Podcasts about Rockefeller University

Synopsis: What happens when a world-class scientist and a philanthropic legacy collide with one of medicine's greatest challenges? Dr. Howard Fillit and Mark Roithmayr of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) join host Alok Tayi for an inspiring conversation on bold science, visionary funding models, and the future of Alzheimer's research. From treating Estée Lauder in the 1990s to building a $100M venture philanthropy engine, they trace ADDF's evolution into a global leader in high-risk, high-reward drug development. The discussion covers the rise of biomarkers and digital diagnostics, the foundation's partnerships with visionaries like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, and how ADDF's venture philanthropy approach bridges the “valley of death” in biotech. They also dive into global regulatory challenges, the economic urgency of Alzheimer's, and why the future lies in prevention, precision medicine, and a patient-first mindset. This episode is a masterclass in scientific grit, ecosystem thinking, and turning urgency into progress. Biography: Howard Fillit, MD Founding Executive Director and Chief Science Officer of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Howard Fillit, MD, is a geriatrician, neuroscientist, and innovative philanthropy executive, who has led the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) since its founding. Dr. Fillit has held faculty positions at The Rockefeller University, the SUNY-Stony Brook School of Medicine and the Cornell University School of Medicine. In 1987, he joined the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he is a clinical professor of geriatric medicine and palliative care, medicine and neuroscience. Dr. Fillit also maintains a limited private practice in consultative geriatric medicine with a focus on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 publications and is the senior editor of Brocklehurst's Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. Dr. Fillit is the recipient of many awards and honors including the Rita Hayworth Award from the Alzheimer's Association. Mark Roithmayr Chief Executive Officer Mark Roithmayr is an admired nonprofit leader with four decades of experience in both start-ups and mature organizations. As CEO of the ADDF, he is responsible for steering the Foundation's overall strategy, focus, and business operations. Since joining the ADDF in 2017, the organization has transformed dramatically in impact, scale, presence, and brand. Under his leadership, the ADDF's revenue has increased five-fold from $17M to over $90M, and mission-related investing has grown over 100%. He works closely with Dr. Fillit, executive leadership, and the board to advance the ADDF's mission of accelerating the discovery of drugs to prevent, treat, and cure Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. His key accomplishments include securing donations from Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and MacKenzie Scott, and a 10-figure gift from the Lauder family to cover ADDF's overhead for the next 20 years.

V Bratislave študovala fyziku a chémiu na vysokej škole. V júli 1968 odišla na stáž do Frankfurtu a v roku 1968 emigrovala s rodinou do Ameriky. Pokračovala v štúdiu na Columbia University odbor fyzika, neskôr biológia. Postdoktorandské štúdium absolvovala v Oxforde a druhú polovicu v The Rockefeller University v New Yorku. Výskumu sa venovala do roku 2003. Na dôchodku sa venuje písaniu komentárov o konferenciách alebo knižným recenziám do The New York Academy of Sciences. Od roku 2010 sa stala predsedníčkou Spoločnosti pre históriu československých Židov.

Getting outdoors into the sun is healthy, but when is it too much and are we putting our skin at risk if we don't protect it? Today's episode I dive into skin cancer with skin cancer surgeon and dermatologist Dr. Ellen Marmur. We cover: Different types of skin cancers and what to look out for How to screen for skin cancer If you need surgery and if so, how best to remove skin cancers What those white freckles on your legs really mean Where skin cancers show up most for women in midlife Photobiomodulation – light therapy can be used for skin cancer treatment and prevention Lasers How best to protect your skin Is sunscreen toxic and what to look out for when buying, plus what she uses The best and worst times to spend time outdoors Should we really be skipping the sunglasses to set our circadian rhythm? The coolest light device for skin treatment, even cancer, and protection   Dr. Ellen Marmur is one of New York City's most respected dermatologists, known for her unique combination of expertise in skin cancer surgery and cosmetic dermatology. After eight years as the first woman Chief of Dermatologic Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Ellen founded Marmur Medical, where she has spent the past decade pioneering advanced treatments in skin cancer, Mohs surgery, reconstructive surgery, women's health dermatology, and aesthetic procedures. Dr. Marmur has done pioneering research in green LED light therapy, in collaboration with Rockefeller University. Dr. Marmur is a full Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where she trains the next generation of dermatologists.  Get 15% off the MMSphere and other products on the Marmur Medical website and MMSkincare.com with code ZORA or this link https://mmskincare.com/zorab Website: https://www.marmurmedical.com Website: https://mmskincare.com/ Contact Dr. Ellen Marmur Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_ellen_marmur Instagram: https://instagram.com/mmskincare  TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@dr.ellenmarmur  TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@mmskincaregenius  TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@marmurmedical   Give thanks to our sponsors: Qualia senolytics and brain supplements. 15% off with code ZORA here.  Try BEAM minerals at 20% off with code ZORA here. Get Primeadine spermidine by Oxford Healthspan. 15% discount with code ZORA ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get Mitopure Urolithin A by Timeline. 10% discount with code ZORA at  Get Magnesium Breakthrough by Bioptimizers. 10% discount with code HACKMYAGE at  Try OneSkin skincare with code ZORA for 15% off https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=2685556&u=4476154&m=102446&urllink=&afftrack= Join ⁠⁠⁠Biohacking Menopause⁠⁠⁠ before May 1, 2025 to win a bottle of Accelerated Health iodine and Essential Amino Acids! 10% off with code ZORA at AcceleratedHealth.com   Join the Hack My Age community on: Facebook Page: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@⁠Hack My Age⁠     Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@⁠Biohacking Menopause⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠  Private Women's Only Support Group: https://hackmyage.com/biohacking-menopause-membership/ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@⁠HackMyAge⁠    Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HackMyAge.com⁠   

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Viviana Risca from Rockefeller University about her work on RICC-Seq and how it's used to probe DNA-DNA contacts in intact or fixed cells using ionizing radiation. This Interview covers Dr. Viviana Risca's cutting-edge methodologies, such as RICC-seq, which enables high-resolution analysis of chromatin structures without traditional cross-linking biases. We engage in a detailed discussion about how different techniques, such as RICC-seq and Micro-C, complement each other to provide robust insights into nucleosome interactions and chromatin dynamics. Dr. Risca articulates the challenges and innovations within her lab as it navigates through the complexities of chromatin mapping. The episode takes an exciting turn toward traversing the landscape of her future research directions, particularly studying the role of linker histones and other chromatin architectural proteins in regulating gene expression. Dr. Risca emphasizes the importance of understanding chromatin's mechanical properties and how these influence cellular processes like transcriptional regulation, DNA replication, and cellular responses to damage. We also explore her collaborative work that bridges the gap between basic research and clinical applications, particularly in cancer therapy. Dr. Risca shares insights into her investigations into how chromatin dynamics change during cell cycle arrest and their implications for cancer therapy resistance. Our discussion culminates in her reflections on the definition of epigenetics, framing it as the exploration of how cellular mechanisms encode and process information.   References Risca VI, Denny SK, Straight AF, Greenleaf WJ. Variable chromatin structure revealed by in situ spatially correlated DNA cleavage mapping. Nature. 2017 Jan 12;541(7636):237-241. doi: 10.1038/nature20781. Epub 2016 Dec 26. PMID: 28024297; PMCID: PMC5526328. Soroczynski J, Anderson LJ, Yeung JL, Rendleman JM, Oren DA, Konishi HA, Risca VI. OpenTn5: Open-Source Resource for Robust and Scalable Tn5 Transposase Purification and Characterization. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jul 13:2024.07.11.602973. doi: 10.1101/2024.07.11.602973. PMID: 39026714; PMCID: PMC11257509. Prescott, N. A., Biaco, T., Mansisidor, A., Bram, Y., Rendleman, J., Faulkner, S. C., Lemmon, A. A., Lim, C., Tiersky, R., Salataj, E., Garcia-Martinez, L., Borges, R. L., Morey, L., Hamard, P.-J., Koche, R. P., Risca, V. I., Schwartz, R. E., & David, Y. (2025). A nucleosome switch primes hepatitis B virus infection. Cell, S0092867425001023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.01.033   Related Episodes Hi-C and Three-Dimensional Genome Sequencing (Erez Lieberman Aiden) Split-Pool Recognition of Interactions by Tag Extension (SPRITE) (Mitch Guttman) Effects of Non-Enzymatic Covalent Histone Modifications on Chromatin (Yael David)   Contact Epigenetics Podcast on Mastodon Epigenetics Podcast on Bluesky Dr. Stefan Dillinger on LinkedIn Active Motif on LinkedIn Active Motif on Bluesky Email: podcast@activemotif.com

“People always say, ‘Well, if I could only do one art form, what would it be?' And I always say dance.” —Susan Magsamen In our podcast miniseries Music and Health, we're exploring how music impacts our minds, bodies, and communities. In this installment, we're learning about the power of dance. Host J. D. Talasek is joined by David Leventhal and ConstantinaTheofanopoulou. Both began their careers as dancers and use dance to inform their current work. Leventhal is a program director and one of the founding teachers of Dance for PD, a program that offers people with Parkinson's disease research-backed dance classes. Theofanopoulou is a research assistant professor at Rockefeller University. Her research focuses on understanding the neuroscience of complex sensory motor behaviors. They discuss how dance is helping patients regain movement abilities, and what neuroscience research says about dance as a form of healing. This series is produced in collaboration with Susan Magsamen and Leonardo journal.Resources:  Listen to the first episode of the mini-series, Music and Health: The Creative Arts and Healing, featuring Renée Fleming and Susan Magsamen.  Visit the Dance for PD website to learn more about the program, and find classes in your area or virtually.  Learn more about Constantina Theofanopoulou's research by visiting her website. 

We're experimenting and would love to hear from you!In this episode of 'Discover Daily', we begin with the unexpected shutdown of Humane's AI Pin. The much-discussed wearable device's discontinuation and subsequent $116 million acquisition by HP marks a significant shift in the wearable AI landscape, highlighting the challenges of introducing new device categories in today's competitive market.We also delve into the launch of Protector, an innovative app revolutionizing personal security in major US cities. This "Uber for armed guards" service offers on-demand access to professional security details and motorcades, bringing high-end protection services to a broader audience through a user-friendly platform in Los Angeles and New York City.The episode's main focus examines a fascinating breakthrough in human evolution research: the NOVA1 gene's role in speech development. Scientists at Rockefeller University have identified this crucial protein variant, present in virtually all modern humans, as a potential key to understanding how we developed our unique capacity for complex speech. Through groundbreaking experiments with genetically modified mice, researchers have demonstrated NOVA1's significant impact on vocalization patterns, opening new possibilities for treating communication disorders and understanding human evolution.From Perplexity's Discover Feed: https://www.perplexity.ai/page/humane-shuts-down-ai-pin-QYaGHA_mRQaNJYpvrVc3.whttps://www.perplexity.ai/page/uber-for-armed-guards-climbs-a-3vMrFSDqQ5ududobBxbgzAhttps://www.perplexity.ai/page/human-speech-gene-identified-lk71mFheSMqALlOPuwVOgQ**Introducing Perplexity Deep Research:**https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/introducing-perplexity-deep-research Perplexity is the fastest and most powerful way to search the web. Perplexity crawls the web and curates the most relevant and up-to-date sources (from academic papers to Reddit threads) to create the perfect response to any question or topic you're interested in. Take the world's knowledge with you anywhere. Available on iOS and Android Join our growing Discord community for the latest updates and exclusive content. Follow us on: Instagram Threads X (Twitter) YouTube Linkedin

Researchers have identified NOVA1 as a potential human “language gene” that may have played a crucial role in the evolution of spoken language. Unlike other mammals, humans have a unique variant of this gene, which even Neanderthals and Denisovans lacked. This suggests it emerged relatively recently in our evolutionary history. When scientists inserted the human NOVA1 variant into mice, the rodents' vocalization patterns changed—pups produced higher-frequency squeaks, while adult males developed more complex courtship calls. Guest: Dr. Robert Darnell - Professor and Investigator at The Rockefeller University's Howard Hughes Medical Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Precision medicine is a medical approach that considers a patient's genes, environment, and lifestyle. In the realm of Alzheimer's disease, experts are pushing for using this approach to improve diagnosis, treatment, and our understanding of the condition. But what does precision medicine for patients with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias look like? The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF)'s Dr. Howard Fillit joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss precision medicine and its potential in Alzheimer's diagnosis and care. Fillit is an award-winning geriatrician, neuroscientist, and innovative philanthropy executive who has led the ADDF since its founding. He has authored or co-authored over 300 publications and is the senior editor of Brocklehurst's Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. He has held faculty positions at Rockefeller University, the SUNY-Stony Brook School of Medicine, and the Cornell University School of Medicine. Fillit also maintains a limited private practice in consultative geriatric medicine focusing on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

In the fifth Season of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke's Building Up the Nerve podcast, we help you strengthen your science communication skills with tools and advice to use throughout your career. We know that navigating your career can be daunting, but we're here to help—it's our job!In the eighth episode of the season, we talk about Establishing Your Professional Identity, focusing on tips for defining who you are in your career, and developing skills and strategies to create and communicate who you are, or what your “brand” is, in your field and in the public.Featuring Thiago Arzua, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute; Carmen Maldonado-Vlaar, PhD, Professor at University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras Campus; and Erich Jarvis, PhD, Professor at Rockefeller University and Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute.ResourcesPicture a Scientist: https://www.pictureascientist.com/ Black in Neuro: https://blackinneuro.com/ Ciencia Puerto Rico: https://www.cienciapr.org/ NIH Blueprint and BRAIN Initiative® ENDURE R25 Program: https://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov/training/endure-undergraduate-education NEURO-ID Program: https://neuroid.uprrp.edu/NeuroBoricuas at UPR Cayey: https://neuroboricuasuprcayey.wordpress.com/ Transcript available at http://ninds.buzzsprout.com/.

Piezo touch and pressure-sensing ion channels are showing up everywhere as the explanation for physiologic phenomena, both at the macro and micro levels. Ardem Patapoutian, my friend and colleague at Scripps Research, discovered these receptors back in 2010 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2021 for his work. As you'll see/hear from our conversation, the field has exploded. And you'll get to know Ardem, who is such a fun, charismatic, and down-to-earth person. He also recently got a unique tattoo (videos below) and I wonder (unlikely) if any other Nobel laureates have one related to their discovery?!Below is a video clip from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The current one is here. If you like the YouTube format, please subscribe! The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.Transcript with links to audioEric Topol (00:07):Well, hello. It's Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I've really got a special guest today. The first time for the podcast, I've been able to interview a colleague and faculty at Scripps Research, Ardem Patapoutian, who just by the way happens to be the 2021 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. So welcome, Ardem. It's so wonderful to have you.Ardem Patapoutian (00:30):Thanks so much, Eric. Looking forward to chatting with you.Eric Topol (00:34):Well, this has been interesting because although I've known you for several years, I didn't research you. I mean, I had to learn about more than I even do. And of course, one of the great sources of that is on the Nobel Prize website where you tell your whole story. It is quite a story and not to review all of it, but I wanted to go back just before you made the call to move to Los Angeles from Beirut, Lebanon and with the scare that you went through at that time, it seemed like that was just extraordinary that you had to live through that.Ardem Patapoutian (01:11):Yeah, so I am of Armenian origin, but I was born in Lebanon and born in 1967, so I was eight years old when the civil war started. So it's a kind of bizarre childhood in the sense that with all the bombs and fighting in Lebanon. So it was tough childhood to have, but it was never personal. It was bombs and such. And so, the event you're talking about is, I happened to be kidnapped while crossing East to West Beirut. They only held me for four or five hours at first asking me questions to see who I am, but I think they pretty soon figured out that I was not a dangerous guy and they ended up letting me go. But before that, that incident really had a huge impact on me so that by the time I got home, I literally said, I'm out of here. I'm going to find a way to leave the country. And so, that's what, very quickly within a few months I packed and came to United States.Eric Topol (02:19):And how did you pick LA to be your destination?Ardem Patapoutian (02:22):Being from the Armenian community, there's a lot of Armenians in Los Angeles. My cousins already had moved there. They also grew up in Lebanon. And my brother, who's a few years older than me, got admitted to USC graduate school in engineering. So he was going to be there. So it made a lot of sense.Eric Topol (02:44):Oh yeah.Ardem Patapoutian (02:45):Unlike him, I came with no school or job prospects because it happened so fast that I kind of just left. One year I was at American University of Beirut for one year, but then just left and came here. So worked for a year in various jobs and then started going back to school to UCLA.Eric Topol (03:07):Yeah, I saw how there was about a year where you were delivering pizzas and before you got into UCLA, and that must have been an interesting off year, if you will. Well, the story of course, just to fast forward, you did your baccalaureate at UCLA, your PhD at Caltech, postdoc at UCSF, and then you came to Scripps Research 24 years ago along with Pete Schultz, and it's been quite an amazing run that you've had. Now, before we get into PIEZO receptors, the background, maybe you could help me understand, the precursor work seems to be all related to the transient receptor potential (TRP) series, also ion channels. They were of course related to whether it was heat and temperature or somatosensory. How do these channels compare to the ones that you discovered years later?Background on these Ion ChannelsArdem Patapoutian (04:09):Yeah, so the somatosensory neurons that innervate your fingertips and everywhere else in your body, their main job is to sense temperature and pressure. And this is very different than any other neuron or any other cell. So when you touch a hot stove that's burning hot, you need to know about that immediately within milliseconds or something cold. So the opposite side of it is pressure sensing, and it also comes in light touch, which is pleasant or a hammer hitting your finger, which is unpleasant. But all of these have the same characteristic anyway, that is your body has learned at the molecular level to translate a physical stimulus such as temperature and pressure into an electrical signal that neurons use to communicate with each other. But this idea of how you translate physical stimuli into chemical or electrical signal has been a long open question because as you know, most of our cells communicate by chemicals, whether that's hormones or small molecules, we know how that works, receptor bind to ligand, confirmational change and you get a kinase activation and that's enough. But here, how do you sense pressure? How do you sense temperature? It was just, there wasn't much known about that. And that's why our earlier work on TRP channels, which were temperature sensors came before the pressure. And so, they're very related in that sense.Eric Topol (05:52):The structure of these, if you were to look at them, do they look pretty similar? What the TRP as you say, and what you did back in the 2010 Science paper, which we'll link to, of course the classic paper where you describe PIEZO1 and PIEZO2, but if you were to look at this structures, would they look pretty similar?Ardem Patapoutian (06:14):No, that's a good question. And they absolutely don't. That's why finding these receptors were so hard. So if you go back to other sensory receptors, vision rhodopsin G-protein coupled receptor (GPCRs), larger G-protein coupled receptor look the same. So for example, when it was identified by chemically, that smell also works through G-protein coupled receptor. Richard Axel and Linda Buck, who also won the Nobel Prize, found those receptors by homology to visual GPCRs. The ion channels other than the fact that they crossed the membrane a few times or more, they have nothing else in common. If you looked at their structure, you can't even immediately tell they're ion channels. So you couldn't find these by structural homology or sequence homology. So you had to do something else. And usually that means functional screens and et cetera.Eric Topol (07:09):Well, yeah, and I'm in touch with the screening. We'll get to that and how you dig these up and find them. But the somatosensory ones are really interesting because I don't think a lot of people realize that when you have wasabi or you have Listerine mouthwash and feel the burn and that these are all mediated through these channels, right?Ardem Patapoutian (07:35):Yeah. So there's this whole field of chemesthesis, which means senses in your mouth, for example, that are not explained by taste transduction and olfactory. And these are actually by the same somatosensory neurons that help you sense temperature and pressure. And some of these receptors are the same. Their evolution has taken over and used them for many different things. The prime example of this is the capsaicin receptor that David Julius my co-laureate identified, which is also heat receptors. So all languages describe chili peppers as hot, and that's not a coincidence. It actually activates heat activated channel, and that's why we think of it as hot. And so, the same goes to another one of these TRP channels that you mentioned, which is TRPA1, and this one is also activated, but a lot of spicy foods other than the chili pepper active ingredient includes what's in garlic and onions and everything that has this burning sensation and chemicals of this and wasabi and chemicals of this are used in over the counter products like Listerine that cause that burning sensation.Eric Topol (08:54):So when you're chopping onions and it makes you cry, is that all part of it as well?Ardem Patapoutian (08:59):That's all TRPA1, yeah.The Discovery, A Test of PerseveranceEric Topol (09:01):It's wild. Now, this was the groundwork. There were these heat temperature and somatic sensory, and then you were starting to wonder what about touch, what about out pressure and proprioception. And so, you went on a hunt, and it's actually kind of an incredible story about how you were able to find out of these cells that you had, screening hundreds or I guess you got to 72 different small interfering RNA blocking that you finally found the one. Is that right?Ardem Patapoutian (09:37):That's right. So in retrospect, looking back at it, I think there's such an interesting scientific message there. And so, many of us were looking for this touch pressure sensors and we were all looking in the DRG sensory neurons that are complicated heterogeneous, they don't divide. It's not easy to do a screen on them. And ultimately after a lot of failures, what worked for us is to take a step back and ask a much more simpler question. And that was, can we find one of these cell lines that you could easily homogeneously grow in a culture dish, if they respond to mechanical force, can we find our channel there? And then go back and look if it's relevant in vivo for what process. So I think the message is ask the simplest question to answer the question you're after. And finding what that is, is actually the challenge lots of times.Ardem Patapoutian (10:36):But yeah, that's what Bertrand Coste in my lab did is found a simple cell line that neuroscientists had been using for a hundred years and somehow found that they over overexpressed this channel because you can record from them, you can push them and record the currents from them. And then it became a simpler question of finding it. It still took a whole year. He made a list and one by one knocking them out and looking at it. And finally, as you say, number 72 was the hit. When he knocked that out, the current was gone. And that's where we started believing that we have what we were looking for.Eric Topol (11:12):Were you all ever about ready to give up at that point?Ardem Patapoutian (11:16):Oh yeah. I mean that's another lesson. These are postdocs doing the work, right? And they're here three, four years and this was coming close to end of two years, and he didn't have anything yet. So we started talking about having a backup project and he started that and we said, okay, we were ordering this oligos 30 at a time because they're expensive. And so, the first 30 nothing, the second 30 nothing. And how many more are we going to do before we potentially give up? And we said, well, let's do at least a third and then decide, thank goodness it was in that last set.Eric Topol (11:54):Wow, that is so wild. Now what's happened since this discovery, which I guess when you published it in 2010, so it means 14 years ago, but we're on this exponential growth of learning that these piezo receptors are everywhere. They're doing everything. In fact, I recently put on Bluesky, PIEZO ion channels are to human physiology as GLP-1 drugs are to treating many diseases because it's just blowing up. And you've published on some of these of course, on itch and bladder function and vascular function. We'll get to maybe malaria, I mean, but even the cover of Science recently was about wet dog shakes and how animals shake because of water. These receptors are so fundamental to our function. So maybe you could comment, 15 years ago when you were doing the work and you're making this discovery, did you ever envision it was going to blow up like this?Ardem Patapoutian (12:57):Not to this level, but I should have. I think that this idea, again, that most of cell communication is through chemicals is of course a lot of it is true.Ardem Patapoutian (13:12):But it would be ridiculous for evolution to ignore all the physical forces, the pressures that cells experience. And once they do, you would think you would put an instructive way of sensing this pressure signal and using it beneficially to the system or the cell. And so, when we used to talk about pressure sensing at the beginning, there were a couple of touch, pain, maybe proprioception, hearing are like the poster children of pressure sensing. But I think what these molecules, as you say is enabling us is finding out the much more wider role that pressure sensing is playing in physiology and in disease that no one had thought seriously about. And this is, I compare sometimes the finding the PIEZO molecules. You're going in a dark room, and you need to find a door to get into there. And PIEZO is kind of that finding the door once you get in, now you use that molecule now to find physiology instead of the opposite way around. So by pursuing PIEZO expression and function, we're finding all these new roles that they play in physiology and in disease that we didn't think about. And because they're so specialized to sense tension, membrane tension, they don't do anything else. So if you see them expressed somewhere or if you see a function for them, you can bet that they are playing a role in sensing pressure. A lot of biology has kind of come from this hypothesis.Eric Topol (15:00):Well, I mean it is so striking to see the pervasiveness, and I do want to go back just for a second because when you name them PIEZO, you named it after the Greek word. How did you come to that name?Ardem Patapoutian (15:13):So Bertrand and I were actually sitting on Google Translate and we were typing pressure and trying to see what it's like in Greek or in Latin or different languages. His native French and my Armenian and píesi in Greek is pressure. And of course, what's really cool is that the word that more people know about this is piezoelectric device.Eric Topol (15:41):Oh, right.Ardem Patapoutian (15:41):Actually, translates physical force into electricity and vice versa. And in a way, this is a little molecular machine that does the same thing, and he uses this piezoelectric device to actually push on the cell. That's his assay. So it all came together as a very appropriate name for this gene and protein.Call from the Nobel CommitteeEric Topol (16:04):Oh really, it's perfect. And you get to name it, even that's fun too, right? Now we're going to go to getting the call at 2:00 AM, but it didn't come to you because your phone from the Nobel Committee was on ‘do not disturb' and your 94-year-old father, Sarkis. How did the Nobel Committee know to get ahold of him? How did they reach him in the middle of the night?Ardem Patapoutian (16:37):Yeah, so I mean, since receiving it, I've had conversations with various committee members, and they are very resourceful folks, and they have assistants who throughout the year collect information on all potential people who might win. They're also doing last minute searches. So they looked for other Patapoutian's in California. So they just called my dad who initially yelled at them for disturbing him at 2:00 AM.Eric Topol (17:17):And he could get through to you because he was not on your list of ‘do not disturb' or something like that.Ardem Patapoutian (17:22):I didn't even know this. And I don't know if the policy has changed, but in some phones the ‘do not disturb' if it's called by someone who's in your contacts or favorites.Ardem Patapoutian (17:34):After I think they called twice and they get through, and that's how.Getting a Tattoo!Eric Topol (17:39):That's amazing. Wow. Well, that's quite a way to find out that you're getting recognized like this. Now recently you got a tattoo, which I thought was really remarkable, but we're going to put that of course in the post. Tell us about your decision to get the PIEZO channel on your arm.Ardem Patapoutian (18:02):So as you can tell, I'm obsessed about PIEZO and it's been good to me. And I had the idea a while ago, and my very wise wife, Nancy Hong, said that you might be going through midlife crisis. Why don't you wait a year? If you still believe in it, you should do it. And that's what I did. I waited a year, and I was like, I still want to do it. And I guess I could show it. Here it is.Eric Topol (18:32):Oh yeah, there it is. Oh wow.Ardem Patapoutian (18:33):What's cool is that I can pretty much flex to show the activation mechanism because the channel is like bent like this in the plasma membrane. When it's stretched, it opens and it actually flattens like this. So I feel like other than being a tattoo, this is both performance art and instructional device. When I'm giving talks without PowerPoint slides, I could give a demonstration how this ion channel works.[Below is from a presentation that Ardem recently gave, the Harvey Lecture, at Rockefeller University.]Eric Topol (19:04):It's wild. Now how did you find a tattoo artist that could, I mean, it's pretty intricate. I mean, that's not your typical tattoo.Ardem Patapoutian (19:14):Yeah, I put it up on social media that I was thinking of doing this, and many scientists are into tattoos, so I actually got so many recommendations. And one of them was a local here in San Diego, and she is very popular. I waited six months to get this, I was on a waiting list. The appointment was six months off when we made it. So she's very popular and she's very good.Eric Topol (19:45):Was it painful to get that done?Ardem Patapoutian (19:47):Well, that's actually really cool, right? Because PIEZO2 is involved in pain sensation, and I felt it while it was being tattooed on my arm. The whole day, I was there like six and a half hours.New Prospect for Pain MedicationEric Topol (20:00):Oh my gosh. Wow. Now that gets me to pain because, I'd like you to talk a bit about the people that don't have mutations or loss of function PIEZO receptors and also what your thoughts are in the future as to maybe we could develop a lot better pain medications.Ardem Patapoutian (20:22):Yeah, we're working on it. So you're right. One of the great parts of the science story, and this is mainly the work of Alex Chesler and Carsten Bönnemann at the NIH, where they identified people who came to the clinic for undiagnosed conditions, and they were uncoordinated and had difficulty walking. And when they did whole-exome sequencing, they found that they had mutations in PIEZO2, there were loss of function, as you say. So complete loss on both chromosomes. And when they started testing them, they realized that just like we had described them in animal models, humans without PIEZO2 as well, didn't sense touch, don't have proprioception. This sense of where your limbs are, that's so important for balance and most other daily functions that we take it for granted. So they were completely lacking all of those sensations. They also do not feel their bladder filling.Ardem Patapoutian (21:26):And so, they have learned to go on a schedule to make sure they don't have accidents. And many of these projects that we've done in the lab collaboration with Alex Chesler, et cetera, have come from the observations of what else these individuals experience. And so, it's been a great kind of collaboration communication between mechanistic animal model studies and the clinic. And so, one of the things that these individuals don't sense in addition to touch, is something called tactile allodynia, which is simply when touch becomes painful. You and I experienced this after small injury or sunburn where just touching your shoulder becomes painful, but for peripheral neuropathy and other neuropathic pain conditions, this is one of the major complaints that individuals have. And we know from the NIH studies that these individuals don't have this tactile allodynia. So touch becomes painful and doesn't apply to them, which tells us that if we block PIEZO2, we can actually get interesting relief from various aspects relative to neuropathic pain on other pain related neuropathies. But given everything we talked about, Eric, about how this is important for touch and proprioception, you don't want to make a pill that blocks PIEZO2 and you take it because this will have some serious on target side effects. But we are developing new compounds that block PIEZO2 and hope that it might be useful, at least as a topical medication pain and other indications. And we're actively working on this, as I said.Eric Topol (23:15):Yeah, I mean the topical one sounds like a winner because of peripheral neuropathy, but also I wonder if you could somehow target it to sick cells rather than if giving it in a systemic targeted way. I mean it has tremendous potential because we are on a serious hunt for much better relief of pain than exists today.Ardem Patapoutian (23:41):Absolutely.Eric Topol (23:42):Yeah. So that's exciting. I mean, that's another potential outgrowth of all this. Just going back, I mean the one that prompted me in November to write that about the human physiology in PIEZO, it was about intestinal stem cell fate decision and maintenance. I mean, it's just everywhere. But the work you've done certainly now has spurred on so many other groups to go after these different and many unanticipated functions. Were there any ones, of course, you've been pretty systematically addressing these that actually surprised you? You said, oh, are you kidding me when you read this? I never would've guessed this, or pretty much they followed suit as things were moving along.Ardem Patapoutian (24:33):So one of them is this role in macrophages that I found fascinating that we found a few years ago. So again, this came from human studies where PIEZO1 gain-of-function mutations. So in relation to loss of function, their gain-of-function where there's more activity given a certain amount of pressure. They have dehydrated red blood cells, which I'm not going to talk about right now. But they also have shown that in these patients, individuals, it's not really that pathological. They also have age-onset iron overload. What does that have to do with pressure sensing? And we brought that information into animal models, and we found that macrophages, their rate of phagocytosis depends on PIEZO, so that if you have too little PIEZO, they don't phagocytosis as much. If you have too much PIEZO, the phagocytosis too much. And this increased rate of phagocytosis in the long term because it's constantly eating red blood cells and the iron is circulating more causes long-term effects in iron overload. And again, as you kind of set that up, who would've thought that mechanical sensation is important for this basic hematology type?Eric Topol (25:52):Yeah, I mean, because we've been talking about the macro things, and here it is at the cellular level. I mean, it's just wild.Ardem Patapoutian (25:59):If you go back and look at a video of a macrophage eating up red blood cells, then you go, oh, I see how this has to do with pressure sensing because it is like extending little arms, feeling things letting go, going somewhere else. So again, I want to bring it back by this simple cell biological function of a cell type, like macrophage, exploring its environment is not just chemical, but very mechanical as well. And so, in retrospect, it is maybe not that surprising, that pressure sensing is important for its physiology.Career Changing?Eric Topol (26:33):Yeah, that's extraordinary. Well, that gets me to how your life has changed since 2021, because obviously this a big effect, big impact sort of thing. And I know that you're the first Armenian, first person from Lebanon to get this recognition. You recognized by the Lebanese Order of Merit. There's even a stamp of you, your picture characterized in 2022.Eric Topol (27:04):So if you were to sum up how it's changed because I see no change in you. You're the same person that has a great sense of humor. Often the tries to humor relaxed, calming. You haven't changed any to me, but how has it affected you?Ardem Patapoutian (27:26):Thank you, Eric. That's very kind of you. I try very hard for it not to change me. I do get a little bit more attention, a ton more invites, which unfortunately I have to say no to a lot of them because, and I'm sure you're very familiar with that concept and a lot of things are offered to you that I feel like it's so tempting to say yes because they're wonderful opportunities and an honor to be asked. But the end of the day, I'm trying to be very disciplined and not taking things on that I can do as an opportunity. But things that I really want to do. I think that's so hard to do sometimes is to separate those two. Why am I doing this? Is this really important for the goals that I have? So in one way, the answer for that is that I just want to stay in the lab and do my research with my students and postdoc, which is what I enjoy the most. But on the other hand, as you said, being the first Armenian who's received this, literally after the Nobel, I got this whole elementary school, all Armenian kids write to me multiple letters.Ardem Patapoutian (28:39):And they said, you look like me. I didn't think I could do this, but maybe I can. So in a sense, to ignore that and say, no, I just want to do my science, I don't want to be involved in any of that is also wrong. So I'm trying to balance being engaged in science outreach and helping to make science understood by the general public, realize that we're just regular people and at the same time how awesome science is. I love science and I like to project that, but leave plenty of time for me to just be a scientist and be in my lab and interact with my colleagues at Scripps, including you.Immigrant ScientistsEric Topol (29:21):Well, we're so lucky to have that chance. And I do want to mention, because you're prototyping in this regard about great immigrant scientists and other domains of course, but every year the Carnegie Foundation names these great immigrants and one year you were of course recognized. And in recent years, there have been more difficulties in people wanting to come to the US to get into science, and they wind up going to other places. It seems like that's a big loss for us. I mean, what if we weren't able to have had you come and so many hundreds, thousands of others that have contributed to this life science community? Maybe you could comment about that.Ardem Patapoutian (30:10):Yeah, I think it is tragic, as you say. I think in some circles, immigrants have this negative image or idea of what they bring, but at every level, immigrants have contributed so much to this country. It's a country of immigrants, of course, to start with. And I think it is important to put up a positive image of immigration and science is the ultimate example of that, right? I mean, I think when you go into any laboratory, you probably find if there's a lab of 16 people, you probably find people from 10 different countries. And we all work together. And the idea of also immigrant and especially about science is that I'm a big believer of changing field, changing things because just like that, immigrants have changed their whole life. So they come to a new culture, they bring with them their own way of thinking and their way of seeing things. And then you come into a new environment, and you see it a little bit differently. So that kind of change, whether it's because of physical immigration or immigrating from one field to another in science is really beneficial for science and society. And I think positive examples of this are an important part of highlighting this.Eric Topol (31:40):I couldn't agree with you more really.Bluesky vs Twitter/XEric Topol (31:41):Now, speaking of migration, there's been recently a big migration out of X, formerly Twitter to Bluesky, which I like the metaphor you liken to the Serengeti. Can you tell us about, now I know you're posting on Bluesky and of course so many others that you and I are mutual contacts, and our different networks are. What do you think about this migration outside of what was the platform where a lot of this, we shared things on X or before Musk took over known as Twitter? Thoughts about Bluesky?Ardem Patapoutian (32:27):Yeah, I think I use social media for a few reasons. The number one reason should be is to see new science by colleagues. My main point is that, but also, again, having fun in science is a big part of my draw to this. And as you can see from my posts, it's a bit lighthearted, and that's really me.Eric Topol (32:52):Right. Yeah.Ardem Patapoutian (32:52):I think on Twitter, things start getting a little bit dark and too many negative comments, and it was just not productive. And I just felt like after the elections, I felt like it was time to migrate. And I find Bluesky a great scientific community, and it's remarkable how quickly people have migrated from Twitter to Bluesky. But the counter argument for this is that you should stay in a place where majority of people are, because being in a bubble surrounding yourself by people like you doesn't help society. And so, I get that perspective as well. It just depends on what you're using the platform for and it's a difficult issue. But yeah, I've taken a break probably long-term break from Twitter. I'm on Bluesky now.Eric Topol (33:48):Yeah, no, the point you're bringing up about the echo chamber and is there going to be one for people that are leaning one way and they're thinking, and another with a whole different, often politically charged and even extreme views? It's really unfortunate if it does wind up that way. But right now, it seems like that migration is ongoing and it's substantial. And I guess we'll see how it settles out. I share your concern, and so far, I've been trying to keep a foot in both areas because I think if we all were to leave, then we're just kind of caving into a, it's tricky though. It really is because the noxious toxic type of comments, even when you try to avoid comments, you say, only followers can make a comment, they'll of course, quote your thing and then try to ding you and whatever. It's just crazy stuff, really.Ardem Patapoutian (34:53):I mean, what I think is that, that's why I said depends on why. I mean, your presence on social media is such an important part of science education. And I could almost say you can't afford to do what I do, which is I'm just putting my goofy posts and having fun. So we have different purposes in a way, and yeah, that affects what you use and how you use it.Eric Topol (35:17):Yeah, no, it's tricky it really is. We covered a lot of ground. Is there anything I missed that you want to get out there? Any part of this, your story and the PIEZO story, science and everything else that I didn't bring up?The Essentiality of Basic ScienceArdem Patapoutian (35:42):I just think that the basic science community is really suffering from decreasing amounts of funding and appreciation of doing basic science. And one of my goals, in addition to this immigrant scientist thing, is to remind people that all medicines start with basic science work. And funding this has mainly been through NIH and it's getting harder and harder for basic scientists to secure funding and I'm really worried about this. And we need to find ways to be okay for people to do basic science. And I'll give you one example. Whenever we make a publication and there's a journalist talking to us or some kind of press coverage, they ask, how is this directly affecting patients? And my work actually is very much related to patients, and I answer that question, but I also say, but it's also important to do science for the science sake because you don't know where the applications are going to come from. And we need to, as a society, encourage and fund and support basic science as the seeds of all these translational work. And I think doing that just kind of highlights that this is important too. We should support it, not just things that right now seem very related to translational that directly helps patients.Eric Topol (37:16):Well, I'm so glad you emphasized that because I mean, the PIEZO story is the exemplar. Look what's come of it, what might still come of it. In many respects here you are maybe 15 years into the story and there's still many parts of this that are untold, but if it wasn't for the basic science, we wouldn't have these remarkable and diverse insights. And recently you cited, and I think so many people read about the ‘crown jewel' NIH, front page New York Times, and how it's under threat because the new NIH director doesn't have a regard for basic science. He's actually, he's confirmed, which is likely, he's an economist, physician economist, never practiced medicine, but he doesn't really have a lot of regard for basic science. But as you point out, almost every drug that we have today came out of NIH basic work. And I mean, not just that, but all the disease insights and treatments and so much.Eric Topol (38:25):So this is really unfortunate if we have not just an NIH and other supporting foundations that don't see the priority, the fundamental aspect of basic science to then lead to, as we call translational, and then ultimately the way to promote human health, which is I think what we're all very much focused on ultimately. But you can't do it without getting to first base, and that's what you have done. You served it up and it's a great example. Well, Ardem, it's always a pleasure. This is a first time talking through a podcast. I hope we'll have many, many visits informally that will complement the ones we've already had, and we will follow the PIEZO work. Obviously, you have had just an exceptional impact, but you're still young and who knows what's next, right? I mean, look what happened to Barry Sharpless. He won here. He won two Nobel prizes, so you never know where things are headed.Ardem Patapoutian (39:36):Thank you, Eric, and I really appreciate what you do for the biomedical community. I think it's wonderful through your social media and this podcast, we all appreciate it.***********************************************************************************Please take a moment to complete the poll above.Thank you for reading, listening and subscribing to Ground Truths.If you found this informative please share it!All content on Ground Truths—its newsletters, analyses, and podcasts, are free, open-access.Paid subscriptions are voluntary and of course appreciated. All proceeds from them go to support Scripps Research. Many thanks to those who have contributed—they have greatly helped fund our summer internship programs for the past two years. I welcome all comments from paid subscribers and will do my best to respond to each of them and any questions.Thanks to my producer Jessica Nguyen and to Sinjun Balabanoff for audio and video support at Scripps Research.And Happy New Year! Get full access to Ground Truths at erictopol.substack.com/subscribe

To wrap up 2024, science writer Riley Black shares her favorite paleontology discoveries of the year. And, if treated properly, even old-fashioned eggnog made with cream and raw eggs can be a safe holiday beverage.The Most Exciting Dino Discoveries Of 2024December is, traditionally, a time to reflect on the events of the past year—including dinosaur discoveries. In 2024, researchers learned more about T. rex and the spiky tails of stegosaurs as well as how dinosaurs evolved, lived, and more.For Smithsonian Magazine, dinosaur enthusiast and science writer Riley Black rounded up her top dino discoveries of the year. She talks with Ira Flatow about the most exciting paleontology news of 2024.Can Spiking Eggnog Kill Bacteria From The Raw Eggs?It's a question that occasionally comes up over the course of a holiday celebration, at least in certain circles: whether or not the alcohol in old-fashioned eggnog made with real cream and raw eggs can protect against foodborne pathogens such as salmonella.Around 15 years ago, Science Friday investigated, enlisting the help of a lab at Rockefeller University that has a tradition of mixing up a big batch of old-fashioned eggnog around Thanksgiving, then serving it weeks later at a lab holiday party. The researchers kindly conducted a controlled study in which they deliberately spiked samples of their potent eggnog with salmonella, then followed the mixture's bacterial status over the course of several weeks.Science Friday's Charles Bergquist checks in with Dr. Vincent Fischetti, a bacteriologist at Rockefeller, to see if there have been any advances in the field of eggnogology.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Have you ever looked for a mentor or thought about becoming one? This week's show explores the benefits on both sides. Mentorship can help shape careers, foster inclusivity, and make a workplace less lonely by developing stronger connections across teams and experiences. Whether through formal programs or informal connections, mentorship creates opportunities, and nurtures growth on both sides. My guests are: - Sonata Louvigny - Patricia Souza - Inês Crisóstomo - Sylvia Rohde-Liebenau National Mentoring Day on 27 Oct was inaugurated at the Houses of Parliament in London, led by Chelsey Baker. In December 2023 the Official Journal of the EU published the Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions entitled “Mentoring: A Powerful and Meaningful Tool for the Europe of Tomorrow." (links below) 


 During this conversation we discuss how to find a mentor, build a trusting environment for effective listening and communication and setting outcome expectations. Two way Street Mentorship can also be effective for mentors themselves, to develop stronger bonds and ideas within their organisation and learn how to ask good questions of oneself along with the other. Inês Crisóstomo encourages people to reach out to someone you might admire professionally and ask for an ‘information interview' with them for about 15 minutes. “You are not alone” Mentoring can be viewed as a learning conversation: learning about oneself; creating space for reflection and supporting action planning. It also helps to equalise opportunities, to create frameworks that support professional development. Informal networks often serve men more than women for example. With over a decade in Science Management, Inês supports scientists to thrive in an ever-evolving research landscape. She coordinates the Mentoring Program sponsored by the Gender Equality Group at the University of Luxembourg and works as a mentor and coach. Her own background is a Ph.D. in Biology from ITQB-UNL (Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier ITQB NOVA, Lisboa), with research conducted at the Rockefeller University in New York, USA. She has worked at iMM (Lisboa, Portugal) and in the Vienna BioCenter (Austria). Inês knows how important mentorship can be in a research environment and is accredited by the MCAA (Marie Curie Alumni Association), EMCC, EMCC Luxembourg (European Mentoring and Coaching Council), and the CARE network (Career Advisors Supporting Researchers in Europe), fostering collaborations and knowledge sharing within global communities. Patricia Souza is the co-founder of WeSTEM+ (Women in Excel STEM) and a Leadership Development and Inclusion Consultant focused on creating more inclusive and equitable business environments. She is also the co-chair the Membership Stream for the NextGen chapter of Lead Network and a board member of the BeLux Chapter. Patricia believes in empowerment through guidance, and a build-up of confidence and leadership through a good mentor. However, she also states that mentorship is a two-way relationship with a ripple effect to the circles of influence for both participants. “It's about building a relationship that can change the trajectory of their life.” Sylvia Rohde-Liebenau is a leadership expert who worked in HR for many years, where she became involved with mentoring. Sylvia created the first ever mentoring programme at the European Investment Bank and later, together with Rita Knott, the Youth Mentoring Programme in Luxembourg. Today she works as an executive coach to leaders on all levels, with a focus on leadership presence, resilience, communication and impact. For organisations, Sylvia believes mentor programmes are fantastic (and cheap) L&D tools that cover several purposes, in particular: 1) fostering a cohesive organisational culture 2) passing organisation specific knowledge to newcomers and younger professionals, 3) creating networks 4) fostering a learning environment Mentors give back AND about learn about themselves. Mentees: “You get as much as you put in (it's not a free lunch)” Keys to successful mentoring include building trust and openness at the start; clear agreements and engagement from both sides; basic coaching skills for mentors. Sonata Louvigny is an EU project and program management leader, coach and mentor. Her starting point in mentoring was experiencing the negative impacts of mismanaged mentoring within her team. Sonata's master's thesis was on managing the mentoring process and to help various organisations develop effective mentoring programs aligned with their goals. She is a member of professional mentoring associations such as IMA and EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council). She worked with EMCC Luxembourg, where her role was to oversee the accreditation process for coaches and mentors. Sonata warns that a mentor could be in a position of authority over the mentee, which is more common in traditional mentoring but not in developmental mentoring, and therefore professional guidelines are really important. Through her work she believes that mentoring is not just a hobby but requires specific competencies and skills. Effective mentors should be aware of the professional standards, continuously develop their capabilities, and, if they wish, seek accreditation to ensure they provide high-quality, impactful mentoring. How to find a mentor My guests suggest: - Identify people that inspire you. - Reach out to them - Join groups - Find peers - Take advantage of organisations that create mentorship programs (workplace, non-profit organisations, educational institutions, professional associations, government initiatives, and community organizations, among others). Links: Mentorship Platforms for anyone, for example: https://www.mentoring-club.com/ https://nationalmentoringday.org/history/timeline https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52023IR1537
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylvia-rohde-liebenau-phd-b51b0328/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriciasouza11/ http://we-stem.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonata-kucin/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/inescrisostomo/ https://www.linkedin.com/school/university-of-luxembourg/ University of Luxembourg (@uni.lu) • Instagram photos and videos

Support the show to get full episodes and join the Discord community. The Transmitter is an online publication that aims to deliver useful information, insights and tools to build bridges across neuroscience and advance research. Visit thetransmitter.org to explore the latest neuroscience news and perspectives, written by journalists and scientists. Read more about our partnership: https://www.thetransmitter.org/partners/ Sign up for the “Brain Inspired” email alerts to be notified every time a new “Brain Inspired” episode is released: https://www.thetransmitter.org/newsletters/ To explore more neuroscience news and perspectives, visit thetransmitter.org. Hessam Akhlaghpour is a postdoctoral researcher at Rockefeller University in the Maimon lab. His experimental work is in fly neuroscience mostly studying spatial memories in fruit flies. However, we are going to be talking about a different (although somewhat related) side of his postdoctoral research. This aspect of his work involves theoretical explorations of molecular computation, which are deeply inspired by Randy Gallistel and Adam King's book Memory and the Computational Brain. Randy has been on the podcast before to discuss his ideas that memory needs to be stored in something more stable than the synapses between neurons, and how that something could be genetic material like RNA. When Hessam read this book, he was re-inspired to think of the brain the way he used to think of it before experimental neuroscience challenged his views. It re-inspired him to think of the brain as a computational system. But it also led to what we discuss today, the idea that RNA has the capacity for universal computation, and Hessam's development of how that might happen. So we discuss that background and story, why universal computation has been discovered in organisms yet since surely evolution has stumbled upon it, and how RNA might and combinatory logic could implement universal computation in nature. Hessam's website. Maimon Lab. Twitter: @theHessam. Related papers An RNA-based theory of natural universal computation. The molecular memory code and synaptic plasticity: a synthesis. Lifelong persistence of nuclear RNAs in the mouse brain. Cris Moore's conjecture #5 in this 1998 paper. (The Gallistel book): Memory and the Computational Brain: Why Cognitive Science Will Transform Neuroscience. Related episodes BI 126 Randy Gallistel: Where Is the Engram? BI 172 David Glanzman: Memory All The Way Down Read the transcript. 0:00 - Intro 4:44 - Hessam's background 11:50 - Randy Gallistel's book 14:43 - Information in the brain 17:51 - Hessam's turn to universal computation 35:30 - AI and universal computation 40:09 - Universal computation to solve intelligence 44:22 - Connecting sub and super molecular 50:10 - Junk DNA 56:42 - Genetic material for coding 1:06:37 - RNA and combinatory logic 1:35:14 - Outlook 1:42:11 - Reflecting on the molecular world

It's fair to say that enjoyment of a podcast would be severely limited without the human capacity to create and understand speech. That capacity has often been cited as a defining characteristic of our species, and one that sets us apart in the long history of life on Earth. Yet we know that other species communicate in complex ways. Studies of the neurological foundations of language suggest that birdsong, or communication among bats or elephants, originates with brain structures similar to our own. So why do some species vocalize while others don't? In this episode, Erich Jarvis, who studies behavior and neurogenetics at the Rockefeller University, chats with Janna Levin about the surprising connections between human speech, birdsong and dance.

  In this episode of “Don't Take No for An Answer,” Eric Jesse, partner in Lowenstein Sandler's Insurance Recovery Group, is joined by Alexander B. Corson to discuss bad faith in insurance claims. Highlighting a recent example of a case involving Rockefeller University, Eric and Alex explain how breach of contract claims are different from bad faith claims, why choice of law matters, and how policyholders can protect themselves against insurers who sit on their hands. Speakers: Eric Jesse, Partner, Insurance RecoveryAlexander B. Corson, Associate, Insurance Recovery

Today, we're honored to have the extraordinary Casey Whalen in the suite—Managing Director, Head, and Chief Investment Officer at Lazard Family Office Partners, a global powerhouse in financial advisory and asset management. Lazard's influence spans continents, from the Americas to Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and beyond.In this episode, we dive deep into themes of resilience, risk-taking, and seizing pivotal opportunities. Casey's story is about mentorship, grit, and knowing when to act. One of her defining moments? Her mentorship under the legendary David Swensen, Yale's Chief Investment Officer. Fresh out of Yale with a degree in economics, Casey was already making waves at the university's endowment, cutting her teeth across various asset classes. This set the stage for her impressive rise.Her journey took her to Brookdale Realty in Atlanta, then back to the Northeast, where she joined The Rockefeller University as Director of Public Investments. At just 30, Casey became the New York Public Library's first-ever Chief Investment Officer, building an investment office from scratch and implementing groundbreaking processes to manage its endowment. Her career is a testament to bold leadership and innovation.But this isn't just a career highlight reel. Casey opens up about the personal challenges she's faced, the importance of mentorship, and how macroeconomic trends are shaping the future of investments. We also explore why gender balance in firms is a competitive edge and how diverse teams drive innovation.Packed with raw insights and invaluable lessons, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to lead, break barriers, and thrive In The Suite.

Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@optispan Check out Productive Health: https://productivehealth.org/ Check out the Garrison Lab: https://garrisonlab.com/ We had a great time hosting Dr. Jennifer Garrison from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging to talk about her areas of expertise: reproductive aging and neuropeptide signaling. Jennifer and Matt go over the fascinating and chronically under-researched science of menopause, misconceptions about hormone replacement therapy, and the importance of considering the endocrine function of the ovaries alongside their role in reproduction. They also chat about evolutionary questions around menopause, changes they would like to see in medical school curricula, and more. In addition to her research lab at the Buck, Jennifer serves as co-founder and director of Productive Health, formerly the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity & Equality, which is the global arm of the Buck Center for Healthy Aging in Women. She holds appointments at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Southern California. She is also a Founding Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) Woods Hole Biology of Aging (BOA) Advanced Training Course. She has received numerous awards, including a National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) for Established Investigators, a Glenn Medical Foundation Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, an American Federation of Aging Research Junior Faculty Award, and a National Academy of Medicine Healthy Longevity Catalyst Award. Jennifer conducted postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University and received a PhD and a B.A. from the University of California, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley respectively. Producers: Tara Mei, Nicholas Arapis Video Editor: Jacob Keliikoa DISCLAIMER: The information provided on the Optispan podcast is intended solely for general educational purposes and is not meant to be, nor should it be construed as, personalized medical advice. No doctor-patient relationship is established by your use of this channel. The information and materials presented are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We strongly advise that you consult with a licensed healthcare professional for all matters concerning your health, especially before undertaking any changes based on content provided by this channel. The hosts and guests on this channel are not liable for any direct, indirect, or other damages or adverse effects that may arise from the application of the information discussed. Medical knowledge is constantly evolving; therefore, the information provided should be verified against current medical standards and practices. More places to find us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/optispanpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/mkaeberlein Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/optispan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/optispanpodcast/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563453482706 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@optispan https://www.optispan.life/ Hi, I'm Matt Kaeberlein. I spent the first few decades of my career doing scientific research into the biology of aging, trying to understand the finer details of how humans age in order to facilitate translational interventions that promote healthspan and improve quality of life. Now I want to take some of that knowledge out of the lab and into the hands of people who can really use it. On this podcast I talk about all things aging and healthspan, from supplements and nutrition to the latest discoveries in longevity research. My goal is to lift the veil on the geroscience and longevity world and help you apply what we know to your own personal health trajectory. I care about quality science and will always be honest about what I don't know. I hope you'll find these episodes helpful!

Brent grew up in the college town of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and is the son of a teacher/school administrator (dad) and a successful real estate broker (mom). On a family trip to NYC when Brent was in grade school, he saw Ethel Merman in Hello, Dolly! This sparked a love of theater and eventually a move to Manhattan to pursue a career in musical theater. Brent has performed off-Broadway, in regional theaters across the US, and on cruise ships worldwide for over ten years. In the late 1990s, Brent left the theater and began working in non-profit administration, spending almost 20 years as the business manager for a Nobel laureate in a research laboratory at Rockefeller University.A friend from his theater days introduced Brent to Asbury Park, NJ, in the early 2000s when the city changed from a gritty ghost town to a Jersey Shore Mecca for gays wanting to nab an affordable house near the beach. After many vacation trips to Asbury, Brent and his husband bought their first shore home in 2011.Brent retired early at the end of the pandemic and started a new career in real estate, following in his mother's footsteps. He enjoys making many new friends, as his mother did, and helping to find the perfect shore home for his clients.Brent enjoys small-town life. Now in his third Asbury home, he lives with his husband Joe, also a former actor turned non-profit professional, and their mini-Aussiedoodle Dickens.SummaryBrent Winborn shares his journey to Asbury Park, New Jersey, highlighting the city's transformation from a gritty ghost town to a vibrant LGBTQ+ mecca. He describes Asbury Park's geographical overview, unique perspectives, and proximity to New York City and Philadelphia. Brent also discusses the climate, which has four seasons but milder winters and longer fall periods. He emphasizes the strong LGBTQ+ community in Asbury Park, the presence of gay bars and hotels, and the sense of community and acceptance. Brent also provides insights into the cost of living, including home prices, rentals, utilities, and groceries. Asbury Park offers diverse housing options, from newer condos to renovated older buildings. The vibrant cultural scene has festivals, music events, theaters, and galleries. The restaurant scene is diverse, with options ranging from dive bar burgers to high-end dining. Asbury Park is a walkable city, and while public transportation is limited, e-scooters and e-bikes are popular for getting around. Safety is not a major concern, and excellent healthcare facilities are nearby. Challenges include parking availability and the need for more hotels. Overall, Asbury Park offers a unique small-town atmosphere with an urban feel.For NJ State Tax info on Social Security, Pensions, 401K's and IRA's Is There an E Street? Where?E Street runs northeast through the New Jersey shore town of Belmar. According to Springsteen lore, the band took its name from the street because original keyboard player David Sancious's mother lived there and allowed the band to rehearse in her house. The titular avenue of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is also in Belmar.

Svenska Torsten Wiesel är nobelpristagaren i medicin som upptäckt grunden för hur våra synintryck blir till bilder i hjärnan. Han har varit rektor på Rockefeller University och är fortfarande rådgivare åt unga forskare. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. Torsten Wiesels och kollegan David Hubels forskning om synen handlade om hur synintryck på näthinnan går vidare och omvandlas till bilder i hjärnan. Det ledde också till att vi förstod hur viktigt det är att barn med medfödda synfel behandlas så fort som möjligt för att kunna ge dem en normal utveckling av synen.Torsten Wiesel växte upp vid mentalsjukhuset Beckomberga, där hans pappa var chefspsykiater. – Jag såg ingen skillnad på dem som var utanför och innanför staketet, säger han.Uppväxten väckte hans engagemang för dem som inte passar in och den har han haft med sig hela livet.– Jag har försökt vara en positiv kraft, säger han, om sina olika engagemang.Hör tankar från denna hundraåring som läste till läkare i slutet av 1940-talet, flyttade till USA och började forska på 1950-talet, fick medicinpriset 1981 och var rektor på Rockefeller University på 1990-talet. Och som fortfarande är rådgivare och mentor åt unga forskare.Programmet är en repris från juni 2024.Lena Nordlundlena.nordlund@sr.seMusiken i programmet: ”It's Still Warm” av kompositören Mike McGinnis. Den finns på albumet ”Ängsudden Song Cycle”, med texter av konstnären Mususa Wiesel, inspirerad av Torsten Wiesels barndom på familjens skärgårdsställe.

Brent grew up in the college town of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and is the son of a teacher/school administrator (dad) and a successful real estate broker (mom). On a family trip to NYC when Brent was in grade school, he saw Ethel Merman in Hello, Dolly! This sparked a love of theater and eventually a move to Manhattan to pursue a career in musical theater. Brent has performed off-Broadway, in regional theaters across the US, and on cruise ships worldwide for over ten years. In the late 1990s, Brent left the theater and began working in non-profit administration, spending almost 20 years as the business manager for a Nobel laureate in a research laboratory at Rockefeller University.A friend from his theater days introduced Brent to Asbury Park, NJ, in the early 2000s when the city changed from a gritty ghost town to a Jersey Shore Mecca for gays wanting to nab an affordable house near the beach. After many vacation trips to Asbury, Brent and his husband bought their first shore home in 2011.Brent retired early at the end of the pandemic and started a new career in real estate, following in his mother's footsteps. He enjoys making many new friends, as his mother did, and helping to find the perfect shore home for his clients.Brent enjoys small-town life. Now in his third Asbury home, he lives with his husband Joe, also a former actor turned non-profit professional, and their mini-Aussiedoodle Dickens.SummaryBrent Winborn shares his journey to Asbury Park, New Jersey, highlighting the city's transformation from a gritty ghost town to a vibrant LGBTQ+ mecca. He describes Asbury Park's geographical overview, unique perspectives, and proximity to New York City and Philadelphia. Brent also discusses the climate, which has four seasons but milder winters and longer fall periods. He emphasizes the strong LGBTQ+ community in Asbury Park, the presence of gay bars and hotels, and the sense of community and acceptance. Brent also provides insights into the cost of living, including home prices, rentals, utilities, and groceries. Asbury Park offers diverse housing options, from newer condos to renovated older buildings. The vibrant cultural scene has festivals, music events, theaters, and galleries. The restaurant scene is diverse, with options ranging from dive bar burgers to high-end dining. Asbury Park is a walkable city, and while public transportation is limited, e-scooters and e-bikes are popular for getting around. Safety is not a major concern, and excellent healthcare facilities are nearby. Challenges include parking availability and the need for more hotels. Overall, Asbury Park offers a unique small-town atmosphere with an urban feel.For NJ State Tax info on Social Security, Pensions, 401K's and IRA's Is There an E Street? Where?E Street runs northeast through the New Jersey shore town of Belmar. According to Springsteen lore, the band took its name from the street because original keyboard player David Sancious's mother lived there and allowed the band to rehearse in her house. The titular avenue of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is also in Belmar.

Synopsis: In this engaging episode, host, Rahul Chaturvedi welcomes Marshall Fordyce, Founder and CEO of Vera Therapeutics, to discuss his transformative journey from physician to biotech entrepreneur. Marshall shares the story behind Vera Therapeutics' strategic pivot to focus on IG nephropathy and their development of atacicept, a promising B-cell modulator. He provides valuable insights into the biotech industry's landscape, emphasizing the importance of scientific rigor, adaptability, and maintaining a lean, effective operating model. Marshall's enthusiasm for advancing autoimmune disease treatments and his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs make this a must-listen episode. Biography: Dr. Fordyce brings more than 15 years' experience leading teams in drug discovery, development, clinical translation, and commercialization of new treatments. Before founding Vera, Fordyce was the founder and CEO of gene-editing company Trucode Gene Repair, Inc., having previously served as an entrepreneur in residence at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Earlier in his career, Fordyce served as Senior Director of clinical research at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where he contributed to seven new drug approvals and served as project lead for Gilead's TAF/GENVOYA development program. With subspecialty training in infectious disease from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Fordyce was previously Chief Resident at NYU Bellevue and spent two years as a translational research fellow at Rockefeller University. Fordyce currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. He received his BA from Harvard University and his MD from Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Paul Szabolcs trained at Semmelweis University School of Medicine in Budapest. He completed his residency at Bellevue Hospital/NYU Medical Center and was Chief Fellow at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at Memorial Sloan Kettering in Molecular Biology and at Rockefeller University in Physiology and Cellular Immunology. He has been Chief of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapies division at the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh since 2011. Dr. Szabolcs has dedicated his career to developing effective “reduced-intensity” chemotherapy regimens for patients in need of a blood or bone marrow transplant, especially children with rare immune-system defects and degenerative brain diseases.

Dr. Ben Bikman's lecture on leptin, delivered in his Metabolic Classroom series, highlights the hormone's critical role in metabolism. Leptin, primarily produced by white fat tissue, helps regulate energy balance by signaling the brain to suppress appetite and promoting mitochondrial biogenesis in muscle cells. Leptin levels correlate with body fat, and various factors like insulin and TNF alpha influence its production. Insulin significantly stimulates leptin secretion, highlighting a complex interplay between these hormones.Leptin resistance, a condition where the body fails to respond effectively to leptin despite high levels, is similar to insulin resistance and often occurs in individuals with higher body fat. This leads to compromised satiety signals, energy expenditure, and potential obesity. Dr. Bikman also explores leptin's broader effects on reproductive health, thyroid function, immune function, vascular health, and bone formation. These diverse roles underline leptin's significance in the body.A historical perspective reveals leptin's discovery in 1994 by Dr. Jeff Friedman's lab at Rockefeller University. They found that leptin played a crucial role in regulating body weight in mice. However, leptin injections in obese humans did not yield similar results, as most obese individuals already have high leptin levels, leading to the understanding that leptin resistance, not a lack of leptin, is the issue in obesity.The lecture concludes with practical insights on addressing leptin resistance, emphasizing the importance of controlling blood glucose and insulin levels, particularly through low-carb diets. This approach helps reduce leptin levels and improve leptin sensitivity, offering a pathway to better metabolic health and weight control. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest Bio: Among the most distinguished classical artists of his generation, clarinetist Jon Manasse is internationally recognized for his inspiring artistry, uniquely glorious sound and charismatic performing style. Jon Manasse's solo appearances include New York City performances at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, Hunter College's Sylvia & Danny Kaye Playhouse, Columbia University, Rockefeller University and The Town Hall, fourteen tours of Japan and Southeast Asia – all with the New York Symphonic Ensemble, debuts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Osaka and concerto performances with Gerard Schwarz and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, both at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and at the prestigious Tokyu Bunkamura Festival in Tokyo.  Jon Manasse is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with David Weber.  Mr. Manasse was a top prize winner in the Thirty-Sixth International Competition for Clarinet in Munich and the youngest winner of the International Clarinet Society Competition. Currently, he is an official “Performing Artist” of both the Buffet Crampon Company and Vandoren, the Parisian firms that are the world's oldest and most distinguished clarinet maker and reed maker, respectively. Mr. Manasse is currently on the faculties of The Juilliard School,The Lynn Conservatory, and The Mannes School of Music. Jon Manasse and his Duo partner, the acclaimed pianist Jon Nakamatsu, serve as Artistic Directors of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, an appointment announced during summer 2006.   Learn more about Jon at https://jonmanasse.com/ Support the show at www.patreon.com/clarineat

Robert Lustig, MD, MSL is a Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Lustig has become a leading public health authority on the impact sugar has on fueling the diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome epidemics, and on addressing changes in the food environment to reverse these chronic diseases.   In his New York Times best selling book Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processes Food, Obesity, and Disease, Robert documents both the science and the politics that have led to the current pandemic of obesity and chronic disease. In the Fat Chance Cookbook, Robert provides practical examples for applying healthy eating principles with recipes by Cindy Gershen.   Dr. Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist, with basic and clinical training relative to hypothalamic development, anatomy, and function. Prior to coming to San Francisco in 2001, he worked at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. There, he was charged with the endocrine care of many children whose hypothalami had been damaged by brain tumors, or subsequent surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. Many patients who survived became massively obese. Dr. Lustig theorized that hypothalamic damage led to the inability to sense the hormone leptin, which in turn, led to the starvation response. Since repairing the hypothalamus was not an option, he looked downstream, and noted that these patients had increased activity of the vagus nerve (a manifestation of starvation) which increased insulin secretion. By administering the insulin suppressive agent octreotide, he was able to get them to lose weight; but more remarkably, they started to exercise spontaneously. He then demonstrated the same phenomenon in obese adults without CNS lesions.   The universality of these findings has enabled Dr. Lustig to weave these threads together into a novel unifying hypothesis regarding the etiology, prevention, and treatment of the current obesity epidemic, and the role of our environment in the biochemical changes that promote weight gain. This has led him to explore the specific role of fructose (half of sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup) as a specific mediator of both chronic disease, and continued caloric consumption. His acclaimed YouTube video, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” continues its popularity with the lay public.   A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Lustig went to Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976, and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1980. He completed his pediatric residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital in 1983, and his clinical fellowship at UCSF in 1984. From there, he spent six years as a post-doctoral fellow and research associate in neuroendocrinology at The Rockefeller University. He has also been a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Tennessee, Memphis. In 2013, Dr. Lustig received his Masters in the study of Law from University of California, Hastings to enable him to impact the food industry through policy change.   Dr. Lustig has authored 125 peer-reviewed articles and 73 reviews. He has mentored 20 pediatric endocrine fellows, and trained numerous other allied health professionals. He provides endocrinologic support to several protocols of the Children's Oncology Group. He is the former Chairman of the Ad hoc Obesity Task Force of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, a member of the Pediatric Obesity Practice Guidelines Subcommittee of The Endocrine Society, a member of the Obesity Task Force of the Endocrine Society, a member of the Pediatric Obesity Devices Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a member of the Bay Area Board of Directors of the American Heart Association, and a member of the Steering Committee of Health Foods, Healthy Kids of the Culinary Institute of America. He also consults for several childhood obesity advocacy groups.   Dr. Lustig lives in San Francisco with his wife Julie and two daughters. Spare time (what little there is) is spent cooking, theater-going, and traveling.

Torsten Wiesel är nobelpristagaren i medicin som upptäckt grunden för hur våra synintryck blir till bilder i hjärnan. Nu har han varit i Sverige för att fira sina 100 år. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. Torsten Wiesels och kollegan David Hubels forskning om synen handlade om hur synintryck på näthinnan går vidare och omvandlas till bilder i hjärnan. Det ledde också till att vi förstod hur viktigt det är att barn med medfödda synfel behandlas så fort som möjligt för att kunna ge dem en normal utveckling av synen.Torsten Wiesel växte upp vid mentalsjukhuset Beckomberga, där hans pappa var chefspsykiater. – Jag såg ingen skillnad på dem som var utanför och innanför staketet, säger han.Uppväxten väckte hans engagemang för dem som inte passar in och den har han haft med sig hela livet.– Jag har försökt vara en positiv kraft, säger han, om sina olika engagemang.Hör tankar från denna hundraåring som läste till läkare i slutet av 1940-talet, flyttade till USA och började forska på 1950-talet, fick medicinpriset 1981 och var rektor på Rockefeller University på 1990-talet. Och som fortfarande är rådgivare och mentor åt unga forskare.Lena Nordlundlena.nordlund@sr.seMusiken i programmet: ”It's Still Warm” av kompositören Mike McGinnis. Den finns på albumet ”Ängsudden Song Cycle”, med texter av konstnären Mususa Wiesel, inspirerad av Torsten Wiesels barndom på familjens skärgårdsställe.

Dr. John Aitchison is President and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research, the largest independent, non-profit organization in the U.S. that is focused solely on infectious disease research. In addition, John serves as an affiliate or adjunct Professor at the University of Washington, the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, and the Institute for Systems Biology. John's research investigates the systems biology related to infectious disease by using technology, computation, and high throughput biology to examine molecules in complex biological systems to better understand how the system will react to a new stimulus or perturbation. Their ultimate goal is to predict how effective a drug or vaccine will be against a particular disease and to implement it with high efficiency. When he's not in the office or the lab, John loves to be out on the water sailing and racing sailboats. He's also a fan of playing squash, skiing, spending time with his family, and being outdoors. John received his B.Sc. degree with Honors in Biochemistry from McMaster University and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from McMaster University as well. He then conducted postdoctoral research in the Laboratory of Cell Biology at The Rockefeller University. Next, John served on the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta. Afterwards, he became a founding member at the Institute for Systems Biology where he later served as Senior Vice President and Executive Director of Integrative Biology. While working at the Institute for Systems Biology, John also began conducting research at the Center for Infectious Disease Research where he still works today. In our interview John shares his experiences in life, leadership, and science.

Today's cover art, crafted by listener Josh Haberman, features heavy metal merpeople in whalebone armor inspired by Gaby's vision in our "Underwater Civilizations" episode. Explore more of Josh's work at his blog: https://artofjoshhaberman.blogspot.com and share your own inspired creations! We're sharing "Space Vacuum MONSTERS!" as an encore presentation while Team IF is away from the studio. This episode delves into cosmic wilderness, exploring space vacuum monsters and metaphoric Kaiju that inhabit the remote corners of the universe. Inspired by one of Gaby's imaginative short stories, "A Sword Between The Stars," it originally aired a while back. Today, we celebrate Gaby, not only for her creative contributions but also for her recent achievement in earning her PhD from Rockefeller University. Congratulations, Gaby, on this wonderful accomplishment! Gaby's short story "A Sword Between The Stars" is featured in the anthology "Luminescent Machinations: Queer Tales of Monumental Invention," available at Neon Hemlock: https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention. --- Check out our membership rewards! Visit us at https://Patreon.com/Whattheif Got an IF of your own? Want to have us consider your idea for a show topic? Send YOUR IF to us! Email us at feedback@whattheif.com and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big! Don't miss an episode! Subscribe at https://WhatTheIF.com Keep On IFFin', Philip, Matt & Gaby

Today, we're delving into a topic that's both profound and hopeful: the harm of childhood trauma and the incredible power of resilience. Joining me on the show is Dr. Marc D. Hauser, who's here to unravel these complex topics in a way that's accessible and empowering for all parents. Through his groundbreaking work, including his new book Vulnerable Minds: The Harms of Childhood Trauma and the Hope of Resiliency, which is what we're diving into today, Marc brings scientific evidence about childhood trauma to a broader audience and sheds light on the pathways to healing and growth. In this conversation, we explore what constitutes a traumatic experience and why neurodivergent children may be more vulnerable to their effects, as well as ACES, or Adverse Childhood Experiences, often misunderstood but profoundly influential in shaping a child's journey. Marc helps us understand their significance in the context of resilience.   About Marc Hauser Marc Hauser is a scientist, educator, author, consultant and public speaker. Hauser's scientific research, including over 300 published papers and seven books, has focused on how the brain evolves, develops, and is altered by damage and neurodevelopmental disorders, with an emphasis on the processes of learning and decision-making, as well as the impact of traumatic experiences on development. Hauser's educational and consulting work has focused on the implementation of quantitative, brain-based methods for teachers, clinicians, and doctors working with children who have different disabilities, including especially those that result from a history of traumatic experiences. Hauser earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Bucknell University, a PhD from UCLA and Post-doctoral fellowships from the University of Michigan, Rockefeller University, and University of California-Davis. From 1992-2011, he was a Professor at Harvard University. In 2013, he founded the company Risk-Eraser, dedicated to providing software and consulting to programs focusing on students in special education. His most recent book Vulnerable Minds, published in March 2024 by Avery-Penguin-Random House Publishing, New York.   Things you'll learn from this episode How Vulnerable Minds makes scientific evidence about childhood trauma accessible to a broader audience How traumatic experiences are defined The impact of trauma on neurodivergent children as well as ways in which these kids are more vulnerable to trauma What it means for a school to be trauma-informed in action What ACES are and how their assignment and meaning is frequently misinterpreted and misunderstood The role of nature and nurture when it comes to whether other not an experience results in trauma or is met with resiliency   Resources mentioned for the Harm of Childhood Trauma and the Hope of Resiliency Dr. Marc D. Hauser's author website Vulnerable Minds: The Harms of Childhood Trauma and the Hope of Resiliency by Dr. Marc D. Hauser International Children's Aid Network (iCAN) Marc Hauser on X Marc Hauser on Instagram Marc Hauser on Linkedin Marc Hauser on Facebook Dr. Vincent Falliti Stephen Porges and Polyvagal Theory The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Health and Development in Young Children (National Institute of Health Study) The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, MD What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey Kelly Mahler on Understanding and Supporting Kids' Interoception Experience (Tilt Parenting Podcast) Lori Desautels on Shifting Educational Systems Toward Post-Traumatic Growth (Tilt Parenting Podcast) Revelations in Education, Dr. Lori Desautel's website Intentional Neuroplasticity: Our Educational Journey Towards Post Traumatic Growth by Dr. Lori Desautels   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're back for another exploration of the magnificence and mystery of the universe — talking with three researchers who share not only a passion, but a respect for the species in their decidedly non-human, wildly intelligent subjects of research. First we meet Dr. Paco Calvo, a renowned cognitive scientist and professor of philosophy of science at the University of Murcia in Spain. Dr. Calvo has been called a philosopher of biology, who believes that by studying plant cognition, humans might be able to learn a little bit more about ourselves. And we hear from neuroscientist Marcelo Magnasco, a biophysicist professor and head of laboratory at Rockefeller University, New York, who works closely with Dr. Diana Reiss, professor of psychology at Hunter College and the director of the animal behavior and conservation graduate programs. Together, this team explores octopus intelligence.     •    Read the transcript of this episode     •    Subscribe to Stories of Impact wherever you listen to podcasts     •    Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube     •    Share your comments, questions and suggestions at info@storiesofimpact.org     •    Supported by Templeton World Charity Foundation  

Today we sat down with Dr. Charles Rice, the Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Professor in Virology at Rockefeller University. Dr. Rice is an expert in RNA viruses, viruses that use RNA as opposed to DNA in their genome, and studies the body's innate immune response to infection. However, he is most known for his work on Hepatitis C Virus, which causes liver disease and cirrhosis if untreated. Dr. Rice was the first to achieve a successful cell culture of Hepatitis C, create a functional clone of the virus, and prove that the virus causes the disease. This work led to the first effective treatments for Hepatitis C, saving millions of lives worldwide and earning Dr. Rice and his collaborators the 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. Title music: World Is Holding Hands by WinnieTheMoog https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Team IF is OFF this week, we're celebrating Gaby becoming DR. GABY with the completion of her PhD at Rockefeller University!!! We're super proud of her. So this week we present this encore presentation of one of our most popular episodes, enjoy, and keep those emails coming! WhatTheIF.com/contact -- and send your congratulations to Gaby! --- We salute our newest Patreon members. Thank you: Connie, Martin, and Dan! Welcome to an icy exploration of reality on this episode of "What The IF?" Dive headfirst into a brain-freezing alternate universe, as Philip, Freya, Gabby, and Matt grapple with an extraordinary question, submitted by our Super Iffer listener, Martin from Frankfurt: What the if... water did not have its highest density at plus four degrees Celsius? The team embarks on an adventure that treads the fine line between physics and biology, unwrapping the counter-intuitive conundrums and startling possibilities that lie ahead. In this bewildering world, ice doesn't float and frozen lakes become deadly traps for aquatic life. Discover how this slight shift in water's properties could send catastrophic ripples through ecosystems, extinguishing fish populations and upsetting the balance of life. The conversation spans from the microscopic intricacies of water molecules and the life-saving 'anti-freeze' proteins in fish, all the way to the grand scale of planetary bodies. The team also makes a cosmic detour to Europa, a moon of Jupiter, reputed to hold more water than Earth, highlighting the universal significance of water's unique properties. Could life exist in a world where water behaves differently? Listen in, as the team freezes the status quo and takes you on a fascinating journey through the ice-cold unknown. --- Listen to Gaby's guest appearance on the “Students of Life” podcast: studentsoflife.podbean.com/e/science-c…on-writing/ Find out more about Gaby's upcoming science fiction short story publication, coming soon! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be pre-ordered here : www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminesce…ental-invention The ebook can be pre-ordered here: www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminesc…ental-invention

HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is completely self-funded, produced, and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich. Consider making a small donation to support the Podcast: bit.ly/SupportGTPodcast. Thank you! For more information, please visit Nathalie's website, join the podcast's Instagram page, and subscribe to the newsletter to receive updates on future episodes here.About this week's episodeIf you've been listening to the How to Deal with Grief and Trauma Podcast for a while you will have heard me or our guests speak about the term ACEs, short for Adverse Childhood Experiences before. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic experiences that children experience before the age of 18 that can have lasting impacts on their mental health, physical health, and general well-being. As a psychological therapist and grief and trauma expert, I am faced with people's life experiences on a daily basis and can see the impact and effect Adverse Childhood Experiences have on a person's life, both past and present. About this week's guest Marc Hauser's scientific research, including over 300 published papers and seven books, has focused on how the brain evolves, develops, and is altered by damage and neurodevelopmental disorders, with an emphasis on the processes of learning and decision-making, as well as the impact of traumatic experiences on development. His educational and consulting work has focused on the implementation of quantitative, brain-based methods for teachers, clinicians, and doctors working with children who have different disabilities, including especially those that result from a history of traumatic experiences. Marc has earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Bucknell University, a PhD from UCLA and Post-doctoral fellowships from the University of Michigan, Rockefeller University, and University of California-Davis. For almost 20 years he was a Professor at Harvard University. In 2013, he founded the company Risk-Eraser, dedicated to providing software and consulting to programs focusing on students in special education. Website: marcdhauser.comLI: @mdhauserFB: www.facebook.com/MarcDHauserResources mentioned in this episode:Marc's book: Vulnerable Minds: The Harm of Childhood Trauma and the Hope of Resilience  Support the showSupport the show: Become a supporter of the show! Starting at $3/month Join Facebook Group - Grief and Trauma Support Network Download the FREE grief resource eBook Book a Discovery Call Leave a review Follow on socials: Instagram Facebook Website

What modern Indian genomes say about the region's deep past, and how vitamin A influences stem cell plasticity First up this week, Online News Editor Michael Price and host Sarah Crespi talk about a large genome sequencing project in India that reveals past migrations in the region and a unique intermixing with Neanderthals in ancient times.   Next on the show, producer Kevin McLean chats with Matthew Tierney, a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University, about how vitamin A and stem cells work together to grow hair and heal wounds.   This week's episode was produced with help from Podigy.   About the Science Podcast   Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Michael Price Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.zfhqarg   About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

Dr. Alan R. Saltiel is Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, Maryam Ahmadian Endowed Chair in Metabolic Health, Director of the Institute for Diabetes and Metabolic Health at UC, San Diego, and Director of the UCSD/UCLA Diabetes Research Center. Alan studies how cells that are involved in metabolism decide to take up and store energy, burn energy, or release energy for other cells to use in response to hormones, nutritional cues, and metabolic stress. He is particularly interested in studying cells in liver and fat tissues and better understanding the pathways involved in controlling the metabolic activities of these cells. When he's not working, Alan enjoys exercise and physical activity, including tennis and occasionally basketball. He also likes to read fiction and non-fiction, spend time with friends and family, and experiment with cooking Mediterranean cuisine. He received his bachelor's degree in zoology from Duke University, and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina. Afterwards, he conducted postdoctoral research at the Wellcome Research Laboratories. Alan served on the faculty at Rockefeller University before joining Parke Davis Pharmaceutical Research in 1990, where he remained until 2001 when he accepted a position at the University of Michigan. He transitioned to his current positions in 2015. Alan has received numerous awards and honors, including the Rosalyn Yalow Research and Development Award from the American Diabetes Association; the Hirschl Award from Hirschl Trust; the John Jacob Abel, Goodman and Gilman, and Pharmacia-ASPET Awards from the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and he was named a Fellow of the Society in 2022. In addition, Alan is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an elected Member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and an elected Member of the National Academy of Medicine. In this interview, Alan shares more about his life and science.

Studies show that over 65% of patients with chronic pain, Parkinson's Disease, post-acute stroke, and pelvic floor disorders do not fully recover with current treatments - resulting in hospital readmissions and ER visits. In this episode, we are joined by Siva Nadarajah, co-founder and President of JOGO Health, to share how more than a decade's worth of research and testing has been undertaken to address this problem through their digital rehabilitation solution. Promising early results have shown how several chronic residual disabilities can be treated via telemedicine using their platform. JOGO helps healthy brain cell networks rewire themselves to work with muscles that have become inactive due to stroke and other neuromuscular conditions. JOGO also helps break the pain-anxiety muscle tension cycle to reduce chronic and cancer pain. The power of neural plasticity is fully leveraged through their novel prescription digital therapeutic product composed of wearable wireless s/EMG sensors. A patent-protected mobile app uses AI and VR to provide treatment protocols and games that can be adapted for muscle relaxation, movement coordination, and neuromuscular re-education. Siva also shares the origin story of the company, including the name “JOGO”, derived from Joe and Gordon - Dr. Joe Brudny and Dr. Gordon Silverman of New York University's Rusk Rehabilitation Center and Rockefeller University, respectively. Beyond the more recent research, Joe and Gordon established the underlying science more than 50 years ago, and the JOGO platform is now finally rewarding Joe and Gordon's legacy to offer new hope for patients across multiple disease domains. Tune in so you can learn how this pioneering work is drawing together entrepreneurs, product design specialists, technology enthusiasts, physical therapy professionals, physiatrists, data scientists, and game designers, to deliver an effective solution for patients. From democratizing healthcare, to international collaborations for Go-to-Market strategy, this discussion is packed with knowledge to keep you informed and inspired.

“The history of science, it turns out, is filled with stories of very smart people laughing at good ideas.”—Katalin Karikó Ground Truths podcasts are now available on Apple and Spotify!The list of obstacles that Kati Karikó faced to become a scientist, to make any meaningful discovery, to prevail over certain scientists and administrators who oppressed her, unable to obtain grants, her seminal paper rejected by all of the top-tier journals, demoted and dismissed, but ultimately to be awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize with Drew Weissman, is a story for the ages. We covered them in this conversation, which for me will be unforgettable, and hopefully for you an inspiration.Recorded 30 January 2023, unedited transcript belowEric Topol (00:06):Well, hello, this is Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I am really thrilled to have with me Kati Kariko, who I think everyone knows won the Nobel Prize with the Drew Weissman in 2023 and she has written a sensational book, it's called Breaking Through. I love that title because it's a play on words, a breakthrough and breaking through, and we have a lot to talk about Kati, so welcome.Katalin Kariko (00:34):Thank you very much for inviting me.Eric Topol (00:36):Yes, well I'd like to start off, as you did in the book with your background in Hungary where of course you started with a tough background in a one room house without running water and you never had exposures to scientists and somehow or other you became interested in science and you attributed some of these things like your biology teacher, Mr. Tóth and the book Stress of Life [by Hans Selye] Could you tell us a little bit more what stimulated you in a career of science?Katalin Kariko (01:18):I have to say that every child is interested in understanding the nature around them and so I was surrounded with nature because we had big garden, we had animals around and it was an exciting thing. The children ask questions and if they try to find an answer and teachers or parents might give the answer, but definitely the school, even elementary school was very stimulating. Teachers, chemistry teacher, figure out how we can make crystals and I was so excited to have my own crystals and things like that and in high school the teachers were so engaging and not like they tried to put all of the information into your brain, but they encourage you to think yourself, so that's all contributed. I think that most of the child in the first, I don't know, six, seven years of their life that's how they can see their parents behaving, their friends, the school, classmates, and they shaped what kind of people they will be at the end and the rest of it is refining.Eric Topol (02:41):Right, right. Well one of the things I loved that you brought up in the book was how much you liked the TV show Columbo. That's one of my favorite TV shows of all time and one more thing, one more thing. Can you talk a little bit about Columbo? Because in some ways you were like the Peter Falk of mRNA in terms of one more thing.Katalin Kariko (03:09):Yes, so I realized that we as researchers, we are not called searchers, we researchers, so we are repeating things. Of course everybody knows who committed the crime in Columbo because this is how it starts and you don't have to figure out, but it seems always that things in a different direction you would lead but all the little clues and some of my colleagues said that they as a physician, they have this tunnel vision. So the patient comes and they can figure out probably from some clues that this is the disease and they get back the lab results and others. Then they realize that one or two things is not fitting, but they always so strongly believe their first instinct. What I taught them to focus on those which will not fit because that will lead to the real perpetrator in case of Columbo.(04:23):And so I like the simplicity. I know that what we are doing this research is very over complicated, but we can break down in very simple question, yes or no and then repeating things and many experiments. When I did one was the experiments really the question and the nine of them was like just controls always. I have to have a control for that, control for that and since I work most of the time with my own hands myself, so I had to make sure that I think through that what will be the experimental outcome and then think about that. Do I have a control for that? So that many times in my brain before I performed the experiment in my brain, I predicted that what will be the outcome, of course you never get the outcome what you expect, but at least you have the control that you can exclude a couple of things and so this is how I function usually in the end of the 20th century, 21st century people did not work like I did alone most of the time.Eric Topol (05:35):No, I see how you described it in the book was just so extraordinary and it really was in keeping with this relentless interrogation and that's what I want to get into is particularly the time when you came to the United States in 1985 and the labs that you worked in predominantly in Philadelphia through that period before leaving Penn to go on to BioNTech. So, you first kind of beached in at Temple University with a monster at least as you portray him in the book. I mean it was nice that he picked you up at the airport, you and your family. How do you say his name? Suhadolnik.Eric Topol (06:31):But not only was the lab kind of infested with cockroaches, but also after working there for a number of years, a few years, you then had gotten an offer to go to Johns Hopkins and when you informed him about that he threatened and did everything he could to ruin your career and get you deported. I mean this was just awful. How did you get through that?Katalin Kariko (06:58):As I mentioned later on, I went back and gave a lecture there and I have to say that I always put positivity in forefront, so I learned a lot from him, and he invited me to America. I was always very grateful, and he was kind, and we did very well, and we did a lot of publication. In one issue of biochemistry, we had three papers and two of them I was the first author, so I worked very hard and so he liked that, and he wanted me to stay there. I just learned that from this Selye book that this is what is given and then what I can do, I cannot change him. I cannot change the situation, how I can get out from it and that's what I focused on, so I am not bitter about him. I liked him and the same for other people. When I get an award, I usually thanks to all of these people who try to make my life miserable. They made me work harder.Eric Topol (08:05):Well, but you were very kind like you said when you went back to Temple many years later to give the lecture because what he did to you, I mean he was so vindictive about you potentially leaving his lab, which he demanded that he be called the boss and he was going to basically, he ruined the Johns Hopkins job. He called them and you were so nice and kind when you went back to give the lecture without saying a negative word about him, so I give you credit, when somebody goes low, you went high, which is nice.Katalin Kariko (08:40):It is important, which I learned from the Selye book, that you don't carry any grudge against anybody because it'll poison you and as Selye also said that when you are very frustrated and very upset, the quickest way you can think about how you can release the stress is revenge. He said, don't do that. It escalate. It hit you back. You have to think about how you can be grateful for the same person you were just ready to take some revenge and that's what you have to practice. Sometimes it is difficult to feel that, but I don't have any bad feeling against my chairman who put my stuff on the hallway.Eric Topol (09:24):Oh yeah, I was going to get to that. So then after a short stint at the Uniformed University of Health Science where you had to drive three hours from Philadelphia to go there and you would sleep on the floor. I mean, I have to say Kati, if I was driving three hours, all I'd be thinking about is how desperate situation I was put in by the prior PI you work with. Any rate, you work there and then finally you got a job with my friend Elliot Barnathan, a cardiologist at University of Pennsylvania. So here you are, you're very interested in mRNA and you hook up with Elliot who's interested in plasminogen activators, and you work in his lab and it's quite a story where one of the students in his lab, David Langer, ratted on you for being blunt about the experiments getting screwed up and then later you wind up working in his lab. Tell me a bit about the times with Elliot because he's a very gracious, I think he was very supportive of your efforts and you got him stimulated about the potential for mRNA, it seems like.Katalin Kariko (10:41):Yes, so I was desperate to be away from my family at Bethesda and try to get back and every day I sent out several applications. This was in 1989, so you had to send letters and then I called up usually the secretaries about what's going on and I called up also a secretary and she said that they were advertised because nobody was good enough. I said, can you ask him to look at again my application? Then half an hour later, Elliot called me back that come and bring your notebook. He wanted to know what kind of experiment I am doing, and he opened when I came a couple of days later and pulled up a northern blot and he said, you have done that? I said, yes, I did. He said, okay, you are hired and so that, because Elliot is just a couple of days younger than me, I convinced him that we should do kind of mRNA research and he agreed, and we did several experiments and he helped me to get all of these experiments ongoing and so it was a very exciting time and I listened. Elliot was there in many awards ceremony including the Nobel Prize. He was my guest because I was very grateful to him because I have to say that he tried to protect me and he get trouble for that because in higher up and when he was looking for tenure, somehow he get R01, several of them, but they did not put him tenure because he was standing up for me and he paid the price.Eric Topol (12:42):Do you think the reason in part that he went to Centocor, a biotech company who I worked with quite extensively was because he stood up for you?Katalin Kariko (12:54):He mentioned to the chairman that he's waiting for whether he will be tenured because he has a job offer with ReoPro what he was doing there in the lab and testing out and the chairman told him that, take that job.Eric Topol (13:11):Yeah. Well, that's interesting. I know Judy Swain very well, and she did everything she could to hurt your career. She demoted you, or actually she wanted you to leave, but you wound up taking a demotion and also Bill Kelley, who I know well, he was the Dean and CEO of the UPenn. Did he ever get any direct involvement with, because much later on he was advocating for your recognition, but during that time, he could have told Judy Swain to stop this, but did he ever get involved, do you know?Katalin Kariko (13:45):I was very low level of nobody, so he would not. It was interesting, we were hired on the same day in 1989. I was first, and I met him, Bill Kelley when the new faculty was hired, and I was so happy because my first project in Hungary was Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, and I know that he discovered the gene, and I was looking up to him very much always.Eric Topol (14:15):Well, you said in the book you were over the moon and I have to say, I worked with him. My first job was at University of Michigan, and I worked with him for six years before he left to go to Penn, and we've been friends all these years, but what happened with Judy Swain, as I read in the book, I got all it bristled. I really was upset to read about that. Anyway, somehow you stayed on, Elliot moved, by the way, during that time with Elliot, you were able to get mRNA to make urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), and that was a step in the right direction. Before we leave, Elliot, if you had stayed there, if he had gotten tenure, do you think you would've ultimately together made the discovery that you did with Drew Weissman?Katalin Kariko (15:05):I couldn't be tenured because it is a clinical department and I had a PhD and nobody at the clinical department can be, but I could have been research associate professor if I can get a grant and in 1993, I already had submitted grant on circular RNA. When people in these days, they say that, oh, that's a novelty. Oh, in 1994, 1995, I had several grants on circular RNA I submitted for therapeutic purposes, and Elliot helped me with English and computer, everything what he could, but it is important that he was not an immunologist and I needed discovery. When I work with him, I did not realize the mRNA was inflammatory.Eric Topol (16:02):Right, right, exactly. We're going to get to that in a minute. Now, after Elliot left, then you needed someone else to support you, and you wound up with, as I mentioned earlier, David Langer, a neurosurgeon who you previously knew, and he also stood up for you, right?Katalin Kariko (16:18):Yes, yes. So at the beginning, every lab, when you have a medical student, they kind of know everything. One day he just told me that, Kati, I will want to learn everything you know, and I will know everything you know. I said, oh, by that time while you are learning, I learned so much more, you never catch me. That always I had to put him back, but kind of he liked how I worked, I concentrate, I didn't chitchat. Then he was just keep coming back when I was working, even with Elliot and he advanced from medical student to residency and so on, and then when he learned that I have no job because Elliot is leaving, then he went to a Eugene Flamm, the chairman of neurosurgery, and he convinced him that neurosurgery needs molecular biologics. That's what he was arguing and thanks to David and the chairman Eugene Flamm, then for 17 years I had a laboratory, and I had a financial support. Not much.Eric Topol (17:36):Yeah, I mean that was great, but again, you were not getting any real support from the university and then all of a sudden you show up one day and Sean has all your lab, everything that you worked on thrown in the hallway. I mean, that's just incredible story, right? At any rate, you then wound up because you were basically hawking mRNA as a path of science. It's going to be important. By the way, my favorite quote in the book, Kati. The history of science it turns out is filled with stories of very smart people laughing at good ideas. I just love that quote and it kind of exemplifies your career and your success, but you were steadfast and you ran in, of course, the famous story to Drew Weissman at the Xerox machine, and you were hawking trying to get anybody to believe it as you called it, led to the mRNA Believers Club, which only a handful of people in the world ever got there.(18:38):And here you have you take on something that obviously 1960 in your lifetime, early in your lifetime it was discovered, but everyone knew it was unstable, very difficult to work with, very challenging. Of course, you realized that could be beneficial, but you hooked up with Drew the immunologist that you mentioned, and I didn't know by the way, he had type one diabetes. I learned that from your book, and both of you worked so hard and it's just really incredible, but while you're at Penn, the famous or infamous Jesse Gelsinger case and his death occurred and he had the cytokine release syndrome, and you learned from that, right?Katalin Kariko (19:25):Yes. By that time, we also could see that the RNA could be inflammatory, but in his case, of course, because the virus was causing it or what certain condition caused that. I have to say that, people work at gene therapy at Penn and mostly of viral programs. When I mentioned I tried to make gene therapy with mRNA, of course everybody felt sorry for me. Poor Kati, hate RNA, it always degrade, but I have to say the degradation is coming mostly because the molecular biology laboratory, they use plasmid, and when they isolate plasmid, like the QIAGEN kit, they start with the RNAs. They add RNAs because you have to eliminate the bacterial RNA, and they contaminate the whole laboratory, the refrigerator door, the gel opera, everybody's RNAs and so that's what extra problem with working with RNA. So I could make RNA, and so it was working and kind of try to express that and I made a lot of RNA for people probably they still have in their freezer, never tested because I was a pusher.Eric Topol (20:52):Yeah, yeah. Well, what was fascinating of course is you had already learned in mice about this inflammation from putting mRNA in vivo, and then you made the remarkable discovery, which was the paper in Immunity that had been rejected by Nature and many other papers, even though you had been told if you could get a paper in Nature, maybe that could help your career, right. Back in 2021, the journal of Immunity, a very highly regarded self pressed journal, they asked me to comment on your discovery and I wrote, you may have seen it. Of course, several people wrote Tony Fauci and others. What I wrote was what began as a replacement for a uridine base to squash an inflammatory response in mice evolved into the basis for a broad therapeutic platform to fight both communicable and non-communicable diseases in people. So, this discovery that you made in that classic 2005 paper, which is the most important paper ever published in the journal Immunity, was the Toll-like receptor was mediating the inflammation.(22:05):And if you change the uridine to pseudouridine, you could essentially blunt or block the inflammation. This was a seminal discovery that opened up mRNA, but not just for Covid of course, but for so many pathogens and as we'll talk about when we wrap up about all these other things. So when you did this paper and Drew said when it's published, the phones are going to be ring off the hook and no one even acknowledged the paper, right? I mean no one realized how this was one of the most important discoveries in the history of biomedicine, right?Katalin Kariko (22:43):Yes. Especially knowing that Drew is not the person who is exaggerating things. Drew is very modest and would not say such things. I am more like daughter, maybe this happened, but he is not like that and I got the one invitation to go to the Rockefeller University for a meeting, and then I went to Japan from 2005 and it was 2006. Both of them that was invitation, and nothing happened in 2007, 2008 and 2009.Eric Topol (23:24):But those meetings that you went to, they were kind of obscure like microcosm groups. I mean they were relevant to your work, but they didn't realize this is a big deal. I mean, this is like a world changing type of finding because now you could deliver things in cells. Now of course, you worked on this for three decades and the people that think that you can do a flash in the pan science, but at the same time nanoparticles separately were being pursued. How important were the nanoparticles to make for the package for the ultimate success? When Covid hit in late 2019 and now you had been working at BioNTech, how would you rate the importance of the nanoparticles in the story?Katalin Kariko (24:23):For the vaccine it definitely is important because everybody ask the mRNA, if not immunogenic, where do you have the adjuvant? Where is the adjuvant? Then lipid nanoparticle contains an ionizable lipid, which was the adjuvant and why it is important that not the mRNA was inducing the response because the mRNA induced interferon, and if you have interferon, then follicular T-helper cells is not form, and then you get very low amount of antibodies, but if you do not induce interferon, but you induce IS6 and other cytokines is beneficial to have high level of antibodies, so that's what the ionizable lipid was causing and that's the adjuvant in the lipid nanoparticle. Yes, I always emphasize that it is very important and of course when we use the particle that was totalization, then it did not contain ionizable lipid.Eric Topol (25:24):Right? I think that's where there's a misconception because of the Nobel Prize recognition last year, a lot of people think, well, that's all tied only to the Covid vaccine. Actually no, your discovery was much bigger than that and it was applied for the Covid vaccine of course with the nanoparticle package, but yours is as we'll get to in a moment, much, much bigger. You left Penn, that was in 2013, and then you spent several years in Mainz, Germany working with the folks at BioNTech, and you really enjoyed that and they appreciated you then as opposed to what you dealt with at Penn where it was just that you kept hearing about the dollars per net square footage and all these ridiculous things and just extraordinary to go back there. Now I just want to mention about your own gene transfer, your daughter. Your daughter is a two-time gold medal Olympiad in rowing, which is incredible. So she didn't go down the path of science, but she also became a world leader in a field. Is that transmitted on a particular chromosome in the family?Katalin Kariko (26:54):I think that she just could see that you have to focus on something and then you give up many things and you focus and then achieve, and then you get the new goal, set up a new goal. I mean she get somewhat articulated at Penn, she get a master in science and later in UCLA, she get a MBA degree, but 10 years she was like, for me, it is a very boring thing, just rowing going backwards. Isn't that boring every day? She said, no, mom, it is fun. Every practice is different, I enjoy. The minute I don't enjoy, I will stop doing it.Eric Topol (27:36):Yeah. Well it's amazing story about Susan and of course the expansion of your family with a grandchild and everything else that you wrote about in the book. So now let's go to this story, the big story here, which is mRNA. Now you can get into cells, you can deliver just about anything. So now it can be used for genome editing, it can be used for all these different pathogens as vaccines and including not just pathogens but potentially obviously cancer, to rev up the immune system, neurodegenerative disease to prevent these processes and potentially even preventing cancer in a few years ahead. How do you see this platform evolving in the years ahead? You already have seen many vaccines getting approval or under intense study for pathogens, but that just seems like the beginning, right?Katalin Kariko (28:38):Yes, yes. When I came to Penn, the major advantage was going to lectures and when I went to the lectures, I always at the end of it think, mRNA would be good for it. So, I was collecting all of these different fields and then what happens is right now I can see the companies are making those RNA, which I thought that it will be useful and even many, many more things that they are applying and now it is up to those specialists to figure out they don't need me. They need experts on cardiology and other fields and allergies. There is also to tolerate allergies and there are so many fields scientists will be figuring out there what is useful for the mRNA, and they can just order now or create their own RNA and test it out.Eric Topol (29:38):It's actually pretty amazing because I don't know where we'd be right now if you had not been pushing this against all adversity. I mean just being suppressed and being told, put your stuff out in the hallway or being thrown out of the university and not being able to get any grants, which is amazing throughout all this time, not being able to get grants, it tells a big story and that's why the book is so sensational because it's obviously your autobiography, but it tells a story that is so important. It goes back to that memorable quote that I mentioned. You wrap up the book with your message of your life story, and I do want to read a bit of that and then get your reaction. My first message is this, we can do better. I believe we can improve how science has done at academic research institutions.(30:38):For one thing, we might create a clearer distinction between markers of prestige, titles, publication records, number of citations, grant funding, committee appointments, etiquette, dollars per net square footage, and those of quality science. Too often we conflate the two as if there's one in the same, but a person isn't a better scientist because she publishes more or first perhaps, she's holding back from publication because she wants to be absolutely certain of her data. Similarly, the number of citations might have little to do with the value of the paper and more to do with external events. When Drew and I published our landmark Immunity paper and indeed it was, it barely got any notice. It took a pandemic for the world to understand what we've done and why it mattered. I mean, that's profound, Kati, profound.Katalin Kariko (31:42):I have to tell you that what I could see as the science progress. Every scientist starts with understanding something to help the world but somehow they publish because they have something to say, but somehow, it's shifted. Now we want more money, more people would come, those people had to get publication because otherwise they cannot graduate. They need first to author a paper. They publish even when it is not finished or have nothing to say and then somehow the focus is promotion. You are advancing your position, and the tool is doing the experiments. If you see I was demoted, I was pushed out so if my goal would have been to see that I am advancing, then I would give up because that's what the problem is. So that focus is going away from the original thing that we want to understand the science because if you want to understand the science, you are even happy when you can see a publication doing half of that you have done already because you say, I wanted to understand, here's a paper they did, similar thing I did, but the people think, oh my god, my journal paper is out and my promotion is out because they discovered and they published before me, so that's the problem.Eric Topol (33:12):Well, I mean if I made a list of all the adversity that you faced from growing up in the Russian communist run Hungary to coming to the US not even knowing the language and also all the sacrifices you made along the way with your family and when you would go to Bethesda or when you moved to Mainz or I mean all along the whole time, no less what the university of Temple or Penn. I mean the list is very long and somehow you prevailed above all that, which is just so startling but another thing I want to just get into briefly, as you know, this has been a shocking counter movement to the vaccines and giving ridiculously the mRNA as a bad name. In the book, you kind of had a way to foreshadow this because back in the 1968 pandemic that you obviously experienced, here you talked about that.(34:30):You said we restricted our movement, limiting our contact with others. We scrubbed, we disinfected. I suppose the party encouraged this, but nobody complained about government overreach. This was a virus. It had no ideology, no political agenda. If we weren't careful, it would spread, then we would all suffer. These were just the facts. That's how viruses work. So how come we still don't know that? That was 1968 in Hungary and here we're go in the United States, and we have a huge movement, anti-vaccine, anti mRNA, Covid vaccines, and it's very worrisome because all the great science is threatened by this misinformation and disinformation. What are your thoughts about that?Katalin Kariko (35:27):Yes, I heard that viruses, they love democrats because everybody can do whatever they want, whereas in other countries give an order, everybody has to have vaccine and then that's different, but yes, I understand that the novelty the people were always against, even when X-ray was introduced, people thought that people will look through my clothes and seeing me naked because they take part of the truth and they don't say, maybe through the flesh is going through and I can see somebody's bone or something. Then they distort, and they create a fear and if you make fear, then you can control like Lord of the Flies, somebody you are afraid of and then you can control and you can be afraid of the virus or you can be afraid of the vaccine. Then that's what I don't understand exactly true said that when they investigated those who are spreading most of these news about against the vaccine is they are selling some kind of products benefiting just like a hundred years ago, those who were afraid that they can see through their clothes some they start to sell X-ray resistant underwear.(36:57):Of course people, they made money on the people's fear. I don't know that's how to fight it or I think that the honesty when the scientists would say that, listen, we don't know today how it spread. This is how we suggest, be afraid, wash everything. Oh no, we know that it is in the air so that okay, you don't have to wash your clothes when you go out and come back but don't go to crowded places. In politics it's not working because it is like wishy-washy. Yesterday you said something and today, because we learn, they have to understand this is a science process constantly correcting. In politician, I know everything, this is how to do, they want to reflect this confidence. That's what it is and that's why politics everywhere mixed up with this. Some leaders want to reflect this confidence and they do things which helps the virus to spread.Eric Topol (38:11):Right. Well, I'm glad to get your perspective because obviously when you work so hard throughout your career and then you see the backlash, that's unwarranted. It's always good to be circumspect of course, but to say that this was done in a flash in the pan and it's never really, it's gene therapy and it's changing your DNA, I mean it's a lot of crazy things that of course that you brought out in the book as well. Now before wrapping up, you wrote the book before you were awarded the Nobel Prize and this recognition, you and Drew of course became fantastic, so richly deserved, but many things occurred and I wanted to ask you. For example, you did your PhD and your postdoc at the University of Szeged in Hungary, and you went back there, and I think you were celebrated in your university, perhaps the first Nobel laureate. I don't know, I would imagine perhaps. The second, oh okay but also the last thing that was recognized in the book it was a much different thing. It was like the Time 100 recognition but now that you have had many of these unanticipated awards, what are your thoughts about that? I mean, it is wonderful to get recognized by the university that you trained and the people that you grew up with.(39:53):Has this changed your life or is it really very much the same as it was?Katalin Kariko (40:00):My life is very much the same as it was. I am living in the same house. We moved in 1989 and okay, last year I get a new car. Up until then, I never had, only just some beat-up, last year I purchased my first new car but that's luxury when you are 68 years old, you could afford. Everything was a surprise because 40 years I never get any award and the first award I get in 2021. I tried to articulate to more people, life as a scientist is similar to mine. They are immigrant, they are not recognized and I try to tell them just not to focus something like the university is not grateful. Who is the university? Just they are walls. What administrator would tap your shoulder. You have to know that what you are doing is important and if you get pushed around, you always have to do what Selye said, figure out what you can do. Always that, not what they should do. The agency should give me the money, the boss, the superior should help me. No, I cannot make other people to do. I have to figure out what I can do. I can write better and better and rewrite, generate more data for a submitted grant application and always, that's why all of these naysayers made me better because I'm not focused on revenge or anger, but always, how can I be better.Eric Topol (41:53):So that gets me to what you do next. I know you're an avid reader. I know you read so much about science and your field and broader of course I take it you still are doing that, but what's in the next chapter for you? I can't imagine you're ever going to rest.Katalin Kariko (42:16):No, no. I will be six feet under when I can rest, I realize now. It is just that you are on a different field, and you understand like nucleotides, how naturally you make RNA, what is the transporters, what is happening in the mitochondria, different things that iron sulfur clusters and then you start to investigate like three months I was just reading one topic. I didn't even know about it or how in my life I was reading so many things. I realized there are so many diseases, I understand what is the reason, people don't. When I was at Penn I went to different people, professors about my idea for certain diseases but I was nobody and nobody listened. Now, I'm somebody. I have to be very careful because I say a name of the disease people will line up here and say, don't talk to Eric. Go and do something, help us and so that's what I try to help. I think that I understand certain disease, which is so enigmatic and nobody has a clue and maybe I have a solution for that. That's what I try to do now.Eric Topol (43:38):Do you ever go to Penn? Do you ever go to work in there?Katalin Kariko (43:44):No, I don't. When you are forced to retire, and I knew that they would throw me out because it was 2012, right before Christmas I was told that get out because you didn't get the 2012. Last time I submitted an mRNA for stroke therapy. Still very valid and good idea but anyway, I knew that I will be pushed out, but I don't have grudge, even the chairman. How can I expect the neurosurgeon who is doing the operation he just can see that I did not get the funding and those people who make the decision that my proposal is not good, they are expert. He's not an expert. He just can see that this is what the expert said. I talk to him, I don't blame anything.Eric Topol (44:37):Good for you. I mean I think it's much easier to be vindictive and you have to have the philosophy that you have, which is not to hold any grudges after all that has basically been done to you by many people along the way and I think we've covered that. I know this is a very different interview perhaps than many others that you've had. I didn't bring up the teddy bear and I didn't bring up a lot of things that others have brought up because they've already been covered. I wanted to get into what you had to endure, what you had to do to persevere and how it has changed the life science and medicine forever and now, still today, the mRNA package will be improved. I mean we've already learned, for example, the change of the two proline substitution that Andrew Ward at my place, along with Jason McLellan and others to make it to better immune response. It can be improved with a 6-P proline substitution. We can beat nature just like you did with the uridine substitution and the nanoparticles will improve and this whole package has got an incredible future but it's thanks to you, if it induced massive inflammation, it never would've been possible.Katalin Kariko (46:02):Yes, I always said that hundreds and thousands of scientists, every time I thanks them, those people, even not with us, I was reading their papers and it all contributed to this development and learning. So, I am not thinking that I was many, many other people together, we did that.Eric Topol (46:30):Well, I am so indebted to you as everyone who understands sciences, and it's of course a bigger story than mRNA. It's what you endured and how you persevered and against all odds, I mean truly against all odds, so thank you. Did I miss anything that I should have asked you about?Katalin Kariko (46:51):No. I have to say the book came out and now I can see in different social media that how other scientists get inspired. There was one who said that she quit doing PhD and she read my book and she cried, she laughed, and she went back. She realized that there is more to it because so many is expecting to do some work and then there will be some rewards. The rewards is this is not a short distance. This is a marathon to be scientist and you have to see the goals and it will one day and you might not the one that cross first the finish line, but you are helping others. That's what is important and that's what I am glad that I work with this and write this book so that other scientists more can associate because they feel the same way, that they are not appreciated. Things are not going as expected and then they might be inspired not to give up and that's what is also an important message.Eric Topol (48:11):Well, that's why I love the book because it is so inspirational and it will make people cry. It will make people commit to science or appreciate it more than ever. I don't know if you saw it, but I put it as my 10 favorite books for 2023 and indeed, I could have been the most favorite in many respects. So I hope more people listening or watching the video will read the book because it has a lot. I'm so glad you wrote it, Kati, because if we only knew you from papers and Nobel Prize, you wouldn't know the true story. We wouldn't know really what your life has been like over these many decades. So, thank you for that as well and thank you from the life science, the medical community, and for everyone, for all that you've done to change the future and the current state of medicine.Katalin Kariko (49:10):Yeah, thank you very much asking and I might add to the book that the book is published in many different languages is coming Italian and French, German, Thai, Japanese, Chinese. So scientists all over the world can read their native language and maybe they will be inspired.Eric Topol (49:28):Oh, I have no question about that. It's a story that it should be a movie so that the people that won't read the book will hopefully watch the movie. Has there already been a plan for that?Katalin Kariko (49:40):There was, but I don't think that you know they have this strike during the summer, and I don't know where it ends.Eric Topol (49:52):I wouldn't be surprised if it gets done in the future and I hope they'll consult with you, not just read the book and it'll be interesting who they get to play you in the movie, but thank you so much, Kati. What a joy and I look forward to future visits with you. Get full access to Ground Truths at erictopol.substack.com/subscribe

Do we have free will? Do we have a choice in what we do? Philosophers and theologians have debated these questions for centuries; Robert Sapolsky answered them when he was 14. Free will, he concluded, simply does not exist. Robert is now in his mid-sixties. He has degrees from Harvard and Rockefeller University; he won a MacArthur “genius” award; and he's a professor at Stanford, where he holds joint appointments in biology, neurology, and neurosurgery. But despite how much time has passed and how long his CV has grown, he never lost his youthful fascination with free will — or our lack thereof — so he decided to write a book about it. It's called “Determined,” and in addition to assembling a formidable case against free will, Robert makes the intriguing argument that if we can abandon our illusion of volition, we can build a more humane world. Support the show by becoming a Next Big Idea Club member. (Use code PODCAST for 20% off.) We're hosting a live taping in New York City on January 31st. Come on by! We'd love to meet you. You can learn more here.

In this monolog, Vijay talks about a 2016 article from Rockefeller University about the complex crosstalk in the gut between the neurons and macrophages.

I got the opportunity to talk to Dr. Charles M. Rice, Rockefeller University professor and 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, about Hepatitis C and B, Covid-19 virus research, RNA viruses, Yellow Fever Virus, and scientific communication. Thanks to the sponsors: Audible:Use my link for a 30-day free trial: http://audibletrial.com/diamondgoatNewsly:⁠https://newsly.me⁠promo code to receive a 1-month free premium subscription: EARLYMORNINGLibysn⁠https://libsyn.com⁠promo code: DGDubby Energy⁠https://www.dubby.gg⁠promo code for 10% off: DIAMONDGOATspikeview⁠https://www.spikeview.com⁠https://www.instagram.com/spikeviewSwift Grips⁠https://swiftgrips.net⁠Promo code for 10% off: Diamondgoat----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Listen on:Podcast website: https://anchor.fm/diamondgoatSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0EuhA6WyuerHtVAqcFrFeOGoogle Podcast: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80NzE4MzM5MC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/dg-earlymorning-show-WoML4rBreaker: https://www.breaker.audio/dg-early-morning-showPodcast YT channel clips: https://www.youtube.com/@dgearlymorningshowReason: https://reason.fm/podcast/dg-earlymorning-showApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dg-early-morning-show/id1575451533Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/f050b86c-1dad-4bc3-b12f-6aa5fa62438cTiktok: @dgearlymorningshow--------------------------------------Check out my other stuff:Instagram: @itzdiamondgoatTwitter: @lildiamondgoatMain YT channel: youtube.com/diamondgoatTiktok: @lildiamondgoatSoundcloud: @Lil DiamondgoatSpotify: @Lil DiamondgoatMerch store: https://diamondgoat.creator-spring.com

What can we expect from GPCRs in antibodies and biologics? In this episode of The Chain, host Rajesh Sundaresan, PhD, Scientific Leader and GSK Fellow of Protein Cell and Structural Sciences at GlaxoSmithKline, speaks with Thomas P. Sakmar, MD, Professor of Chemical Biology at Rockefeller University, about the history of GPCRs and various subunits, his early work with rhodopsin, and the impact of crystallography and structural work. He also shares how he got started with molecular biology training, as well as his thoughts on the state-of-the art for both biologics and small molecules in drug discovery.  LINKS:    Rockefeller University: https://www.rockefeller.edu  GlaxoSmithKline: https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/   

Treating periodontal disease could improve rheumatoid arthritis. In this episode, Mariya and Dr. Levine talk to Dana Orange about researching the connection between oral health and systemic diseases, specifically focusing on rheumatoid arthritis. They discuss Dana's study, which shows oral bacteria in rheumatoid arthritis patients with periodontal disease sparking joint-like inflammation. Tune in to learn about the relationship between oral health and systemic inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis! Click this link to the show notes, transcript, and resources: outcomesrocket.health

Been waiting for a deep dive on the gut-skin-immune axis? We've got it right here. This week, we're joined by Dr. Jason Hawkes as he takes us right into the science behind the many ways in which the body's systems are connected and what that means for treating inflammatory skin diseases. Each Thursday, join Dr. Raja and Dr. Hadar, board-certified dermatologists, as they share the latest evidence-based research in integrative dermatology. For access to CE/CME courses, become a member at LearnSkin.com. Jason E. Hawkes, MD MS is a board-certified dermatologist and Associate Professor of Dermatology at the University of California Davis in Sacramento. He completed his medical degree and dermatology residency training at the University of Utah School of Medicine, where he was also enrolled in the Program's 2+2 dermatology research track. In addition to his clinical training, Dr. Hawkes completed a research fellowship in translation immunology at the National Institutes of Health as part of the HHMI-NIH Research Scholars Program and received a master's degree in Clinical Investigation from Rockefeller University in NYC. Dr. Hawkes' principal clinical and research interests are the treatment of complex inflammatory skin diseases, such as psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, hidradenitis suppurativa, and eczema. He has a special interest in translational human research and the development of novel biologics and small molecules used for the treatment of inflammatory conditions. Dr. Hawkes is currently serving on the Medical Board of the National Psoriasis Foundation and has served as the Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator of multiple pharmaceutical-sponsored and investigator-initiated clinical trial protocols. He is the recipient of multiple research grants and teaching awards and was recently named the 2021 Outstanding Educator in Psoriatic Disease by the National Psoriasis Foundation. He is the author of more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and 8 book chapters. To learn more about Gut, Immune System, and Inflammatory Skin Diseases, attend Dr. Hawkes' lecture at the 2023 Integrative Dermatology Symposium.

A group of scientists is racing to sequence genes from every plant, animal, and fungus on Earth for a global database of DNA. The organizers of the global Earth BioGenome Project call it a ‘moonshot for biology' which would provide a treasure trove of information on evolutionary biology, the development of medicines, the conservation of species and more. We talk with scientists about their race against time to collect genes while tens of thousands of species are threatened with extinction and what they hope will come of it. Guests: Harris Lewin, chair, the Earth BioGenome Project Executive Committee; distinguished professor Emeritus of Evolution and Ecology, the University of California, Davis Brad Shaffer, director, UCLA La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science; distinguished professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Sadye Paez, chair of the justice, equity, diversity and inclusion committee, the Earth BioGenome Project; collaborator on the Vertebrae Genome Project, the The Rockefeller University

Welcome to the latest episode of "What The IF?" titled "Underwater Civilization". Join hosts Philip, Gaby, an insightful virologist from Rockefeller University, and Matt, a historian of science from New York University, as they embark on a fascinating journey through an alternate universe. This episode poses the thought-provoking question: "What if humans had evolved tool use while still living in the ocean?" Our hosts dive into the depths of this hypothetical scenario, exploring the scientific, philosophical, and practical implications of humanity's underwater evolution. From the adaptations necessary for underwater tool use to the societal structures that might have arisen in an oceanic civilization, they navigate a sea of possibilities in their typically engaging and humorous style. Don't miss this mind-expanding journey into the uncharted waters of human evolution. Immerse yourself in the world of "What The IF?" and let your imagination swim with the currents of this underwater exploration. Dive in and explore the depths of your curiosity like never before! --- Find out more about Gaby's upcoming science fiction short story publication, coming soon! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be pre-ordered here : https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention The ebook can be pre-ordered here: https://www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention --- Check out our membership rewards! Visit us at Patreon.com/Whattheif Got an IF of your own? Want to have us consider your idea for a show topic? Send YOUR IF to us! Email us at feedback@whattheif.com and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big! Don't miss an episode! Subscribe at WhatTheIF.com Keep On IFFin', Philip, Matt & Gaby

Are your habits accelerating aging? It's well known that oxidation accelerates aging, and yet the question could be if we know what accelerates aging don't we also then know how to reverse aging?  I have a controversial guest on the show today. You know if you're here and have been for a minute that I'm an advocate for all exercise and agree with much of what we share today. However, I would and do express that strength training is the pivotal piece in order to enable the aerobic, the balance, and the mobility exercise you want for longevity purposes.  And.. I also believe and witness that higher levels of protein for midlife women, and micronutrient insufficiencies- in large part as a results of gut issues occurring at midlife do exist and measuring micronutrients is a wise investment if you're not feeling well. By that I don't mean not sick, but really well, 100% you.    How to Reverse Aging That said. Much of my guest's information on longevity and why certain measures of strength for longevity still exist while they may be a little outdated is important. We can't share an isolated silo view of aging. I do think that one point to consider. The current evidence of longevity doesn't tell us necessarily the outcome of hormone-free, antibiotic-free grass-fed or wild sources of protein. Previous measures of high amounts of protein haven't screened well the quality of that protein.  This is just food for thought.. In this episode where you will be presented with ideas that may be congruent and may be counter to your own. Above all, measure now, keep measuring and evaluating your own habits.  My Guest:  Dr. Carl P. Giordano is the Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Rebesana. He is double-board certified in orthopedics and spine surgery and completed his residency and fellowship at the Hospital for Joint Diseases/NYU Langone Medical Center.  He has served as the medical director at Stryker Howmedica Tissue Bank and Health South Physical Therapy and on several American Board of Spine Surgery committees. His scientific background has led to numerous peer review publications and book chapters. His scientific travels have taken him from the NIH to Rockefeller University.  He holds multiple patents and continues with research and development. Dr. Giordano recently co-founded Rebesana out of a devotion to providing the public with a supplement designed by the latest scientific research that promotes longevity and better quality of life. Questions We Answer in This Episode:  What causes aging? The current state of longevity research and how we're unlocking the key to slow and even reverse aging? The state of the supplement industry, snake oil, underdosing, lack of transparency, and massive quality concerns? What can we do now to live a longer, healthier life? On a daily basis? How to reverse aging?    Connect with Carl:  Website:  https://rebesana.com/ Carl on Social: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebesana/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-giordano-9ba61549/?trk=pub-pbmap   Other Episodes You Might Like:  Are Your Mitochondria Aging Too Fast? | Slow Down to Energy Up:https://www.flippingfifty.com/aging-too-fast/ What IS Urolithin A and How Does It Help Healthy Aging?: https://www.flippingfifty.com/healthy-aging-2/  Resource:  Flippingfifty Protein:  https://www.flippingfifty.com/protein Sunlighten Saunas: https://www.flippingfifty.com/sauna The Flipping 50 Cafe: https://www.flippingfifty.com/cafe/ Advanced Specialist: https://www.flippingfifty.com/specialist   

Amy Falls is the CIO at Northwestern University, where she oversees the school's $14.2 billion endowment that supports university operations and funds about a quarter of the University's annual revenue. She also serves on the Board of Harvard Management Company, the Ford Foundation, Phillips Academy, and the Pete Peterson Foundation. Our conversation covers Amy's background and path to Northwestern, frameworks she learned along the way, and different challenges she faced in three different CIO seats.  We then turn to her thoughts on manager selection, liquidity, and across asset classes, covering fixed income, private credit, private equity, public equity, and China. We close with Amy's insights from her experience working with investment committees and parallels between her passion for farming and investing. Show Notes 03:41    Background 04:41    Early career in international bond markets 12:26    Becoming Andover's first CIO 13:43    Navigating the GFC 19:51    Transition to Rockefeller University 23:13    Asset Allocation 26:57    Transition to Northwestern 28:57    Structuring the investment team 32:45    Selecting and reviewing managers 37:44    Investment frameworks 42:10    Decision-making processes 44:44    Private Credit 45:08    Private Equity 49:34    Public Equity 51:10    China 52:56    Navigating investment committees 54:57    Farming Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

As news of UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena or UFOs)  encounters begin to enter mainstream media, we are being encouraged as a collective to not look the other way any longer. On this first episode of the Merged Podcast, we explore the impact of UAP Sightings on the scientific community, and how we can study this technology to innovate our current systems on Earth. Garry Nolan discusses the path forward for studying and legitimizing UAP research, and why he sees this as a possible "commercial gold mine". He shares his perception on the impact this will have on society, and the danger of continuing to keep this information secret from the public.  JOIN PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=86919567 === TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 1:28 Media Reaction to UAP Report 5:07 Proving to the Scientific Community 14:58 What We Can Learn From UAP 33:52 Surprising UAP Sighting  37:39 Path forward for legitimizing research 45:55 Copernicus & Space Travel  56:41 What We Need to Draw Conclusions  1:05:36 Trusting the Data  1:15:20 Will Disclosure Change Us? 1:21:09 NASA's & DOD's UAP investigation  1:25:55 Danger of Keeping UAP Secret  1:31:54 How You can Get Involved  1:38:26 AI & Machine Learning 1:42:00 It's Okay to Wonder About UFOs 1:48:08 Recent Pilots' UAP Sightings 1:53:21 Conclusion === Dr. Garry Nolan: Dr. Garry Nolan is the Director of the Stanford NHLBI Proteomics Center and professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Nolan received his Ph.D from the Department of Genetics at Stanford at the Herzenberg laboratory, and his B.S. in Genetics from Cornell University, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. David Baltimore at MIT and Rockefeller University. He is the author of over 120 peer-reviewed papers and holds numerous issued patents. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, and was recently honored as one of the top 25 inventors at Stanford University.   Council Bluffs Research Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376042121000907 ===   Ryan Graves:  AIAA UAP: https://www.aiaauap.org   Connect with Us:  Website: http://www.mergedpodcast.com Merged Point: https://www.mergedpoint.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.