Ground Truths

Above is a brief video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here . The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify. Transcript with links to audio and external citations Eric Topol ( 00:06 ): Well, hello it's Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I'm really delighted to welcome Dr. Rachael Bedard, who is a physician geriatrician in New Yor...

Superimposed on an impressive body of work on the blood-brain-barrier and immune system, Prof Akassoglou and her collaborators just published an elegant study in Nature that centered on the direct binding os the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to fibrin with marked downstream pro-inflammatory effects. The findings and potential treatments have implications beyond Covid, Long Covid to other neurologic dis...

When I think of digital biology, I think of Patrick Hsu—he’s the prototype, a rarified talent in both life and computer science, who recently led the team that discovered bridge RNAs, what may be considered CRISPR 3.0 for genome editing, and is building new generative A.I. models for life science. You might call them LLLMs-large language of life models. He is Co-Founder and a Core Investigator of...

Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor are well regarded computer scientists at Princeton University and have just published a book with a provocative title, AI Snake Oil. Here I’ve interviewed Sayash and challenged him on this dismal title, for which he provides solid examples of predictive AI’s failures. Then we get into the promise of generative AI. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be...

Francis Collins is a veritable national treasure. He directed the National Institutes of Health from 2009 to 2021. Prior to that he led the National Human Genetics Research Institute (NHGRI) from 1997-2009, during which the human genome was first sequenced. As a physician-scientist, he has made multiple seminal discoveries on the genetic underpinnings of cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, neur...

Professor Joseph Allen directs the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard Chan School of Public Health. His expertise extends far beyond what makes buildings healthy. He has been a leading voice and advocate during the Covid pandemic for air quality and ventilation. He coined the term “Forever Chemicals” and has written extensively on this vital topic, no less other important exposures, which we cov...

Steve Horvath made the seminal discovery of the— Horvath Clock — an epigenetic clock based on DNA methylation, which is now being used extensively in medical research and offered commercially for individuals (←we talk about that!). He was on the faculty at UCLA from 2000-2022 as a Professor of Human Genetics and Biostatistics, and now works on anti-aging research at Altos Labs. A perspective on th...

Pradeep is a brilliant geneticist and Director of Preventive Cardiology, holds the Paul & Phyllis Fireman Endowed Chair in Vascular Medicine at Mass General Hospital and on faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute. His prolific research has been illuminating for the field of improving our approach to reduce the risk of heart disease. That’s especially important because heart disea...

A video snippet of our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here . The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify. Shane Crotty: A Landmark Study on Upper Airway Mucosal Immunity Transcript This is the first time a Ground Truths podcast is being posted simultaneous with a new publication, this one in  Nature ,  by Professor Shane Crotty and his colleag...

Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here . The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify. Thank you for reading Ground Truths. This post is public so feel free to share it. Transcript with audio and external links Eric Topol ( 00:05 ): Hello, it's Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I am really thrilled to have with me Professor Faisal Mahmood, who is lighting it u...

Recently, a series of papers were published in Nature and Nature journals illuminating the physiologic effects of exercise from an NIH initiative called MoTrPAC. To understand the wealth of new findings, I spoke with Professor Euan Ashley, who, along with Matt Wheeler, heads up the bioinformatics center. Earlier this week, Stanford announced Euan Ashley will be the new Chair of the Department of M...

A book that reads like a novel; it’s humorous, it’s a love story. Dr. Christopher Labos, an imaginative cardiologist and epidemiologist at McGill University , takes us through multiple longstanding misconceptions about different foods and drinks, and along the way provides outstanding educational value. Video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on Y...

The most enthralling conversation I’ve ever had with anyone on cancer. It’s with Charlie Swanton who is a senior group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, the Royal Society Napier Professor in Cancer and medical oncologist at University College London, co-director of Cancer Research UK. Video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here ....

In this podcast, Thomas Czech, Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a lineage of remarkable contributions on RNA, ribozyme, and telomeres, discuss why RNA is so incredibly versatile. Video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here . The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify. Transcript with links to...

Professor Venki Ramakrishnan, a Nobel laureate for his work on unraveling the structure of function of the ribosome, has written a new book WHY WE DIE which is outstanding. Among many posts and recognitions for his extraordinary work in molecular biology, Venki has been President of the Royal Society , knighted in 2012, and was made a Member of the Order of Merit in 2022. He is a group leader at t...

After finishing her training in neurology at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Svetlana Blitshteyn started a Dysautonomia Clinic in 2009 . Little did she know what was in store many years later when Covid hit! Ground Truths podcasts are on Apple and Spotify. The video interviews are on YouTube Transcript with audio and external links Eric Topol ( 00:07 ): Well, hello, it's Eric Topol from Ground Truths, and I have...

“We haven't invested this much money into an infrastructure like this really until you go back to the pyramids”—Kate Crawford Transcript with links to audio and external links. Ground Truths podcasts are on Apple and Spotify. The video interviews are on YouTube Eric Topol ( 00:06 ): Well, hello, this is Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I'm really delighted today to welcome Kate Crawford, who we'...

If there’s one person you’d want to talk to about immunology, the immune system and Covid, holes in our knowledge base about the complex immune system, and where the field is headed, it would be Professor Iwasaki. And add to that the topic of Women in Science. Here’s our wide-ranging conversation. A snippet of the video, Full length Ground Truths videos are posted here and you can subscribe. Groun...

“ Where do I think the next amazing revolution is going to come? … There’s no question that digital biology is going to be it. For the very first time in our history, in human history, biology has the opportunity to be engineering, not science.”  —Jensen Huang, NVIDIA CEO Aviv Regev is one of the leading life scientists of our time. In this conversation, we cover the ongoing revolution in digital...

Professor Doudna was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier for their pioneering work in CRISPR genome editing. The first genome editing therapy (Casgevy) was just FDA approved, only a decade after the CRISPR-Cas9 editing system discovery. But It’s just the beginning of a much bigger impact story for medicine and life science. Ground Truths podcasts are now...

Note: This podcast is a companion to the Ground Truths newsletter “ A Big Week for GLP-1 Drugs” Eric Topol ( 00:06 ): It is Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and with me today is Dr. Daniel Drucker from the University of Toronto, who is one of the leading endocrinologists in the world, and he along with Joel Habener and Jens Juul Holst from the University of Copenhagen and Denmark, have been credited...

Siddhartha Mukherjee is a Professor at Columbia University, oncologist, and extraordinary author of Emperor of All Maladies (which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize), The Gene, and The Song of the Cell, along with outstanding pieces in the New Yorker. He is one of the top thought leaders in medicine of our era. “I have begun to imagine, think about what it would be to be a digital human..”—Sid Mukherje...

There was so much to talk about—this is the longest Ground Truths podcast yet. Hope you’ll find it as thought-provoking as I did! Transcript, with audio and external links, edited by Jessica Nguyen, Producer for Ground Truths Video and audio tech support by Sinjun Balabanoff, Scripps Research Eric Topol ( 00:00:05 ): This is Eric Topol from Ground Truths, and I am delighted to have with me Holden...

Transcript Eric Topol ( 00:06 ): Well, hello, this is Eric Topol with Ground Truths and I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Daphne Koller, the founder and CEO of insitro, and a person who I've been wanting to meet for some time. Finally, we converged so welcome, Daphne. Daphne Koller ( 00:21 ): Thank you Eric. And it's a pleasure to finally meet you as well. Eric Topol ( 00:24 ): Yeah, I mean you...

“ A few years ago, I might have chuckled at the naiveté of this question, but now it's not so crazy to think that we will be able to take some sort of medicine to extend our healthy lifespans in the foreseeable future.” —Coleen Murphy Transcript with external links Eric Topol ( 00:06 ): Hello, this is Eric Topol from Ground Truths, and I'm just so delighted to have with me Professor Coleen Murphy,...