The Scientist Speaks

Plant biotechnology is becoming an accepted avenue for pharmaceutical development. Researchers have engineered plants to grow biomolecules that can be made into therapeutics, including vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. These new technologies hold the promise of more readily bringing treatments to low-to-middle-income countries and providing rapid responses to future pandemics. In this episode, N...

Cancers are diverse and adaptable. That is why a staggering 97% of cancer drugs in clinical trials fail to receive FDA approval. Researchers try to stay one step ahead of cancer by studying the mechanisms that lead to drug resistance, finding new drug targets, and developing novel therapies, such as immunotherapeutics. In this episode narrated by Niki Spahich, Sejal Davla from The Scientist’s Crea...

An estimated 107,000 people in the United States are currently on the waiting list for organ transplantation. These patients face waiting times of 3-5 years or longer before receiving an organ. Even after receiving a donated organ, organ-transplant patients face a high risk of tissue rejection. Regenerative medicine promises the possibility of laboratory-grown organs, specially tailored to the bio...

Many secrets are locked inside the brain, including fundamental questions of how individuals perceive the world. Some researchers are seeking answers by mapping brain activity in response to stimuli. This work typically involves human subjects, but certain scientists are branching out to understand the minds of other animals. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Greg...

Viral genomes are small, but their products have large consequences for their hosts. During infection, viruses reshape the host gene expression landscape through clever mechanisms that promote viral replication and survival. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Britt Glaunsinger, a professor in the departments of plant microbial biology and molecular and cell biology...

The brain requires a lot of energy generated by mitochondria to function properly. Researchers suspect that mutations and deletions in the mitochondrial genome have a bigger effect than previously appreciated, with implications for neurological disorders, such as major depressive disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and beyond. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Brooke H...

Since the 1950s, there has been a rapid rise in the incidence of allergic diseases, particularly in western countries. Experts agree that the rapid increase in cases is not due to increased awareness, and the genetics behind allergies have not changed. But the environment has changed. Genetic predisposition affects the likelihood of developing allergies, but the environment acts on genetic backgro...

Cell therapies treat and repair the body using stem cells or their derivatives. These cells possess great therapeutic potential, but their beneficial effects often fade away over time. In this episode, we explore strategies to improve the persistence of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes in the effort to remuscularize hearts after cardiac infarction. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Servic...

Odors bombard the human nose every day, whether the odors register consciously or not. The way the human brain processes these odors has the potential to characterize disease and shape everyday human interaction. In this month’s episode, we explore the world of odor and how scientists use the sense of smell to better understand the human brain, disease, and behavior. Tiffany Garbutt from The Scien...

Welcome to The Scientist Speaks, a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. Our podcast is by scientists and for scientists. Once a month, we bring you the stories behind news-worthy molecular biology research. This episode is brought to you by 10x Genomics. 10x Genomics builds solutions to interrogate biological systems at a resolution and scale that matches the complexity of b...

Most infectious disease research focuses on the battle between host and pathogen. While an individual’s abilities to resist infection and combat microbes are important, this process is only half of the story. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with David Schneider, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University, to learn why it is crucial to consider ho...

In this month’s episode, Repurposing Living Systems to Fight a Pandemic, we discuss how one synthetic biologist pivoted his research to join the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Tiffany Garbutt from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Michael Jewett, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and director of the Center...

The Scientist is bringing you a new podcast series of special edition episodes! Get a sneak peek here and subscribe to the The Scientist's LabTalk channel for access to additional science stories.   The Scientist’s LabTalk podcast is produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. We explore topics at the leading edge of innovative research. This episode is brought to you by Keystone Symposia....

For a long time, scientists have searched for cures for genetic diseases. As stem cell and gene therapies proved to be viable therapeutic options, researchers turned to prenatal applications to see if they could develop ways to bring fetuses with life-threatening conditions to term. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Amy O’Connell, a neonatologist at Boston Childre...

The Scientist Speaks, is a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. Our podcast is by scientists and for scientists. Once a month, we will bring you the stories behind news-worthy molecular biology research. In this month’s episode, brought to you by The Scientist and sponsored by 10x Genomics, we discover how scientists use the principles of evolution to model tumor dynamics an...

Researchers are developing a new set of tools for studying previously intractable diseases by differentiating and growing stem cells into 3D organ-like structures called organoids. In this month’s episode, we discuss using brain organoids to understand neurological conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Sergiu Pasca from th...

In this month’s episode, we learn that human brains differentiate musical pitch a way that macaque monkeys do not. In fact, speech and music shaped the human brain’s hearing circuits. Researchers are studying these circuits with an eye on developing treatments for neurological disorders. Kathryn Loydall from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Bevil Conway, an Investigator at the NIH...

In this month’s episode, we explore how results from the Human Microbiome Project have impacted our understanding of human health and disease. Kathryn Loydall from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Lita Proctor from the National Institutes of Health, former Director of the Human Microbiome Project, to learn more. The Scientist Speaks is a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creativ...

Antimicrobial resistant infections are a major threat to global public health. In this month’s episode, we explore using bacteriophages to combat these deadly infections. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Jason Gill, associate director of the Center for Phage Technology at Texas A&M University, and Steffanie Strathdee, associate dean of Global Health Sciences at t...

Mosquito-borne diseases afflict a large portion of the world. In this month’s episode, we consider genetic methods to eradicate diseases such as Zika fever, Dengue fever, and malaria. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Omar Akbari, professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, San Diego, to learn more. The Scientist Speaks is a podcas...

In this month’s episode, we explore the neural mechanisms behind birdsong and what they tell us about human vocal learning and speech deficits in diseases such as autism spectrum disorder. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Stephanie White, professor of Integrative Biology and physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, to learn more. The Scientist Spe...