Finding Genius Podcast

Katelyn Parsons, holistic health coach and founder of Katelyn Parsons Modern Girl Holistics (katelynparsons.com), talks about lifestyle and nutrition choices that can help us all to feel better and live healthier lives. As a certified Holistic Health Coach and Yoga Teacher in San Diego, California, Katelyn specializes in helping career women let go of weight while feeling more empowered when around food, which provides the confidence, and powerful energy, to push forward and accomplish their dreams. Katelyn discusses her background and the personal struggles that led to her career. From a young age, she was constantly on diets trying to lose weight, which led to bulimia that she battled until her mid-20s. After hitting a low point, she sought help and treatment, and emotional support from her family, and began her path toward a healthier life through better nutrition, using food to heal not harm. Moving forward, Katelyn wanted to share her success with others, and help people find balance in their lives. Katelyn talks about the joyful experience of helping other women with their own struggles. As Katelyn states, her holistic health approach focuses on lifestyle as well as nutrition. She states that she looks at every person individually, and the multiple areas of their lives, in order to devise a plan to help them. She talks about how we compare ourselves to others and the importance of focusing on the path that you are on individually. The nutrition and lifestyle expert talks about internal health and detoxification, and the concept of 'plate building' in terms of choosing new ways to eat healthier, eating nutritious food abundantly. Katelyn discusses the ways to stop food cravings. She expounds upon the benefits of adding healthy fats to our diets. Finally, Katelyn talks about the variations within her program and the many types of training and resources she provides to her clients. From balancing blood sugar to know how to make smart choices when shopping, and beyond, Katelyn works individually with people to help them make their transformations.

Antibiotic resistance and multi-drug resistant pathogens pose a serious danger to the health of humans and the ability to treat life-threatening infections. Since 2009, a bacteriologist and peptide chemist, Monique van Hoek and Barney Bishop respectively, have been joining forces to address this growing threat by attempting to identify natural sources of peptides millions of years of evolution in the making—peptides that provide reptiles with robust, innate immunity that allows them to survive loss of limbs, open wounds, and the consumption of decaying corpses without any negative repercussions. In particular, Hoek and Bishop have been analyzing very small amounts of Komodo dragon blood, and after testing hundreds of peptides against a number of bacteria, they've isolated and synthetically stabilized one peptide that has shown antibacterial, anti-biofilm, and wound-healing properties. They join the podcast today to discuss all the ins and outs of their research and the potential it holds for the future of antibiotic resistance and human health. Tune in to hear the full conversation and visit adr.gmu.edu to learn more.

Teresa Rebelo Pinto, CENC, Center of Sleep Medicine, Portugal, delivers an overview of her work in the areas of psychology and sleep. Teresa Rebelo Pinto has an extensive background in sleep science and psychology. She holds an integrated master's degree in educational psychology and did her post-graduate work in sleep sciences at the Lisbon University, Faculty of Medicine. She has been working with the CENC, Lisbon Sleep Medicine Center since 2007 and currently holds the positions of psychologist and somnologist. Teresa Rebelo Pinto talks about her clinical work as a psychologist and psychotherapist, as well as a sleep consultant for companies, non-profit organizations, and schools. She is part of a sleep psychology team that works with many different groups and ages, from children to adults, to individuals, and families. As a part of her work, she seeks to advance sleep education. She is actively involved in a sleep education initiative known as the Sleep-Schools Project that provided sleep education to thousands, on a national level. The sleep expert talks about sleep patterns, and how they change as we age. While it is different from person to person, some people can shift their sleep schedules; however, it is difficult for adolescents who tend to want a later sleep schedule though society requires early morning schedules for school. She stresses that it is important for adolescents to get eight to nine hours per night—every night. Continuing, Teresa Rebelo Pinto discusses methods to help children get to sleep, bedtime stories, etc. But she stresses these stories should be geared toward getting to sleep. She discusses certain issues such as behavioral insomnia (children refusing to go to sleep), fear of going to sleep, night terrors, sleepwalking, and sleep apnea. Teresa Rebelo Pinto discusses her education efforts in the community to help the public understand the importance and function of sleep. She talks about the positive feedback they received and the increase of sleep awareness they achieved. She states that while parents were very concerned about their children's sleep patterns, they also had many questions regarding their own sleep and sleep schedules. And she discusses the function of dreaming as a means to explore different realities and problem solve.

The host of Dr. Carey's Baby Care and well-regarded practicing pediatrician, Dr. Carey Chronis, joins the podcast today to discuss infants, sleep, and how to make sure they—and their parents—get enough of it. "A lot of it stems from how the parents sleep," says Dr. Chronis, as he goes on to explain that most parents make the mistake of tending to an infant every time they cry or wake in the night. The question comes down to determining at what point it's okay, and actually beneficial, to stop responding every time their infant cries, and to simply let them work through it on their own. According to Dr. Chronis, there is a straightforward answer: four months. What's special about the four-month mark? Dr. Chronis explains that at four months of age, an infant has yet to develop the concept of object permanence, which means that when you, as their parent, walk away from their crib, they don't know that you're just one room over; they don't understand that you continue to exist—in fact, they don't conceptualize your existence at all unless they're looking right at you. Once an infant is able to conceptualize that you're in the next room over, it is harder for them to accept the discomfort that may accompany your absence during what should be the sleeping hours of the night. If good sleep patterns have already been established when an infant begins to understand object permanence, it will be much easier to maintain those patterns in the long-term. For more resources on this topic, check out Dr. Carey's Baby Care show on CAPS-TV in Ventura, CA, and visit https://drcareys.com/.

Dr. Svetlana Pundik's interest in neurology was sparked when she was just an undergraduate student working in a lab where the research was being conducted on post-stroke mechanisms of injury in the brain. When she got to medical school, her interest in neurology only grew, compelling her to enter a neurology residency and complete additional training in vascular neurology. In her work as a clinician, Dr. Pundik sees patients ideally within minutes of the onset of stroke in order to treat them during the short window of opportunity allotted. In her work as a researcher, she focuses on post-stroke recovery processes that take place over months and years after a stroke. Specifically, she's looking at how to improve upper and lower extremity motor function and determine what exactly is happening in the brain when a patient does show signs of improved function. She offers an interesting and informative look into the world of stroke medicine and rehabilitation, discussing the two different types of strokes and how the treatments differ for each, what warning signs to look for at the onset of stroke, the degrees to which patients can recover from motor and other deficits resulting from stroke, and what she sees as the future of stroke rehabilitation. Tune in for all the details and learn more by visiting fescenter.org.

Catia Reis is a Ph.D. student at the Faculty of Medicine at Lisbon University. Lisbon University is a public research university, one of the largest in Portugal. And the Faculty of Medicine is a top medical school with an established history dating back to the 19th century. Catia Reis discusses her interest, and background, in the area of sleep and circadian rhythms. She recounts how her earlier work in marine biology stimulated her interest in sleep deprivation and fatigue, and ultimately deeper into the study of sleep. And her own personal struggles with fatigue, being tired all the time from her work, also piqued her interest in this area of study. A circadian rhythm is essentially an approximately 24-hour cycle within the overall physiological processes of animate beings such as animals, plants, fungi, cyanobacteria, etc. In a rigid interpretation, circadian rhythms are known to be endogenously produced, however, they may be regulated by certain external cues as well, such as light from the sun and temperature. Reis explains how melatonin affects shift workers. She explains that this kind of work can be very problematic. Unfortunately, regarding shift workers, their melatonin profile may have trouble realigning properly as they work at night and try to get their sleep during the daytime hours. And a misalignment of one's melatonin profile, and the circadian system, in general, can contribute to fractured, or disturbed daytime sleep. Additionally, it may have a profound impact on their alertness during the night shift and could be a contributing factor to other health problems. Reis discusses in detail how inadequate sleep can affect job performance and she talks about the inherent dangers of being sleep deprived on the job. The sleep researcher talks about genetics, social behavior, and light, and how they influence our cycle. She provides information on the potential for success in the management of these influencing factors. Light, for example, is a strong signal for our internal clocks. Light therapy might be one way to help shift workers ease their bodies into an adjustment to an irregular schedule. Light has a general alerting effect, and it can aid with shifting sleeping patterns, related to the relative timing of light exposure. In light therapy, individuals will sit very near a light box for a preset period of time. Time of day is critical. Bright light exposure early in one's day and dim light exposure at the end of the day can help shift the internal clock to an earlier position, while exposure to light later in the day may delay the timing of one's internal clock. Therefore, the timing of exposure can assist with shifting their internal clock to accommodate needs for work, etc. Reis wraps up by discussing her overall expectations for further research and how there is so much to learn from people as she digs deeper into her research. She underscores the importance of our sleep and talks about some of the areas she wants to explore in her field.

When Beran Parry was 40 years old, she discovered a lump in her throat; at first, she didn't know what it was, and she also didn't know that its existence would change her life forever—in many ways, for the better. Parry had a five-centimeter polycystic tumor that would require the removal of her thyroid gland. Although she'd almost always had an interest in health, nutrition, and exercise, this event compelled her to learn more about the thyroid gland specifically, how the thyroid hormone interacts with the body, and how to live a quality life without it. She brings an impressive amount of information to the conversation today, discussing the most common symptoms seen in thyroid diseases, the significant impact of inflammation caused by poor diet and stress and how to go about fixing it, the role of reproductive hormones in health, and her process of patient evaluation, which often includes DNA health testing in order to better understand a number of less common symptoms. Press play to hear the full conversation, check out https://beranparry.com/ to learn more and send your questions or comments to beran@beranparry.com.

Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D., is the co-founder of the Los Angeles-based Center for Mindful Living, author of Uncovering Happiness: Overcoming Depression with Mindfulness and Self-Compassion and The Now Effect: How a Mindful Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life, and creator of a six-month program called A Course in Mindful living, whereby he helps people understand and learn how to live mindfully, happily, and healthfully. On today's episode, he explains the personal background that compelled him to devote his life to these values and help others, the importance of surrounding yourself with people who lift you up and encourage you to achieve the goals you've set for yourself, tips for taking steps towards attaining a sense of inner peace, and misconceptions people tend to have about mindfulness. Overall, he offers an inspiring and enlightening message you don't want to miss.

Kunwoo Lee, Ph.D., CEO, and co-founder of GenEdit delivers an interesting overview of his company's groundbreaking work in gene editing. GenEdit is a future-forward company that has a primary focus on genome editing, developing advanced technologies for CRISPR/Cas9 based therapeutics. Their proprietary technology supports the delivery of unique gene editors to an array of tissues utilizing nanoparticles that are non-viral and also polymer-based delivery vehicles. Lee talks about the origin of his company. He provides some background information about DNA sequences and discusses in detail how DNA is assigned at birth, and he explains that although there are some mutations, it has generally been very difficult to change the DNA that we are born with. As Lee states, in the past, if one was born with a genetic disease there was not much that could be done to alter that on the DNA level, but now, with new advancing technologies, there are many more options. Genetic diseases exist in many organs such as the brain, liver, muscle, and blood. As Lee outlines, their GenEdit platform can screen the polymer-based nanoparticle library to ascertain the optimum delivery to a target organ. Their unique nanoparticles can enclose gene therapy molecules as well as CRISPR proteins. The gene expert talks about how their system works in detail, explaining their delivery system, delivering genes to target tissue areas. He discusses their many challenges, and some of the processes they have used to accomplish their goals. He speaks about viruses and how the human body reacts. Lee talks about how they utilize CRISPR/Cas9 to precisely impact the gene that has a genetic mutation. CRISPR/Cas9 is a breakthrough technology in the field of biotech that has now become a go-to laboratory tool for many high-end researchers globally. CRISPR is, in its simplest terms, a collective of DNA sequences that can be found in the genomes of various prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria. Lee explains muscle regeneration and nerve regeneration, and the possibilities for both, considering the technologies his company has developed, and are continuing to advance further. He discusses the permanency of gene editing and how technology is literally changing the way we think about combatting diseases. As animal testing has shown some incredibly exciting possibilities, Lee talks about his enthusiasm regarding their road forward with the technology, and the steps they must take before human clinical trials will begin.

Dr. Lynelle Schneeberg has always had an interest in the area where psychology and medicine intersect, finding it fascinating how correcting a psychological issue can translate to the correction of a physical problem. She found sleep medicine at the center of this intersection and has devoted her life to helping people improve their lives by improving their sleep. She works as a sleep psychologist and assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and centers her focus on cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTI). She discusses a common mistake people make once they realize they're not getting enough quality sleep, which is to start allotting more time to being in bed and opting out of activities they would otherwise be doing, such as going to the gym or engaging in social activities. Dr. Schneeberg explains, however, that by doing these things, they're actually just perpetuating the problem. She joins the podcast to discuss a range of other topics, including the details of how and why CBTI works, and the "three Ps model" that underlies it--referring to precipitating factors, precipitating events, and perpetuating factors. She explains each one in detail, and how CBTI helps people identify and change the way they influence sleep. The two foundational techniques of CBTI are restriction and stimulus control; Dr. Schneeberg explains how she implements both in her work with patients and the kinds of results her and her patients are seeing. Tune in for all the details and visit drschneeberg.com for more information.