Episode 11: Biohacking: DIY Gene Editing, Fluorescent Beer and COVID-19

In this episode, the team take a deep dive into the world of biohacking. Practitioners of this DIY biology have big goals: making genetic technologies available to all, bypassing government regulation of drugs and (on the fringes of the movement) achieving immortality. Are biohackers visionaries or outsider scientists lost in a fantasy? 

Read more from this podcast: 

A DIY COVID-19 Vaccine? 

Episode 10: COVID-19 Vaccines: Three Leading Candidates, Assessed

In this episode, the TN team discuss three promising vaccine candidates being developed for COVID-19. We take a deep dive into the data from these vaccine trials to try and work out what successes can be celebrated and what unanswered questions still remain.

Read more from this podcast: 

Vaccine 1: Moderna's mRNA-1273

Vaccine 2: Oxford University's ChAdOx1

Vaccine 3: CanSino Biologics' Adenovirus Type-5

Antigen vs Antibody – What Are the Differences?

A Vaccine 101

Exploring the Drug Development Process

Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Positive Interim Results in Phase I Trial

Episode 9: The Ethics of Genetics Testing: “Duty of Care”, Consent and Data Security

Genetic data is moving to the mainstream. Testing, both in the clinic and through direct-to-consumer delivery, is much quicker and cheaper then ever before. But these advances have come with a lot of ethical baggage. In this podcast we discuss how clinical testing can throw up surprise results for doctor and patient, the test data that is helping fight COVID-19 and how one of our own editors responded to receiving her genetic risk scores.

Read more from this podcast: 

Exploring the Ethics of Genetic Testing

Exploring the Ethics of Genetic Testing: What Does Consent Mean?

Exploring the Ethics of Genetic Testing: Where Does Duty Begin and End?

Data from Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests Used To Create a Drug for Inflammatory Diseases

Chronologically, I'm 23, but Biologically – I'm 26

Large Study Suggests Blood Type O May Be a Protective Factor Against COVID-19

One Year on, Scientists Defend Canada’s Anti-Genetic Discrimination Law

Episode 8: Personalized Medicine: Cancer, Neuroscience and Genetic Data

In this episode, the TN team discuss the potential of personalized, precision approaches to change healthcare. We hear how cancer care has been one of the first areas to take advantage of patient-specific data, the risks and rewards of increased access to genomic data and how neuroscience is beginning to explore diseases of the brain at a personal level.

Read more from this podcast:

Chronologically, I'm 23, but Biologically – I'm 26

Personalized Medicine and Cancer

Concepts and Promises of Personalized Medicine

More Severe Alzheimer's Subtype May Be Caused by Tau Modification

Cancer Biomarkers: Powering Precision Medicine

The Power of Proteogenomics in Precision Medicine

One Year on, Scientists Defend Canada’s Anti-Genetic Discrimination Law

Exploring Differences in Drug Response With Dr Namandje N. Bumpus

Pharmacogenomics

CRISPR, Cell Therapies and Drug Discovery

Exploring the Latest in CRISPR and Stem Cell Research

Episode 7: The Vagus Nerve: A Target to Treat Brain and Body?

In this episode, we review the evidence surrounding vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), a therapy approved for epilepsy and depression that backers now want to use to treat a host of other conditions, include autoimmune disease and heart failure. How can scientists fill in the gaps in the VNS knowledge base?

Read more from this podcast:

Zanos lab research on anodal block

The history of VNS

VNS as a treatment for depression

Sensate Device

Episode 6: COVID-19: Repurposing Drugs, Hydroxychloroquine and Clinical Trials

In this episode, the Technology Networks team discuss drug treatments to combat COVID-19. These drugs, like the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine, have often been repurposed for the task, and evidence for their efficacy remains patchy. Why do researchers turn to these medications and how will the field of drug development be changed by the COVID-19 pandemic? 

Read more from this podcast: 

Hydroxychloroquine Revived by WHO

How modeling can support drug development

Covid-19 brings drug development to a halt

Tackling Covid-19: ongoing drug development efforts

Flooded by the torrent: the COVID-19 drug pipeline

Global impact on clinical trials

What is a preprint? 

Exploring the drug development process

Keep up to date with COVID-19 vaccine development

Updates:

Hydroxychloroquine arm stopped in RECOVERY Trial

Episode 5: The Placebo Effect: Phantom Surgery, Alternative Medicine and the Big Bad Nocebo

In this episode, the Technology Networks team investigate the placebo effect. Why have placebo treatments become more effective at treating patients in the last few decades (but only in the USA) and what do powerful placebos mean for clinical trials? 

Read more from this podcast: 

The Power of the Placebo Effect

Survey Finds 97% of GPs Prescribe Placebos

Placebo Surgery Trial

The Magnitude of Nocebo Effects in Pain

Placebo Effect Grows in U.S., Thwarting Development of Painkillers

Episode 4: Food Fraud: Fake Wine, Poisonous Milk and Horse Lasagna

In this episode, the Technology Networks team take a bite into the world of food fraud. We take a look at famous cases of fraud, including scandals involving horse meat, baby formula and expensive wine. We also discover the analytical methods that inspectors can try and use to find fraudulent food before it makes it to your plate. 

Read more from this podcast: 

Shedding Light on Wine Fraud With NMR Fingerprinting

Whiskey, the Target of Fraud

Infographic: What's in Your Food?

Episode 3: The Microbiome: Gut-Brain Connections and “Poo Pills”

In this episode, the Technology Networks team discuss the community of bacteria that have made our bodies their home: the microbiome. We explore how these bugs can influence our behavior and help us fight disease and whether microbiota-modifying poo pills could become a part of precision medicine in the near future. 

Read more from this podcast:

https://www.technologynetworks.com/cancer-research/infographics/the-microbiome-and-cancer-319758

https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/infographics/sequencing-the-microbiome-327727

https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/articles/mouse-moms-microbiota-leads-to-altered-behavior-326252

https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/articles/microbiome-medicine-takes-center-stage-308055

Episode 2: Psychedelic Drugs: Ketamine for Depression, Party Octopuses and Stoned Dolphins

In this episode, the Technology Networks team discuss the rejuvenated field of psychedelic drugs research and how it might provide solutions for enduring mental health disorders.

Read more from this podcast: 

https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/articles/the-neuroscience-of-psychedelic-drugs-ending-psychedelic-myths-with-professor-david-nutt-328359

https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/articles/the-neuroscience-of-psychedelic-drugs-your-brain-on-psilocybin-with-frederick-streeter-barrett-328582

https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/articles/the-neuroscience-of-psychedelic-drugs-octopuses-mdma-and-healing-social-injury-328152

Watch dophins getting high on pufferfish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msx3BAhIeQg