Finding Genius Podcast

Connel Fullenkamp is a professor of economics at Duke University who conducts research on financial markets, including their development, failure, and the regulations put on them. Tune in to discover: In what ways the impacts of COVID-19 could change the dynamic of the US as a whole Which countries might serve as bellwethers for financial recovery and the handling of the COVID-19 crisis Why it is important to distinguish between bankruptcy and liquidation, especially given the current economic climate How and why do financial markets around the world develop or fail to develop? How are financial markets impacted by regulations, and are there ways to design better regulations that will foster financial market growth and overall economic development? These are a few of the questions at the center of Fullenkamp's research. He shares his insight on these topics and more, including what governments around the world can do to develop stock and bond markets, problems with investing in bonds, and under what circumstances stock markets fail to actually improve economies by failing to fund new companies. Fullenkamp also discusses what has happened to money markets around the world as an indirect consequence of COVID-19, what sort of financial crisis may be triggered by the recent tremendous loss of small businesses, the equity market in Japan and the US, how the commercial real estate market has been impacted by COVID-19, the recent stock splits at Apple and Tesla, and so much more. Check out https://econ.duke.edu/people/connel-fullenkamp to learn more. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Author Dr. Thomas Cowan followed his own approach in understanding the importance of medicine that fit what he observed in the human body. In this podcast he discusses Early days of his studies and books that led to pursuing a medical practice that matched his approach, Examples of mechanisms of the body that protect and detoxify that are labeled part of disease, and An extract he helped bring to the United States that addresses heart disease. Dr. Thomas Cowan went into the Peace Corp as a young college graduate to teach gardening and was given books that opened his thinking and expanded how he might be able to practice medicine. These books were by philosopher Rudolph Steiner and nutritionist Weston Price and they helped him understand that there was a path to be the kind of doctor he wanted to be. He then explains how mainstream medicine approaches issues like autoimmune disease and disease prevention with treatments like vaccination. He discusses his own view of vaccines and the immune response and gives a very different perspective of our body's mechanisms. For example, he explains how medical school teaches that something like puss is bad and part of the disease when pus helps our body get rid of dangerous substances and is part of the healing. He elaborates with other examples like the lung-clearing ways of bronchitis and talks about the harmful over-prescription of antibiotics and side effects of vaccines. He believes people get sick because they are starved or poisoned in some way and traditional medicine labels detoxification efforts as part of the disease when they are our body's efforts to heal. He gives examples of how he has treated past patients and discusses an extract he helped develop that addresses causes of heart disease. For more, see his website: drtomcowan.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Professor Graham Hatfull studies bacteriophages in the human body; these are viruses that infect bacteria. Interested in both "the exploration and exploitation of these" bacteriophages infecting bacteria, he explains Why his lab has focused on mycobacterium characteristics and the mycobacteria phages that target this group, How the coevolution of bacteria and phages have created a complex relationship affecting the molecular genetics of bacteria, and What happened in a case study utilizing a combination of phages to kill a particular strain of Mycobacterium abscessus in a Cystic Fibrosis patient. Graham Hatfull is the Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and an HHMI Professor. He tells listeners about the basics and the complexities of phages and potential therapies that might utilize them. He explains that his lab has focused mainly on the mycobacterium group because it contains important human pathogens like Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is responsible for the symptoms and spread of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis causes around 1.7 billion deaths a year. Studying the phages that infect this group of mycobacterium helps understand such pathogens as well as potential treatments. In order to study these phages, his lab uses bacterium related to these more dangerous bacteria as safer surrogates. This work puts us them a good position to figure out which phages infect TB and which ones don't. He also describes phage biology and coevolution with bacteria, which has led to a complex relationship. For example, he discusses phages that are "temperate," and what that means in relationship to bacteria development. Finally, he talks about a successful case study in which they were able to use a cocktail of phages to successfully kill a particular strain of Mycobacterium abscessus in a Cystic Fibrosis patient. For more, see his lab's website at hatfull.org. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Dr. Di Vizio studies extracellular vesicles and their role in cancer. In this podcast, she explains what we know about the mechanism of extracellular vesicles and what challenges still stand in fully understanding their roles. She discusses The basic makeup of extracellular vesicles, a history of their discovery, and the variety of types and sizes; The difference between studying extracellular vesicles activity in vitro versus in animal models; and The roles of extracellular vesicles for cancer diagnosis and therapeutics. Dr. Dolores Di Vizio is a professor of Surgery, Biomedical Sciences and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Cedars-Sinai. She explains for listeners the fundamentals of extracellular vesicles, also known as EVs. They're small pockets of cellular material covered by a lipid layer released by all cells in the body. They become important mechanisms for intercellular communication because they can reach the blood. Scientists find them very appealing targets for biomarkers in liquid biopsies. She explains that most EV studies have occurred with a large concentration of these vesicles, so the effects often reveal as significant. Now as scientists look at animal models without an excess of the EVs, the results are a lot harder to verify and understand. She describes the variety and types of EVs, like exosomes, and delves into her own research into exosomes and cancer. She's working on studies to see how a large EV from prostate cancer cells, known as oncosomes, plays a role in prostate cancer with gene alterations and transcription factors that seem to facilitate tumor progression. Her lab is also working with bone marrow stem cells, as bone marrow is a major site for metastases. They're trying to understand these interaction better so researchers can prepare natural vesicles for therapeutics and make them go to a specific organ for treatment rather than another location. Her lab is also working on clinical tests for cancer treatment, identifying cancer-specific biomarkers enclosed in EVs to be applied to a clinical setting. This could identify signs of cancer, stages of disease, the potential for cancer to became metastatic, and reveal results of therapy. For more, see her lab's website: cedars-sinai.org/research/labs/di-vizio. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Clinical Professor of Surgery and Director of the UCSF Immunogenetics and Transplantation Laboratory, Dr. Rajalingam Raja, joins the show to discuss his work. Tune in to discover: How the body can reject a transplanted organ even 10 to 20 years following transplantation Roughly how many people are currently awaiting a kidney transplant through USCF, and how often people need multiple transplantations at once What happens during an organ transplant rejection Why some people are not transplantation candidates Dr. Raja's job is to select and match the very best organ donor with the very best recipient in order to minimize the possibility of organ rejection and limit the amount of immunosuppressant drugs necessary after transplantation. Maintaining the balance between immunosuppression that allows the patient to keep the organ, and a strong immune system that allows the patient to fight against invading pathogens is a difficult and tricky task. Genetic and serological testing to match HLA molecules, which play an important role in defending against foreign invaders in the body, is critical in the process of determining which organ matches provide the highest likelihood of a successful transplantation for the maximum possible number of years. This is an area of ongoing research, as is the relationship between the microbiome and the immune response during transplantation. Dr. Raja discusses these topics and others, including general information about human immunology and transplant immunology, what types of rejection can occur (and when or under what circumstances they can occur), immunogenetics and histocompatibility, special considerations that must be made for pediatric transplants, and more. Learn more at https://transplantsurgery.ucsf.edu/. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Dr. Juan Quintana is a postdoctoral research associate at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, and Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine at the University of Glasgow. He joins the show to talk about the research he's doing in the field of parasitology and host-parasite relationships. In this episode, you will learn: How African sleeping sickness is transmitted, and how it manifests in individuals who have been infected (in both the early and late stages of disease progression) How peptides play a role in quorum sensing in trypanosomes Why it is difficult to treat this disease once it reaches the brain, and what sort of research is being done to find a good treatment In the MacLeod Lab at the University of Glasgow, Dr. Quintana's work is centered around Trypanosoma brucei, which is the parasite that causes African trypanosomiasis (commonly called African sleeping sickness). This human pathogen has plagued many people in Africa and has had a significant socioeconomic impact. During the first stages of infection, the parasite resides in the host's bloodstream, but eventually reaches the brain. Once it reaches the brain, circadian rhythm disturbances manifest (i.e. sleep during the day and insomnia at night). Left untreated, the disease is lethal. Dr. Quintana's goal is to better understand the mechanisms underlying infection, host-parasite interactions in the brain, and migration of the parasite from the blood to the brain tissues. Ultimately, the hope is that a better understanding will lead to more effective diagnostic tests, treatment, and eventually eradication of the disease. He shares his expertise in the area where medical microbiology and parasitology intersect. He explains how transmission occurs through the bite of the tsetse fly, the life cycle of Trypanosoma brucei, the human immune response to infection, the ability of the parasite to hide in certain tissues and repopulate the blood, recent findings with regard to the metabolism of the parasite, and more. Follow Dr. Quintana on Twitter and explore his work at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kTSEeV8AAAAJ&hl=en. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

A nephrologist for over 35 years, Vivek Jha discusses kidney function and disease treatments like dialysis and kidney transplantation. He helps listeners understand Ties between kidney function and most other organ systems, Differences between acute and chronic kidney disease, and Efforts towards bringing disadvantaged communities the best in kidney disease treatments. Vivekanand Jha is Executive Director at The George Institute for Global Health, India; Chair of Global Kidney Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College of London; and President of the International Society of Nephrology. In this podcast he covers the basics of kidney function, kidney disease, and late-stage efforts like dialysis treatment. He accompanies all these issues with an eye to the global inequalities in effective treatment and discusses ways to educate populations and bring better medicine to all. In fact, he tells listeners that he became a nephrologist partly because of these inequalities. He also describes why the biology intrigued him: kidney function presents a "microcosm of internalized medicine." In other words, the kidney affects all other organs and, as a doctor, one utilizes every element of internalized medicine to address kidney issues. He describes the complex and essential nature of kidney functions, from filtration, adaptability to different solutes, hormone production, and the biology behind these jobs such as nephrons function. He teaches listeners about the back and forth between kidneys and blood pressure control and talks about how early stage kidney disease is usually symptomless. He advises listeners on which tests to seek out regularly for those at risk and touches on the goal of dialysis treatment. Finally, he talks more about the necessity for policy changes by governments in addressing health disparities in a holistic manner. For more about global kidney health, see the International Society of Nephrology website, theisn.org, and for more about his team's research, see his page at The George Institute for Global Health: georgeinstitute.org/people/vivekanand-jha. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Because studies predict one in nine Americans will face some level of disease of the kidney, understanding kidney development and nephron function is key. Professor Lori O'Brien discusses her research into kidney processes, describing How kidney development progresses in utero and what are the two main type of progenitor cells, What are the stages of kidney disease and how effective are dialysis and kidney transplantation, and What are challenges to kidney organoid development such as how to rid the organoid of filtrate. Lori O'Brien is a principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at the University of North Carolina Kidney Center. In this podcast, she discusses the focus of her work, namely to understand the development of a kidney to better understand what goes wrong in kidney disease. This work informs efforts to eventually manufacture a renal replacement, and she explains that scientists need to understand its basic biology as much as possible to do so. She also explains the damage of kidney disease as well as the mistaken notion that dialysis treatment is somehow a cure. Rather, on average, most dialysis patients will only survive about five years because dialysis treatment only mimics about 10% of what a kidney actually does for the body. She then describes her work more specifically around pluripotent stem cells that lead to the two different cell populations in the kidney: cells that eventually make nephrons and those that make up the connecting duct system. She describes challenges to each cell type, the complex specialization of the cell types, and how they work in the body along with the vascular and nerve network in a way that's hard to reproduce with organoids. She describes some advances therein and various ways they hope to problem solve. For more, see her UNC website at med.unc.edu/cellbiophysio/directory/lori-obrien-phd/, and her lab's website at obrienlab.web.unc.edu. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Author Carl John Calleman talks about his most recent book, Quantum Science of Psychedelics: The Pineal Gland, Multidimensional Reality, and Mayan Cosmology. He explains How macrocosmic quantum theory differs from quantum mechanics and quantum physics, What quantum phenomena examples help to elucidate the theory, such as the concept of nine waves of human evolution, and How psychedelics work to decompartmentalize the mind to prepare for these progressions. Holding a PhD in physical biology, Carl Johan Calleman is also a lifelong scholar of macrocosmic quantum theory and has written several books about it. He talks about his latest in this podcast, explaining its basics and explanations for how civilization has progressed through a series of cosmic shifts or waves. While some link psychedelics and depression, Calleman explores the ability of psychedelics to change one's mental state to a different geometry, more open to the movement from one wave to the next. He explains that this is an all-encompassing theory about the evolution of the universe and all its aspects, not just physical. The theory holds that we're all part of a cosmic plan with a quantum field that underlies everything. He describes Mayan connections such as the wave pattern discovered by the Mayans and how this pattern reveals itself in the evolution of civilizations. He connects this with microscopic phenomena like centromere organelles in our cells to the nine levels of Mayan pyramids. Finally, he goes through the mechanics of this theory in more detail and adds that we are in the ninth and final wave and what that means. For more, find his latest book, Quantum Science of Psychedelics: The Pineal Gland, Multidimensional Reality, and Mayan Cosmology, for sale through most venues, and see his website: calleman.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Mark E. Hay is Co-Director & Regents Professor, OSE & Harry and Linda Teasley Chair at Georgia Tech's School of Biological Sciences, and specializes in marine ecosystems, marine ecology, coral reefs, and marine conservation. He joins the show to discuss his work and insight on these topics, especially as it relates to coral reef conservation. Press play to discover: To what degree coral life cover has changed over the last 40-50 years in different areas, and the consequences of these changes How the loss of coral reefs can threaten food security for some villagers living in coastal regions How corals sense and behave in response to chemical cues in order to settle in areas where they are most likely to live Coral reefs are not only of the most diverse ecosystems in the ocean, but on earth itself. However, the presence and health of corals has changed dramatically in recent decades. Since Hay began studying coral reefs in the Caribbean during the mid-70s, about 80 to 90 percent of those corals have died. Up until this point, most of the management efforts to conserve coral reefs have been herculean and have failed to produce the intended outcomes. With this is mind, Hay is focused on how small changes can cause large, positive effects on marine ecology. In part, this involves trying to better understand the chemical signaling that contributes to coral reef health or lack thereof. Off the coast of Fiji, Hay's work revealed that almost all juvenile fishes and most coral babies can smell and are attracted to marine-protected areas; they can also smell and are repelled by overfished areas. Additionally, corals smell nearby organisms that are similar to them, as well as the type of seaweed that commonly grows on damaged reefs. Depending on what they sense, they will either move toward or away from an area. This sheds light on how corals have evolved to be extremely selective about where they settle—after all, it's a decision that can't be undone. It also sheds light on how we might be able to enhance the probability of juvenile fish returning to certain areas and growing into populations that will keep the reef healthy. In turn, this could lead to greater overall health of ocean life and marine ecosystems. Hay explains the difference between coral reef recovery in the Caribbean after coral bleaching, and coral reef recovery in the Pacific Ocean after coral bleaching. Hay is investigating why it is that some coral reefs recover well, while others don't seem to recover much at all. This question is becoming increasingly pressing, since major bleaching events are occurring more and more frequently. Tune in to learn about all of this and more, including some of the innovative ways people are trying to counter the negative impacts on marine ecosystems. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK