People, Parasites, and Plagues

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Robyn Kent, Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, to explore how Toxoplasma gondii persists in the body long after infection. Dr. Kent breaks down the parasite’s chronic stage, where Toxoplasma forms cysts in tissues like the brain and muscle. But rather than simply “going dormant,” her research suggests these parasites may rem...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Elizabeth Uhl, a veterinary pathologist at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine, to explore how disease leaves its mark across time. Dr. Uhl introduces us to paleopathology, the study of disease in ancient remains, and explains how animal bones, historical records, archaeology, and modern pathology can work together to reveal the health l...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Diego Huet, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Georgia, to explore Toxoplasma gondii. It's often called the world’s most successful parasite. Infecting up to a third of the global population, Toxoplasma is both incredibly common and largely invisible. Dr. Huet breaks down how it spreads, why most people never know they...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Nancy Manley, Director of the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. Before ASU, she spent over 20 years at the University of Georgia, where she served as Head of the Department of Genetics and a Distinguished Research Professor studying the thymus. We explore one of the body’s most overlooked yet essential organs, the thymus, and how it builds a...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Justin Bahl, a UGA Professor of Epidemology and Biostatistics. David and Kim explore how modern epidemiology uses genomic data and statistics to track the spread of infectious diseases. From studying fungi on palm leaves across Asia and Australia to analyzing viral genomes during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Dr. Bahl shares how global field experience and biostatis...

The hosts sit down with Dr. Julie Fox, Chief of the Emerging Virus Immunity Unit at NIAID, National Institutes of Health, to explore the science of alphavirus immunity and what antibodies really do in the context of alphavirus infection. From chikungunya virus and its debilitating joint disease to broader mosquito-borne alphaviruses, Dr. Fox explains why these viruses are powerful models for study...

Parasitoid wasps are some of the most successful organisms on Earth, even if most of us never notice them. In this episode, Dr. Michael Strand from the UGA Department of Entomology takes us inside the hidden world of parasitoid wasps. These insects lay their eggs in other insects and rely on domesticated viruses to suppress host immune systems and control development. We explore how these virus–wa...

What if your gut bacteria could become medicine? In this episode, a UGA microbiologist, Greg Phillips, reveals how engineered probiotic E. coli can produce L-dopa, the frontline treatment for Parkinson’s, directly inside the gut. We explore the gut–brain connection, the power of the microbiome, and how living microbes could become the next generation of drug delivery systems. From World War I prob...

Dive into the world of chromatin and epigenetics with Dr. Zachary Lewis, an associate professor at the UGA Department of Microbiology. His research explores how chromatin structure and other epigenetic mechanisms shape genome organization, function, and long-term stability in eukaryotic cells. He particularly studies chromatin within fungal pathogens. In this episode, Dr. Lewis breaks down why the...

This episode takes us inside the lab of Dr. Drew Etheridge, an associate professor in the UGA Department of Cellular Biology. He walks us through his scientific path and his current work on endocytosis in Trypanosoma cruzi. This parasite is often overlooked, yet it is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States as it moves north from Central and South America.

Two UGA graduate students take us inside their world of science! Kaelynn Parker (Cellular Biology) and Grace Woods Vick (Infectious Diseases) share what it’s really like working in the lab, traveling abroad, and chasing their passion for research.

This episode leans into the “people” side of People, Parasites & Plagues . Our guest is Dr. Erik C. Ness, Professor and Director of the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at UGA. While his past work explored how education policy is implemented across states, his latest research takes on a timely challenge: how misinformation and “alternative facts,” especially in the age of AI, shape p...

Today we’re joined by Dr. Melinda Brindley, a molecular virologist at the UGA Department of Infectious Diseases. Her research explores how enveloped viruses enter host cells and replicate. Understanding this process could lead to new ways of developing treatments for viral infections.

This week, we’re joined by Dr. Travis Glenn, Director of the UGA Institute of Bioinformatics, to discuss his work with genetic marker systems and how he's using these systems to group infectious diseases.

We're ending this season with another Book Club! Our hosts are joined today by Production Assistant Syd Weigand to discuss the novels they've read about malaria, tuberculosis, and new guinea tapeworms.

This week we're joined by Dr. Douglas Paton, Assistant Professor of the UGA Department of Infectious Diseases. We've covered malaria before- but not like this! Tune in to hear about his groundbreaking work on an incredible new way to treat the disease. 

Today's guest is a special one; he's travelled all the way from Australia to chat with us! Dr. Stephen Turner, Professor and Head of the Department of Microbiology at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, joins us in the studio to discuss his research on T cells, his journey into science, and some great immune system analogies.

Today we're talking to Dr. Mark Ruder, the Director of SCWDS and Professor of Wildlife Heath here at UGA. Tune in to hear about the origins of the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study and Dr. Ruder's fascinating work with diseases in whitetail deer!

You'll have to tune in to find out! Today we're chatting with Dr. Vincent Starai, an associate professor of the UGA Department of Microbiology about his research with the obligate intracellular bacterium Wolbachia and his passion for teaching.

This week we're joined by Dr. Chester Joyner of the UGA Department of Infectious Diseases to discuss his research with Plasmodium vivax and the curious nature of its dormant liver stage.

We're back today with a special visitor: Dr. Stephanie Langel, Assistant Professor of the Case Western University Department of Pathology. Tune in to hear about her journey to science, her research on colostrum and immunity, and her own experience as a podcast host! Check out Stephanie's podcast "Immune" here:  https://open.spotify.com/show/7vA26ZVp392p6udK7jltrI?si=dHqBa5_GSMu...

This week we're talking tuberculosis with Dr. Frederick Quinn, the Department Head of Infectious Diseases here at UGA. Tune in to hear about his current research with zoonotic tuberculosis and what he's learned about transmission of this deadly disease.

We've got a treat for you this week! Dr. Jeff Hogan of the UGA Department of Infectious Diseases is joining us to talk about his work in the most secure building on campus and his time spent protecting our country from diseases with USAMRIID. 

Join us this week for a special discussion with Emeritus Professor of Microbiology Dr. Daniel Colley. We're chatting with him about his time spent with the CDC, becoming the director of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases at UGA, and the research abroad that sparked his passion for schistosomes.

We're mixing it up a little bit this week with Dr. Susan Mattern of the UGA Department of Classics! Join us on our walk through history as we talk about Galen, a prolific Roman physician whose treatises dominated Western medicine for over a thousand years.