Finding Genius Podcast

Pooja Khandelwal, MD, Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics and Member, Division of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Immune Deficiency, discusses bone marrow, gut health, and their work at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Podcast Points: What conditions require a bone marrow transplant? What is bone marrow? How does the intestinal microbiome develop? As a principal investigator at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Dr. Khandelwal has a keen interest in acute graft versus host disease biology, the treatment of steroid refractory acute graft versus host disease, and management of refractory autoimmune cytopenias in the post-transplant setting. Her work is often focused on pediatric bone marrow transplantation and blood diseases. Dr. Khandelwal discusses acute graft versus host disease that can occur after a transplant. She provides some data on the number of bone marrow transplants, stating that approximately 10,000 patients annually go through the procedure in the United States alone. She explains how it can be a curative modality for diseases that are either hard to treat or that have returned after remission. Dr. Khandelwal provides some detailed information on bone marrow, explaining how it is a fascinating organ. As she states, bone marrow is a living organ in our bones that produces all the cells that make up our blood—white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. From carrying oxygen to the core of our immune system, to other crucial functions, our bone marrow is responsible for originating many important elements that are critical to our body's health. Dr. Khandelwal discusses matching immune systems, and the factors. She discusses proteins and the matches between recipients and donors. Further, Dr. Khandelwal explains the actual process of how bone marrow transplants work from a technical perspective. She discusses how sophisticated the bone marrow is, and how it knows where it needs to go after transplanting it. The research doctor explains how chemotherapy is often used to eradicate a recipient's current bone marrow to make room for the new, healthy bone marrow. Continuing, Dr. Khandelwal explains the changes within intestinal microbiome over time, in transplantation. She discusses where disruption happens, and how they can restore the beneficial bacteria to patients' bodies. Additionally, she provides information on how the intestinal microbiome is formed, and how human milk allows for the initial growth of an intestinal microbiome that can allow healthy systems to flourish. Wrapping up, Dr. Khandelwal discusses the future of transplants, and some of her perspectives on personalized medicine.

Trey Grainger, Chief Algorithms Officer at Lucidworks, discusses the power of AI-powered search engines and how they can benefit companies and employees. He explains Lucidworks' expertise in AI-powered search technology and how it helps Fortune 1000 clients access relevant data. Grainger emphasizes the limitations of traditional search engines and how Lucidworks provides better results. He also explores the future of search, including advancements in natural language processing and the application of intelligent search in various industries.

Chief Clinical Officer of SyncThink, Scott Anderson, discusses a novel technology capable of identifying eye movements that indicate the presence of certain neurological conditions. In this episode, you'll discover: How common neurological conditions are diagnosed (it might not be how you think) What types of eye movements are associated with neurological impairments What the future of eye tracking looks like Most neurological conditions lack objective diagnostic tools, which means diagnoses are made only by the exclusion of others, and heavily reliant upon the patient's reported experiences or answers on standardized questionnaires. This includes developmental conditions often labeled as learning disabilities in children, and degenerative conditions in late life, such as dementia. Until now, there has been no method for functionally measuring the brain to determine what is actually going on with patients who present with certain signs or symptoms. For the past 15 years, Stanford neurosurgeon Dr. Ghajar has been capturing, studying, identifying, and classifying eye movements and correlating them with various neurological conditions in partnership with the US Department of Defense. With the help of today's guest, Scott Anderson, the data gathered from this extensive research has been commercialized, and is now available as an unprecedented tool for objectively measuring evidence of neurological impairments and conditions. The technology utilizes FDA-approved, high-fidelity, research-grade eye tracking infrared cameras and emitters built into virtual reality goggles, and conducts a series of 60-second assessments to capture eye movements. Anderson explains the specifics of the treatments and exercises used in this field, how to improve the standard and quality care for concussions, the future of eye tracking, and more. Tune in and visit https://syncthink.com/.

Researcher Gopike Nair and her colleagues have produced in vitro cells that make insulin and have successfully implanted them in mice, curing them of type 1 diabetes. She shares her research with listeners, explaining The difference between type 1 and 2 diabetes and how her research is applicable to both, Some of the challenges in creating these cells and ones they face when entering a patient, and The next milestone to overcome and an estimate of the timing before this therapy will be clinically available. Dr. Gopkia Nair is a stem cell biologist working as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. She has been working on stem cell research and diabetes in order to reintroduce insulin-producing cells into patients who've lost these cells and suffer from diabetes type 1. She begins by explaining the physiology in different types of diabetic conditions and how these generated cells act like beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. While her focus is on type 1, she says the therapy will be applicable to both types. In order to explain how this therapy works, she explores the cause in more detail, reviewing the immune system's overdrive that attacks insulin-producing cells after some sort of trigger. Researchers have found that the disease starts at the beta cell level, exposing a certain protein on the surface that the immune system recognizes and attacks. Scientists are still not sure what the trigger is, but this helps them know they must address this in the cells they've created from the stem cells. She addresses different ways they are protecting the cells from the immune system and how they will introduce the cells into the body of the patient, most likely through a patch in a vascularized area. Finally, she expects this therapy to be available to patients in 5 to 10 years at the latest. For more, see her LinkedIn page and personal research web page. cwV3jwflKxO27ijDlaMV

Seqster Founder and CEO Ardy Arianpour explains how the company integrates multiple data sources regarding health care into one system. He discusses How they integrate human genetic information, medical records, and wearable devises, How this becomes a longitudinal record sharable across institutions, and Why this improves our health care treatment and experience. Ardy Arianpour is a genomics executive and serial entrepreneur in the biotechnology industry and has launched several clinical and consumer-based genetic tests in past companies. He co-founded Seqster in January of 2016. He describes the company as a SaaS healthcare platform used by enterprises in health care fields. It enables organizations to drive efficient healthcare via a comprehensive collection of medical records and electronic health record (EHR) data. It also includes a patient's genomic profile and human genetic information along with any wearable device data and puts this all in one place, allowing individuals to share that data and create a longitudinal health record. He addresses issues of privacy as well, emphasizing the patient-centric mode of this information and the empowering nature of the data alongside protective technology. He provides examples of the usefulness of this platform such as a caregiver's handling of a relative's cancer treatments, having to deal with six different health systems. Rather than lugging binders and CDs of information, all data can be shared across institutions with Seqster. Finally, he shares some recent additions to the system such as a covid-19 compass symptom checker module that is built into the platform for research subjects who may have been exposed. He adds that they are assessing the growth in telehealth, and says that a weakness in telehealth is sharing data, a weakness that Seqster can address. For best ways to learn more, see seqster.com, follow them on twitter through @Seqster, and find them on LinkedIn.

Amar Vutha is the Canada Research Chair in Precision Atomic & Molecular Physics at the University of Toronto, and he joins the show to discuss the nature of his fascinating work. In this episode, you'll discover: What the difference is between dark matter and dark energy, why Vutha believes it's important to figure out what each is comprised of, and how scientists are researching these topics What makes a molecule stable or unstable, and what happens when you remove some or all of the electrons from an atom How atomic clocks work, and how they are related to highly-charged ions How antimatter is made in the lab Everything we see around is—including every galaxy identified telescopically—comprises only 5% of the universe. The consensus among scientists is that this 5% of the universe is understood fairly well, but Vutha second guesses that position. Rather than the questions that can be answered in physics, Vutha is interested in the questions that cannot be answered…or at least haven't been answered yet. By studying and conducting precision measurements of the properties of atoms and molecules, Vutha aims to understand more about how the universe and the laws of physics work. He discusses what he believes to be three of the most important unsolved problems in physics, emergent properties and energetically-favored states of molecules, how highly-charged ions are able to resist perturbation by external stimuli (and why this is useful in making atomic clocks), the absence of identifiable natural antimatter in the universe (and why scientists reason that we should be able to identify it), and so much more. Visit https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~vutha/ to learn more about Vutha's research.

Associate professor at UNC Department of Epidemiology, Dr. James Thomas, joins the show to discuss his line of work in health care ethics, and how it has changed in response to the recent COVID-19 outbreak. Tune in to learn the following: How medical ethics and public health ethics differ, and why the distinction is so important to understand What the Siracusa principles are and how they apply to the COVID-19 pandemic How politics are muddying the waters of communication about COVID-19, and why this is problematic How the government-led War on Drugs campaign caused the US to lead the world in incarceration rates, and how this disproportionately affected African American communities For much of his career, Dr. James Thomas has studied the social determinants of infectious diseases, focusing particularly on the effects of mass incarceration on the communities left behind. Over the last decade, he has done a lot of work involving health information systems in developing countries. Just as he was moving toward a study of digital data and how they are used in public health, COVID-19 hit. Dr. Thomas discusses the social determinants of this virus, which includes a look at how incarcerated individuals are being affected by the virus, the level of constraint being placed on the general public in this country and across the globe, the unprecedented implementation of digital surveillance in China and the US, why COVID-19 presents unique challenges to health care ethics and decision-making, what he sees as the primary ethical mishap of this pandemic, what he thinks will happen as states begin to reopen across the country, and so much more. To learn more about the current pandemic, Dr. Thomas suggests visiting the CDC website.

U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center Director Jonathan Sleeman explains the process for observing and reporting issues with wildlife. This podcast explores The mission and main activities of the center, The potential for spillover of viral diseases including covid-19 from humans to North American bats, and Current findings and projects of the center, such as bird flu, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and white nose syndrome in bats. The U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center has been in action since 1975 and has a mission to advance wildlife health science for the benefit of animals and the environment. Jonathan Sleeman has been the director since 2009 and explains to listeners some of the vital work of his team. This includes general surveillance of wildlife diseases including investigations into viral diseases and other pathogens when die offs of wildlife are observed. He discusses the effect of the current coronavirus pandemic on their work. He says that one concern is that it could do a reverse spillover to our bats. Therefore the center is doing risk assessments to see the probability of this by analyzing human and bat wildlife interaction among other things. Bats, felines, mink, and deer are some animals that potentially could be affected. After the risk assessment is complete, they'll design a system to monitor these animals He covers some of the other wildlife pathogens the center monitors and tells the history behind discovering white nose syndrome in bats in North America and the continued monitoring of bird flu and chronic wasting disease. For more information, see their web page at https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nwhc and the email contact is asknwhc@usgs.gov. Mr. Sleeman urges listeners to enjoy wildlife from a distance; however, if you see sick or dead animals that seem out of the norm, contact your state wildlife management group.

Recanati Family Associate Professor of Microbiology at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, Ken Cadwell, discusses the virome and how it relates to infectious and inflammatory diseases. In this episode, you will learn the following: What exactly is a virome, where it is found, and what it is comprised of What a bacteriophage is, and the ways in which it can interact with bacteria to ultimately cause the production of certain toxins What the inherent drawbacks are of "shotgun" sequencing for metagenomics, and how to overcome them Understanding the role of the virome in health is an emerging field of research. In fact, many people aren't even familiar with the term 'virome,' which refers to the collection of viruses that inhabit living things, which of course includes humans. Dr. Caldwell's lab is focused on understanding the functional consequences of viral infections primarily through the use of mouse models and cultured human cells. Through a collaborative network, Dr. Cadwell's team is also trying to make correlations with humans directly in order to examine how viral exposure changes in individuals with certain diseases, such as irritable bowel disease (IBD). Dr. Cadwell explains the approach they take in determining what viruses are present in a particle sample, whether it be in a mouse model or the human gut. The approach involves sequencing everything that's there…which means sequencing a lot of bacteria and bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria. Dr. Cadwell says that about 90 to 95 percent of the viruses they sequence are identified as bacteriophage. So, what comprises the remaining five to 10 percent of viruses? Although it's a small percentage relatively, Dr. Cadwell explains that identifying these other viruses is of high interest because these are the viruses that infect animal cells directly, rather than bacterial cells. The team at Cadwell's lab is interested in seeing what viruses are present in healthy people, and why. Dr. Cadwell also shares some exciting new research findings that show the human immune system is capable of reacting to certain bacteriophages that are supposedly only inside bacteria, suggesting that researchers need to be paying a lot more attention to bacteriophages that don't seem to directly infect animal cells. Dr. Cadwell discusses a number of fascinating topics, including the norovirus (in mice and humans), symbiotic relationships between viruses and hosts and how they are similar to symbioses between humans and the human gut microbiome, why it's difficult to define what constitutes a healthy microbiome, and so much more. Tune in and check out www.cadwelllab.nyu.edu to learn more.

Chantal Abergel studies giant viruses, which are a relatively new discovery. She tells listeners how the size offers new observations in virology. She explains Why preconceptions of virus properties delayed their discovery, What functions and processes the larger size enables researchers to observe, and What these things may tell researchers about virus and cell coevolution. Chantal Abergel is the Research Director of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). She achieved her Ph.D. in Material Science in 1990 from Aix Marseille University. Dr. Abergel co-founded the Structural and Genomic Information (IGS) Laboratory at the CNRS. She specializes in a study new to virology, namely giant viruses. She tells listeners that their very size made them undetectable previously because of filtration measures assuming a certain size, which kept these viruses out of the literal scope of study. Dr. Abergel shares many traits and processes of the families they've been able to identify thus far. For example, bigger viruses are more complex with genomes that can be as large as 2.5 million base pairs. She gives a bit of the history, telling listeners about the first giant virus discovery called the Mimivirus as well as the family she's currently studying, the Pandoravirus. Their size makes them easier to isolate and observe. Dr. Abergel and her colleagues are studying their relationship with amoeba and have observed processes such as the capsid opening and contents transferring into the cell cytoplasm. Some explains that some viruses divide up and reproduce in the cytoplasm and some transfer and unfold into the nucleus and use cell machinery to duplicate. She shares many fascinating processes that have implications about giant virus evolution. For example, after causing the overexpression of nuclear proteins inside of amoeba to address the question of whether the viruses are really cytoplasmic replicators, they observed the transcription machinery was not in the virus capsid and the virus didn't enter the cell nucleus to replicate. Rather they observed proteins leaving the nucleus of the amoeba and going to the virus for transcription. She remarks that this implies that these viruses may have been independent of the cell and this is a demonstration of how they coevolved. To learn more, see her lab web page at CNRS, http://www.igs.cnrs-mrs.fr/en/the-lab/?lang=en, and search for her articles, which include pictures of some of these recorded processes.