Coffee Break Science

What does "normal" actually look like in a system as complex as the human endometrium? And why does it still take over eight years for so many to find answers for their pain? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Charlotte Cassie , a postdoctoral researcher in the Vento-Tormo lab at the Wellcome Sanger Institute . Charlotte is at the forefront of efforts to map the endometrium at single-...

Dr Rouchelle Srinanjan-Rothwell, NIHR clinical lecturer at the University of Cambridge, talks about her recently published IVORY trial, in which the Cambridge team investigated anti-inflammatory therapy using repurposed IL-2 drug to treat acute coronary syndromes You can find the study here: Anti-inflammatory therapy with low-dose IL-2 in acute coronary syndromes: a randomized phase 2 trial | Natu...

Founder and CEO of Elcella, and lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, Dr Madusha Peiris, spills the tea on her team's discovery in human gut tissue which has resulted in an impactful, natural weight management treatment. Could this be the new natural alternative to Ozempic? Tune in to find out! Elcella: https://elcella.com Madusha's research: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zXeh8S...

In Episode 3, I'm joined by award-winning science writer, public speaker and broadcaster, Dr Kat Arney. She takes us on the evolutionary journey of her career from being a geneticist in the lab, to becoming a bestselling author, while providing a new lens on cancer. You can buy Rebel Cell wherever you source your books: Rebel Cell by Dr Kat Arney | Waterstones Contact Ahsen with feedback, ques...

In this episode, I'm joined by Prof Serena Nik-Zainal, a legendary research group leader in genomic medicine. Join us for a deep dive into the cancer genome, and how we can harness it to better inform treatment for patients. Serena's research: https://www.earlycancer.cam.ac.uk/professor-serena-nik-zainal Contact Ahsen with feedback, questions, or if you're interested in sharing your story, at au28...

Welcome back to Coffee Break Science Season 2! In this episode I'm joined by Christen Williams, co-founder of cancer prevention charity BRCA Chat who support people navigating a germline genetic mutation that significantly increases risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. The expert scientific landscape is then beautifully set by Dr Siddhartha Kar, associate professor of clinical epidem...

It has been a while! Welcome back to Coffee Break Science. This season, we're brewing up something truly special. This podcast is sponsored by NIHR Cambridge BRC Devices and Advanced Therapies Theme

In the final episode of Season 1, we are joined by the phenomenal Dr Amina Yonis, a research scientist by background who became a Youtuber with over 200K subscribers and set up her own academic consultancy business: ThePageDoctor We discuss what Amina loved about academia, and what made her start her YouTube channel which has since grown into multiple other streams of income resulting in her event...

In this episode, Dr Carla Usai talks about her international career journey so far as a postdoctoral scientist in infectious disease. Carla has a science communication blog where she writes about viruses, immunology and more, in both English and Italian: Home – Virus&Co. (art.blog) You can contact her on LinkedIn: (4) Carla Usai, PhD | LinkedIn

In this episode, I am joined by Dr Elham Sahafi, a dentist who became a scientist through a drive to make a difference to the lives of Head and Neck Cancer Patients. We talk about her incredible PhD research which found EGFR as a molecular biomarker for worsened prognosis for HNCSCC. You can find her publication mentioned in the episode here: EGFR overexpression increases radiotherapy response in...

Today I'm joined by Dr Irem Ishlek, a clinical doctor who is currently undertaking paediatric training and we talk all things medical education, research during medical training and challenges commonly faced by doctors from minority backgrounds! If you'd like to join or find out more about the Widening Participation Medics Network mentioned in the episode, you can do so here: Home | Widening Parti...

In this episode, we explore Dr Heather Fitzke's diverse career journey from social anthropology to public health & epidemiology, to a PhD and now post-doc in medical imaging in the field of neurogastroenterology. We explore the beauty and perils of working for the public sector, and academia in particular, and discover how Heather steered herself into the STEM field.  If you work for a un...

In this episode, we explore Dr Joe Worrall's path to landing a PhD in molecular oncology, and how he decided to pursue a career in medical writing/publishing in the pharmaceutical industry, including his side hustle: The Examiners. Automatic Question & Flashcard Generator - The Examiners The Examiners is a web-tool that Joe himself coded and allows university students to generate flashcards ta...

Today I am joined by Dr Hannah Thompson, who is a PhD scientist by training, but has now worked in many start-ups across product, business, operations and people functions. She has worked on software products that monitor health and enable precision medicine and clinical trials. We speak about how to navigate different jobs, not with the aim of finding the 'perfect' job, but rather, with the aim o...

Today we are joined by Dr Kristen Smith-Edwards who talks about her rather unconventional route to earning a faculty position at the Mayo Clinic, US. Her passion for neuroscience research is inspiring, as she discusses key career-defining moments in her academic journey so far, including a coffee-break introduction to her research on the gut-brain axis.  If you would like to get in touch with...

In this episode, we explore Dr Atiya Sarmin's transition from a Bioengineering PhD to product management in a scale-up company using AI to improve drug discovery pipelines. We discuss the challenge that academia poses for women from BAME backgrounds, and how Atiya dealt with these challenges throughout her career so far.  If you would like to find out more about Atiya, or connect with her, yo...