As humans change the way we interact with animals and the environment, we are faced with increasingly common spillover events of infectious disease from animal to human. These events have led to human outbreaks of Tuberculosis, Influenza, Ebola, COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS, among others. As there is no way of knowing what the next big outbreak will be, new platforms are needed to quickly develop customizable drugs against infection. Our guest this week believes he might know the kind of therapy we need.
That guest is none other than the immensely knowledgeable Owen Dunkley, a broadly interested, driven and rational second-year Master's student in Experimental Medicine at McGill University.
This is Part 1 of my two-part discussion with Owen, so check out Ep. 17b after this for a bonus discussion on Cancer and Crispr!
This first episode (17a) can really be split into two parts, where in the first half we set things up with some key concepts in biology, which are relevant to the second half on Owen's research specifically. So we discuss what it's like working in a wetlab, a host of experimental techniques like growing human cancer cells and working will cell cultures in a dish as opposed to living animals, cancer cell proliferation, Henrietta Lacks' HELA cells, advancements in cell biology, the three domains of life, the differences between cancer, viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms, the greatest merger and acquisition in the history of multicellular life, mitochondrial transfers, the mechanisms of viral replication, the distinction between DNA, RNA and protein, the central dogma of molecular biology, RNA interference, the immune system, the evolution, mutation, mechanism and devastation of HIV/AIDS, retrovirus, shock and kill versus block and lock strategies for HIV treatment, the power of microRNAs to maximize virus latency, the Berlin and London patients, and so much more we had to split the episode into two parts!
This episode is packed to the brim with some seriously mind-blowing and absolutely fascinating content. I hope you enjoy Owen as much as I did!
Here's a link to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, as mentioned in today's discussion.
