Finding Genius Podcast

What do zebra mussels and cancer cells have in common? Researchers consider each invasive forces. About ten years ago, oncologists recast cancer in evolutionary terms to reimagine how to treat it. Oncologists Kenneth Pienta explains why that's made a difference. Listen and learn How researchers apply the principals of evolutionary biology and ecology to cancer, Why an advanced prostate cancer metastasis is like an unchecked invasive species, Why the discovery of a cancer cell exhibiting hibernating-like behavior in a prostate cancer microenvironment is significant, and How this discovery might inform the latest treatment for prostate cancer. Ten million people die worldwide from cancer every year and Dr. Kenneth Pienta and his team are working to change that. Kenneth Pienta is a professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine in Urology, Oncology, Pharmacology, and Molecular Sciences. His research interests include novel therapeutics and the "ecology of cancer," and he helps listeners understand how both these concepts will hopefully save lives. His specific focus is prostate cancer treatment and prostate cancer diagnosis, but many of his findings apply to the ecology of all cancers. He describes one particularly exciting find: they discovered special cancer cells called poly‐aneuploid cancer cells (PACCs): the cells enter a hibernating-like state when they are stressed, such as when treated with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy only kills dividing cells and these cells have stopped dividing, effectively evading death. Once the stress discontinues, they begin dividing again and spreading. Peinta and his colleagues think this explains cancer treatment resistance. He helps listeners understand how this might inform new treatments and outlines three specific approaches they are taking. Along the way, he describes how the body's response—the release of growth factors and substances that lead to conditions like wasting syndrome and other metastatic prostate cancer symptoms—are what make cancer so deadly. Therefore some of the approaches examine meeting the body's response. For more, see his web page: https://www.kennethjpienta.com/ Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

What separates us from a mouse? It may be our large load of long non-coding RNA. Barak Rotblat and his team research what was previously thought of as "junk RNA." Technology and careful study indicate they may have significant roles as functional RNA types through regulation. Listen and learn How scientists describe the makeup of our genome and why non-coding RNA impact factors are only just beginning to be understood; What's the difference between protein-coding and non-coding RNA; What roles researchers think non-coding RNA plays, such as regulation, and why that makes us more complex than a mouse; and What these findings have to do with important cancer research and future therapies. Barak Rotblat is a senior lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He entered academic research just when the talk of the field were these mysterious RNA sequences that didn't code for proteins. The intriguing question around their purpose led his research from that point on and now he runs a lab researching non-coding RNA cancer molecules. He helps fill in some of the pieces of the puzzle for listeners, offering a description of the mechanics of the genome and what possibilities these molecules present. They "look like a normal gene and behave like a normal gene," but the function of non-coding RNA is defined in the RNA molecule itself rather than the protein that is being translated from the RNA. But he really broadens the picture when he explains what they might have to do with evolution. For example, 90% of our coding genome is identical to that of mice. What differentiates us is the large amount of non-coding RNA. Mice have some, but not nearly as much and that might be why we are more complex organisms. That's because scientist think they are regulators, turning functions on and off and regulating metabolism and structure. If he and his team can understand what key non-coding RNA cancer molecules do, they may find indicators for effective therapeutics. For more about his work, see barakrotblat.wixsite.com/rotblatlab. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

After years of stubborn insomnia that left doctors stumped, Bill McGraw started his own search. He learned about metal poisoning and a test revealed mercury poisoning: he'd been suffering from mercury side effects. He gives listeners a run-down of this story and details how to understand heavy metal poisoning and mineral deficiencies. Listen and learn How heavy metal tests differ, such as hair tests versus urine tests, and what is helpful for each situation, Why mercury in the environment connects to causes of chronic disease like inflammation and lack of stamina, How to assess dangerous levels and whether there's a global observation system for mercury, and What methods are helpful for addressing mercury presence in your own body, from actions to foods to supplements. Dr. Bill McGraw is the author of Mercury: The Ultimate Truth and Chronic Disease and has a PhD in aqua culture.  He takes listeners along on his own search for relief from symptoms he eventually learned stemmed from a high mercury toxicity level. He cites mercury-heavy vaccines in preparation for a South African trip and growing up in a coal-powered house as two dominate sources for his own high levels. He began intensive research, producing his book, and he now advises others on reducing mercury toxicity in their own lives. His evidence is compelling as he lays down the multiple sources contributing to mercury toxicity in humans in present day life, from industrialized and processed foods to glyphosates. He explains how heavy metals need help from minerals to leave our bodies, and their presence can lead to deficiencies in elements like zinc. He started his own efforts by taking magnesium and potassium supplements, for example. He tells listeners about three general methods for ridding the body of metals and discusses the chronic conditions resulting from the inflammation caused by mercury toxicity, such as Alzheimer's and chronic fatigue. For more about his book and his work, see https://www.newaquatechpanama.com/ Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

What makes science so difficult for people of all ages to grasp? Why do so many of us feel so intimidated by the subject? Melanie Peffer, Ph.d, has cracked the code behind enabling men, women, and children to actively engage with science without fear or anxiety. Tune into discover: How to change your perspective on your own ability to learn science The role of cognitive psychology in scientific education The best way to confidently read and evaluate scientific papers Melanie holds a B.S. in biology and a doctoral degree in molecular biology from the University of Pittsburgh, after graduating cum laude. Now an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, she is turning everything we once knew about both teaching and learning science on its head. From her free Coursera course to her educational book, Melanie has dedicated herself to making biology and other sciences more approachable, interesting, and accessible to as many people as possible. The scientific process is more than performing simple biology experiments in a laboratory or a classroom. We can observe biological principles everywhere we go, if we choose to look for them. This is the sentiment of Melanie’s book, Biology is Everywhere: How the Science of Life Matters to Life. The importance of biology to human society cannot be overstated, so how did so many of us end up dreading science class? Why do intelligent adults shy away from reading and analyzing scientific research? Observing biology in daily life and understanding science simply, without any pretense, may just be the key to changing the minds of the masses. First-hand and cognitive biases can wreak a surprising amount of havoc on a person’s ability to learn and retain scientific information. By viewing biology through the lenses of psychology, business, and even art, science can be appreciated in new ways, and we can begin to eliminate the stereotype of the cold lab and the droning professor. Biology is, truly, everywhere. For more information on the science of everyday life, visit https://www.biologyeverywhere.com/ Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

What do tumor cells use for food? Researcher Christos Chinopoulos discusses a brand new technology called Reverse Phase Protein Array (RPPA) that quantifies protein expressions and determines what pathways are important for cancer metabolism.  By viewing cancer as a metabolic disease, it may provide tools to inhibit those pathways. This conversation covers A general oncometabolites review regarding tumor heterogeneity and comparisons to healthy tissue, Specific focuses of Chinopoulos’ study, including breast, brain, and kidney cancers, and The timeline of the study and the role of glutamine, glucose, and glycolysis in cancer cells. Christos Chinopoulos is an associate professor with Semmelweis University and the project manager of their RPPA facility. He gives listeners a glimpse of this exciting technique, likening it to “western blotting on steroids.” Thus far they have been able to semi quantify the expression of several hundreds of proteins from thousands of samples. These samples include solid tumor tissue and healthy tissue as a control. Several proteins on a pathway can be examined at the same time. This gives researchers an idea if that particular pathway is important in cancer metabolism. This precise technology is along the lines of searches for new cancer treatments like a mitochondria cancer cure and caloric restriction and cancer, but at the pathway level. Chinopoulos believes that by investigating these metabolic pathways, which are a small part of the glutamine metabolism pathway, they can identify what is critical for tumor survival. They aim to quantify the expression of proteins participating in that particular pathway of glutamine metabolism, which could lead to ways to inhibit those pathways and starve the cancer cells. He hopes to present concrete data over the next year. For more, see rppa.hu. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Place a fist in front of your eyes: that’s what someone with macular degeneration sees. But Mike Freeman and his brother have created a new medical technology to bring the center to the periphery through an augmented reality headset. Even better, this technology can serve surgeons when microscopic vision takes priority. Listen and learn How these smart glasses use augmented reality technology to rearrange their visionary field into clarity, How the augmented reality glasses utilize buffering and pixel adjustment to match and overcome the particular vision loss of the wearer, and Why this technology is applicable to surgeons as well, making for a much more effective system than current ocular microscopic aids. Mike Freeman is CEO of Ocutrx Technologies. As Richard says, he’s a true visionary, creating brilliant augmented reality projects for medical use, from visionary issues to surgical accuracy. He gives listeners a clear explanation of augmented reality versus virtual reality and how their technology takes advantage of virtual reality techniques to aid the development of the other. He and his family were already award-winners in video technology, but when their father developed macular degeneration, they turned their skills towards a way to help him and others.  Basically, their technology adjusts the pixels so they appear in the area that the wearer can see. They’ve tested people who had given up reading for years because it was just too slow going. But with this technology, they are able to “show them the real world” at 60 frames a second. They buffer the images and move all the pixels out to the periphery. The wearer sees a compressed image of all that’s in front of them. In fact, the technology’s eye-tracking moves the buffer according their vision loss, so if the wearer tries to read, they have a much better experience. Listen in to find out how to get access to this technology and for more information about how it works. For more, see ocutrxtech.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

If lifestyle has a major impact on your health, shouldn't doctors address it in meaningful ways? Arti Thangudu believes partnering with patients to treat lifestyle habits is important and she has the data to show it makes a difference. Listen and learn What typical crossovers exist within endocrinology diseases like diabetes and thyroid diseases, How Dr. Thangudu's lifestyle work with retired police officers and firefighters made a substantive difference, and What endocrinology diabetes advancements are emerging and what the near future holds. Arti Thangudu, MD, is a triple board-certified physician and a thyroid, endocrinology, and diabetes specialist. While most of her work is clinical, she tracks her own outcomes and assesses her own data. She shares with listeners several key factors at work in the human endocrine system that lead to disease and what pathways are involved. She explains the connection between endocrinology diabetes mellitus and thyroid disease and how those with autoimmune-caused type 1 diabetes are at greater risk for other autoimmune endocrinology issues like hypothyroidism, specifically Hashimoto's disease. She tells Richard that most of her patients have exhausted all their resources and haven't been able to improve their numbers. She has a particular cohort of retired police officers and firefighters who've faced a career of stress and long hours and, as she's board-certified in lifestyle medicine as well, she works with these patients on diet, nutrition, sleep, and stress. These elements have proven health connections yet physicians often aren't able to spend the time and energy addressing them.  The diabetes and metabolism impact factors seen from this close attention was remarkable. She shares how and why and what she thinks makes the biggest difference. "We can move the mountains of diabetes," she adds. Listen in to find out how. For more about her work, see her clinic website: sacomplete.com.

What exactly is plant medicine? Can Psilocybin and other psychedelic medicinal plants really help treat mental health issues? Nadia Doe’s plant medicine meditation practice and other shamanic programs could provide much-needed answers. Tune in to dive into: Links between shamanism and psychotherapy The importance of herbal medicine in shamanism Releasing social constructs and embracing individual healing Nadia Doe is the founder of Sacred Heart Medicine Sanctuary, a mobile religious institution for those who seek a non-traditional approach to spirituality. Her many titles include Ordained Minister, Reiki Master, Shadow Work Practitioner, and Spiritual Healer, along with holding a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a massage therapy license. Nadia began her journey into shamanism, spiritual healing, and plant medicine while pursuing a goal of personal spiritual enlightenment after struggling with addiction and mental illness for many years. Today, she offers the same healing modalities she used to overcome her own traumas to lovingly hold space for others as a Shaman, or spiritual consultant. Despite their former reputation as a dangerous street drug, Psilocybin mushrooms are now being studied by prestigious Johns Hopkins University and multiple plant-based medicine companies. So far, a small study has indicated that these “magic” mushrooms can rapidly reduce major depressive symptoms in adults in just two doses. For half of the study’s participants, relief lasted for a minimum of four weeks. Trauma takes many different shapes and we all suffer due to its covert effects. Nadia’s shamanistic practice focuses on utilizing Psilocybin and her own intuitive gifts in a ceremonial setting to facilitate the healing of trauma and the reclamation of personal power. She and her husband are currently in the process of purchasing land for the purpose of opening a permanent location for Sacred Heart to offer their spiritual services to the public on a much larger scale. Learn more about plant medicine, shamanism, spiritual healing, or mentorship at https://www.sacredheartmedicine.us/    Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

“The lack of knowledge in the oncology field is profound, which contributes to tremendous suffering and death…Our research at Boston College is developing the very diet-drug combinations that will eventually lead to the resolution of cancer.” Those are bold statements, and Thomas Seyfried offers no apology; just evidence. Press play to discover: What question every cancer patient needs to ask their oncologist What is stopping countless physicians across the world from implementing treatment based on the metabolic theory of cancer How the standard of care in cancer treatment (namely radiation and chemotherapy) actually accelerates metastasis  How microbes that are inside cells facilitate energy generation by cancer cells Thomas Seyfried is a professor in the biology department at Boston College and author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications, as well as the book, Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management, and Prevention of Cancer. In the world of cancer research, Seyfried's is revolutionary, but it’s not getting the attention it deserves. The underlying message is clear, backed by evidence, and surprisingly simple: all cancers—whether brain, breast, colon, or any others—are unable to grow without glucose and glutamine, which means any therapy that disrupts the availability of these molecules to cancer cells will result in the death of those cancer cells. Why are glucose and glutamine necessary components of cancer cell growth? It’s because cancers cannot use oxygen to generate energy, which means they cannot use the oxidative phosphorylation pathway used by other cells in the body. Instead, they rely on an ancient metabolic pathway for energy production: fermentation. And what drives fermentation? That’s right: glucose and glutamine. Without these molecules, fermentation cannot be carried out, leaving cancer cells without the ability to generate energy, which causes cancer cell death. Taking this to be true, every known major cancer should be potentially manageable at least, and entirely resolvable at most, so long as glucose and glutamine can be targeted and restricted. This is why Siegfried’s efforts have been focused on developing a non-toxic diet and drug cocktail that does exactly this. He is skipping the clinical trials because the diet and drug cocktail strategy is not consistent with the double-blind crossover study design used by pharmaceutical companies. Furthermore, no pharmaceutical company is going to jump on the opportunity to fund a study that tests the efficacy of diet and non-patentable drugs, because there is simply no financial incentive to do so. Instead, Seyfried treats individual patients with these diet and drug therapies and publishes his results in the existing scientific literature. He is currently working on a paper on longitudinal studies showing the impact of diet and drug therapies on tumors, backed by MRI and PET scan images. Seyfried dives into the details of this research and more. Tune in—it’s not an episode you want to miss. Visit https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/mcas/departments/biology/people/faculty-directory/thomas-seyfried.html and https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/science-tech-and-health/biology-and-genetics/targeting-cancer.html to learn more and find out how you can help these research efforts.  Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Is it possible to breed a species of bee with total viral immunity? Maybe, and the research being done in Michelle Flenniken’s lab could pave the way for it to happen.  Tune in to discover: Whether bees might utilize a form of preventative medicine In what way a honeybee model for insect immunity might be superior to the status quo fruit fly model Why the term “honeybee viruses” might be misleading Michelle Flenniken is Assistant Professor in the Plant Sciences Department and Co-Director of the Pollinator Health Center at Montana State University whose primary research is focused not only on understanding the impact of viruses on honeybees, but on the molecular mechanisms that bees have evolved to combat viral infections. Longitudinal monitoring projects looking at the prevalence and abundance of 16 pathogens across several bee colonies over time have led to interesting and useful findings. For instance, Flenniken’s lab has shown that bees that are infected with viruses have perturbation in the genes that are important for metabolic processes, and that even in so-called asymptomatic bees, there are more than a billion copies of RNA viruses per bee. The hypothesis that follows this finding is that this viral load could be energetically taxing on bees—even if the bees appear phenotypically normal. More recent research in Flenniken’s lab has shown that a bee’s immune response is stimulated by double-stranded RNA, which is a molecule that viruses produce when replicating; this molecule stimulates RNA interference in bees—an antiviral mechanism. This has shown to be true also in bumblebees, but is not the case in the fruit fly, which is the go-to model for studying insect immunity. This has opened the door to more exciting and new research that Flenniken and her lab are gearing up to conduct. If antiviral mechanisms in bees can be fully understood, then it may be possible to identify the genes associated with fighting off viral infection, which would make it possible to breed honeybees that are resistant or immune to viral infections. Flenniken discusses the details of all this and more, including viral transmission in bees and across species, whether different castes of bees are differentially impacted by viruses, host-pathogen interaction studies, and which viruses most commonly impact bees.   Check out https://plantsciences.montana.edu/directory/faculty/1524085/michelle-flenniken to learn more. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK