Sounds Of Science

This year Charles River celebrated its 75th anniversary. To help me reminisce about how far the company and science in general have come in that time, I invited Chief Commercial Officer Bill Barbo to chat. He started at Charles River in 1982 as a scientist, and has seen the company grow and change along with advances in science.

This year saw the worst spread of avian influenza yet, with fall showing another surge as migratory birds make their way south for the winter. Could an avian influenza vaccine be on the horizon for the United States? I spoke with Wayne Collins and Nastassja Ortega from Charles River’s Avian Services, and David Swayne, Lab Director for the USDA specializing in Exotic & Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research to find out.

I am joined by a very special guest - Dr. Ali Said Faqi, former employee of Charles River and current Congressman for Somalia. In 2013 his career path changed when he decided to accept an appointment as Somalia's ambassador to the European Union, but he still makes time for science.

Charles River senior account manager Brad Gartland experienced a great personal tragedy when his father took his own life in 2016. Driven by the loss, Brad worked to establish a safe place for men like his father to talk, helping them feel less alone. Listen now to learn how Brad's efforts caught the attention of the British Royal family.

Dr. Kathrin Meyer from the Center for Gene Therapy at Nationwide Children's Hospital joins me to discuss the current state of gene therapy research - where we are now, and how far we have left to go.

I am joined by consulting physician Dr. Peter Matos, an expert on viral spread through his work at the U.S. Department of Defense Global Emerging Infection Surveillance and Response System, to discuss the various viruses making their way through the world as of now. 

Sex discrimination is not just something that happens with people. In many animal studies, males have historically been used more often than females, resulting in a significant sex bias that has snowballed since we started using mice and rats in research. Liz Nunamaker, Director of Animal Welfare for Charles River, joins me to discuss what this bias means for animals and patients.

Graham Tobin is one of the most noted experts on laboratory animal diets, writing several definitive texts on the subject. He joins me to discuss how a lack of attention to animal nutrition can impact research, from reproducibility to reliability. 

We talk with Oliver Jonas, the Scientific Founder of Kibur Medical, about his research on implantable devices designed to distribute cancer drugs directly into tumors. Kibur is a strategic partner of Charles River, and these tiny devices could help doctors narrow down the best therapies for each individual patient.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a degenerative neurological disease most often associated with older while males. However, it is not exclusive to them, and obtaining a diagnosis as a young woman can be tricky. The women of Her ALS story are patients and spokespeople who are trying to change that by sharing their stories with the world. Listen now to hear their stories, and learn more at heralsstory.org.

Dr. Jeffrey Millman joins me and my colleague Laura Gee to discuss his work on a potential cure for Type 1 diabetes. Laura, who is herself a Type 1 diabetes patient, shares her perspective on living with diabetes and what a cure could mean for her everyday life. Using cellular replacement therapy, The Millman Lab works towards a diabetes cure.

Lawrence Ganti, president of SiO2 Materials Science, joins me to discuss ramping up production of his innovative vaccine vials to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. We also discuss how the pandemic in general affected scientific innovation and medical product manufacturing, and what it could mean for the future of medicine.

For World AIDS Day, I interviewed two pioneers in HIV/AIDS activism and research: Dr. Kenneth Mayer, Medical Research Director of Fenway Health and a professor of medicine, global health and population at Harvard; and Professor Gregg Gonsalves from the Yale School of Public Health. Ken has been part of AIDS research almost from the beginning, and Gregg is a passionate advocate for underrepresented patients. Both have devoted their careers to furthering HIV/AIDS awareness and public health responsiveness.

This year's Society for Neuroscience meeting was supposed to be in person, but with COVID cases still high, moved to virtual. Charles River scientists Carina Peritore and Toni Ahtoniemi join me to discuss what else is new in the field of neuroscience, and how COVID has affected research over the past two years. 

With global warming affecting the tick population, the time is right to try again with a human Lyme disease vaccine. I talk with Dr. Richard Marconi, professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Microbiology and Immunology, about his research into ticks, Lyme, and the promise of a human vaccine.

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Peter Matos about vaccine boosters past and present. We discuss a brief history of vaccine booster research, how we arrived at the current recommended vaccine schedule, and what the future may hold for COVID vaccine boosters. At the time of posting, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) only recommends COVID boosters for immunocompromised people, though the US government announced broader rollout through the fall and winter. The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends focusing on first dose rollout for populations that have not gotten access yet, and says that "introducing booster doses should be firmly evidence-driven and targeted to the population groups in greatest need."Stay updated on your region's booster policies. 

Scientist Marcus Gerald experienced first hand what it feels like to be a patient at a young age. Now he helps children by researching the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (DART) of new drugs. In this episode he tells us about his experiences as a young Black man in science, and how he turned his early childhood experiences into his passion.

COVID impacted everyone differently, including early career scientists who found their work resources diverted to COVID research. One such scientist is doctoral candidate Daisy Hoagland from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, whose earlier work on viruses made her a valuable contributor to COVID research. But what did it do to her career plans? Listen now to find out.

Elaine Duncan and Alan Mukuvare are early career scientists who understand the importance of scientific mentors. They themselves have benefited from inspiring STEM mentors, and are now giving back to their local communities through the UK's STEM Ambassador Programme. Listen now, especially if you or someone you know are thinking about getting into a STEM field.

For this episode, I am joined by Ziva Abraham, CEO of the pharmaceutical consulting company Microrite. Ziva grew up in India, and fell in love with fungi while studying in college. Her passion has taken her all over the world, dispensing knowledge and mentoring a new generation of young women scientists.