Deep within the gut’s epithelial layer are specialized sensory cells that convert mechanical stimuli to electrical signals and convey this information to nerve cells. As researchers home in on the basic mechanisms of gut touch, the concept of gut feeling is taking on new significance and providing hope for the millions of people living with gastrointestinal disorders. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist spoke with Arthur Beyder, a gastroenterologist and biomedical engineer at the ...
Apr 30, 2025•16 min
Bioelectrical gradients guide embryonic development by creating an electrical scaffold for tissue and organ growth. Researchers harness the power of bioelectricity to devise strategies for regenerating various tissues, including promoting brain recovery after stroke. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist spoke with Paul George, a physician scientist in the Department of Neurology at Stanford University, to learn more about his team’s research on bioelectricity for stroke recovery. T...
Feb 26, 2025•13 min
Traditional and new cancer therapies often become stymied due to tumor resistance, but why resistance arises and how to avoid it remain important questions in the cancer research field. To uncover the ways tumors form, adapt, and ultimately resist treatment, scientists investigate how genetic mutations arise and drive cancer cell evolution. In this month’s episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scientist spoke with Bishoy Faltas, an associate professor of medicine, and cell and developmental biology, ...
Dec 18, 2024•21 min
Retinal neurons derived from human stem cells are a promising source of replacement cells for regenerating damaged or diseased retinas. As scientists progress toward translation of cell therapies for restoring vision, they encounter challenges, including how to deliver the cells, ensure that they integrate appropriately with host tissue, and enable proper function after transplantation. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist spoke with Deepak Lamba, a distinguished scientist in the d...
Nov 20, 2024•15 min
Early diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson’s disease is critical to slowing its progression. Long before neurological symptoms appear, patients exhibit early signs, some of which are associated with specific chemical scent signatures known as volatile organic compounds. Researchers study these as early biomarkers of disease for future diagnostics applications. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist spoke with Drupad Trivedi, a University of Manchester biomedical researcher and lectur...
Oct 31, 2024•13 min
Just like people declutter their homes to prevent the accumulation of broken or unwanted items, cells use autophagy to maintain homeostasis. This essential cleaning process enables them to capture and degrade unnecessary or dysfunctional macromolecules, such as damaged organelles, protein aggregates, and microbial pathogens. As a result, autophagy is a fundamental defense mechanism employed by cells to control and clear viral infections. In this episode, Charlene Lancaster from The Scientist spo...
Sep 25, 2024•16 min
Gut microbes affect humans in many ways, including altering the gastrointestinal tract’s function and influencing a person’s body weight, and the nutrients that people ingest can affect the microbiome. Researchers now ask how popular weight loss strategies involving calorie restriction change the bugs in our guts and human health overall. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist spoke with Alex Mohr, a postdoctoral fellow in the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes at Arizona ...
Aug 28, 2024•15 min
Rare diseases often remain undiagnosed due to unknown etiologies. In recent years, researchers have made headway in characterizing the molecular causes of rare diseases thanks to progressively powerful sequencing technologies, such as whole genome and exome sequencing. In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scientist spoke with medical geneticist and chair of the department of pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital, Wendy Chung, to learn how the rare disease field has evolved alongside advan...
Jul 31, 2024•18 min
Building miniature brains may sound like a page out of a science fiction novel, but fact is indeed stranger than fiction. Researchers around the world grow brain organoids—3D miniature brains—to better understand brain development, aging, injury, and other disorders, as well as to test new treatment strategies. Some scientists take brain building to the next level by launching their brain organoids into outer space. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist spoke with Alysson Muotri, a ...
Jun 26, 2024•17 min
As a maternal-fetal immunologist at the Washington University School of Medicine, Nardhy Gómez-López investigates the immunobiological pathways that underlie pregnancy complications. Having trained and researched across the globe alongside caring and curious physicians, Gómez-López became hooked on perinatal immunology research. Motivated to help solve the prevalent problem of preterm birth, she currently looks at labor and birth, also called parturition, through a basic research lens. In this S...
Jun 01, 2024•4 min
In the 1960s, researchers in England noticed an anomaly when investigating chromosomes from surgically removed human tumors. Distinct from the intact chromosomes visible underneath the microscope were numerous “very small double chromatin bodies,” which are today better known as extrachromosomal DNA. Thanks to modern sequencing and imaging techniques, researchers now know that these tiny bits of circular DNA play a big role in cancer outcomes. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist spo...
May 29, 2024•21 min
As the Golub Family Professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University, Paola Arlotta seeks to understand how the human brain is formed and what makes it unique. After being inspired by her high school science teacher, Antonio Vecchia, Arlotta pursued a research path that led to her current work exploring the cerebral cortex by growing human organoids in 3D cell culture and investigating their development with single cell sequencing techniques. In this Science Philosophy in a ...
Apr 30, 2024•3 min
Researchers now employ artificial intelligence (AI) models based on deep learning to make functional predictions about big datasets. While the concepts behind these networks are well established, their inner workings are often invisible to the user. The emerging area of explainable AI (xAI) provides model interpretation techniques that empower life science researchers to uncover the underlying basis on which AI models make such predictions. In this month’s episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scient...
Apr 24, 2024•16 min
The field of psychedelics research has exploded in recent years, as scientists dig deeper into the neuroscience and pharmacology of hallucinogens and how their unique properties can be harnessed to understand and treat depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and neurodegenerative diseases. Remarkably, the human body produces its own endogenous psychedelics, the reasons for which have implications for understanding the ordinary and extraordinary states ...
Mar 27, 2024•33 min
Every cell within the human body contains the same DNA, but not all cells look and act alike. The key to cellular diversity lies in which genes the cells express or shut down. Cells convey this information to the appropriate machinery through epigenetic modifications. In this episode, Charlene Lancaster from The Scientist spoke with Jonathan Weissman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Luke Gilbert from the University of California, San Francisco to learn about making epigenetic c...
Feb 28, 2024•17 min
Cloud-based systems enable remote science experiments, allowing researchers to accomplish experimental breakthroughs from virtually any location with computer access. Remote labs and cloud-connected instruments are revolutionizing the way researchers approach benchwork, improving scientific discovery and education by enabling accessible and automated workflows. In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scientist spoke with Mohammed Mostajo-Radji from the University of California, Santa Cruz; Bran...
Jan 31, 2024•24 min
Researchers apply the principles of synthetic biology to address some of the most pressing human health challenges. In what some consider a science and an artform, scientists use bacterial components in creative ways to create synthetic cells for cancer research. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Kate Adamala, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and a synthetic biologist working on engineering synthetic cells, to learn more a...
Nov 29, 2023•18 min
As bioengineers incorporate smart technology into more aspects of the scientific process, these updates promise to digitize and automate laborious, repetitive research tasks while simultaneously transforming the laboratory into a more accessible and connected environment. This episode highlights cutting-edge smart technologies that allow scientists to take their research to the next level by streamlining common experimental workflows. In this month’s episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scientist’s ...
Sep 27, 2023•22 min
Fecal transplantation is an established procedure for controlling recurrent Clostridium difficile infection by replenishing healthy bacteria in the gut. Researchers explore novel applications of fecal transplantation for treating other conditions, including psychiatric disorders. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Ian Carroll, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Kylie Ree...
Jul 28, 2023•24 min
Xitiz Chamling is an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. From vision research to the pursuit of multiple sclerosis treatments, his philosophy of science centers human-based systems to study the neuroprotective layer called myelin, which surrounds and insulates nerves cells. In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Chamling to learn more about his latest work combining stem cell and CRISPR-Cas9 technolo...
Jul 24, 2023•3 min
Disease-relevant molecules that cannot be pharmacologically targeted are sometimes referred to as undruggable, and in cancer, a number of proteins fall into this category. With innovation and new technologies, researchers make breakthroughs that turn evasive targets into druggable ones. Recent successes in establishing therapeutics against mutant oncoproteins, such as KRAS, transform the treatment landscape for patients and clinicians. A scientist who takes a unique approach to clinical trial de...
May 31, 2023•16 min
Jie Sun is a professor in Infectious Diseases and International Medicine at University of Virginia School of Medicine and associate director for Scientific Programs at the Carter Immunology Center. His philosophy of science prioritizes physiologically relevant infection models to tackle real-world clinical needs with research. In their latest work, Sun’s research team identified genetic and pharmacologic pathways that attenuate severe flu or COVID-19 infection and reduce blood glucose levels tha...
May 30, 2023•3 min
David Liu is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Liu’s lab has introduced breakthrough technologies to the field of genome editing, including base editing and prime editing, with the aim of treating genetic diseases. In their latest work, his research team took a “no stone unturned” approach to determine a one-time base editing strategy to treat the motor neuron disease, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Sci...
May 09, 2023•3 min
Claire Higgins is reader in the department of bioengineering at Imperial College London. Her philosophy of science involves a problem-solving approach to research, where she models tissue growth, development, and repair using human skin and hair follicles. In their latest work, her research team transplanted hair follicles into human skin scars in an attempt to make that tissue healthy again. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Higgins to learn ...
Apr 11, 2023•3 min
Scientists often refer to DNA as the blueprint of a cell. Whether the genetic material is single stranded or double stranded, linear or circular, organisms across the tree of life rely on their genomic blueprint for instructions on living, growing, and reproducing. Due to the amount of information carried by this blueprint, the size of the genome poses a biological dilemma; from humans to single-celled aquatic organisms, all eukaryotes must find a solution for organizing their DNA into a tiny nu...
Mar 30, 2023•24 min
Most mammals communicate vocally but humans are unique in their ability to communicate using spoken language. Humans are not born with an innate capacity to speak and understand language, but rather learn this skill as the brain develops. The complex interplay between neurobiology, genetics, and the environment shape vocal learning, but scientists do not understand the full extent to which each of these contribute to language development or to speech and language disorders. A recent study by a t...
Feb 27, 2023•21 min
Neurodegenerative disorders progressively impair a patient’s ability to function. Scientists expect the prevalence of these conditions to increase as the world’s population ages, and their clinical, genetic, and pathological heterogeneity complicates disease diagnosis and prognosis. The link between the immune system and neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is becoming clearer thanks to improvements in immune cell profiling. A recent study by a team of ALS rese...
Jan 31, 2023•15 min
Jennifer Munson is an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics at Virginia Tech. Her overarching research goal is to find new therapeutic targets in the tumor microenvironment by examining cancer from an onco-engineering perspective. Munson’s work combines fluid mechanics, neuroengineering, tissue engineering, and translational cancer research. She creates personalized models of brain and breast cancer with patient-derived cells to examine the roles of inters...
Dec 08, 2022•3 min
Jukka Koskela, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute for Molecular Medicine, studies the complex genetics of various diseases, including rare diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis. Koskela began pursuing research as a requirement of his clinical training at Helsinki University Central Hospital, and through discussions shared with other scientists, he became passionate about seeking genomic avenues for personalized disease risk assessment. In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scientist’s...
Dec 02, 2022•2 min
Despite the genetic basis of healthy aging, diet plays an important role in preventing inflammation, diabetes, and cognitive decline. Yet, healthy food choices are just part of the equation. Researchers are discovering how fasting can undo some of the metabolic damage imposed by the overindulgences of the typical Western diet. The human body may be wired to function optimally when exposed to periods of fasting, which reawakens stem cell activity and the body’s intrinsic capacity to regenerate. T...
Nov 30, 2022•16 min
