The Lifeline Project

We asked Jon Stokes, scientist and founder of Stoked Bio, to help us write a musical of his story fighting AMR. Jon uses AI to find potential antibiotics, cutting down on the time and money it takes to develop new, live-saving drugs. In this episode he talks to me about funk music, the importance of unglamorous work and his complicated relationship with devastating pathogens.  Transcript incoming!...

Our book writer, Becky Hope-Palmer, is back to give us updates on the show and what she learnt from her time taking a musical onto an off-Broadway stage. We talk about how feedback and changes have affected her writing, and how she stays true to a complicated scientific and social message when crafting an entertaining narrative. Full transcript coming soon! -- Lifeline is on in London in spring 20...

Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/3Lcb4e2 We asked journalist Misbah Khan to help us writer a musical about her work on AMR... Misbah is from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and a member of our advisory board. Her work has included reporting on sick patients from across the world all the way from the boroughs of New York to a conflict zone in Ethiopia. And yet her story all starts in...

Transcript Here: http://bit.ly/3JDAFvH   The Lifeline Project is back with an update on what's been happening in the last year and big news about 2026! The Lifeline Project is a podcast exploring the science and stories behind the musical, Lifeline, a show about antibiotics, Alexander Fleming, and the biggest current global health crisis you might never have heard of, antimicrobial resistance or A...

Transcript available here: https://bit.ly/3J2Swvp   In this episode we talk to the chorus of healthcare professionals who take to the stage with the principal cast every night to tell the story of Jess and Alexander Fleming. This is the last episode in the series of ten which should give you a good introduction to how to talk about AMR from a scientific and social perspective, and give you an insi...

Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/4m1Nmyc   Lifeline has been in production for nearly a decade. In that time, much has changed but the core scientific and social message has always stayed the same. In this episode we talk to Robin Hiley, composer, Becky Hope-Palmer, book writer, and Dr Meghan Perry, scientific advisor who have been three of the people closest to the action making Lifeline w...

Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/45m0Xtl   How do you fit the nearly hundred year history of antimicrobials in agriculture and the environment into one song? Buckle up. Talking about the antibiotic emergency under the banner of One Health means not only taking in the history of drugs in medicine but also the wild ways they have been used in animals and their effect on the environment. Helpi...

Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/4frwzSS   Kevin Brown wrote the book on Alexander Fleming. Rob Hiley wrote the musical. Who better to ask about the man behind the mould? The Lifeline Project is a podcast exploring the science and stories behind the musical, Lifeline, a show about antibiotics, Alexander Fleming, and the biggest current global health crisis you might never have heard of, ant...

Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/4laHL7C   One of our biggest supporters over the last few years has been Dame Sally Davies, the former haematologist, civil servant, Chief Medical Officer of the UK and the current master of Trinity College and UK’s Special Envoy on AMR. She’s also a legend. The Lifeline Project is a podcast exploring the science and stories behind the musical, Lifeline, a s...

Transcript at: https://bit.ly/3HgXgNr   Ingrid was young and starting her career as a dietician when two years of hospitalisation, injections and recovery which changed her life forever. In this episode we focus on Tuberculosis, or TB, a disease with a long history in humans which is both curable and preventable but continues to kill 1.2 million people every year.  Featuring: Ingrid Schoeman, Dire...

Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/45i2aBJ   Jess is a doctor, Aaron is a patient, Julian is in a position of power. Together, they are the three friends whose story is at the heart of the show. All of them, in their own ways are antibiotic stewards. Featuring: Dr Olayinka Fakorede, Medical Doctor and Masters candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Michael Mosha, Pharmacist...

Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/4laEQfa   AMR is a problem with a plethora of solutions...and plenty of barriers to reach them. In this episode we look at the role innovation can play – innovating new antibiotics, relatively unexplored treatments and preventing infection in the first place.  Featuring: Silas Holland, Executive director in infectious disease policy at Merck Dr Michele Ritte...

Transcript Available at: https://bit.ly/3J5PZR3   Who killed Mrs X? Was it her husband, infecting her with a resistant bacterium? Was it the pharmacist, who sold Mr X the antibiotics? Or was it the system that allowed him to get the antibiotics in the first place? Prof Bob Phillips, Professor of Paediatrics and Evidence Synthesis at at the University of York and Director of Candlelighters Supporti...

Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/45lolHc   The Lifeline project is a podcast exploring the science and stories behind the musical, Lifeline. The first episode is a potted history of the show and it's principal cast members - not the actors, the microbes that help make their bodies function.  Featuring: Maren Hunsberger - a scientist, science communicator, producer and actor - @marenhunsberg...