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The Scientist’s LabTalk
Synthetic Screens, Genes, and De Novo Proteins: Training AI Models with More Sequence Diversity to Improve Hits
Synthetic technologies allow scientists to venture into uncharted waters, asking unique research questions and finding previously unattainable solutions to some of life’s biggest mysteries. From gene editing to protein engineering, synthesized DNA libraries enable researchers to grasp once unreachable high-throughput screening applications and dismantle barriers between experimental ideation and execution. In this podcast series, Synthetic Screens, Genes, and De Novo Proteins, The Scientist’s Creative Services Team talks to experts about their experiences implementing Twist Bioscience’s synthesized long double-stranded gene pools, called Multiplexed Gene Fragments, for high-throughput screening. In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from Th...
2024-09-17
17 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Synthetic Screens, Genes, and De Novo Proteins: Multiplexed Gene Fragments Drive De Novo Protein Design
Synthetic technologies allow scientists to venture into uncharted waters, asking unique research questions and finding previously unattainable solutions to some of life’s biggest mysteries. From gene editing to protein engineering, synthesized DNA libraries enable researchers to grasp once unreachable high-throughput screening applications and dismantle barriers between experimental ideation and execution. In this podcast series, Synthetic Screens, Genes, and De Novo Proteins, The Scientist’s Creative Services Team talks to experts about their experiences implementing Twist Bioscience’s synthesized long double-stranded gene pools, called Multiplexed Gene Fragments, for high-throughput screening. In this episode, Niki Spahich from Th...
2024-09-03
12 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Synthetic Screens, Genes, and De Novo Proteins: Engineering Gene Regulation through Creative Experimental Design
Synthetic technologies allow scientists to venture into uncharted waters, asking unique research questions and finding previously unattainable solutions to some of life’s biggest mysteries. From gene editing to protein engineering, synthesized DNA libraries enable researchers to grasp once unreachable high-throughput screening applications and dismantle barriers between experimental ideation and execution. In this podcast series, Synthetic Screens, Genes, and De Novo Proteins, The Scientist’s Creative Services Team talks to experts about their experiences implementing Twist Bioscience’s synthesized long double-stranded gene pools, called Multiplexed Gene Fragments, for high-throughput screening. In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from Th...
2024-08-20
16 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Science Philosophy in a Flash: Demystifying Cell Culture Through Oxygen Analysis
With a track record of invention and translating technology into practical solutions, Walker Inman continues to drive innovation in the life sciences field. Inman is currently the cofounder and CEO of Lucid Scientific Inc., a company that develops cellular analysis tools. In this Science Philosophy in a Flash podcast episode brought to you by Lucid Scientific, The Scientist spoke with Inman about the challenges of measuring oxygen concentration in cell culture and how his real-time oxygen monitoring technology, Resipher, overcomes these problems. Learn more about Lucid Scientific and Resipher. Science Philosophy in a Fl...
2024-07-01
03 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Science Philosophy in a Flash: Curiosity and Compassion Fuel Rare Disease Research
Lauren Drouin is the director of analytical development and the Genomic Medicine Unit at Alexion AstraZeneca Rare Disease. As a dynamic scientist with unique expertise in current research and industry trends for gene therapies, Drouin is passionate about driving progress within the rare disease field and advancing products from preclinical development into the clinic and beyond. In this Science Philosophy in a Flash podcast episode brought to you by Bio-Rad, The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Drouin to learn more about her interest in adeno-associated virus (AAV) biology, and what motivated her journey from academia to...
2024-01-02
02 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Hijacking Viruses: Optimizing Lentivirus-Based Cell Engineering
Researchers commonly employ lentiviruses to modify cells genetically. However, they must overcome several challenges when using these viruses in the laboratory or clinic. In this episode, Charlene Lancaster from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Filippo Rossignoli, instructor in neurosurgery at the Center for Stem Cell and Translational Immunotherapy at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, about using lentiviruses to engineer cell therapies and the troubleshooting process he undertook to optimize viral production and infection. More on this topic: https://www.the-scientist.com/infographics/viral-vector-platforms-for-gene-therapy-70941 LabTalk is a sp...
2023-12-20
14 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Molecular Diagnostics: An Eye Toward the Future - Real Time Diagnostics: Improving HPV Screening with PCR
Scientists continuously develop new assays to fill unmet diagnostic needs. While methods such as quantitative PCR have emerged as essential tools in molecular diagnostics, scientists developing and administering these assays still must overcome technical challenges. In this podcast series, The Scientist’s Creative Services Team talks to experts about their experiences designing and implementing assays and protocols for future molecular diagnostics. In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Gregory Tsongalis, medical director for the Center for Clinical Genomics and Advanced Technology at Dartmouth Health, about the benefits of PCR-based DNA test...
2023-10-24
12 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Molecular Diagnostics: An Eye Toward the Future - Considerations for Oncology Biomarker Testing
Scientists continuously develop new assays to fill unmet diagnostic needs. While methods such as quantitative PCR have emerged as essential tools in molecular diagnostics, scientists developing and administering these assays still must overcome technical challenges. In this podcast series, The Scientist’s Creative Services Team talks to experts about their experiences designing and implementing assays and protocols for future molecular diagnostics. In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Ming-Sound Tsao, a senior scientist and clinician at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, about considerations and variables for choosing appropriate assays in pr...
2023-08-29
13 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Molecular Diagnostics: An Eye Toward the Future - Modernizing Molecular Diagnostics, from Assay Development to Routine Testing, Part 2
Scientists commonly use qPCR applications in molecular diagnostics to detect pathogens, assess viral loads, or uncover mutations. While the qPCR assay itself may seem straightforward, other aspects such as data collection and security, and following regulatory guidelines, present challenges. In part two of this episode, Fernando Beils, vice president and general manager of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s qPCR Instruments, Assays, and Digital group, introduces an innovative software that streamlines molecular diagnostic testing by facilitating automation and connectivity in qPCR workflows. Welcome to Molecular Diagnostics: An Eye Toward the Future, a special edit...
2023-06-27
10 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Molecular Diagnostics: An Eye Toward the Future - Modernizing Molecular Diagnostics, from Assay Development to Routine Testing
Scientists commonly use qPCR applications in molecular diagnostics to detect pathogens, assess viral loads, or uncover mutations. While the qPCR assay itself may seem straightforward, other aspects such as data collection and security, and following regulatory guidelines, present challenges. In this episode, Gloria Lam, the associate director of qPCR software for Thermo Fisher Scientific, discusses concerns surrounding molecular diagnostic data collection, analysis, cybersecurity, and more. Welcome to Molecular Diagnostics: An Eye Toward the Future, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by...
2023-06-27
08 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Molecular Diagnostics: An Eye Toward the Future - The Simple Solution of Saliva
Welcome to Molecular Diagnostics: An Eye Toward the Future, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Thermo Fisher Scientific, a world leader in serving science. Their mission is to enable customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. Whether their customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, improving patient diagnostics and therapies, or increasing productivity in their laboratories, Thermo Fisher Scientific is here to support them. Scientists continuously develop new assays to fill unmet diagnostic needs. While methods such as qu...
2023-05-31
12 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Building Bridges for Translational Research - Supporting mRNA Therapeutic Development and Beyond
Translational research cannot be conducted in a vacuum. For a translational researcher to be successful, they need to build strong relationships with individuals, companies, and institutions that will provide useful support and expertise. In this episode, Linda Mathiasson, Strategic Customer Leader for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics at Cytiva, discusses the flourishing translational field of mRNA therapies and opportunities for researchers to form worthwhile partnerships that support their therapeutic endeavors. Welcome to Building Bridges for Translational Research, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Cyt...
2023-04-19
17 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Building Bridges for Translational Research - Bringing Gene Therapy Closer to the Clinic
In this episode, Guangping Gao, professor and director of the Horae Gene Therapy Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, speaks about developing human gene therapies using recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors, scaling up these therapies, and the future of translational research. Welcome to Building Bridges for Translational Research, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Cytiva, a global provider of technologies and services that advance and accelerate therapeutic development, manufacturing, and delivery. To take preclinical concepts to the market, tra...
2023-04-12
20 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Building Bridges for Translational Research - The Secrets to Start-Up Success
Welcome to Building Bridges for Translational Research, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Cytiva, a global provider of technologies and services that advance and accelerate therapeutic development, manufacturing, and delivery. To take preclinical concepts to the market, translational researchers must build strong relationships and forge fruitful partnerships that support their work. In this podcast series, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team talks to groundbreaking translational researchers and industry experts about their experiences developing technologies and therapies for improving human health and...
2023-04-05
18 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Understanding the Blood Cancer Genomic Landscape
Immunotherapies are promising as a holy grail for cancer treatment, but patient responses to these interventions are often variable in both solid tumors and blood cancers. In this episode, Iris Kulbatski from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Olli Dufva, a physician and doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki’s Hematology Research Unit, about his work analyzing the genomic landscape of hematological cancers. Coupling next-generation techniques with traditional methods such as flow cytometry, he aims to better understand the complex range of immune characteristics in different cancer subtypes and use that data to predict pati...
2022-12-13
19 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Human Data Era - The Role of Human Diversity in Progressing Precision Medicine
By understanding disease risk through the information found in a person’s genome, scientists can develop more effective therapeutics and clinicians can treat their patients more effectively. In this episode, we talk to Kári Stefánsson, founder and CEO of deCODE Genetics, a Reykjavik-based biopharmaceutical company that collects and analyzes genealogical, medical, and genomic data at a national scale in order to identify variants that cause disease. We discuss his pioneering work in population-scale genetics, its applications in precision medicine and the healthcare system, and the difficult questions that access to these data raise. To d...
2022-11-09
26 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Human Data Era - Exploring Human Data in Cardiovascular Disease
Heterogeneous disorders such as cardiovascular disease have multiple risk factors, causes, and manifestations. Having a holistic view of a patient’s unique biology potentially leads to earlier and better treatment options. In this episode, we talk to Narimon Honarpour, vice president of Global Development at Amgen, about how human data is helping drug developers and clinicians unpack the complexities of cardiovascular disease to improve patient outcomes. To dive further into this topic, please join Amgen scientists at the Human Data Era Q&A webinar discussion on November 16, 2022. Register for the event here. We...
2022-11-02
24 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Human Data Era - New Connections Between Genetics and Human Disease
Biobanks that house data from electronic health records or collect samples directly from participants are precious resources for researchers looking to understand health and disease and translate these discoveries into recommendations and treatments for patients. In this episode, we talk to Nancy Cox, professor and director of the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, about Vanderbilt’s DNA biobank, BioVU. Nancy and her fellow researchers use computational genetics to study the de-identified patient DNA stored in the bank along with corresponding electronic health records in order to discover links between genes and disease. To dive further into this to...
2022-10-26
22 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Human Data Era - Human Data: Beyond the Genome
Welcome to The Human Data Era, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Amgen, a pioneer in the science of using living cells to make biologic medicines. They helped invent the processes and tools that built the global biotech industry, and have since reached millions of patients suffering from serious illnesses around the world with their medicines. By studying human genetics, scientists discovered mechanisms that, when defective, cause disease. While this type of data is powerful, additional information can provide more...
2022-10-19
27 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Exposed: Environmental Echoes in Health - How Toxins Leave Their Cancerous Marks
Through epigenetic mechanisms, some environmental toxicants, such as heavy metals, reversibly alter gene expression patterns that then drive cancer progression. In this episode, Yvonne Fondufe-Mittendorf discusses her work studying environmental toxicants and their effects on DNA methylation and chromatin structure. Welcome to Exposed: Environmental Echoes in Health, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Van Andel Institute, an independent biomedical research institute devoted to improving human health for generations to come. While the human body’s cells all use the same s...
2022-10-19
13 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Exposed: Environmental Echoes in Health - Are We What Our Parents Eat?
Substances that enter the body, such as food or chemicals, can make epigenetic changes in the germline that become inherited, affecting the health of future generations. In this episode, Heidi Lempradl discusses her work studying the effects of parental diet on their offspring. Welcome to Exposed: Environmental Echoes in Health, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Van Andel Institute, an independent biomedical research institute devoted to improving human health for generations to come. While the human body’s cells all us...
2022-10-12
14 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Exposed: Environmental Echoes in Health - Epigeneticist Turned Microbe Hunter
Welcome to Exposed: Environmental Echoes in Health, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Van Andel Institute, an independent biomedical research institute devoted to improving human health for generations to come. While the human body’s cells all use the same set of instructions, they can end up with wildly different features and functions. Beyond the information stored in DNA, factors within a person’s environment, including chemicals, microbes, and their diet, change how cells work. In this series, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creati...
2022-10-05
12 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The New Era of Neurodegeneration Research
The brain’s intractable nature makes neurodegenerative disorders challenging to study, but modern assays and technologies give scientists a fresh look at this complex organ. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services Team spoke with Erdem Gültekin Tamgüney, a professor in the Institute of Physical Biology at Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf, about technologies driving modern neuroscience research and his own work exploring the link between ischemic stroke and Parkinson’s disease. LabTalk is a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist's Creative Services Team, where we explore topics at the leading edge of...
2022-09-28
16 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Innovating Clinical Trials: Real-World Clinical Trial Design and Execution in Oncology
Cancer is one therapeutic area where patients cannot wait the conventional 10 or 12 years for a new therapy. For these patients, time is of the essence, and improved access to faster clinical trials can be the difference between receiving a new life-saving medicine and it being too late. In this episode, we talk to David Raben, vice president of Global Development Oncology at Amgen, about the next generation of oncology trial design and execution. To dive further into this topic, please join Amgen scientists at the Innovating Clinical Trials Q&A webinar discussion on September 28, 2022. Register...
2022-09-21
19 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Innovating Clinical Trials: The Right Patients
With advances in genetics and other human data, researchers and doctors will one day be able to practice precision medicine. However, predicting how a patient will respond to a medicine is challenging in under-represented patients who are often not included in clinical trials. This is due in part to systemic issues that deter people from participating in research, especially those who have been historically excluded due to factors such as race, ethnicity, sex, and age. In this episode, we talk to Ponda Motsepe-Ditshego, vice president and Global Medical Therapeutic Area head in General Medicine at Amgen, about...
2022-09-14
25 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Innovating Clinical Trials: Real World Data in Drug Development
Randomized clinical trials are the gold standard for evaluating the efficacy and safety of medicines, but they come with many drawbacks including high monetary and time costs, a lack of representation compared to the general public, and ethical limitations. Historically, these trials were the main mechanism to understand the effects of a medicine. But more recently, real world data from sources such as electronic health records, insurance claims and billing activities, disease registries, and wearable devices, is having a greater effect on understanding a medicine’s usage and effects. Although this information is collected outside of clinical trials, clinical re...
2022-09-07
24 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Innovating Clinical Trials: Operational Innovation
Welcome to Innovating Clinical Trials, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Amgen, a pioneer in the science of using living cells to make biologic medicines. They helped invent the processes and tools that built the global biotech industry, and have since reached millions of patients suffering from serious illnesses around the world with their medicines. Clinical trials are desperate for innovation. Speed and efficiency need to improve as many patients cannot wait over a decade for new, potentially lifesaving medicines, and trial participants oft...
2022-08-31
20 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Generative Biology Revolution: Accelerating Drug Discovery with Protein Design
The ability to design proteins to perform desired functions will transform drug development. In particular, with AI and machine learning, scientists gain the ability to engineer antibody-based drugs, including multispecifics which engage multiple targets. By altering existing protein structures or developing proteins de novo, biologics will become more effective and specific. In this episode, we talk to Suzanne Edavettal, the executive director of Protein Engineering at Amgen. We discuss how protein design affects drug development and success rates in the clinic today and in the future. To dive further into this topic, please join Amgen...
2022-07-13
20 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Generative Biology Revolution: Protein Design from Scratch
Naturally-occurring proteins have evolved over millions of years to perform specific functions based on their sequences and folded structures. As our understanding of science advanced, researchers began designing proteins from scratch to solve new challenges that modern societies face. In this episode, we talk to David Baker, director of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington and one of the creators of the RoseTTAFold protein structure prediction tool. We discuss how to design proteins with sequences and structures that impart novel functions and how designed proteins will revolutionize drug development. To dive f...
2022-07-06
20 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Generative Biology Revolution: The Protein Structure Prediction Problem
To build better biologic drugs, researchers need to understand exactly how amino acid building blocks interact with one another and fold into functional proteins. This knowledge provides insights into how to engage a drug target or develop an optimal therapeutic. Determining a protein’s structure is a laborious process in the wet lab, but thanks to machine learning, scientists can now use various algorithms to predict structure. In this episode, we talk to Mike Nohaile, chief scientific officer at Generate Biomedicines. Since early 2022, Amgen and Generate Biomedicines have been collaborating to discover and create protein therapeutics across sev...
2022-06-29
17 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Generative Biology Revolution: The Cresting Wave of Transformational Science
In 2021, the world changed for drug research and discovery when researchers published advances that used AI and machine learning to predict the structure of human proteins from their sequences. With discoveries like this, scientists are launching the generative biology revolution where they strive to leave the guesswork behind and instead use computers to quickly tailor biological molecules for therapeutic purposes. In this episode, we speak with Alan Russell, vice president of Biologics at Amgen and review what generative biology is and how it helps scientists understand proteins from their amino acid building blocks to their folded, three-dimensional structures. We...
2022-06-22
19 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Transporting Laboratories into the Future with Smart Technology
As smart devices become commonplace in many homes, they also enter life science laboratories with the promise to enhance productivity, simplify collaborations, and produce reliable results. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with experts from MilliporeSigma about how smart devices change research for the better. LabTalk is a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist's Creative Services Team, where we explore topics at the leading edge of innovative research. This month’s episode is sponsored by MilliporeSigma.
2022-05-23
14 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Phagocidal Macrophages: A New Battle Tactic Against Resistant Cancers
Cancer immunotherapies are saving lives, but researchers still have a long journey ahead of them. Many cancers that are initially sensitive to immunotherapy acquire resistance over time, while others are resistant from the beginning. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Stephanie Dougan, an associate professor of immunology at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, about her research developing new immunotherapies for resistant tumors. LabTalk is a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team, where we explore topics at t...
2021-11-29
12 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Undruggable: Induced Proximity for Cancer and Beyond
Induced proximity makes it possible for scientists to attack undruggable targets by designing medicines that go beyond what conventional drugs can accomplish. Within the next decade, this work could yield new options for treatments for cancer and other diseases that currently have poor prognoses. People whose serious diseases don’t respond to conventional medicines, or who run out of options, may see induced proximity drugs come to the rescue. In this episode, Ray Deshaies is joined by David Reese, executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen. Dave is responsible for Amgen’s entire pipeline of potential therapies, and...
2021-11-17
28 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Undruggable: The Emerging Induced Proximity Toolkit
PROTACs have taken center stage in the effort to drug the undruggable. Researchers are now exploring other types of TACs to degrade or alter undruggable targets by bringing them together with effector proteins. In this episode, Ray Deshaies talks to Carolyn Bertozzi, professor of chemistry at Stanford University, about alternative induced proximity platforms. Notably, her research centers around lysosome targeting chimeras, or LYTACs, that target extracellular proteins for degradation by the endosome-lysosome pathway. To dive further into this topic, please join Amgen scientists at the Undruggable Q&A webinar discussion on November 17, 2021. Register for this event here...
2021-11-10
22 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Undruggable: Discovery at the DNA Encoded Library
Even with promising technology such as PROTACs breaking through the barriers of undruggability, finding compounds that interact with tricky targets requires screening billions of molecules. DNA encoded library technology is revolutionizing how drug developers screen molecules by marking them with unique DNA tags. In this episode, Ray Deshaies talks to Alex Gouliaev, vice president of Amgen Research Copenhagen. Prior to joining Amgen, Alex was the CEO of Nuevolution, a pioneer in DNA-encoded libraries. To dive further into this topic, please join Amgen scientists at the Undruggable Q&A webinar discussion on November 10, 2021. Register for this event here...
2021-11-03
22 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Hijacking Genes: Uncovering the Cause of Lineage Ambiguous Leukemia
Childhood cancer is devastating. Every year over 15,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer, with leukemia accounting for 28% of all childhood cancers in children under the age of 15. Leukemia, however, is not a single class of cancer. There are numerous forms of leukemia each with its own distinct cause. In this episode, Tiffany Garbutt from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Charles Mullighan, member of the department of pathology and deputy director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, about the search for the molecular drivers underlying lineage ambigu...
2021-10-31
16 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Undruggable: Drugging the Undruggable: The Biology of PROTACs
Multispecific medicines that bind to and bring together effector and target molecules are leading the fourth wave of drug development. In this episode, Ray Deshaies speaks with Craig Crews, the John C. Malone Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and professor of chemistry and pharmacology at Yale University. Years ago, Craig and Ray collaborated on a project developing proteolysis targeting chimeras, or PROTACs, a form of multispecific medicine that can bind to targets once thought to be undruggable through the recruitment of an E3 ubiquitin ligase, leading to protein destruction. They take a deep dive into the history...
2021-10-26
23 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Undruggable: The Next Wave of Drug Development
Welcome to Undruggable, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Amgen, a pioneer in the science of using living cells to make biologic medicines. They helped invent the processes and tools that built the global biotech industry, and have since reached millions of patients suffering from serious illnesses around the world with their medicines. Beginning with the introduction of aspirin at the start of the 20th century, there have been three major waves of innovation in drug discovery. While breakthrough discoveries have been made, 85% of...
2021-10-20
24 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
DNA Unlocked: Reshaping the Future: How Close Are We to Precision Medicine?
Human genetics has the power to transform the future of drug development, disease treatment, and the overall approach to healthcare. In this episode, we discuss current and future applications of -omics to clinical trials, disease risk assessment, and precision medicine with Amit Khera, a cardiologist and associate director of the Precision Medicine Unit in the Center for Genomics Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Khera pioneered the use of polygenic risk scores calculated from genome-wide associate studies as a way to quantify genetic risk. His research program uses genetic variation as a tool to uncover new biology and...
2021-09-15
25 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
DNA Unlocked: Unlocking the Genetics of Cancer
Mutations that develop over the course of life accumulate and contribute to cancer progression. Additionally, variations in people’s immune systems also affect the likelihood that they end up with cancer. Genomics and other -omics are giving researchers new insights into one of the world’s most feared collection of diseases. In this episode, we talk to Angela Coxon, vice president of oncology research at Amgen, where she is responsible for the discovery, validation, and preclinical development of a broad range of oncology therapeutics. Coxon’s team is developing molecules to outfox cancer cells, including bispecific T cell e...
2021-09-08
24 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
DNA Unlocked: Beyond Genomics
Genomics is just one branch in the burgeoning field of science informally known as -omics. The data points flowing from various branches of omics can be pieced together to build a sharper picture of how disease takes root and develops. The technology has the potential to deliver new biomarkers for earlier diagnosis of disease, faster and more successful clinical trials, and the ability to predict and prevent disease before it becomes more grievous and costly. In this episode, we talk to Larry Gold, founder of SomaLogic, a company with technology that provides more coverage of the proteome...
2021-09-01
26 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
DNA Unlocked: Genetics vs. Biology
Researchers in drug development face a series of challenges even before candidate drugs are tested; namely, finding promising targets and figuring out what they do in the context of complex diseases. There are numerous gaps in our understanding of human biology, and to make matters worse, due to the complexity and unpredictability of biology, scientists often come to the lab bench with preconceived notions that are often incomplete or even incorrect. Thankfully, human genetics enables researchers to unravel the mysteries of biological systems in an unbiased manner. In this episode, Ray Deshaies talks to Saptarsi Haldar, a...
2021-08-25
29 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
DNA Unlocked: The Promise and the Potential
Welcome to DNA Unlocked, a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist’s Creative services Team. This series is brought to you by Amgen, which is a pioneer in the science of using living cells to make biologic medicines. They helped invent the processes and tools that built the global biotech industry, and have since reached millions of patients suffering from serious illnesses around the world with their medicines. Since the initial sequencing of the human genome almost twenty years ago, researchers have been enticed by an explosion of DNA data. These sequences hold the promise of...
2021-08-18
31 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Understanding Microglial Response in Alzheimer’s Disease
A diverse population of microglial cells resides in the brain. Similar to immune cells, microglial cells respond to minute changes in their environment. Sometimes this response is beneficial and other times detrimental. Scientists are working to tease apart the dynamic role of microglial response in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. In this episode, Tiffany Garbutt from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Samuel Marsh, a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Beth Stevens at Boston’s Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, about how he uses single cell technolo...
2021-07-31
16 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Promise of Spatial Transcriptomics in Exploring Chronic Liver Disease
The liver performs approximately 500 separate functions in the human body. With liver disease on the rise, scientists are developing treatments to save this irreplaceable organ. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Prakash Ramachandran, a clinician scientist at the Centre for Inflammation Research at the University of Edinburgh, about mechanisms of scarring that lead to chronic liver disease and what he hopes to learn from biobanked patient liver samples. The Scientist Speaks is a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services team. Our podcast is by scientists and...
2021-06-30
15 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Discovering the Secrets of Motor Neurons with Single Cell Sequencing
Motor neurons originating in the spine control both voluntary and involuntary movements. Even though they have an essential function, they are notoriously difficult to study. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Jacob Blum, a graduate student in Aaron Gitler’s laboratory at Stanford University, about his work understanding the diversity of spinal motor neurons using single cell transcriptomics. The Scientist Speaks is a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services team. Our podcast is by scientists and for scientists. Once a month, we bring you the storie...
2021-05-05
13 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
A Modern Trojan Horse: Delivering Combination Immunotherapies to Solid Tumors
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapies hold great promise for cancer treatment, but they are not very effective against solid tumors. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Katie McKenna, postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Malcolm Brenner at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, about her work developing a combination CAR T cell immunotherapy and oncolytic virotherapy to treat solid tumors. LabTalk is a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team, where we explore topics at the leading edge of innovative rese...
2021-04-28
13 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Bugs with Drugs: Repurposing a Pathogenic Bacteria’s Weapon
LabTalk is a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team, where we explore topics at the leading edge of innovative research. This episode is brought to you by Keystone Symposia. Don’t miss their upcoming virtual eSymposia Synthetic Biology: At the Crossroads of Genetic Engineering and Human Therapeutics on May 3-4, 2021. One of the eSymposium’s speakers is Cammie Lesser, an associate professor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Lesser about her research developing designer probiotics to deliver protein...
2021-04-17
11 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Predicting the Immune Response with Single-Cell Analysis: Autoimmunity, Vaccination, and COVID-19
The human immune system is highly complex and variable. Some people mount robust responses to infection, vaccination, or immunotherapy, while others fail to react appropriately. These differences have obvious implications for health and disease, and they have been especially appreciated during the COVID-19 pandemic as some individuals show no symptoms after contracting SARS-CoV-2 while others experience severe, life-threatening disease. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with John Tsang, co-director of the National Institutes of Health Center for Human Immunology about how he uses innovative single-cell technology to discover early predictors of...
2021-03-31
17 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
The Past, Present, and Future of Gene Therapy: How to Scale-up Successfully
The Scientist’s LabTalk is a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team where we explore topics at the leading edge of innovative research. In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Josh Snow, Director of Business Development and Marketing Strategy at Mirus Bio, about the past, present, and future of gene therapy, with a focus on how researchers can transition their successful therapies to clinical trials and the market, and the costs involved. This episode is brought to you by Mirus Bio. Mirus Bio pionee...
2020-12-11
29 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Halting the Tuberculosis Epidemic with Research and Diagnostics: A Conversation with David Alland
Welcome to The Scientist’s LabTalk, a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team where we explore topics at the leading edge of innovative research. This episode is brought to you by Keystone Symposia. Don’t miss their upcoming virtual eSymposia Tuberculosis: Science Aimed at Ending the Epidemic on December 2-4, 2020. One of the symposium’s co-organizers and keynote speaker is David Alland, Chief of Infectious Disease and Director of the Center for Emerging Pathogens and the Center for COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Niki Spahich from The Scie...
2020-11-13
13 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Surviving Stress: The Mysteries of Neuronal Survival and Neurodegeneration
Welcome to The Scientist’s LabTalk, a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team where we explore topics at the leading edge of innovative research. In this episode, we explore how neurons withstand stress by looking at three cutting edge technologies: CRISPR, stem cell technology, and single-cell sequencing. Tiffany Garbutt from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with Martin Kampmann, associate professor at the University of California San Francisco, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub investigator, and Paul G. Allen Distinguished Investigator to learn more. This episode is brought to you by 10x Genomic...
2020-10-20
17 min
The Scientist’s LabTalk
Myeloid Cells in Cancer and Science Advocacy: A Conversation with Miriam Merad
Welcome to The Scientist’s LabTalk, a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team where we explore topics at the leading edge of innovative research. This episode is brought to you by Keystone Symposia. Don’t miss their upcoming virtual eSymposium on myeloid cells and innate immunity in solid tumors on September 21-23, 2020. http://keysym.us/Myeloid21Scientist One of the eSymposium’s speakers is Miriam Merad, a professor in Cancer immunology and the Director of the Precision Immunology Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Niki Spahich from The Scientis...
2020-09-10
12 min