Science is Fun!

Today I'm joined by another floor-mate of mine at UCSF, Bassem Al-Sady. Bassem's lab does beautiful and elegant work on how genes are silenced in cells ranging from yeast to stem cells. He explains all the mysteries that remain about this fundamental process and that aspects of it date back to the earliest types of cells. We also talk about his innovative teaching efforts and how to improve gradua...

This week I'm so thrilled to interview Dr. Stephen Hauser, author of "The Face Laughs While the Brain Cries." He discusses a remarkable career as a physician-scientist, in which he uncovered a key role for B cells in the debilitating autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis. More remarkably, his perseverance led to the transformative drugs that are now available for this disease, emphasizing the impo...

This week I'm so thrilled to interview Dr. Ron Krauss. Ron has make seminal contributions to our understanding of heart disease, including early work on cholesterol and his ongoing studies of statins. He explains why human nutrition is so hard and what is needed to provide more predictive dietary guidelines.

Synthetic biologist Kole Roybal joins us today. Kole is a leader in the emerging area of cell therapy, and has developed sophisticated ways of controlling immune cells for the treatment of cancer. He explains what led to these very recent breakthroughs and what he's excited about next.

This week I'm joined by Jay Levy, a world expert in HIV. Jay was one of the first people to isolate the virus and had made numerous contributions to our understanding of HIV and AIDS. He walks us through this fascinating history and the current challenges in this area.

I'm thrilled to interview Lewis Lanier this week, who recently stepped down as my department chair. Lewis has had a remarkable career in science and industry, including the early days of flow cytometry and the discovery of a new type of immune cell dubbed the "natural killer cell". He explains how these NK cells were found and why they're so unique and fascinating.

This week my guest is Dr. Susan Fisher, a world renowned expert in the placenta. She explains how truly remarkable the placenta is and how it overturns a lot of what we normally assume about the body.

I'm am so excited to welcome Dr. Shaeri Mukherjee to the show. Shaeri is my next-door neighbor at UCSF and has been dubbed the "bacteria whisperer". Her lab uses bacteria as tools to uncover fundamental insights into cell biology.

We're back this week with Seth Shipman from the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco. Seth has built molecular recording devices that can record data within living cells. He even used these methods to re-create one of the first movies put to film. This work has clear technological implications and is also providing insights into phage biology.

We're back this week with Polly Fordyce. Polly is an Assistant Professor of Genetics and Bioengineering at Stanford. She has built remarkable tools for studying transcription factors and enzymes, really accelerating what is possible and opening up new areas of study. She explains why hydrogels are so cool and how you too can use them in your research program.

Science is Fun is finally back after a long hiatus. Where have we been? I've been doing science now that the pandemic slow-down has lifted. So much science to do, so little time! I've got an exciting line-up for the next few weeks - a mini-season of shows. I hope you enjoy it and stay subscribed to the show for when our next full season launches. This week I welcome Dr. Yvette Fisher to the show....

I'm am so excited to welcome Dr. Monica Gandhi to the show. Throughout the pandemic, Monica has been a source of reliable and clear headed insight, especially with regards to the importance of re-opening schools. This conversation remains timely given the increasing rate of infections and stalled vaccination effort.

This week I chat with another talented chemist: Bill DeGrado from UCSF. Bill is a pioneer in the de novo design of proteins. He talks about how he got into this area and how it has created opportunities to treat disease.

This week I'm joined by Charly Craik, a chemist at UCSF who develops sophisticated tools for studying biology. He talks about his quest to watch enzymes function in real-time in cells and even whole mice, and how his research is paving the way for new therapies for HIV, cancer, and COVID-19.

Keith Yamamoto, the Vice Chancellor for Science Policy and Strategy at UCSF, explains why he has been committed throughout his career to reform the funding, publication, and practice of science. He also discusses his vision for the future of precision medicine and how team-based projects could accelerate scientific progress.

Dr. Alan Venook is a renowned expert on gastrointestinal malignancies at UCSF. He discusses the innovative ways doctors are treating cancer, the challenges of designing clinical trials, and the future of cancer therapy.

KC Huang, a physicist at Stanford with one of the most eclectic research histories I've seen, patiently explains photons, the biophysics of cell shape, and why biologists should embrace theory.

Dr. Hiten Madhani is an expert in yeast biology, including the neglected human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Hiten's lab has made major contributions to our understanding of gene splicing, gene silencing, and quorum sensing. These eclectic areas arise organically from his group's ability to follow the data and their own curiosity, coupled to his strategy of encouraging trainees to follo...

Dr. Abby Buchwalter, my former classmate from Washington University in Saint Louis, tells us why everyone should care about the nuclear lamina. She also talks about the winding path of discovery and her efforts to found the SciChats outreach program at the Salk Institute.

My guest this week is Dr. Seemay Chou, my colleague at UCSF who uses ticks as a model system for host-microbial interactions. She talks about her remarkable discovery of bacteria genes that have transferred into ticks and how they serve to protect ticks from microbes found on human skin.

My guest this week is Dr. Emily Goldberg, a brand new faculty member at UCSF. She talks about growing up with academic parents and how she got into the rapidly growing field of immunometabolism, as well as the complex role of ketogenic diets and caloric restriction is shaping aging and susceptibility to infection.

My guest this week is Dr. Sarkis Mazmanian, a Professor at Cal Tech, and certified Genius by the MacArthur Foundation. Sarkis talks about how he got into microbiome research and his remarkable contributions to infectious disease, immunology, and neurology.

My first international guest, the renowned Irish microbiome researcher Fergus Shanahan, talks about his new book "The Language of Illness" and his eclectic research on the inflammatory bowel diseases (plural!), physical fitness (not exercise!), and Irish Travelers (popularized by the movie Snatch).

My guest this week is Dr. Rachel Dutton from UCSD who is recognized in both scientific and culinary circles for her ingenious use of cheese rinds as a model system to study microbial ecology. Learn more about what inspired her to take up this line of research and what they have learned so far.

My guest this week is Dr. Gerry Wright, a Professor at McMaster who is renowned for his efforts to understand and combat antibiotic resistance in pathogenic microbes. This interview is especially timely given the ongoing pandemic and the need to invest more heavily in infectious disease research.