strubi.ox.ac.uk/research/professor-robert-gilbert Email: gilbert@strubi.ox.ac.ukThis episode is sponsored by:John Templeton Foundation (https://www.templeton.org/)Templeton Religion Trust (https://templetonreligiontrust.org/)Support the show

As Adrienne reflects on 6 years of the Power Hour, we are going to share some of our favourite episodes from the archives on Thursdays.Today we're sharing April 2023's episode all about Ultra-processed food, with guest Dr Chris van Tulleken. Since this episode Chris has been on a mission to get us discussing our diets and making positive healthy changes, and the phrase ultra-processed food has become common parlance!From the episode notes...Adrienne is joined by the wonderful Dr Chris van Tulleken to discuss his new book Ultra-Processed People. In the book Dr Chris discusses how we have entered a new 'age of eating' where most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances called Ultra-Processed Food, food which is industrially processed and designed and marketed to be addictive. But do we really know what it's doing to our bodies?Dr Chris van Tulleken is an infectious disease doctor at University College London Hospitals, and a Medical Research Council clinical research fellow at University College London in the Greg Towers lab, where he studies viral evolution and HIV. He has worked with aid organisations around the world over the past 10 years, including Doctors of the World. He also presents a range of programmes for the BBC including the double-Bafta winning Operation Ouch!. He is on Twitter @DoctorChrisVT Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prof. Joel Pearson (Neuroscientist; AI and cognition scientist) returns to Wild, this time to discuss whether free will is an illusion. In our last chat (about intuition) the subject was raised and Joel promised to come back to discuss it further, particularly in the context of AI, algorithms, the rise of totalitarianism and our agency in systems collapse. Joel is the founder and Director of Future Minds Lab which applies neuroscience findings to art, AI, media, advertising and various philosophical quandaries. He's also a National Health and Medical Research Council fellow and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He developed the first scientific test to measure intuition and wrote The Intuition Toolkit. In this conversation, we also cover the science of manifesting!SHOW NOTESI mention the chapter on Blame and the very robust discussion the Substack community had around it. You can join this hereHere's the previous episode where Joel talks about the scientific proof of intuitionGet Joel's book The Intuition Toolkit: The New Science of Knowing What without Knowing WhyFollow Joel on his Future Minds Lab Substack I previously had willpower expert Roy Baumeister on Wild to talk about how the female orgasm shapes the world! --If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it's where I interact the most!Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious LifeLet's connect on Instagram and WeAre8 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I discuss the history of epilepsy and of its treatments with neurologist Ian Bone, Consultant Neurologist at the Institute of Neurological Sciences Glasgow between 1978 and 2006, and Honorary Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Glasgow. Since retiring, Ian has worked on behalf of the Medical Research Council, and held lecturing posts overseas in India, Nepal and the West Bank.Ian traces the history of our understanding of epilepsy from Hippocratic and Galenic times, through the medieval and renaissance periods, to Victorian and modern times. He illustrates his arguments with vivid anecdotes of witchcraft, demonic possession, and exorcism, and with references to such historical figures as Pope Innocent VIII, and physicians such as William Gowers and John Hughlings Jackson.Our discussion also covers the history of epilepsy in the arts and music, and we explore the trauma and stigma that is associated with the disease. Ian also provides invaluable perspectives as a neurologist whose son has epilepsy.Ian Bone is Trustee of several Charities, and a Board Member of the Hidden Truths Project, a California based charity that champions artists with epilepsy. Ian was also Chair of Clinical Governance at the William Quarrier Scottish Epilepsy Centre, and a member of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow Library and Heritage committee.Ian's recent publications have been on William MacEwen and the advent of epilepsy surgery; animal experimentation and the anti-vivisection movement in Victorian Britain; and the importance of history taking and examination before requesting neurological investigations.

The Medical Research Council says the 2022 South African census is unfit for purpose and may not be reliable as a source for planning and resource allocation. This follows a report by the Council which reveals that the Stats SA 2022 census population estimates of 62 Million people is overrated by a million people and that there are material discrepancies at district and municipal level. Half of this excess is attributable to overestimates of the Indian, Asian and white population groups. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Tom Moultrie, professor of demography at the University of Cape Town.

In this podcast we hear about research that seeks to understand the causes of eating disorders and develop innovative treatments and support. Dr Amy Harrison talks in detail about a project funded by the Medical Research Council looking into how decision-making skills in childhood is associated with eating disorder symptoms in adolescence. Full show notes and link: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2024/jun/whats-link-between-decision-making-and-eating-disorders-rftrw-s22e03

In May, the National Burns Awareness Week is observed from the 13th to the 17th. To mark this occasion, tonight's episode of "Medical Matters" will focus on reconstructive burn surgery. According to a report by the Medical Research Council, around 1.6 million South Africans sustain burn injuries annually, with most victims coming from impoverished communities. Reconstructive burn surgery not only helps burn survivors heal physically but also restores their confidence and quality of life. To help us unpack this further, we are joined by Dr Deon Weyers, An award-winning Plastic and reconstructive surgeon.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Summary Dr Jenny Murphy is a senior lecturer at the University of Surrey. Here she discusses interoception and its importance in mental and physical health. Interoception refers to the processing of signals that come from inside the body, such as heart rate and breathing. People can differ in their ability to perceive these signals, as well as how much attention they pay to them and how they evaluate them. Interoception is associated with homeostasis and has been linked to various mental health conditions and higher-order cognitive abilities. Measurement of interoception is challenging but can be done through various tasks and self-report measures. Clinical applications include interoception training for anxiety and physical health conditions. Jenny discusses the role of perception and external cues in regulating the body, as well as the potential factors influencing interoception. She explains that her research focuses on measuring interoception and its development, and she is currently studying interoception across the menstrual cycle. Jenny also discusses the clinical implications of her work and the possible integration of interoception into therapy. She emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and the need for more research on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Jenny mentions her upcoming textbook on interoception and concludes by offering advice on improving well-being through the understanding and regulation of interoceptive signals. She is editing a textbook on interoception at the moment that should be published by Springer, Nature at the end of the year. Keywords interoception, signals, perception, attention, evaluation, mental health, physical health, measurement, clinical applications, perception, external cues, regulation, body, interoception, development, menstrual cycle, clinical implications, therapy, interdisciplinary collaboration, thoughts, feelings, behavior, textbook, well-being Takeaways Interoception refers to the processing of signals that come from inside the body, such as heart rate and breathing. People can differ in their ability to perceive these signals, as well as how much attention they pay to them and how they evaluate them. Interoception is associated with homeostasis and has been linked to various mental health conditions and higher-order cognitive abilities. Measurement of interoception is challenging but can be done through various tasks and self-report measures. Clinical applications of interoception include training for anxiety and physical health conditions. Perception and external cues play a role in regulating the body and compensating for imperfect interoceptive signals. Jenny's research focuses on measuring interoception and its development, with current studies on interoception across the menstrual cycle. There are limited clinical implications of interoception research at present, but it may contribute to therapies like mindfulness and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Interoception is an interdisciplinary field that can benefit from collaboration and integration with other areas of research. The relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behavior is complex and requires further investigation in the context of interoception. Jenny is working on a textbook on interoception that aims to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive resource for students and practitioners. Improving well-being through interoception involves recognizing the balance between paying attention to bodily signals and focusing on external cues. Publications https://www.jennymurphylab.com/publications Bio Jenny completed her PhD at King's College London in December 2019. Here she investigated the measurement of interoception, it's developmental trajectory and the relationship between interoception, health and higher order cognition. In April 2020 she took up a lectureship position at Royal Holloway University of London and in March 2024 she took up a senior lectureship position at the University of Surrey. Jenny's work on interoception has been recognised by several awards for doctoral contributions (from the British Psychological Society, Experimental Psychology Society and King's College London) and early career prizes (the American Psychological Society Rising Star Award and the Young Investigator Award from the European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience). Jenny is particularly interested in sex differences in interoceptive abilities, including how these emerge across development and whether they relate to sex differences in mental and physical health. She currently holds a New Investigator Grant from the Medical Research Council for investigating changes in interoception across the menstrual cycle.

Summary Dr Jenny Murphy, is a senior lecturer at the University of Surrey. Here she discusses interoception and its importance in mental and physical health. Interoception refers to the processing of signals that come from inside the body, such as heart rate and breathing. People can differ in their ability to perceive these signals, as well as how much attention they pay to them and how they evaluate them. Interoception is associated with homeostasis and has been linked to various mental health conditions and higher-order cognitive abilities. Measurement of interoception is challenging but can be done through various tasks and self-report measures. Clinical applications include interoception training for anxiety and physical health conditions. Jenny discusses the role of perception and external cues in regulating the body, as well as the potential factors influencing interoception. She explains that her research focuses on measuring interoception and its development, and she is currently studying interoception across the menstrual cycle. Jenny also discusses the clinical implications of her work and the possible integration of interoception into therapy. She emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and the need for more research on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Jenny mentions her upcoming textbook on interoception and concludes by offering advice on improving well-being through the understanding and regulation of interoceptive signals. She is editing a textbook on interoception at the moment that should be published by Springer, Nature at the end of the year. Keywords interoception, signals, perception, attention, evaluation, mental health, physical health, measurement, clinical applications, perception, external cues, regulation, body, interoception, development, menstrual cycle, clinical implications, therapy, interdisciplinary collaboration, thoughts, feelings, behavior, textbook, well-being Takeaways Interoception refers to the processing of signals that come from inside the body, such as heart rate and breathing. People can differ in their ability to perceive these signals, as well as how much attention they pay to them and how they evaluate them. Interoception is associated with homeostasis and has been linked to various mental health conditions and higher-order cognitive abilities. Measurement of interoception is challenging but can be done through various tasks and self-report measures. Clinical applications of interoception include training for anxiety and physical health conditions. Perception and external cues play a role in regulating the body and compensating for imperfect interoceptive signals. Jenny's research focuses on measuring interoception and its development, with current studies on interoception across the menstrual cycle. There are limited clinical implications of interoception research at present, but it may contribute to therapies like mindfulness and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Interoception is an interdisciplinary field that can benefit from collaboration and integration with other areas of research. The relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behavior is complex and requires further investigation in the context of interoception. Jenny is working on a textbook on interoception that aims to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive resource for students and practitioners. Improving well-being through interoception involves recognizing the balance between paying attention to bodily signals and focusing on external cues. Publications https://www.jennymurphylab.com/publications Bio Jenny completed her PhD at King's College London in December 2019. Here she investigated the measurement of interoception, it's developmental trajectory and the relationship between interoception, health and higher order cognition. In April 2020 she took up a lectureship position at Royal Holloway University of London and in March 2024 she took up a senior lectureship position at the University of Surrey. Jenny's work on interoception has been recognised by several awards for doctoral contributions (from the British Psychological Society, Experimental Psychology Society and King's College London) and early career prizes (the American Psychological Society Rising Star Award and the Young Investigator Award from the European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience). Jenny is particularly interested in sex differences in interoceptive abilities, including how these emerge across development and whether they relate to sex differences in mental and physical health. She currently holds a New Investigator Grant from the Medical Research Council for investigating changes in interoception across the menstrual cycle.

Professor Adam Nicholls is Professor of Psychology at the University of Hull, England.He is with us today to bridge the gap between the academic research world and the professional world of coaching because we know how busy coaches are in their day to day, its impossible to stay up to date with everything being published and he will provide everything you need to know in the next hour on the Pro Player Podcast.Adam has risen to prominence in recent years due to the quality of his work, teaching and his presence on social media. But, also it's because he is an academic who is real and relatable. He openly suffers with Dyslexia (Just like me) and talks about how these things dont have to define you. He posts on LinkedIn about the practical application of psychology in sport. A professor at the university of Hull, England. Who is engaged in research, leadership, and teaching roles. The main focus of his research relates to the psycho-social factors that predict doping among adolescent athletes, along with coping and emotions among athletes. To date, his research is supported by more than £1.1 million as a principal investigator, within the last five years, and £1.5 million including all projects. These projects have been funded by the International Olympic Committee, The European Commission, the World Anti-Doping Agency, Medical Research Council, and the National Institute for Health Research. His academic career has seen him publish more than 90 journal articles, he has written four books, and edited a book. His most famous book, Psychology in Sports Coaching: Theory and Practice has also been translated into Arabic and Hungarian. The third edition of this book was published in October 2021.In addition to pursuing his own research interests, He is a director of research with the Department of Sport, Health, and Exercise Science, and leader of the Sport Psychology and Coaching group. This role involves him mentoring/coaching colleagues, developing a research strategy and impact case studies. Outside of work, he regularly compete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and coaches this sport too. He competed at the 2021 British Open, held at Loughborough University, and won the silver medal. He belives being an active competitor allows him to test and refine some of psychological principles in his research.Buy it now: Psychology in sports coaching:: theory and Practice 3rd Edition; Dr Adam Nichollshttps://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Sports-Coaching-Theory-Practice/dp/1032062606

In this episode of Run with Fitpage, we have the leading Exercise and Nutrition researcher across the world - Dr. John Hawley. Professor Hawley discusses about carbohydrates for training and racing with out host, Vikas Singh. Dr. John Hawley, a distinguished academic with a plethora of accolades, serves as the Director of the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research and leads the Exercise and Nutrition Research Program. With a profound expertise in the interplay between exercise and diet, Dr. Hawley's research delves into the intricate mechanisms governing fat and carbohydrate metabolism, particularly in skeletal muscle. His pioneering work elucidates the molecular underpinnings of exercise training adaptation and the cellular pathways driving enhancements in insulin sensitivity. Dr. Hawley's scholarly contributions extend far and wide, with over 320 scientific publications and more than 100 articles in esteemed technical journals. He is a sought-after speaker at national and international scientific gatherings, captivating audiences with his insights into sports medicine and exercise biochemistry. Renowned for his expertise, Dr. Hawley serves as an Associate Editor for Sports Medicine and holds positions on the editorial boards of several prestigious international journals.Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Hawley has been honored with esteemed awards such as the Medical Research Council of South Africa's RC Scholarship and the University of Cape Town's JW. Jagger Postgraduate Scholarship. His commitment to excellence and groundbreaking research continues to shape the landscape of exercise science and nutrition.About Vikas Singh:Vikas Singh, an MBA from Chicago Booth, worked at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, APGlobale, and Reliance before coming up with the idea of democratizing fitness knowledge and helping beginners get on a fitness journey. Vikas is an avid long-distance runner, building fitpage to help people learn, train, and move better.For more information on Vikas, or to leave any feedback and requests, you can reach out to him via the channels below:Instagram: @vikas_singhhLinkedIn: Vikas SinghTwitter: @vikashsingh101Subscribe To Our Newsletter For Weekly Nuggets of Knowledge!

Prof. Joel Pearson (Neuroscientist; AI and intuition expert) developed the first scientific test to measure intuition, dragging it out of the woo-woo realm and into a cognitive framework. He's now written The Intuition Toolkit: The New Science of Knowing What without Knowing Why to show us how and when to use this mysterious superpower in our lives (not while rock-climbing on a date, not at a casino!).Joel is the founder and Director of Future Minds Lab which applies neuroscience findings to art, AI, media, advertising and various philosophical quandaries. He's also a National Health and Medical Research Council fellow and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of New South Wales, Australia.In this chat we cover when and how to use intuition, why intuition is hijacked by anxiety and depression, whether AI will ever be able to have intuition, aphantasia and a bunch of deep, wide questions about what it means to be human, including the Hard Problem of Consciousness. Mostly, Joel is a great conversationalist, someone you'd want to sit next to at a dinner party.SHOW NOTESGet Joel's book The Intuition Toolkit: The New Science of Knowing What without Knowing WhyFollow Joel on his Future Minds Lab Substack You might also like to listen to my WILD chat with Sheena Iyengar, the scientist who first ran those “paradox of choice” studiesAnd with George Paxinos, regarded as the world's leading brain expert on whether our brains are “good” enough to save the planetI mention the book Klara and the Sun by Kazuo IshiguroIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it's where I interact the most!Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious LifeLet's connect on Instagram and WeAre8 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Could we one day cheat death? Are we hurtling towards a time when science will be so advanced that aging can be prevented or halted in its tracks? Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan takes a skeptical view in a fascinating exploration of longevity research. In Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality, the acclaimed scientist delves into the complexities of aging and the pursuit of extending healthy lifespan.A former president of the Royal Society in London, Ramakrishnan is a group leader at the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.  He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 for his work uncovering the structure and function of tiny cellular particles called ribosomes and was knighted in 2012. In this interview with Peter Bowes, the molecular biologist provides a critical perspective on the dilemmas of aging research; questions the hype and financial interests linked to some aspects of longevity science; delves into the concept of compressed morbidity and its challenges, and explains his belief that dramatic life extension is not imminent. Read a transcript:  LLAMA podcast websitePhoto credit: Kate Joyce and Sante Fe Institute-Affiliation disclosure: This podcast receives a small commission when you use the code LLAMA for purchases from companies below which support our mission.   It helps to cover production costs and ensures that our interviews, sharing information about human longevity, remain free for all to listen. -▸ Movement & resistance training have long been associated with living a long, healthy life - along with a balanced diet and good sleep. Which is why we're delighted to be working with Hampton Fitness to provide a 15% discount on essential workout gear. Use code: llamapodcast15 at checkout-Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifyTime-line Mitopure (a highly pure form of Urolithin A) boosts the health of our mitochondria – the battery packs of our cells – and improves muscle strength. Time-line is offering LLAMA listeners a 10% discount on its range of products – Mitopure powders, softgels & skin creams. Use the code LLAMA at checkout- FlexBeam red light therapyRecharge Health is offering LLAMA listeners a discount on the purchase of FlexBeam, the wearable red light therapy device which targets key parts of the body to improve sleep, treat injuries and sooth aches and pains associated with aging. Discounts vary - see details of the current offer hereSupport the showThe Live Long and Master Aging (LLAMA) podcast, a HealthSpan Media LLC production, shares ideas but does not offer medical advice. If you have health concerns of any kind, or you are considering adopting a new diet or exercise regime, you should consult your doctor.

Sleep is powerful. You've probably heard this statement a thousand times. It's all over the books, media, podcasts, videos, everywhere. But many of us still lack a deep understanding of its power and how to use it for our benefit. In today's episode, 3 guests dive deeper into understanding the amazing human mind and how sleep is critical to operating at 100% mental capacity. We talk about how to unlock its power — particularly during really hectic seasons of life.Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist at Stanford University. He also runs the Huberman Lab, which studies how the brain functions, how it changes through experiences, and how to repair the brain after injury or disease. David Sinclair is a tenured Professor in the Department of Genetics at the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School and serves as President of the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research. He is best known for his work on understanding why we age and how to slow its effects.Dr. Matthew Walker earned his degree in neuroscience from Nottingham University, UK, and his Ph.D. in neurophysiology from the Medical Research Council in London. Dr. Walker researches the impact of sleep on human health and disease, and he's written the international bestseller, Why We Sleep, unlocking the power of sleep and dreams.In this episode you will learnHow inadequate sleep impacts brain function and overall mental health.The ideal amount of sleep necessary for optimal health and well-being.The effects of a poor diet on sleep quality, even when you're getting sufficient sleep, compared to the impact of a good diet on nights of poor sleep.Ways to influence and potentially control the nature of your dreams.Techniques to train your brain for more frequent lucid dreaming experiences.For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1545For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960Listen to the full episodes here:Andrew Huberman – https://link.chtbl.com/1219-podDavid Sinclair – https://link.chtbl.com/1004-guestMatthew Walker – https://link.chtbl.com/1476-pod

Giles Yeo MBE is a British-American biologist. He is the professor of molecular neuroendocrinology at the Medical Research Council Metabolic Diseases Unit and scientific director of the Genomics/Transcriptomics Core at the University of Cambridge. "Why Calories Don't Count" The calorie information is ubiquitous. On packaged food, restaurant menus, and online recipes, we see authoritative numbers that tell us the calorie count of what we're about to consume. And we treat these numbers as gospel—counting, cutting, intermittently consuming, and, if you believe some 'experts' out there, magically making them disappear. We all know, and governments advise, that losing weight is just a matter of burning more calories than we consume. But it's all wrong.In Why Calories Don't Count, Dr. Giles Yeo, an obesity researcher at Cambridge University, challenges the conventional model and demonstrates that all calories are not created equal. He addresses why popular diets succeed, at least in the short term, and why they ultimately fail, and what your environment has to do with your body weight. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/unimpressedpodcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/unimpressedpodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian Sample talks to Dr Amy Orben, who leads the digital mental health programme at the Medical Research Council's cognition and brain sciences unit, about why the link between teen mental health and social media is so difficult to study, what the current evidence tells us and what advice she gives to parents whose children are entering the online world for the first time. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

This week on the G Word, our host Will Macken, is joined by a panel of Early Career Researcher (ECR) representatives to discuss how ECRs can navigate and position themselves within the ever-changing field of genomic research. Will is a clinician and researcher at the University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology and Great Ormond Street Hospital. Will is also an ECR representative on the Genomics England Clinical Interpretation Partnership board. In this week's episode he's joined by: Nicky Whiffin, Associate Professor and Sir Henry Dale Fellow at the University of Oxford, and Quantitative Genomics representative on the Genomics England Clinical Interpretation Partnership board Charlotte Durkin, Head of Programme at the Medical Research Council, and Jamie Ellingford, Lead Genome Data Scientist for Rare Disease at Genomics England.   "There can be people that just pick up basic skills to analyse the dataset that's in front of them that they've spent months in the wet lab trying to generate. Through to people who are proper software engineers and will be writing unit tests to test every single line of that code. I don't think it really matters where you sit on that continuum as long as it works for you, and it aligns with your future career progressions and what you want to be in the future, essentially." You can read the transcript here: Early-Career-Researchers.docx You can find the information on resources, events and support for ECRs mentioned on this podcast on our website. We've got free-to-attend monthly research seminars, and Research environment training sessions for those who have joined the Genomics England research community - find out more and register for our next sessions here. Email us if you have any questions: gecip-help@genomicengland.co.uk.

Welcome to the Natural Super Kids Podcast! In today's episode, we're diving deep into a controversial topic – Australian Dietary Guidelines. For this episode, we will be looking at three specific guidelines: The National Health and Medical Research Council's Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, Nutrition Guidelines for School Tuck Shops, and Health Direct's Healthy Eating for Kids. Australian Dietary Guidelines are once again sparking discussion because one of our members in the Natural Super Kids Klub encountered a surprising roadblock when submitting a Bliss Balls recipe to her child's school tuck shop. The recipe, which included coconut oil, was deemed a "red food" and rejected due to school canteen guidelines favouring vegetable oils over natural, solid oils like coconut oil.In this episode, I will discuss:The challenges faced by parents when it comes to meeting their kids' nutritional needs;Flaws in Health Direct's Guide on Healthy Eating for Kids:Emphasis on a large amount of cereal and grain foods;Does not consider adequately consider new research on saturated fats;Preference for processed vegetable oils over healthy natural oils;The misinformation around coconut oil and its surprising benefits on HDL cholesterol.Specific issues identified with the Guidelines for Healthy Foods and Drinks Supplied in School Canteens;Perplexing categories used: green, amber, and red;The use of intense sweeteners in “green” drinks;Preference for vegetable oils rich in Omega-6 fatty acids and the implications on children's health;Omission of essential fat-soluble nutrients when opting for low-fat dairy;Banning salt in school lunches, despite its necessity in nutrient balance.What's missing in Australian Dietary Guidelines, and where the focus should be redirected;Her recommendations for healthy feeding practices for kids;As parents, it's our responsibility to question and explore dietary recommendations to ensure our kids get the best nutrition possible. If you're passionate about providing optimal nutrition for your kids and want practical tips to overcome challenges, this episode is a must-listen. Episode Links:Podcast - Episode 3: Our Unique Approach to Kids' Health and NutritionFurther Reading - How Diet Diversity Supports Gut Health Naturally

The Summit of Greatness is back! Buy your tickets today – summitofgreatness.com – Sleep is the foundation we give ourselves to pursue our goals vigorously, and today's guest is perfectly suited to help us understand why we should be prioritizing our sleep. Dr. Matthew Walker earned his degree in neuroscience from Nottingham University, UK, and his Ph.D. in neurophysiology from the Medical Research Council in London. Dr. Walker researches the impact of sleep on human health and disease, and he's written the international bestseller, Why We Sleep, unlocking the power of sleep and dreams.In this episode, we discuss why sleep is the foundational pillar for our overall health, why most people are terrible at prioritizing sleep and how to change that, the effects of poor sleep over time, how anxiety and stress affect our sleep, the importance of dreams and how we can influence them, and so much more. In this episode you will learn,Why sleep is the foundational pillar for our overall health.Why most people are terrible at prioritizing sleep and how to change that.The effects of poor sleep over time. You NEED to know this!How anxiety and stress affect our sleep.The importance of dreams and how to influence them.For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1476For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More School of Greatness episodes to improve your health:Dr. Sten Ekberg's Full Episode: https://link.chtbl.com/1345-podDr. Mark Hyman's Full Episode: https://link.chtbl.com/1375-podThomas DeLauer's Full Episode: https://link.chtbl.com/1389-pod

"We trained pregnant and never pregnant women and we tested them on their memory for these items immediately after they learned them and then we tested them two weeks later, looking at their long term autobiographical memory. What we found was that for the immediate test, the pregnant women did better than the never pregnant women on the baby relevant items, but they had equal performance on the adult oriented items. That gives some support to our hypothesis that when you actually test for benefits in cognition for ecologically relevant items you see them in pregnancy. But very surprisingly to us, I think the most interesting finding  was that when we tested memory two weeks later, the pregnant women do better than the never pregnant women on all of the items. They were retaining much more information across time than the never pregnant women. This was evidence for a general cognitive enhancement during pregnancy that was not specific to ecologically relevant items."    Episode Description: We begin with a description of what 'mommy brain' is as it is understood in the lay and the scientific literatures. Subjectively, many women describe memory deficits during and after pregnancy, yet objective measures generally do not demonstrate these changes. Bridget's and others' research found that rather than 'deficit' what is taking place is an evolutionarily advantageous specialization of the brain orienting the mother to the revolutionary task of birthing and caring for a new human being. We discuss the brain changes in father's brains that appear to be related to the degree of caretaking in which they are immersed. We discuss neural plasticity, the adult recapitulation of one's own childhood experiences, and the interface with depression and anxiety during these periods of flux in one's life. We close with Bridget sharing with us the importance to her of sharing accurate scientific findings with the general public as well as her wish list for future research.    Listen to EPISODE 1: THE MICROBIOME IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT WITH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN, Ph.D.   Our Guest: Bridget Callaghan, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at UCLA who studies how early life experiences influence interactions between mental and physical health across the lifespan, influencing intergenerational patterns of well-being. She received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology, her Masters in Clinical Psychology, and her Ph.D. at the University of New South Wales, Australia. She has worked clinically in the field of developmental psychology and completed her postdoctoral training at Columbia University in New York in 2019. Dr. Callaghan's research has been generously funded through the National Institutes of Mental Health, Brain Behavior Research Foundation, and National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. She is the recipient of the APS Rising Star Award, the Federation for the Association of Brain and Behavioral Sciences Early Career Impact Award, and the Kucharski Young Investigator Award. She has active collaborations with researchers at New York University, the University of New South Wales and Sydney Children's Hospital in Australia, Telethon Kids Institute Australia, and the University of Fukui in Japan.  

Professor Sharon Peacock is professor of public health and microbiology at Cambridge University. In March 2020 she set up the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium to map the genetic sequence of the virus as it spread and mutated. Within a year COG-UK was leading the world in identifying mutant COVID strains, and this data was instrumental in helping the development of vaccines and treatments. Sharon was born in Margate and left school at 16 to work in her local corner shop. She moved on to become a dental nurse the following year and after that she trained to be a nurse at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. After studying for A levels at evening classes, in 1983 she won a place to study medicine as a mature student at the University of Southampton. After further training and several years researching bacterial diseases in Thailand, she returned to the UK where she led the development of the Cambridge Infectious Diseases Initiative. In 2021 Sharon was awarded the MRC Millennium Medal, the Medical Research Council's most prestigious prize. DISC ONE: Fast Car - Tracy Chapman DISC TWO: A Boy and a Girl - Voces8 DISC THREE: Time Has Told Me - Nick Drake DISC FOUR: Title: Driving Home for Christmas - Chris Rea DISC FIVE: Take a Bow - Muse DISC SIX: Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 (from Fauré's Requiem) Composed by Gabriel Fauré and performed by Choir of St. John's College, conducted by Andrew Nethsingha DISC SEVEN: Symphonie Fantastique by Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, composed by Hector Berlioz, performed by Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and conducted by John Eliot Gardiner DISC EIGHT: The Lark Ascending, composed by Vaughan Williams and performed by Tasmin Little (violin) BBC Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis BOOK CHOICE: Oxford Textbook of Medicine LUXURY ITEM: A projector and photos CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Time Has Told Me – Nick Drake Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Professor Caroline Gargett, PhD, is a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Leadership Fellow, Women's Health Theme Leader and heads the Endometrial Stem Cell Biology Laboratory at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research and an adjunct Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University. She discovered endometrial stem/progenitor cells and investigates their role in endometrial biology, endometriosis and is developing a bioengineered cell-based therapy for treating and preventing Pelvic Organ Prolapse using endometrial mesenchymal stem cells and novel biomaterials. Her awards include the Society for Reproductive Investigation President's Achievement Award (2013), the Endometriosis Foundation of America Honoree (2011), Fellow of the Society for Reproductive Biology (2017) and co-recipient of the $1M Magee Prize for a Vaginal Stem Cells Study She is a Director of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia and Stem Cells Limited and Scientific Advisory Board member of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, Fondation Pour la Recherche sur Endometriose, France. She was President of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research (2013-2014) and Secretary of the Society for Reproductive Biology (2005-2008). She has authored 155 publications. Currently she is an Editorial Board member of Scientific Reports, Reviewing Board Member for Biology of Reproduction and former Editorial Board Member and Associate Editor for Reproductive Sciences. She previously served as Associate Editor for Fertility and Sterility and Human Reproduction. IMPACT OF OUR POP RESEARCHProf Gargett is developing the first cell-based bioengineered therapy for Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) using eMSC and new biomaterials. The impact of the knowledge generated in evaluating their new bioengineered therapy in a rat model of “POP” repair (2014) was the initiation of a new line of research in Urogynaecology. She and now others have progressed her pioneering research to large animal vaginal surgery models of POP, nanotechnologies and 3D (bio)printing. She trained 3 gynaecologists in this new technology, one received 3 International awards, was invited to present at a Gordon Research Conference (2016) and leads a research group in Graz, Austria. She secured 3 CIA NHMRC Project, Investigator & SIEF grants for our POP research and given 14 international invited presentations, including The Royal Society, London (2017) and IUGA Clinical Conference (2020, 2019, 2018, 2022) and was invited to join IUGA Steering Committee to create a Basic Science/Translational Research Special Interest Group and presented in the inaugural IUGA Basic Science Symposium in 2020.*******************I recommend checking out my comprehensive pelvic health education and fitness programs on my Buff Muff AppYou can also join my next 28 Day Buff Muff Challenge https://www.vaginacoach.com/buffmuffIf you are feeling social you can connect with me… On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/VagCoachOn Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vaginacoach/On Twitter https://twitter.com/VaginaCoachOn The Web www.vaginacoach.com

Today, we explore the future advancements of in vitro fertilization (IVF) by talking with the most senior reproductive endocrinologist in Canada, Dr. Al Yuzpe. Sometimes you need to understand the beginning of fertility treatments and how far we've come in the past 50 years and why there's so much more promise and hope in the coming years. A groundbreaking reproductive technology that has helped countless couples achieve their dreams of parenthood. Dr. Albert Yuzpe, a renowned doctor in the field of reproductive medicine and infertility, shares with us his journey in helping develop Clomiphene, a widely used and successful drug for inducing ovulation in women, and one of the early adopters of laparoscopic surgery in Canada. Finally, he expresses his love for the field of reproductive medicine and his excitement for its future. How technology and Artificial Intelligence has helped improve the process of IVF and the many upcoming upgrades for pregnancy procedures. Tune in to gain valuable insights on reproductive medicine and infertility from a seasoned expert in the field. Key Topics: ●      Dr. Al's background and achievements in reproductive medicine and infertility ●      Development of Clomiphene and its success in inducing ovulation in women ●      Experimentation with Letrozole, FSH, and HCG for treating infertility ●      Common side effects and risks associated with Clomiphene ●      Reproductive medicine and its future impact on growing families.     About Al Yuzpe: Dr. Yuzpe has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society Award of Excellence in Reproductive Medicine, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists President's Award ("for his distinguished career in academic reproductive endocrinology and infertility and his dedication to women's health in Canada and abroad"), and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Speaker's Award. Dr. Yuzpe is co-founder and co-director of Olive Fertility Centre. As Canada's most senior Reproductive Endocrinologist, he has been involved in IVF for the past 30 years and in the field of infertility for the past 43 years. He received his MD, M Sc. and completed his fellowship training in obstetrics and gynecology at Western University, London, Ontario. During his training, Dr. Yuzpe was a Fellow of the Medical Research Council of Canada for two years with his research focusing on the development and refinement of fertility-promoting drugs, including clomiphene and human gonadotropins. Dr. Yuzpe joined the Western University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in 1970 and passed through the academic ranks to full professor. He retired from the university in June, 1995, and now holds the distinguished academic appointment of Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Yuzpe then went on to found the Genesis Fertility Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.  He pioneered the development of the emergency contraceptive pill, which is often referred to as "The Yuzpe method." This method was recently listed by the Canadian Child and Youth Health Coalition as among the 10 Canadian discoveries with the greatest impact, or the greatest potential for impact, on health outcomes for children and youth in the last 100 years.   Where To Find Dr. Albert Yuzpe   -        Olive Fertility Centre -        https://www.olivefertility.com/your-olive-team/dr-al-yuzpe       How to connect to Lorne Brown online and in person (Vancouver, BC)   Acubalance.ca book virtual or in person conscious work sessions with Dr. Lorne Brown Lornebrown.com   Conscious hacks and tools to optimize your fertility by Dr. Lorne Brown: https://acubalance.ca/conscious-work/   Download a free copy of the Acubalance Fertility Diet & Recipes and a copy of the ebook 5 Ways to Maximize Your Chances of Getting Pregnant from Acubalance.ca     Connect with Lorne and the podcast on Instagram:   @acubalancewellnesscentre   @conscious_fertility_podcast   @lorne_brown_official       DISCLAIMER: By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use it as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. This podcast offers information to help the listener cooperate with physicians, mental health professionals or other healthcare providers in a mutual quest for optimal well-being. We advise listeners to carefully review and understand the ideas presented, and to consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having. Under no circumstances shall Acubalance, any guests or contributors to the Conscious Fertility podcast, or any employees, associates, or affiliates of Acubalance be responsible for damages arising from the use of the podcast.

Links from the show:* Virtual You: How Building Your Digital Twin Will Revolutionize Medicine and Change Your Life* Connect with Roger* Never miss an episode* Rate the showAbout my guest:Roger Highfield is science director at the Science Museum Group, a member of the Medical Research Council, and visiting professor at University College London and the Dunn School, University of Oxford. Get full access to Dispatches from the War Room at dispatchesfromthewarroom.substack.com/subscribe

Adrienne is joined by the wonderful Dr Chris van Tulleken to discuss his new book Ultra-Processed People. In the book Dr Chris discusses how we have entered a new 'age of eating' where most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances called Ultra-Processed Food, food which is industrially processed and designed and marketed to be addictive. But do we really know what it's doing to our bodies?Dr Chris van Tulleken is an infectious disease doctor at University College London Hospitals, and a Medical Research Council clinical research fellow at University College London in the Greg Towers lab, where he studies viral evolution and HIV. He has worked with aid organisations around the world over the past 10 years, including Doctors of the World. He also presents a range of programmes for the BBC including the double-Bafta winning Operation Ouch!. He is on Twitter @DoctorChrisVT Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you found it hard to finish sentences since falling pregnant? Left keys in the door? Phone on the car roof? I know I have! There's so much negative press around the brain changes that happen in women and birthing people (deeply rooted in sexism and misogynism!), but the work that Dr. Bridget Callaghan and her colleagues are doing is showing that we're not getting stupider - we're actually seriously up-levelling. If you're worried about the fuzzy  brain, this one's for you. Dr. Bridget Callaghan is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she directs The Brain & Body Lab. Together with her students, she studies interactions between mental and physical health across development, and how early life experiences of adversity influence development. She received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology, her Masters in Clinical Psychology, and her Ph.D. at the University of New South Wales, in Australia. She has worked clinically in the field of developmental psychology, and completed her postdoctoral training at Columbia University in New York in 2019. Dr. Callaghan's research has been generously funded through the National Institutes of Mental Health, Brain Behavior Research Foundation, and National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.Lab webpage: https://brainandbodylab.psych.ucla.edu/Twitter: @Dr_BCallaghanLab Instagram: @bablab_UCLAOnline study for first time pregnant mums going on now: https://research.sc/participant/login/dynamic/63060D73-0478-4EB1-AAE7-BEC43C066940

Our Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) program, a Medical Research Future Fund initiative delivered by MTPConnect, launched Round 3 of its Research Projects funding opportunity in January 2023 to support diabetes and cardiovascular disease projects that address the unmet health and medical needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in rural, remote, regional, and urban centres.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research ethics is an important part of research projects that involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. During the webinar, you will hear from two speakers with extensive experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research ethics from both an ethics committee and a researcher perspective: Dr Summer May Finlay – Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW Ethics Committee, and Professor Jenni Judd – Professorial Research Fellow, Central Queensland University. They explore researchers' ethical obligations, when you need to submit to an Aboriginal Human Research Ethics Committee, and the importance of cultural safety in research design and reciprocity. Applications close 28 April 2023.

How do you learn leadership skills as a researcher, and how well is science served by its current crop of leaders?These are just two of the questions asked of scientific leaders from a range of sectors and backgrounds in this five-part Working Scientist podcast series, all about leadership.In this penultimate episode, stem cell biologist Fiona Watt tells Julie Gould that one of her leadership mantras is: “There is nothing wrong with being wrong,” and that science is in good shape if it can acknowledge this.Watt is director of EMBO, the European molecular biology organization, based in Heidelberg, Germany.Her leadership positions before joining the organisation in 2022 include leading the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King's College London.In this role she was able to indulge an interest in improving scientists' working environments as part of a redesign project of its labs, offices and core facilities. In 2018 Watt was appointed the first executive chair of Medical Research Council, the UK funder.She compares her own hands-on and largely self-taught leadership skills (helped by a strong network of female colleagues earlier in her career) with opportunities for young aspiring lab leaders today.These include EMBO's lab management course, which provides researchers on the cusp of independence with a trusting environment to learn about the common challenges group leaders are likely to face.Watt also tells Julie Gould about the role of science leaders in articulating the need for government funding for science, but says that spending decisions should sit with them, and not with politicians. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

—--- FULL DISCLAIMER: All the content and info shared in this episode, and this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a doctor, and the shared content through this episode and podcast DOES NOT constitute medical advice. Always consult a doctor for any health-related enquiries. — In this episode of the SUPERYOUMAN Podcast, we have Dr. Marvin Berman as our guest. Dr. Marvin is a Co-Founder of Neuronic and President of Quietmind Foundation & Associates. We had a great conversation in this episode with Dr. Marvin about the following topics: Differences between biofeedback, neurofeedback, and photobiomodulation & their benefits Frequencies based on neurofeedback The percentage of people had COVID can cause neurological problems How Neuronic Devices Work List of Diseases the device coupe help/address Tips to enhance mental health and cognitive performance Order here: Get 5% off on Neuronic Device (insert code “Superyouman5“ at checkout for a discount) https://neuronic.online/discount/Superyouman5 Resources ( some affiliate links ): - Get 15% off on red light therapy device ( insert code "Renato" at checkout for a discount ) https://bit.ly/3iJdgaQ - Brain Tap: https://braintap.com/ - Neurovizr: https://neurovizr.com/ - Sublingual NMN Tablets: https://alivebyscience.com/?rfsn=5591619.4eebcb4 - Trace Mineral Drops: https://iherb.co/BNU67Dw - Resources and Discounts: https://sleek.bio/superyoumanpodcast - The best Biohacking Book out there ( Affiliate Link: https://store.biohackingbook.com?aff=52 ) Get in touch with Dr. Marvin Berman here: Website: https://neuronic.online/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marvinbermanphd/ — Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renatoautore/ Nutrient Reference Values: This website is made by the Australian Government - National Health and Medical Research Council, and it is a very useful tool that can help you to calculate nutrients and supplement intakes. As suggested on the podcast always refer to a medical practitioner, following the Recommended Dietary Intake RDI and Upper Level of Intake which is best not to exceed these recommendations as could lead to body toxicity https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/nutrient-reference-values --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/renato-capasso/support

Vol 217, Issue 11: 5 December 2022. Professor Anne Kelso AO will be stepping down as CEO of the National Health and Medical Research Council in 5 months' time after 8 years in the role. She talks about gender equity in medical research funding and a new program introduced by the NHMRC, to accompany her MJA article on the subject. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.

What is mental defeat and does it have an impact on the experiences of those living with pain?     In this edition of Airing Pain, Paul Evans interviews the team at the Warwick Study of Mental Defeat in Chronic Pain (WITHIN Project) and research participants, as well as taking part in the study as a participant himself.   The study, which runs until May 2023, is investigating how mental defeat can influence pain sensation, sleep patterns, social activity, physical activity and the general health of individuals who have chronic pain.  Mental defeat is defined as the perceived loss of autonomy in the face of uncontrollable, traumatic events. In the context of chronic pain this can be explained as a loss of identity and self in relation to repeated episodes of pain.  Paul talks to the team about their experimental, lab-based study and the sleep-tracking survey, then undergoes the lab experiment himself. Afterwards, he discusses how he found it and the possible outcomes of the research. He also interviews other participants on their experience.  It is hoped that the WITHIN Project will generate important information to help further understand the influence that mental defeat has on distress and disability in chronic pain patients. This is essential listening for anyone wanting to know more about the research process, or wanting to participate.    Issues covered in this programme include: Mental defeat, pain research, insomnia, psychological effects of pain, chronic pain, patient perspective, acceptance and commitment therapy, research participation, pain thresholds. Time Stamps:  0:25 Dr Nicole Tang, the Principal Investigator, discusses the definition of mental defeat. 1:22 Explanation of the WITHIN Study of Mental Defeat in Chronic Pain. 5:55 Jenna Gillett, PHD student and study researcher, on the relationship between pain and mental defeat. 7:17 Jenna Gillett and Dr Nicole Tang explain the sleep tracker study.    12:19 The impact of the COVID pandemic on the study – adaptations and the unexpected outcomes. 14:00 Participant Lauren Pulsford describes her experience of taking part in the study. 16:00 Producer Paul Evans meets Research Fellow Kristy Themelis to participate in the lab-based experiment. 20:00 Dr Nicole Tang on the association between chronic pain and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 21:00 Exploring what happens to those with chronic pain have a strong sense of mental defeat. 22:00 Explanation of the longitudinal study – looking at sense of defeat, pain and activity over time. 23:00 Jenna Gillett talks about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and its possible links with mental defeat. 24:00 Back in the lab with Paul Evans and Kristy Themelis, measuring his pain pressure threshold. 27:00 Paige Karadag, research assistant, explains the challenges of recruiting research participants online. 31:30 Paul Evans and Kristy Themelis discuss the experiments that he participated in and how he found it. 35:30 Paige Karadag and Jenna Gillett outline the criteria for research participants for the study, which will be running until May 2023. 39:00 Participant Caroline Perry offers her take on why people should take part.    Contributors:  Dr Nicole Tang, Principal Investigator, WITHIN project, University of Warwick.  Jenna Gillett, PHD student, WITHIN project, University of Warwick.  Lauren Pulsford, research participant with lived experience of chronic pain.  Paul Evans, research participant with lived experience of chronic pain.  Dr Kristy Themelis, Research Fellow, WITHIN project, University of Warwick.  Paige Karadag, Research Assistant, WITHIN project, University of Warwick.  Caroline Perry, research participant with lived experience of chronic pain. Special Thanks to the WITHIN team at University of Warwick This edition of Airing Pain has been funded by grants from the Medical Research Council.    More Information:  Warwick Study of Mental Defeat in Chronic Pain  Pain Concern Getting a good night's sleep leaflet  Pain Matters Magazine   Airing Pain 119: Experts by Experience: Working together in pain management programmes

How much can we blame or praise genetics? Today, Dr. Robert Plomin comes on to chat about the role of genetics in areas such as alcohol addiction, obesity, and schizophrenia.Links from the show:* Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are* Subscribe to the newsletterAbout my guest:Robert Plomin is MRC Research Professor in Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London. In 1994 after positions in the US at the University of Colorado and Pennsylvania State University, he came to the Institute to help Professor Sir Michael Rutter launch the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre. The goal of the Centre is to bring together genetic and environmental strategies to understand individual differences in behavioural development, which characterises his research.  In 1995, Professor Plomin began the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), which has followed 10,000 pairs of UK twins from infancy through early adulthood and has been continuously funded for 25 years as a programme grant from the Medical Research Council. He has published more than 800 papers and is the author of the best-selling textbook in the field as well as a dozen other books. His most recent book is Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (Allen Lane, October 2018; paperback by Penguin, June 2019). Blueprint describes how the DNA revolution is transforming science, society and the way we think about ourselves.  Professor Plomin has been elected the youngest President of the international Behavior Genetics Association and has received lifetime research achievement awards from the major associations related to his field (Behavior Genetics Association, Association of Psychological Science, Society for Research in Child Development, International Society for Intelligence Research), as well as being made Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, British Academy, American Academy of Political and Social Science, and Academy of Medical Sciences (UK).   Get full access to Dispatches from the War Room at dispatchesfromthewarroom.substack.com/subscribe

The Soft Drinks Industry Levy, also known as the Sugar Tax, was introduced in the UK in 2018 with the aim of tackling childhood obesity. But what might the implications be if the UK Government decides to scrap it? According to many people, it has been a great success.   Drinks manufacturers have reformulated their products, reducing the sugar content in drinks, around £300 million a year has been raised, which has been spent on things like school sports and breakfast clubs, and it is estimated the amount of sugar purchased by households through soft drinks fell by 10% in the year following the introduction. However, not everyone thinks it is a good thing. And its existence is under threat.  At the time of writing, Liz Truss has announced her resignation as UK Prime Minister, but it is not clear who will replace her. In the weeks before her resignation, it was widely reported that she was considering scrapping the Sugar Tax. As treasury minister Liz Truss said "taxes on treats" hit those on the lowest incomes and people should be "free to choose".      Whoever takes over at 10 Downing Street will have a decision to make; keep the Sugar Tax or abandon it. So, we are asking: how well has the tax worked, and what might happen if it was to disappear? Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics, Institute of Economic Affairs Christopher Snowdon is Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs. He is the author of The Art of Suppression, The Spirit Level Delusion and Velvet Glove; Iron Fist.  His work focuses on pleasure, prohibition and dodgy statistics.  He has authored a number of publications including Sock Puppets, Euro Puppets, The Proof of the Pudding, The Crack Cocaine of Gambling and Free Market Solutions in Health Giles Yeo MBE,  Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology at the Medical Research Council's Metabolic Diseases Unit Giles Yeo is a Principal Research Associate at MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit and the Scientific Director of the Genomics/Transcriptomics Core at the University of Cambridge.  His main research focus is exploring brain control of food intake and the role genetics plays in appetite behaviour.  Giles is not just a researcher; he is also a published author and broadcaster. 

 Today's Unstress is a special edition. We're actually going to be cutting in and out of a very special forum that was held in early April 2022, sponsored by the Australian Government's Health Department, or coordinated also with the National Health and Medical Research Council, the NHMRC, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Chair of that, and the Chair of the ATAGI - a group that administers immunisations. We are going to be focussed on key opinion leaders and product champions in action today and see how evidence-based medicine has been corrupted by corporate interests and failed regulations. ---  You can also watch this episode at https://drronehrlich.com/  ----- TIME TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HEALTH? Join me in my online health programs.  ----- CONNECT WITH ME You can ask questions via social media using my Instagram or Facebook or TikTok or YouTube page. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back to Motherkind Moment. Moment is your place on a Monday for calm and connection and maybe even a shift in perspective before the week ahead. This week's Moment is with the amazing Dr. Sarah Woodhouse who is a trauma expert and research psychologist. I hope you enjoy this Moment. If you'd like to listen to the full episode, you may access that here. MOTHERKIND PROGRAMMES AND RESOURCES FREEDOM FROM PERFECTIONISM: Are you ready to find freedom from guilt? Let me help you find Freedom from Perfectionism if you are a mother who has ever felt not quite enough. INSTAGRAM: @motherkind_zoe - come engage with Zoe and our community over on Instagram for inspiration, tips and sometimes a bit of humour to get us through our day. ABOUT DR SARAH WOODHOUSE Dr Sarah Woodhouse is a trauma specialist, research psychologist, author, coach and creator of The Freedom ProcessTM - a transformative program designed to help people break free from childhood trauma and reconnect to their power and potential. She has just moved permanently back to the UK, after three years working and living in Australia with her husband and three young children. Before moving to Australia, Sarah spent a decade researching how different ways of thinking and interacting with other people can prolong trauma symptoms. Her research was funded by the UK's Medical Research Council. In her current work, Sarah sees individual clients, helping them understand how their own childhood trauma is still affecting their life today, and supporting them to work through the eight steps of The Freedom ProcessTM. She also continues to research trauma for her next book.

For more details, visit the #DrGPCR Podcast Episode #73 page https://www.drgpcr.com/episode-73-with-dr-aylin-hanyaloglu/ ------------------------------------------- About Dr. Aylin Hanyaloglu Dr. Aylin Hanyaloglu has been a Principal Investigator at Imperial College London since 2007. She received her BSc in Human Biology from King's College London in 1997, and while her Ph.D. commenced at the MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Centre, Edinburgh, a move to Perth, Australia resulted in her Ph.D. in Molecular Endocrinology being awarded in 2002 with Distinction from the University of Western Australia. Dr. Hanyaloglu undertook her postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco with Professor Mark von Zastrow where she identified novel core cellular machinery critical for G protein-coupled receptor trafficking and signaling. Her research focuses on understanding the fundamental cell biological mechanisms regulating GPCR activity, including spatial control of GPCR signaling and receptor crosstalk, and applying these mechanisms for distinct GPCRs in diverse physiological and pathophysiological systems, with particular focus on women's health, pregnancy, and nutrient sensing in the gut. Her work is currently funded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Diabetes UK, Wellcome Trust, and the Medical Research Council. Dr. Aylin Hanyaloglu on the web LinkedIn Researchgate Twitter Imperial College London Elsevier Loop ------------------------------------------- We aspire to provide opportunities to connect, share, form trusting partnerships, grow, and thrive together. Fill out the Ecosystem waitlist form today to be the first to explore our brand new and improved space! For more details, visit our website http://www.DrGPCR.com/Ecosystem/. ------------------------------------------- Are you a #GPCR professional? - Register to become a Virtual Cafe speaker http://www.drgpcr.com/virtual-cafe/ - Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter http://www.drgpcr.com/newsletter/ - Listen and subscribe to #DrGPCR Podcasts http://www.drgpcr.com/podcast/ - Support #DrGPCR Ecosystem with your Donation. http://www.drgpcr.com/sponsors/ - Reserve your spots for the next #DrGPCR Virtual Cafe http://www.drgpcr.com/virtual-cafe/ - Watch recorded #DRGPCR Virtual Cafe presentations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJvKL3smMEEXBulKdgT_yCw - Share your feedback with us: http://www.drgpcr.com/audience-survey/

Welcome to this week's episode of the Motherkind podcast. Thank you for being here and pressing play. This week's episode of the Motherkind podcast is about transformation and how possible it is no matter what you have been through or are going through to create the life you want. Not only for yourself but also for your children. I'm speaking with trauma expert Dr. Sarah Woodhouse, and we dig into trauma and how we heal from it. This is a very deep and real conversation. I hope it informs and inspires you in equal measure. In this episode you'll learn about: What she learned about herself through a 3-year move to Australia Attachment trauma and anxiety The daily activity of regulating our nervous system and tools for support How do we recognise trauma What is unprocessed trauma "To thrive you have to break free from your past." - Dr. Sarah Woodhouse As always, we continue the conversation over on Instagram, so come and join us there. Resources and links for Sarah: New book: You're Not Broken - Break free from trauma and reclaim your life by Dr Sarah Woodhouse Course starting soon: The freedom process Instagram Peter Levine - Healing trauma Internal family systems EMDR Therapy FREEBIE! Find out how you can take control of your life, reconnect to you and more! Download ‘10 Ways to Reconnect to You' and our weekly and monthly check-in on Motherkind.co. Are you ready to find freedom from guilt? Let me help you find Freedom from Perfectionism if you are a mother who has ever felt not quite enough. Come follow Motherkind on Instagram for tips and announcements or just to reach out and say hi. About Dr. Sarah Woodhouse Dr Sarah Woodhouse is a trauma specialist, research psychologist, author, coach and creator of The Freedom ProcessTM - a transformative program designed to help people break free from childhood trauma and reconnect to their power and potential. She has just moved permanently back to the UK, after three years working and living in Australia with her husband and three young children. Before moving to Australia, Sarah spent a decade researching how different ways of thinking and interacting with other people can prolong trauma symptoms. Her research was funded by the UK's Medical Research Council. In her current work, Sarah sees individual clients, helping them understand how their own childhood trauma is still affecting their life today, and supporting them to work through the eight steps of The Freedom ProcessTM. She also continues to research trauma for her next book. THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR - FRAUPOW PORTABLE BREAST PUMP Listeners can get 10% off the Fraupow breast pump at www.fraupow.com with the code MOTHERKIND10. We are grateful for this week's sponsor - Fraupow. Portable breast pumps are brilliant. They are convenient, fuss-free and allow us to get on with whatever we need to do handsfree. The Fraupow pump tucks into your bra so you can pump and go with no wires. It has 12 comfort levels and a capacity for 180 ml of milk. At a competitive price point, it is about £150 cheaper than the other leading pumps. Fraupow also offers a totally free chat live every Friday for advice with a professional mid-wife. Ts & Cs - MOTHERKIND10 offer code valid until the end of March, 2022. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer. Code only valid at www.fraupow.com. Discount applies to products only.

Today on Moments of Clarity, I speak to Professor Julie Leask.   Julie is professor at the University of Sydney's Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery. Her research over 24 years has focused on the social and behavioural aspects of immunisation. She has a PhD, a Master of Public Health and nursing and midwifery qualifications. Julie is visiting fellow at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance where she previously worked for 12 years and set up the social science unit. She currently chairs the World Health Organization's Behavioural and Social Drivers of Vaccination working group. She serves on several advisory committees, including for the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, National Health and Medical Research Council, and Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. In 2019, Julie was the overall winner of the Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence award.   Thank you for listening.   Links Email: julie.leask@sydney.edu.au Twitter: @julieleask https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/about/our-people/academic-staff/julie-leask.html https://julieleask.wordpress.com/ https://www.ncirs.org.au/public https://talkingaboutimmunisation.org.au/ https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/victorian-government-s-lengthy-lockout-of-unvaccinated-is-an-overreach-20211123-p59bdj.html   Time Stamps Introduction: 0:00 - 3:11 Part 1: 3:12 - 33:35 Part 2:  33:36 - 59:23 Conclusion:  59:24 - 59:56   Moments of Clarity Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast Twitter: @BarneyMOC Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com   Podcast by Matthew Sortino Music by Christian Prochilo Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Matthew Walker about the nature and importance of sleep. They discuss sleep and consciousness, the stages of sleep, sleep regularity, light and temperature, the evolutionary origins of sleep, reducing sleep, the connection between poor sleep and all-cause mortality (as well as Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease), sleep across species, learning and memory, mental health, dreams as therapy, lucid dreaming, heart-rate variability, REM-sleep behavior disorder and parasomnias, meditation and sleep, sleep hygiene, different types of insomnia, caffeine and alcohol, sleep efficiency, bedtime restriction, cognitive-behavioral therapy, napping, sleep tracking, and other topics. Matthew Walker earned his PhD in neuroscience from the Medical Research Council in the UK, and subsequently became a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is currently Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. Matt’s research focuses on the effect of sleep on human health and disease, brain, and body. Walker has published more than 100 scientific research studies and has received numerous funding awards from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. He was recently awarded the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. Matt has given a main-stage TED Talk that has been viewed over 13 million times, has also created several TED Miniseries on sleep, a MasterClass series on sleep, and is author of the New York Times bestseller, Why We Sleep. Matt is also host of the 5-star-rated, The Matt Walker Podcast. Twitter: @sleepdiplomat Web: www.sleepdiplomat.com Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Dr. Janine Cooper is the founder of Everyday Neuro and has over 15 years experience working as a lecturer, researcher, and an industry/corporate speaker in psychology, neuroscience, wellbeing, and innovative rehabilitation techniques. Dr. Cooper's focus has been in the field of neuropsychological clinical research, working on projects that have investigated issues with cognition, such as memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease in older adults and Developmental Amnesia in children. Dr. Cooper has received various prestigious international and national grants and awards that include The Brain Foundation, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, and The Medical Research Council. Dr. Cooper has published in leading peer-reviewed journals and has presented extensively at national and international conferences, corporate events and workshops, and in the media, including ABC's Catalyst and Radio National.

"Why I am so interested in the microbiome across development is because it really shows a very interesting developmental gradient that closely maps on to other parts of the body and the brain in terms of sensitive periods of emotional development and language. There is also a really taut connection between the mother and child in terms of what the microbiome looks like across the lifespan."   Areas covered: We discuss the paradigm shift that is taking place throughout medicine in appreciating the central role that the microbiome plays in many diseases. We review the animal research on the impact of gut bacteria on the development of depression. We learn about the development of the infant's microbiome at birth and the biologic synchronicity with the mother through breastfeeding. We learn about the importance of early exposure to environmental bacteria in a child's development. Dr. Callaghan shares with us her research on the impact of early adversity on the later development of dysbiosis in the gut and its related anxiety and depression. It is noted that psychotherapy can lead to alterations in the microbiome.   Our Guest: Bridget Callaghan, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is a faculty member in the Psychology Department, heading her research lab ‘The Brain and Body Lab', and the UCLA Microbiome Center. Dr. Callaghan studies how early caregiving environments influence the development of mental and physical health, and how interactions between the brain and body contribute to health and disease. She takes a translational approach in her work, performing studies in rats, as well as working with human populations, particularly children, teens, and adults who have experienced early life adversities. She received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology, her Master's in Clinical Psychology, and her Ph.D. at the University of New South Wales, Australia. She has worked clinically in the field of developmental psychology and completed her postdoctoral training at Columbia University in New York. Dr. Callaghan's research has been generously funded through the National Institutes of Mental Health, Brain Behavior Research Foundation, and National Health and Medical Research Council. Dr. Callaghan was recently named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science.

In 1971, the war on drugs went international when the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed into international law. This Convention broadened the scope of previous UN drug legislation, facilitating the prohibition of almost any drug imaginable at the time. However, in the past 50 years, various countries across the world have been rejecting this narrative and even the UN itself has agreed that the war on drugs has been a failure. Drugs are here to stay and it was foolish to think that they could be removed from society. An influential cog in this new approach to drug policy are a group called - Transform. Transform take a pragmatic and evidence-based approach to drug policy. Lobbying for harm reduction and alternatives to prohibition. Steve Rolles is Senior Policy Analyst for Transform Drug Policy Foundation, a UK based think tank and charity focused on drug policy and law reform. Lead author on a range of Transform publications including 2009's ‘After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation', Steve has been a regular contributor to the public debate on drug policy and law for over 15 years; in the media, at UK and international events, and at various UN and Government forums around the world. Steve was recently an adviser for the Uruguayan Government in developing their new cannabis regulation model, and was also lead drafter and technical coordinator for the recent ‘Taking control: Pathways to Drug Polices that Work' report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy. Previously Steve worked for Oxfam and the Medical Research Council, having studied for his Geography BSc at Bristol University and Development Studies MSc at Manchester University.Transform Danny Kushlick Mexico Unido Contra DelincuenciaPortugal decriminalisation Cannabis legalisation in Canada Cannabis legalisation in Uruguay Altered States report William Hague advocating for cannabis reform Global Commission on Drug Policy Lib Dem cannabis report UN common position on drugs UN task team report on the past 10 years of drug policy Latin America cocaine warLuxembourg cannabis reformBecome a Drug Science Community Member: https://www.donate.drugscience.org.uk/Twitter: @ProfDavidNutt @Drug_ScienceA Fascinate Productions podcast for Drug Science ★ Support this podcast ★

Meet our guest: Professor Gina Rippon. She is Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Neuroimaging at the Aston Brain Centre, Aston University, Birmingham. She is a past-President of the British Association of Cognitive Neuroscience and, in 2015, was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the British Science Association. Her research involves state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques to investigate developmental disorders such as dyslexia and autism. She has received funding from The Medical Research Council, The Wellcome Foundation, The Nuffield Foundation, Economic and Social Sciences Research Council, Biological and Behavioural Sciences Research Council, She also investigates the use of neuroscience techniques to explore social processes including gender stereotyping and stereotype threat. She is an outspoken critic of 'neurotrash', the populist (mis)use of neuroscience research to (mis)represent our understanding of the brain and, most particularly, to prop up outdated gender stereotypes. Her book on this topic ‘The Gendered Brain', published by Bodley Head and Penguin Random House, came out in February 2019. She is currently serving on the Fawcett Society Commission which will be reporting on the effect of gender stereotyping in the early years in 2020. She works with organisations such as WISE and Speakers4Schools and the European Union to address the issue of the under-representation of women in science. Some great takeaways from Gina:Knowing one's gender is not informative in terms of understanding what the size of that part of the brain it's going to be Destinations, where people are being led to, is not positive for everybody It isn't about gender differences, it's about how we are conditioned to beWhatever you will put your focus on, will grow. ______________________________________Grab the book THE GENDERED BRAIN Gina talks about here! The Change Makers are doing a fundraiser for their #NoMoreBoxes Online Training and Collaboratory Center. A platform designed to teach you how to create safe space for deep-dive conversations that open up for the conscious and unconscious bias behaviours, placing ourselves and others into boxes, that places our focus on what separates us as human beings, not what unites us. Your help is highly appreciated.Just go to www.Patreon.com/NoMoreBoxes today! Or grab a copy of their book; The Story of Boxes, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I want to connect with Runa MAKE SURE YOU DON'T MISS AN EPISODE OF THE CHANGE MAKERS PODCASTSUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL ON APPLE PODCAST, STITCHER or SPOTIFY The Change Makers Podcast RSS Subscribe to The Change Makers Podcast Get the latest transformational out-of-the-box Leadership and Communications Tips, Insights, Tools & Stories from other change makers delivered directly to your inbox. First Name Last Name Email Address Sign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you!Please check your inbox for an email from me, Rúna Magnúsdóttir. Inside that email is a link to verify your subscription.Looking forward to having you onboard.My bestRuna