Finding Genius Podcast

As the cell employs its machinery to shut down the virus that's inside it, the virus makes proteins to shut down the cell's efforts. The scene is set, but how will this arms race end? The answer depends on many, many factors. Listeners can tune in to explore the following: How to study the way in which obesity, diabetes, and host immunosuppressive states alter the trajectory of viral disease like that caused by SARS-CoV-2 Whether it's possible to create drugs that can combat viruses that don't yet exist How SARS-CoV-2 enters cells, with a play-by-play look at what exactly is does prior, during, and after entry What evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 had been replicating in humans for a while—potentially months—before anyone knew about it Since 2004, Matthew Frieman, PhD has been researching coronaviruses. In 2009, he established his own research lab at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he is an associate professor in the area of microbiology and immunology. First it was SARS-CoV, then MERS-CoV, and now SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. With each new coronavirus, he learns a little bit more about the tricks they use to enter and infect cells. He also learns more and more about therapeutics which could potentially combat the current virus and viruses to come. A focal point of the research in Frieman's lab is on the role of comorbidity in disease progression, and how an understanding of this in lab mice might be reflected in humans. For instance, why do those with underlying conditions appear significantly more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2, and more likely to suffer severe symptoms? His research is also focused on developing a broadly antiviral drug not only for SARS-CoV-2, but for viruses that emerge in the future. The conversation covers the similarities and differences between SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, two primary entry methods of SARS-CoV-2, the role of the ACE2 receptor and TMPRSS2 protease, why more virions per cell means fewer ACE2 receptors, which means decreased capacity for lung tissue repair, how cells detect the presence of a virus and respond accordingly, characteristics of viral spread, structure, and function, virus-host interactions, research aimed at combining antibodies to create a dual antiviral effect against SARS-CoV-2, and so much more. Visit https://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/profiles/Frieman-Matthew/ and follow Frieman on Twitter @MattFrieman. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

That neck pain and foot twinge might be more connected than you realize. Doug Bertram takes time to carefully explain why as he describes his company's approach to common orthopedic conditions. This podcast provides a new appreciation for how important structural balance is to pain-free activity. Listen and learn How exactly "structural elements" applies to the workings of the human body and how that informs their multi-practitioner approach with a combination of modalities, What are some examples of structural balance exercises and orthopedic conditions treated by physiotherapy, and How an initial appointment would work regarding assessments and examples of therapies like deep tissue restoration. Doug Bertram, the CEO of Structural Elements, says they originally started as an educational company. His enthusiasm for and ability to explain how our bodies work makes that evident. He gives valuable lessons to listeners for how our movement, from the fall of our foot to our posture at the computer, determines a lot of the misalignments and stresses that cause pain. "People think we're an engineering company," he says, and "that's the approach we take to the human body. We look at quantified mechanical vulnerability to stay ahead of joints wearing out prematurely." He talks a little bit about the kinds of clients that come to them and explains that while they promote that they treat an active population, they mean this in a relative sense. So while they might treat intense athletes, they also consider someone just wanting to spend pain-free time with their grandkids as an active client. He adds that they also want to establish an active goal instead of just mitigating the pain—what would a client want to actively do if that pain were gone? He gets specific about how their treatments help regulate the autonomic nervous system by addressing the stress response, which is controlled by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. So while patients may come with orthopedic symptoms, addressing the nervous system is an important part of treatment. "We look at the body as a complete system," he adds, and this informs their whole-body approach. So listen in for an education on this integrative approach. For more about their work, see structuralelements.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

While Vinod Scaria specializes in computational biology regarding non-coding RNAs, he's lab has diverted their energies to focus most of their data analysis specifically on the genomics of COVID-19. He gives listeners a global picture of the data and also explains the significance of small non-coding RNAs, long non-coding RNAs as well as categorizing functional RNA types. Listeners will learn How computational biologists assess the potential anti-viral load of microRNAs to understand their regulatory mechanisms, How they've turned their data skills to the COVID-19 pandemic spread and what they hope to accomplish, and What significant findings their analysis has established, such as the impact of local spread versus spread through travel. Vinod Scaria is a principal scientist at the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB). His lab works with clinicians across India to help them with difficult diagnoses that often end up being rare genetic conditions. However, the pandemic has caused them to repurpose their labs and into the space of virology. First, he gives the audience a nice refresher on what computational biologists do. Computational biologists, he says, look at genomes and the proteomes of organisms but with a computer instead of a microscope. They work on algorithms and sequences to develop hypotheses that can later be validated in labs. He gives a really interesting glimpse into their COVID research, explaining that they look at the genome of the virus and try to understand its genetic epidemiology. The virus mutates at a very constant rate, he explains, and therefore they can use information in a specific way to trace the epidemic spread. These computations tell them about how the virus spreads, if there have been undocumented outbreaks, and the origin of outbreaks. All this together helps inform policies for better containment such as helpful social measures and where lockdowns might be most effective. Basically, he says, they use computational biology to make far more effective interventions to prevent spread. For more about his work, see his lab's website: vinodscaria.rnabiology.org/home. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Friction, forces, shears: the game changes when robots get tiny. Marc Miskin brings you to scale on these up-and-coming microrobots and nanorobots for biotechnology. Listen and learn How the rules of physics adjust when the application of robotics goes small, How these factors bring interesting challenges surrounding loss of inertia and other aspects of robot locomotion, and What biomimicry this research entails such as nano flagella and cilia. Marc Miskin is an assistant professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and works in a robotic systems lab. He's working on nano machines that may one day soon explore our bodies for medical purposes. The robots are so small that they aren't visible to the eye—think approximately hair width. This field has taken the advances in small computers to small robots, around 70 to 100 microns in size. The forces at this scale are different, of course, and bring in some interesting challenges. When they get tinier, friction, adhesion, and viscosity become the dominant effects and mass takes second stage. Those dominant traits become more important as the area-to-volume ratio becomes large. "It's like everything in your universe is flypaper," he says. What's really interesting is that the electrical aspects remain constant. The voltages and currents are still fixed and electrical interference isn't an issue. The way they move, to swim or propel, also becomes very different than larger human-sized organisms—they can't rely on mass to keep the momentum going. They use silicon, wires, and metal so that, unlike with biological organisms, they can play around with such materials to address these challenges. However, he assures listeners, these materials fall under "generally recognized as safe," and are low toxicity. Elasticity is also an issue these materials hope to address. They need to create enough movement over a small size that can also be controlled by a signal with a specific voltage size, about 1. They came up with something they call "circuit electric chemical actuators," which basically chemically bonds through electron rearranging to create a force. He explains more interesting challenges in this tiny production model and addresses applications for these microbots in real life, though they are still in proof of concept. They imagine utilizing them when single-cell precision is desired, as with nerve work. For more about this work, see his lab's website: seas.upenn.edu/~mmiskin. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0my

Another in the Finding Genius Podcast series on viruses, this captivating conversation with Yale University's Dr. Takyar explores interesting avenues of the virus-host relationship, offering listeners a glimpse into a top researcher's understandings of viral characteristics and behavior. Listeners will hear How his answer to the inevitable question, "are viruses living" provides a new spin, Why a recent study shows that viruses do message each other as translated through cellular machinery, and What his own research may show regarding a virus's ability to affect surrounding cells in such a way to increase the potential for tumor growth by creating a niche. Seyedtaghi "Shervin" Takyar, MD, PhD, is a Yale Medicine pulmonologist and an associate professor of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. His work on disease research his given him an interesting perspective on virus-cell interaction and Richard brings him into this continuing look at viral behaviors. They begin by addressing if viruses are living or nonliving and this gives Dr. Takyar a chance to provide a rich answer in which he says, on the one hand, they are akin to a program in a computer if a computer were consider "life." On the other hand, he adds, nature doesn't have rigid lines, and he would say viruses are at the very least a footprint of life. He explains each of these analogies in more depth and ends his answer with, "it is more interesting to find their place in life," rather than label them as one or the other. The rest of the podcast examines this place. The origin and evolution of viruses follows the pattern of life: virus evolution over time just means they've found those places that fit best. He explains various behavior with similar language. For example, a virus incubation period depends on their environment. They may not express parts of their genome until the right time comes. The right time inside the cell is dictated by a lot of actors—like aging, for example—the increased mortality in older folks with SARS CoV-2 is because those states are codes for the virus: certain parts of the process that it needs to grow are available and this triggers replication. He shares a brand new behavior confirmed by researchers next, that viruses use the factory inside cells to talk to each other. Scientists have shown that bacteriophages use the translation machinery inside the bacteria to translate their message to other viral particles. Dr. Takyar shares more of his thoughts with listeners on topics from quasi-species to speculations on viral epigenetics. For more about Dr. Takyar and his research, start with his lab website: medicine.yale.edu/lab/takyar. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

An exciting step closer to a cure for diabetes starts with a bit of gastric tissue. Joe Zhou's lab works on tissue regeneration and repair and organ regeneration. In this podcast, he discusses a life-changing possibility alongside Richard's thoughtful questions. They take listeners across a new frontier of research, covering How insulin-producing beta cells have been destroyed in those who have type 1 diabetes, requiring them to inject manufactured insulin, How a process of converting beta cells from a patient's gastric tissue may solve numerous problems in other proposed solutions, and What challenges are still to be met, including fine tuning the introduction of the new cells into the pancreas. Joe Zhou is a Professor of Regenerative Medicine at Cornell University. While the broad interest of his lab is tissue and organ regeneration in humans, he discusses an advancement in a specific cell generation, a cell important to the diabetes and insulin connection. Many important organs, he explains, don't have a robust ability to regenerate, including the pancreas. In type 1 diabetes, the insulin-producing beta cells have been attacked as if they were foreign invaders. Injecting insulin doesn't give these patients the fine tuning a working pancreas offers, and complications can be problematic and even severe. Dr. Zhou gives listeners a well-organized and listener-friendly review of different ways scientists have tried to reintroduce these cells in patients and sets up a helpful backdrop to his own research. He explains how his work may provide hope for both types of diabetes, addressing insulin resistance as well through introducing these healthy beta cells. His lab has been regenerating islet beta cells from human gastric tissue. The goal is to reintroduce those cells into the same patient, precluding rejection issues other transplant plans have caused. Basically, they are able to take adult gastric cells and treat them in a way to convert them directly to beta cells without having to return them to a pluripotent stage and all the complications that causes. They use powerful genes called master regulators to do this. "If we start with a select set of these master regulator beta cells," he says, "and put in a different tissue, we can directly convert them from one tissue to another tissue." He continues by explaining why this is especially true for gastric cells, how they grow the cells with an ex-vivo approach and introduce the genes, and which processes they hope to refine in the future. He addresses other challenges and successes as well. So listen in for some good news in the field of diabetes research. For more, see his lab's website: zhoulab.weill.cornell.edu. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Independent consultant and researcher Marciel Maffini has made it her mission to change woefully outdated laws and scientific processes for assessing food safety. This podcast is an essential listen before you take another product off the grocery shelf. She describes The many chemicals added to food, including food preservatives, or come from equipment processing and toxic chemicals in food packaging, What the law the FDA still uses from 1958 means by "generally recognized as safe," and how food manufacturers pass many harmful ingredients under the cover of that label, and Practical everyday advice for preparing food at home to protect your family from food preservatives and their harmful effects. Maricel Maffini is an experienced researcher committed to public health advocacy through regulation and oversight of chemical exposure. She now works as an independent consultant and has a doctorate in the biological sciences. She has over 25-years research experience in the fields of carcinogenesis, reproduction biology, and endocrine disruption. The full focus of her current work involves food safety and chemical exposures, specifically on the manufacturing and packaging side. She tells listeners that many chemicals are added to foods by the manufacturer to make them last longer and be more palatable as well as to add more striking colors. In addition, part of the processing can expose food to chemicals that won't appear in the ingredients list. She adds that exposure to numerous chemicals and preservatives during pregnancy can be especially risky. In other words, a much better food safety regulation process is in order. To help listeners understand what needs changing, she provides a helpful and clear explanation of how FDA regulations work, where the loopholes are, and what she is doing about it. For example, because of an allowance in the 1958 law allowing items "generally recognized as safe" to be exempt from detailed ingredient listings, numerous harmful items are able to sneak into food. She also explains the approval process companies have to use when putting a product on the market, and how a surprising amount of information and approval is voluntary. Furthermore, because many ingredients are harmful after cumulative exposure, certain harmful chemicals slip in as a series of small amounts while our comprehensive diet could potentially include harmful levels. Maricel Maffini is admirably tackling all these issues and is able to explain them in a way to help listeners do the same. Finally she gives some advice for home preparation to help against some of the potential manufacturing missteps. For more about her work, follow her on twitter as @mvmaffini and search for her on PubMed. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Imagine scientists designing technology based on the double-helix DNA structure in our cells: well, it's happened and this podcast takes you on a futuristic journey into an exciting technology. Richard talks with a researcher working on this technology and the two speculate on exciting possibilities. So hold on tight, and learn about How antenna the size of DNA might be used in biomedical imaging techniques to capture cell images, How that same structure on a larger scale can bring more home technologies into one device, and Why that double-helix structure and base pair combination is the perfect model for modern antennas. Great leaps often come from an inventor's effort to imitate nature and this is one such move. A researcher shares his exciting work on creating double-helix antennas with different sizes and capabilities. He explains the basics of antennas, but also opens up listener's appreciation for how many natural antennas exist in our bodies and world. He reminds us that antennae have always been inspired by nature, and, for example, are on the head of insects to detect chemical and mechanical signals in their environment. Therefore he and his colleagues looked inward and designed antenna inspired by DNA structure—a design structure modeling the double helix with base pairs that determine the antenna function. Because they've made these base pairs easy to switch, the function can be adjusted very easily and this makes them useful for the multiple applications that exist in today's multi-tech environment. He says that the three kinds of base pairs they use include those that work by capacitor, resistor, or conductor capabilities. He and Richard are able to explore numerous exciting potentials that different sizes, frequencies, and wavelengths make possible, from the importance of medical imaging to the convenience of wearable technology use. They even discuss how our own cells could be used as antenna, and explore how DNA's copy mechanisms might inform further developments. Modern materials such as the uses of photonic crystals and coherent optics keep those possibilities wide open. So listen in for more about cutting edge antenna technology. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

This is a story about how studying a buried city in the jungle led to an urgent call to utilize a new technology to map our earth. Archaeologist Christopher Fisher was astounded by LiDAR technology when he used it to map an ancient city covered by sense forest canopy in Honduras. This podcast explores what happened next. Listen and learn How he was able to use LiDAR to digitally strip away jungle and forest to create a 3D image of an ancient city, Why he thinks there's an urgent need to use this same technology to create significant laser mapping of the earth, and What campaign, timeline, and project goals his group, The Earth Archive, is currently working on and how listeners can participate. Christopher Fisher is an archaeologist and professor of anthropology at the Colorado State University. He's also the director of The Earth Archive, a group working for our future human society and environment by scanning and curating LiDAR data of planet Earth. After seeing its potential in archaeological discoveries, he says it "really opened my eyes to see how we could use this to map our earth, to create a 3D digital twin of the planet that we can study today and curate for future generations." It has several other applications scientists can now use, from cultural anthropology to biology and geography, but he's looking to the future. His enthusiasm lead him to create a nonprofit to engineer just that, and tells listeners about his efforts to move forward. He describes how helpful archeologists have found it, but his long-term perspective into the past gives him a similar long-term perspective towards mapping information for future generations. Because of climate change, future human societies and environments may benefit from views of what our earth looks like right now. He says there's a limited time we have to scan the earth and map what it looks like to pass this information to our grandchildren, to help them reconstruct the earth and address the changes. He explains how the technology itself works: basically, from some sort of airborne platform, they fire down a very dense grid of infrared beams. When one strikes an object, it returns to the aircraft and provides a measure of distance. A cloud of points provides a 3D map. He says their first goal is to map the entire amazon basin starting in the spring of 2021. Interested listeners can sign up for their newsletter and find more information on their website: The Earth Archive. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Ready to explore energy sources and supercapacitor applications you can build with? The time is now for energy storage advances and this podcast explores an exciting structural possibility. To learn more about this advancement in energy, listen and hear How Julio D'Arcy's lab was able to transform a brick ingredient, hematite, into an energy-storing material, What the polymer nanofiber they use to coat the bricks is capable of, and What energy storing device applications they can use these bricks for now and how they hope to improve the energy density for future applications. Julio D'Arcy is an assistant professor of chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. He brings listeners along in the search for supercapacitors as energy storage system. He discovered that rust—which is iron corrosion—is a fascinating material, abundant in both nature and in synthetic conditions like construction. He started working with rust in his lab, demonstrating how they could change its properties at a chemical level and make it serve as an oxidant of chemical energy, which is a means to store energy. Under careful syntheses, they turned bricks blue and changed their structure and coated them with special nanofibers. These nanofibers move like a sponge throughout all the pores, covering every surface, yet allowing the fusion of gases and ions through the still-open pores. He explains how these nanofibers are semiconductors made from PEDOT, which is a conducting polymer. This plastic can conduct electricity, store energy, and grow from the hematite in the bricks. The vision for these bricks is to eventually produce supercapacitors to replace batteries and be used as a dependable load-bearing energy source. The trick, he says, is to make sure the structure and chemical properties don't change over time and this has nanofiber alignment implications. He tells listeners about their work with magnetic nanofibers toward that end. He also talks about the limits from the much lower energy density these bricks have than batteries and how they are working on that limitation. This progresses into an exciting conversation about possible solutions and ways this technology can only improve. He adds that while they are about five years from load-bearing commercial applications, current uses include smaller-scale applications like power emergency lighting in the house or powering small electronics embedded in the house. This polymer has exciting potential for other applications like its ability to sense changes in PH, humidity, and temperature: the sensor capability for at-home use is boundless. For more, see his lab's website: sites.wustl.edu/darcylab/. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK