Inside Health

Can “one helluva pig” be the solution to a worldwide shortage of organ donors. People die waiting for replacement hearts, lungs and kidneys. So I meet the teams that have started transplanting pig organs into people. We’ll explore the huge leaps of genetic engineering that are making "xenotransplantation” possible and ask if it’s even ethical to try. Presenter: James Gallagher Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker

Will we need boosters forever? It’s the question you wanted us to tackle so we’re joined by Prof Beate Kampmann, the Director of The Vaccine Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in the search for answers. Then we explore why so few pregnant women are taking up the Covid vaccine even though it is the best option for mother and baby.And can we stop another infection in babies - Group B Strep - which can have devastating consequences.PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood

Jimi Olaghere feels like he’s been reborn after a pioneering new treatment for sickle cell disease. Scientists have engineered his blood to overcome the disease that left him in constant pain. I speak to Jimi about his experience and to his doctors about what this could mean for people with sickle cell around the world. Then we explore the headlines around women being worse off with male surgeons and get quite excited about a study suggesting a bedtime read helps sleep.Presenter: James Gallagher Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker Image Credit: Getty Images

Are you one of the five million people with asthma in the UK? If so, could you be on a different inhaler - one that could control your asthma better while also being kinder to the planet? “Puffers” - or aerosol spray inhalers - contain potent greenhouse gases and can be tricky to use correctly, so not everyone can control their asthma. We speak to Caroline from Cornwall, who has switched inhalers and it’s transformed her life. James talks to the doctors who think far more people could benefit from making the change. We also speak to Nerys from North Wales who has started antiviral treatment for her Covid infection. We explore the new drugs with virologist Dr Elisabetta Groppelli and Prof Chris Butler who is running the clinical trial designed to pinpoint who is likely to benefit from antivirals the most. PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood

Is an Omicron infection inevitable? Which drugs still work? Is this the last hurrah of the pandemic? This week we have three of the country’s greatest scientific minds teasing apart what Omicron means for our lives now and in the future. Prof Eleanor Riley, Prof Azra Ghani and Prof Sir Martin Landray also tackle your, at times controversial questions! And our regular Dr Rohin Francis gives us a first-hand account of the pressures on NHS staff?

Happy New Year. I hope you’re sticking to your New Year’s resolutions! Our resident GP Margaret McCartney has dragged me out for a wintery run to discuss how to stick to a healthier lifestyle. And we’re joined by Dr Giles Yeo, Dr Ian Hamiliton and Prof Russel Foster as we tackle the best diets, giving up booze for Dry January and getting a better night’s sleep. PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood & Geraldine Fitzgerald

Beat pre-diabetes and get your love life back? We hear from two people who are trying to avoid getting type 2 diabetes. But not everyone thinks the term is helpful so our resident GP Margaret McCartney and Dr Samuel Seidu, from the Leicester Diabetes Centre, join us to discuss. And our cardiologist Rohin Francis gets one step closer to his dream of being an astronaut. Presenter: James Gallagher Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald

Flying London to New York and back. 244 times every day. For half a year. That’s the size of the carbon footprint of all the personal protective equipment used in health and social care in England during the first six months of the pandemic. So I take a look at how the NHS is going green including efforts to make a reusable facemask. Also, a shortage of vials for blood tests has GP Navjoyt Ladher asking whether we were testing too much anyway.PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood

The future is here. Gene silencing medicines - which can fine tune how our DNA works - have held promise for decades. Now hundreds of thousands of people will get them in the UK. James speaks to a surgeon whose life and career have been saved by gene-silencing drugs and to researchers who think the field could lead to drugs for diseases we think of as untreatable. Presenter: James Gallagher Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald

The pandemic has strapped rocket boosters onto vaccine science. So where is it taking us next? What other diseases are we about to take on? Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, architect of the Oxford vaccine, gives me her view. Also, given teenagers and parents agree about everything and never have any arguments.... we should be able to rapidly resolve any questions about whose decision it is when it comes to the Covid jab in teens. Dr Navjoyt Ladher and Dr Vanessa Apea join some very honest teenagers to help find the answer. PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood