BioPOD

Three PhD students, a genomic epidemiologist studying Ebola virus, a molecular epidemiologist  studying Polio virus, and an infectious disease modeller studying anti-microbial resistance dynamics between humans and livestock.

So, what do these three researchers have in common, you might wonder? Well, they all lent their expertise to study the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In this episode, we will be learning about how COVID-19 shaped their year in research and learn some interesting facts about epidemiology related to our current pandemic. 

As always, tune in, with your morning cuppa, and enjoy. 

#SciencePodcast #UniversityofEdinburgh #AcademicChatter 

A special 1-hour feature episode with two inspiring and highly successful academics from the University of Edinburgh: Prof Lynne J. Regan, the Head of the Institute of Quantitative Biology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology.  Lynne is also the Chair in Interdisciplinary Science at the Center for Synthetic & Systems Biology and Prof Meriem el Karoui the Director of SynthSys, and Systems Biology Chair for Equality and Diversity.

Ep 7: Crops, Robots and Rolling Pins featuring PhD student  @TaraCanelaWight interviewed by @donohoho has dropped! Happy weekend curious beings! 

Stay tuned until the end to hear our resident microbiologist Hanna Peach's story of the rich history of whisky in Scotland + zero waste uses for whisky waste: MiAlgae, Celtic Renewables.

Have you ever wondered what a fulfilling scientific life is like? A life full of dreams, failures, success, fame? Professor Jean Beggs has retired from the Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology after a long career. She is a trailblazer, who became an independent researcher, PI and was awarded professorship. In this episode, she talks about her successful career in science, alongside important issues such as imposter syndrome. As a researcher, she is interested in understanding how genes are expressed, the mechanisms that determines how they are expressed, and how the expression is regulated.  

Professor Beggs was the first researcher to develop two eukaryotic (yeast, specifically) cloning vectors. This is commonly referred to as cloning, in which yeast which is transformed will take up exogenous DNA, as a vector to study the expression of genes. 

Episode 5: Dr Alex Makarov

In this episode, Chris sits down with Dr Alex Makarov who recently completed a PhD in Eric Schirmer's lab in the Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh.  His research focused on Lamin A proteins, an important structural protein which gives cells their flexibility and shape.  Dr Makarov recently published his novel work on the alternative methods to characterise the structure of flexible Lamin A proteins, namely SILAC cross-linking mass spectrometry.
Lamin-A function is so important that mutations leading to alterations of this protein's structure are linked to 13 distinct human syndromes ranging from cardiomyopathy to lipodystrophy and progeria.

Here is the publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11063-6

Listen until the end to hear our end segment on Veganuary and the future of food. 

Have you ever wondered how plant scientists discover new species in a genus? In this interview, we sit down with Dr Mark Hughes, a begonia researcher from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, who tells us some fantastic stories about wild begonia. Mark is a plant biologist, focusing on the taxonomy and biogeography of the mega-diverse flowering-plant genus Begonia. He has traveled across Southeast Asia in search of exotic begonia, and in this episode we discuss how this globetrotting translates into tangible biodiversity discoveries. 

Later, in the coda piece, we also discuss the milestone of the century: 100 years of genetics research here at the University of Edinburgh

Completing his PhD in geomicrobiology at the UK centre for astrobiology, Dr Samuels investigated the extreme conditions that microbes can live in such as shale cliffs and acid mine draining sites. Now a post-doctoral research associate at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology Dr Samuels researches the adaptation of Southern Ocean plankton to ocean warming.

Our very own Verity Hill interviews Dr Toby Samuels about a recently started experiment expected to run for 500 years. Dr Toby Samuels is interested in the ability of certain microbes, called cyanobacteria, to survive in the most extreme of conditions. An experiment he is involved in consists of two separate chests consisting of vials containing an exact number of dormant cells. At regular intervals over the next 500 years the vials will be carefully opened and the number of cells alive and active will be counted. The depth of the ability of these microbes to survive or even thrive in these conditions is still unknown. Dr Samuels introduces us to the origins and the far reaching (think Martian) implications of the experiment. 

This episode concludes by celebrating the long overdue awarding of degrees to the first female medical graduates in the UK, nicknamed the Edinburgh Seven. We focus on the inspiration life and work of Chrystal Macmillian who followed in the footsteps of the Edinburgh Seven to become the first female science graduate, graduating with a degree in mathematics in 1896.

BioPOD is back with an episode on Smartphone Biosensors and the importance of Synthetic Biology in today's global landscape.  This episode focuses on a fluorescent bacterial biosensor that quantifies levels of toxic arsenic in the environment and  connects to a smartphone. Stay tuned for this episode where we interview Dr Baojun Wang and Dr Xinyi Wan from the Synthetic Biological Engineering Lab at the University of Edinburgh. This lab specializes in engineering bacteria to act as biosensors which are applied to monitor toxic metal concentrations in the environment. 

Chickens that are genetically modified to produce human proteins in their eggs can offer a cost-effective method of producing certain types of drugs, research suggests. Researchers say the findings provide sound evidence for using chickens as a cheap method of producing high quality drugs for use in research studies and, potentially one day, in patients.