In this episode, we dive into the potential of liquid biopsies as a method to detect deadly diseases. We speak with three experts – Marta Herreros, Rik Bryan, and Doug Ward – to learn more about the non-invasive nature of liquid biopsies and the process of detecting biomarkers within a patient sample. Rik and Doug discuss their GALEAS Bladder test, which can identify key mutations present in 96% of bladder cancer patients. Tune in to learn more about the potential of liquid biopsies and the impo...
Aug 10, 2023•36 min•Season 5Ep. 11
Why do China and US have different government regulations? Why can’t we do business above the fray? These are just some of the struggles biopharma executives report impacting their business. Our guests are of the same view – the industry needs fixing. Yingke He, CEO and Co-Founder of Forecyte Bio, explains how China's industrialized experience is limited and in its early stages compared to the US. Listen to this episode to understand the industry tensions and areas showing promise. Transcript Sh...
Jun 22, 2023•33 min•Season 5Ep. 10
In this episode of Discovery Matters, we explore the incredible advances in precision medicine enabled by organoid technology. Vicky Marsh Durban and Oksana Sirenko contribute to the conversation, talking about how machine learning and robotics are used to scale up organoid culture and analyse data, as well as the potential of organoids to revolutionise regenerative medicine. Listen to this episode for an insightful and informative deep dive into the potential of organoids for transforming the f...
May 30, 2023•23 min•Season 5Ep. 9
War! What is it good for? In this episode of Discovery Matters, Dr Smith explains how military medicine first shaped state medicine and how wartime creates an opportunity to innovate. From advances in prosthetics, psychology, and cosmetic surgery to the mass production of penicillin during World War II, this episode dives deep into the life-saving innovations brought over the line due to conflicts. Show notes More is Better: English Language Statistics are Biased Toward Addition - Winter - 2023 ...
May 16, 2023•15 min•Season 5Ep. 8
John Morris, a scientist at the forefront of cryopreservation technology, joins Dodi and Conor. They discuss the impact of cryopreservation on the development of CAR T therapies, why freezing cells is essential to these treatments, how tracking the samples ensures quality, and the potential for frozen cells to treat solid tumors in the future. Tune in to find out how cryopreservation has transformed the life sciences and how it could revolutionize how we treat disease in the future. Show notes P...
Apr 24, 2023•15 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Conor and Dodi explore the new and exciting world of bacteriophage therapy. Join them as they speak to Anton Peleg, Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology and the Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Alfred Hospital and Monash University, about this emerging field. Together they discuss how phages, viruses that specifically target bacteria, are being used to fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs and the challenges of producing them at scale and getting them ...
Apr 14, 2023•21 min•Season 5Ep. 6
In the latest episode of Discovery Matters, Dodi and Conor are joined by Dr. Bradley Moore from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to discuss his research into the medical and synthetic implications of using marine microbes to fight aggressive cancers such as glioblastoma. By leveraging salinosporamide A , Dr. Moore proposes that these deep-sea organisms could potentially be scaled up for human use and repurposed for medicinal and synthetic purposes. Dive into this episode to hear how the o...
Mar 23, 2023•15 min•Season 5Ep. 5
We should not underestimate cells. Conor and Dodi talk with Dr Brett Kagan, who conducted research to understand the brain and test ‘sentient’ brain cells, using the 1970s game, known as ‘Pong’. In another conversation, Professor Petra Levin and Kunaal Joshi explain how they have demonstrated that there is no mythical ‘average’ cell which mimics the stochastic behaviors of any individual cell. At the end of this episode, we hope to have proven that cells are not to be overlooked and still have s...
Mar 13, 2023•23 min•Season 5Ep. 4
What do CRISPR and longevity have in common? Not much, except it's all molecular. We spoke to two different CEOs focused on improving human health. We begin with Dr Benjamin Oakes, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Scribe Therapeutics, who takes us through the discovery, potential, and possible limitations of CRISPR. Then we are joined by fellow visionary Kristen Fortney, the CEO and co-founder of BioAge, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies that treat disease by targeting...
Feb 23, 2023•26 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Psychedelic treatment is a therapy which is on the rise according to the increasing number of studies on the use of psilocybin, ketamine and MDMA to treat mental health disorders such as PTSD. In this episode, Conor talks to Prof. Eric Vermetten, a psychiatrist who has been working with the military in the Netherlands for the last 25 years, helping Dutch armed forces and the uniformed people in the face of PTSD and psychotraumatology. Show notes For more info on Prof. Eric Vermetten’s work: Eric...
Feb 09, 2023•25 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Conor and Dodi try their hand at learning to operate an ÄKTA ready in virtual reality. Their virtual journey takes them to Singapore and Miami, without leaving Sweden, Amersham, and Edinburgh. Join us on a journey into the metaverse. Show notes For more info on using virtual reality for customers: cytiva.com/vr You can view the video version of the episode here , where you can see virtual Dodi and Conor interact with virtual Arron Greig (our expert guide). Transcript Keywords: virtual reality, m...
Jan 12, 2023•26 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Mushrooms on Mars, life-saving blood from worms, cell-cultured seafood. It's been a year filled with surprise, serendipity, and everything in between. Conor, Dodi and the podcast team look back on a fascinating year and highlight their favourite interviews and topics of the year. See you in the new year! Show notes More info on Conor’s favorite : What is Quorn mycoprotein? | Quorn More info on Dodi’s favorite: How We Make Chocolate and Coffee From Plant Cell Culture Technology — The Future of Co...
Dec 22, 2022•16 min•Season 4Ep. 18
This episode focuses on the microbiome and how it is increasingly linked to disease and illness. It seems this is true for understanding the illness of the body and the brain. Dr Amir Minerbi, the Deputy Director of the Institute for Pain Medicine at Rambam Medical Center, talks to us about how the microbiome may hold the secrets of fibromyalgia. This chronic disorder causes widespread pain, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and potentially dozens of other symptoms. We are also joined by Prof Illa...
Dec 08, 2022•20 min•Season 4Ep. 17
Today, we sat down with Christos Michas, R&D scientist and engineer at Curi Bio, and Alice White, professor of mechanical engineering at Boston University. Christos and Alice have taken the organ on a chip to another level with the miniPUMP, a heart on a chip which is the first step in understanding the interaction of therapeutic drugs with the heart. Show notes Christos Michas and Alice White et al. (2022) ‘Engineering a living cardiac pump on a chip using high-precision fabrication’, Scien...
Nov 24, 2022•18 min•Season 4Ep. 16
In this first in a two-part series on organ on a chip technology, we discuss with Jan Turner, formerly part of Safer Medicines Trust, how these organoids can help us move away from the inefficient animal model. Show notes Emulate study on LiverTox - Liver-Chip Publication | Qualifying a human Liver-Chip for predictive toxicology (emulatebio.com) Transcript Keywords : chips, drugs, organ, human, model, cells, technology, testing, animal models, animal testing, microbiome, preclinical testing, ani...
Nov 10, 2022•15 min•Season 4Ep. 15
We have lots of information at our fingertips, so how do we make sense of it all, especially in human health? Conor and Dodi speak to two experts making sense of this information overload by creating genetic and genomic databases. Dr Artem Babaian, a computational biologist and now Assistant Professor leading The Laboratory for RNA-Based Lifeforms at the University of Toronto, explains how he and his team uncovered 100,000 novel viruses in old genetic data that could help us predict future pande...
Oct 27, 2022•27 min•Season 4Ep. 14
Within the life sciences industry, there has been a longstanding conversation around one of the industry’s most difficult challenges. That challenge is talent. In more detail, it is that the access to a global talent pool remains difficult. In this longer than usual conversation, Conor and Dodi speak with Darrin Morrissey, CEO of NIBRT, Anne-Cecile Potmans, general manager of Fast Trak and CDMO services at Cytiva, and Nikki Soares, global talent acquisition leader at Cytiva. We discuss how the i...
Oct 13, 2022•33 min•Season 4Ep. 13
Plastic and pollution are two issues that impact our planet. It would be easy to despair but once again biology has come to save us. The Alper Lab at University of Texas at Austin has engineered a plastic-eating enzyme which can shorten plastic degradation from hundreds of years to 48 hours. We speak to Dr Hal Alper, Professor in Chemical Engineering at UT at Austin, who engineered this heroic enzyme. We also speak to Marco Poletto, director and co-founder of EcoLogic studio, which is a design i...
Sep 29, 2022•22 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Wastewater-based epidemiology is a relatively new approach to determine the viral make up in any given area. Using chemical analysis of pollutants and biomarkers in raw wastewater, the level of exposure to certain pathogens can be assessed. This technique was used during the pandemic, which has helped realize its potential in public healthcare policy. We speak to Prof. Dominic Frigon, a specialist of biological wastewater resource recovery at McGill University, who used this technique in Quebec ...
Aug 25, 2022•20 min•Season 4Ep. 11
This episode is all about special blood and transplants. We speak to Jon Adkins, co-founder of XenoTherapeutics, who walks us through their use of xenotransplantation for skin grafts and organ transplantation. We are also joined by Dr. Franck Zal, a marine biologist, CSO and CEO of Hemarina, to discuss the lugworm. His discovery, that the lugworms’ blood is compatible with human blood, means it can be used in medical applications for transplants. Join us for this eye-opening and insightful conve...
Jun 30, 2022•18 min•Season 4Ep. 10
In this episode, we contemplate the combatting the devastating disease that Alzheimer’s is. According to a recent report by the Alzheimer’s Disease International, an estimated 50 million people are living with dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. We talk to two experts leading two respective early-stage studies into possible treatments for Alzhemier’s. One study looks at the tackling of tau proteins, another looks at treating aging rather than the disease itself. Join us for this fascinating dis...
Jun 16, 2022•23 min•Season 4Ep. 9
The pandemic has been a global issue, which has benefitted from the coming together of industry, pharma, academia, non-governmental and governmental support. What the pandemic has also brought into sharp focus is the global imbalance access to healthcare and health inequity between the Global North and Global South. For this important conversation, we are joined by Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, Chief Operating Officer of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation about the current situation with HIV and TB ...
May 26, 2022•21 min•Season 4Ep. 8
We know meat is problematic for the environment, and seafood has its own issues with overfishing, so do we have to wave goodbye to the foods we love? Well, what if we told you that there are substitutes which you can enjoy without sacrificing taste and texture? We start with mycoprotein, in the form of the well-known meat substitute products of Quorn Foods . Tim Finnigan, Chief Scientific Advisor for Quorn Foods, explains why mycoprotein is such a suitable source of protein, how it is manufactur...
May 12, 2022•17 min•Season 4Ep. 7
According to Jacob Moe-Lange from California Cultured , and Natasha Haveman from the UF Space Plant Lab , genetically modified food is the future. Both discuss the way that food is grown and how that is changing. Jacob takes us through cell-cultured chocolate and the environmental and humanitarian benefits. Natasha forces our gaze upwards to the plant experiments happening in spaceflight conditions, where scientists are learning how plants adapt to new environmental stresses. In this episode, Do...
May 11, 2022•21 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Fungi are amazing in so many ways, and after learning that they could be used to build habitat on Mars, we have this bonus episode to go into home these mushrooms can be used on Earth. Chris Maurer, principal architect at redhouse studios , explains that he has been using mushrooms to make building materials in low-resource environments in Namibia. These materials prove even better than concrete. Join Dodi and Conor for this episode on a truly amazing use of biology to solve our problems. Transc...
May 11, 2022•15 min•Season 4Ep. 5
March is the month of the Woman, and to celebrate International Women’s Day we speak with two agents of change who are passionate about opportunity and diversity within the sciences. Ruchi Sharma, CEO and Founder of Stemnovate Limited , and Sabrina Fleurimé, drug product development scientist and Corporate Partnership Director at BBSTEM , talk to us about what we can all do to become agents of change. Ruchi Sharma is recognized as one of the ones to watch entrepreneurs in the health industry, sh...
May 11, 2022•19 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Sustained life and colonization in space are closer than ever, and biology holds the key. Biomimetic processes have applications for water filtration and for building homes on Mars. Jörg Vogel, VP of Open Innovation at Aquaporin , discusses how their Aquaporin Inside® Membrane Technology will help filter condensate and urine to make drinking water for astronauts. We are also joined by Chris Maurer, an architect and founder of redhouse studios in Cleveland, Ohio. Chris is working on a project wit...
Feb 24, 2022•20 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Meet Discovery Maker Mustapha Bittaye, now a senior scientist working on diagnostic assay development at Medicines Discovery Catapult, who previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Jenner Institute helping create the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Born in The Gambia, a scholarship took Mustapha to the UK to study Microbial Proteomics, and from then onwards he has made truly amazing contributions to human health globally. Conor and Dodi examine Mustapha’s story, truly brilliant mind, and...
Jan 27, 2022•16 min•Season 4Ep. 2
What better way to start off 2022 than with a return to our Discovery Makers series. We celebrate discovery by talking to the scientists changing the world one day at a time. This time we are joined by Sebastian Falk. What drives a scientist? Well, according to Sebastian Falk, it is curiosity that drives him. Sebastian is a structural biologist who is leading a research group at the Max Perutz Labs investigating the structure and function of proteins, and how they work in RNA metabolism. In line...
Jan 13, 2022•22 min•Season 4Ep. 1
As 2022 rolls around the corner, we look back on the amazing topics we covered in 2021. Conor and Dodi were set an assignment to choose their favorite episode of the year, but as this was such a jam-packed year it made it very hard for them to complete their assignment. But as in all things, they delivered. From fungi forays to an eye-opening conversation with Dr Joan Reede, President of the BSCP, Dodi and Conor discuss the best moments of the year, with a little input from the production team. ...
Dec 23, 2021•16 min•Season 3Ep. 19
