The B3 team is back for an episode discussing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. B3 hosts Robyn and Kelsey are joined by their colleagues Drs. Lorena Zuliani-Alvarez and Ujjwal Rathore, and their guest Laura Gladson, to talk about what vaccines are, as well as our own experiences in getting vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. Then we take a look at the common misconceptions, and try to address frequently asked questions regarding SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines.
For a full transcript, please visit our website’s transcript page where you can find both the online and downloadable versions. http://biosbeingbasic.podomatic.net/transcripts.
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic). See our website for more details (http://biosbeingbasic.podomatic.net).
Episode 14: Updates on SARS-CoV-2 Part 2 (01:02:59)
In our second episode revisiting SARS-CoV-2 research we examine how SARS-CoV-2 infects cardiac cells and causes damage to the heart. We talk to co-authors Sarah Rockwood, Dr. Juan Perez-Bermejo, and Dr. Serah Kang about how they use induced pluripotent stem cells to study the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on heart tissue.
News coverage of this study, and the STAT article that is referenced during the episode can be found here:
https://abc7news.com/covid-heart-damage-palpitations-san-francisco-gladstone-institutes-attack/10433711/
https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/04/carnage-in-lab-dish-shows-how-coronavirus-may-damage-heart/
The primary peer-reviewed research article, published in Science Translational Medicine, titled “SARS-CoV-2 infection of human iPSC-derived cardiac cells reflects cytopathic features in hearts of patients with COVID-19” can be found here: https://stm.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/03/15/scitranslmed.abf7872
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on Twitter or Instagram (@biosbeingbasic). See our website for more details (biologistsbeingbasic.com).
Episode 13: Updates on SARS-CoV-2 Part 1 (01:04:12)
In this episode we revisit SARS-CoV-2 research and take a look at new studies that have built on the work completed early in the pandemic. We focus on a story featuring Plitidepsin, a cancer drug that is being repurposed and tested in clinical trials to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. This discussion features B3 hosts Gina, Mehdi and Robyn who are joined by scientists Dr. Lucy Thorne and Dr. Ann-Kathrin Reuschl.
You can find the first article that was published in Science, “Plitidepsin has potent preclinical efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 by targeting the host protein eEF1A” here: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6532/926
You can find the second pre-print article, “Host-directed therapies against early-lineage SARS-CoV-2 retain efficacy against B.1.1.7 variant” at bioRxiv here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.24.427991v2
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).
See our website for more details (http://biosbeingbasic.podomatic.net).
Episode 12: Women in Science (00:47:48)
The B3 team is back and in honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, we produced an episode that focuses on women in science. Join B3 hosts Robyn, Paige, Gina, and Alexa as we have a candid discussion about our own experiences in science and the women scientists we have looked up to and learned about during our careers.
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).
Episode notes:
The Sago Show by Rachel Lucero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVE8si4FfnA
Food52 article by Amelia Rampe: https://food52.com/blog/24700-maria-orosa-profile
Esquire article by Mario Alvaro Limos: https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/maria-orosa-the-war-hero-who-invented-banana-ketchup-a00293-20191109
Episode 11: Team Holiday Party (00:29:28)
In our last episode of 2020, come join our B3 holiday party and get to know teammates Robyn, Michael, Alexa, Gina, Paige, Joe, Mehdi and Kelsey! No science in this one, just some holiday cheer as we sit around the proverbial Zoom fireplace to ask and answer some comical questions.
Episode notes:
If Michael were a wrestler, this is the song he would walk out to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WN0T-Ee3q4
If Mehdi were a wrestler, this is the song he would walk out to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw
Episode 10: Toxoplasma Gondii Part 2: Pascale Guiton, The Scientist Leading the Research (00:42:03)
In this episode, Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Paige, Gina and Robyn continue their conversation with special guest, Professor Pascale Guiton.
Join us for a candid discussion about her path to science, her career in academia, her advocacy of BIPOC voices in STEM, and the importance of diversity, representation, inclusion and equity in the sciences.
Further Resources:
We highly recommend visiting Professor Guiton’s website, where you can find her publications and keep up with her latest science and BIPOC advocacy highlights: https://guitonlab.com/
In addition, if you are interested in the teaching material that was discussed in the episode, you can find the resource here: https://edarxiv.org/s9wkv/
Toxoplasma Gondii Part 1: The Cat Parasite (00:53:23)
In this episode, Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Paige, Gina and Robyn talk to special guest, Professor Pascale Guiton, about her research on the fascinating life cycle of Toxoplasma gondii. In part one, we take a deeper look into the science behind the king of parasites.
Further Resources:
For further information on topics we talked about in Episode 7: Part 1, we highly recommend visiting Professor Guiton’s website and looking into her publications: https://guitonlab.com/
In addition, you can watch Dr. Guiton talk about Toxoplasma gondii and her research on QBI TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckixqEbxZfs
For another look at Gina’s question (does this parasite make her love cats so much), check out this Ted-Ed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqno7K2zXi4
Dr. Guiton references work by Dr. Laura Knoll’s team on the role of delta-6-desaturase in Toxoplasma sexual reproduction: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31430281/
...and also discusses this study by Vyas et al on the behavioral changes induced by Toxoplasma infection in mice: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17404235/
Concerned about toxoplasmosis and pregnancy? No you don’t have to give up your cat, instead visit the CDC for more info: https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/gen_info/pregnant.html
Dr. Guiton mentioned the call for a One Health framework to study Toxoplasma gondii, described in this review: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10393-019-01405-7
...and references fluorescent staining of Toxoplasma gondii done by Dr. Sebastian Lourido. For cool videos and images of brightly colored Toxo (and coverage of his most recent research), watch this feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOnhthD3yz4
We talked about Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who was the first to observe microscopic organisms (“animalcules”): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/07/antoni-leeuwenhoek-microbe-microscope-discovery-contribution/
Still fascinated by parasites and want to learn more? Check out this “hilarious and ever-so-slightly creepy” Ted talk by Ed Yong, who describes the biology behind a handful of parasites (including Toxo): https://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_zombie_roaches_and_other_parasite_tales?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).
Bananapalooza! (Bonus) (00:27:37)
In this special bonus episode, Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts taste a bunch of different varieties of bananas… and that’s it!
No science in this one, but if you want to listen in on our pre-COVID-19 pandemic culinary adventure, you can join B3 hosts Joe, Kelsey, Robyn and our friend Sean (with a special late appearance from Gina) as we taste different banana species.
The Banana Variety pack was purchased from Miami Fruit (https://miamifruit.org/), and if you are curious about what each banana looks like, check out our pictures on instagram (@biosbeingbasic).
Bananapocalypse! (00:42:09)
In this episode, Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Joe, Kelsey and Robyn are joined by our friend Sean to discuss Fusarium wilt, a fungus that threatens bananas as we know them. Listen as we explore the history of this pathogen and its relationship with the yellow tropical fruit that US residents love to eat.
Further Resources:
If you want to learn more about bananas and their history, check out Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World, by Dan Koeppel (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/299017/banana-by-dan-koeppel/).
For more technical peer-reviewed articles on TR4 resistant Cavendish strains, we recommend the following: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01670-6 and
https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005197
For news articles that covered the primary research, check out:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/devastating-banana-disease-may-have-reached-latin-america-could-drive-global-prices
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/gm-banana-shows-promise-against-deadly-fungus-strain
https://www.wired.com/story/fungus-could-wipe-out-banana-forever/
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/08/16/751499719/devastating-banana-fungus-arrives-in-colombia-threatening-the-fruits-future
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49331286
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).
Research behind the headline: A Cure for the Common Cold? (00:36:17)
Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Kelsey and Robyn are joined by our friends Megan and Gina as we take a look into the basic biology research behind the headline! This week, we look into a group of related viruses that cause the common cold called enteroviruses, and how these enteroviruses rely on a specific host factor inside human cells to replicate.
Further Resources:
Kate Shepherd’s article in The Washington Post, “A cure for the common cold? ‘It’s possible,’ scientists say, after new study finds key protein”, covering the Nature Microbiology paper: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/19/common-cold-cure-protein-stanford-research/
The peer-reviewed research article in Nature Microbiology, “Enterovirus pathogenesis requires the host methyltransferase SETD3” by Diep et al: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-019-0551-1
Scientific American also nicely summarizes the peer-reviewed research article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-newly-identified-protein-may-be-the-key-to-vanquishing-the-common-cold/
...provides some background information about why a cure for the common cold has been elusive: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-havent-we-cured-the-common-cold-yet/
...and covers previous outbreaks of the more severe illness of enterovirus infection: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poliolike-childhood-muscle-weakening-disease-reappears/
For more info on enteroviruses, including strains that cause more severe disease, visit the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fnon-polio-enterovirus%2Fabout%2Findex.html
If you want to watch the ABC news clip we featured in the beginning of the episode about this work: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/researchers-discover-cure-common-cold-65660556
We mentioned this paper’s technique to knock out genes using CRISPR, for more info about this trendy gene editing technique check out this Ted-Ed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tw_JVz_IEc
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).
Down the Reddit Hole - Chubby Bugs and Other Things (00:31:23)
Join Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Paige, Joe, Gina and Robyn as we take a break from published research articles and ask each other science-based questions from Reddit! See how our scientists and non-scientist team members try to think through and answer questions outside their expertise. We talk, we goof, and we learn new things as we explore the realms of science reddit.
Further Resources:
Thanks AskScience Reddit and its users for the questions we answered: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/
If you are curious about the topics we discussed and want more info, please see the following resources! There are some amazing scientists and science communicators who explain some of these topics.
The Science of Melanin Magic by Raven Baxter (@ravenscimaven) is a fun and entertaining look at melanin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dt1NYLqMqM
For more of her work, check out her webpage: https://www.scimaven.com/
...or her youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqRkU0Z4V6UjDKnbc5brl8A
Want to get to know your moles better? Visit the NIH to learn about moles and how they form: https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/moles
...and the American Academy of Dermatology for the ABCDEs of melanoma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir90SPorFfQ&feature=youtu.be
Learn more about alcohol dehydrogenases in humans and primates from this great Science Magazine news article: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/12/ability-consume-alcohol-may-have-shaped-primate-evolution
...or go straight to the scientific paper: https://www.pnas.org/content/112/2/458
Learn more about the alcohol tolerance of tree shrews from this second great Science Magazine news article: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2008/07/now-thats-party-animal
...or go straight to the scientific paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2492458/
Still wondering how animals reach islands? BBC has your back with these possible explanations: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170213-mega-landslides-help-explain-how-life-reaches-remote-islands
Scientific American answers how the same fish can end up in different lakes: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-fish-species/
We mentioned Charles Darwin and his incredible book, On the Origin of Species, which is available online for free: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2009/2009-h/2009-h.htm#link2HCH0012
If you’re curious about Darwin and his research, but want a shorter segment, check out BBC’s amazingly animated video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOk_0mUT_JU&t
Lastly, if you’re still thinking about those cute lil chubby bugs, check out Popular Science’s answer to the question: https://www.popsci.com/article/science/ask-anything-can-insects-get-fat/
...and this scientific review about the insect fat bodies that we mentioned: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3075550/
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic). See our website for more details (http://biosbeingbasic.podomatic.net).
Basic Biologists Take on SARS-CoV-2: Part 3 (00:59:03)
In the final episode of our COVID-19 mini-series, B3 hosts Joe and Robyn discuss an exciting paper looking at SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Testing. They are joined by UCSF scientists Cody Mowery and Professor Jeff Wittman, and our fabulous non-scientist guests Jacqueline Fabius and Lauren Weiser.
This paper took a good look at the performance of some of the first antibody tests to come on the market, and in this episode we discuss what these findings are and what they mean for the public.
All of the findings we talk about today can be found on the COVID-19 Testing Project webpage here: https://covidtestingproject.org/ and in the recently published peer-reviewed manuscript in Nature Biotechnology titled “Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 Serology Assays Reveals a Range of Test Performance”.
Additional publicly available resources or articles discussed in the episode:
Apoorva Mandavilli’s article in the New York Times covering the Nature Biotechnology paper: “Coronavirus Antibody Testing: Can you Trust the Results?”
Ed Young’s article in the Atlantic on Immunology: “Immunology is Where Intuition Goes to Die”
The FDA’s List of Emergency Use Authorization for Diagnostic and Serology Testing: https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-emergency-use-authorizations-medical-devices/vitro-diagnostics-euas#individual-serologic
Note that the science on COVID-19 is ongoing and guidelines do change. For the most up-to-date IDSA guidelines for serology testing, please see this website: https://www.idsociety.org/practice-guideline/covid-19-guideline-serology/.
For a truly excellent quick demonstration of False Positive/Negative as applied to antibody tests, please check out Mona Chalabi’s visual explainer on instagram
And if you are interested, check out back in April: House Oversight Committee seeks changes to FDA serology test policy
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).
Basic Biologists Take on SARS-CoV-2: Part 2 (00:48:30)
In the second episode of our three-part COVID-19 mini-series, B3 hosts Mehdi and Robyn are joined by our guests Gina and Andrew for an exciting discussion about how the virus hijacks host signaling networks. We focus on a new paper from QBI scientists that uses a special systems biology technique to track changes in protein phosphorylation of infected cells, and to identify key regulatory proteins called kinases that manage these intracellular signalling events. You can find the original peer-reviewed journal article that was published in Cell here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867420308114
In this episode we talk about the pathways that are activated during infection with SARS-CoV-2, including pathways that lead to a reorganization of cytoskeletal elements that help the cell grow new tentacle-like protrusions, called filopodia, for the virus to escape from. For those who are interested in what this looks like, you can find colored versions of the electron microscopy images from the paper on our website (biologistsbeingbasic.com) or our instagram.
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).
Basic Biologists Take on SARS-CoV-2: Part 1 (00:42:25)
B3 hosts Michael and Robyn are joined by our guests, Megan and Alexa, to talk about recently published research that takes a look into the biology of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. We talk about the experiments we use to decipher the molecular mechanisms of infection and then look at how this information can inform clinical researchers looking for new drug treatment options.
You can find the original peer-reviewed journal article that was published in Nature here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2286-9
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic). See our website for more details (biologistsbeingbasic.com).
What is Basic Research? (00:17:14)
In our introductory episode, our Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Paige and Robyn sit down with guests Devin and Gina to answer the question, "what is basic research?". We talk about our roles as basic biology researchers and how we try to communicate our work to the world.
If you have any questions or comments you can email us at biologistsbeingbasic@gmail.com or find us on twitter (@biosbeingbasic) or instagram (@biosbeingbasic). See our website for more details (biologistsbeingbasic.com).
