Researchers Under the Scope
94 episodes - English - Latest episode: 26 days ago -Medicine is so much more than lab coats and stethoscopes. The research community at the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine is a diverse group of humans, all working with their own unique motivations — and not all of them work in a hospital setting. Get to know what gets these researchers amped about their jobs, what they’re doing, where they’re doing it, and why. Presented by the Office of Vice-Dean of Research, College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.
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Episodes
Slips, trips and spills: Preventing Falls with Cathy Arnold
November 21, 2021 16:11 - 20 minutes - 18.4 MBFor senior citizens, fracturing a hip is more often than not a life-changing injury. One in three of those patients will die within a year. The second will recover and return home. The third often needs to move to a long-term care facility, to cope with reduced mobility. Dr. Cathy Arnold makes it her mission to stop those falls and fractures in the first place. On this episode of the podcast, she joins us to talk about breakthroughs in rehabilitation techniques and research, as Canad...
Unchanged over two decades: Marek Radomski calls for boost to biomedical spending
November 07, 2021 04:00 - 21 minutes - 22.7 MBDr. Marek Radomski says research pays off, in attracting dollars to post-secondary institutions, in creating healthier citizens, and in lowering health costs. He's the vice-dean of research at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Medicine, a member of Canada's U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, But in a province that will spend $6.5 billion on health care this year to fight a raging coronavirus pandemic, biomedical research spending is stuck at levels last seen at the tu...
Science with an armchair and a drink: Julia Boughner and Café Scientifique
October 10, 2021 04:00 - 15 minutes - 14.7 MBJulia Boughner knows primates carry a deep-seated instinct to gather together. An associate professor of anatomy with the College of Medicine, Boughner is a biologist who specializes in evolutionary development. On the last Tuesday of the month, she also hosts Café Scientifique Saskatoon. The gathering is essentially a pub night where a scientists talk about their research, mingle with members of the public and answer questions. "I think a lot of speakers enjoyed the fact...
Michael Levin and the race to reverse MS neurodegeneration
September 26, 2021 04:00 - 19 minutes - 20.3 MBDr Michael Levin is a neuroscientist unravelling the mysteries of nerve degeneration in Multiple Sclerosis patients. He's also Saskatchewan's inaugural MS Clinical Research Chair, whose team recently won a New Frontiers in Research Fund award. "In my lifetime, there's been a dramatic change in how we treat MS," said Levin. "There's a lot of hope when people come into the clinic." But after taking steroids for a number of years, many MS patients still relapse. "It's this kind of slo...
What I Did Last Summer: Kyra Ives on neuromuscular disease
September 12, 2021 04:00 - 19 minutes - 17.8 MBOne of the trickiest parts of treating patients with neuromuscular diseases such as Parkinson's and Multiple Sclerosis is figuring out how to keep them active and moving. Fourth-year medical student Kyra Ives dove in, spending one summer studying the effect of deep brain stimulators on patients with Parkinson's disease. She and her team watched participants experience major differences in tasks involving gait and balance. Through that work, Ives also uncovered a number of obstacles for...
What I Did Last Summer: Christianne Blais on corticosteroid research
August 29, 2021 04:00 - 25 minutes - 24 MBTaking a daily puffer with inhaled corticosteroids is a mainstay for millions of people who have eosinophilic asthma. But doctors don't always know what dosage will be most effective for their patients, in preventing inflammation. Up to now, studies of different corticosteroids have been hit and miss, with a patchwork of different approaches to brochoprovocation, subject groupings, and wash-out times. A study may prove a drug is safe, then neglects to accurately measure the dosage a pat...
What I Did Last Summer: Cuting C-section infections with Belma Kamencic
August 15, 2021 04:00 - 16 minutes - 15.1 MBOur podcast host, Jen Quesnel, has undergone two Caesarian sections -- lifesaving interventions that deliver babies safely. She's not alone. In Saskatchewan, roughly one quarter of mothers giving birth are doing it via abdominal surgery. More than one in three births in British Columbia are C-sections. After avoiding driving, stairs, and lifting anything heavy for a month or so, most mothers recover smoothly. But some don't. Belma Kamencic spent her past two summers analyzing those ...
What I Did Last Summer: Shivani Tauh and End-of-Life care
August 01, 2021 04:00 - 16 minutes - 17.6 MBOne patient Shivani Tauh interviewed had to remove his ventilator tube to speak with her. Another told her it felt 'disingenuous' when able-bodied health care providers looked at his spinal cord injury and assured him 'this will pass'. Shivani Tauh kicks off our undergraduate summer research series in this episode, discussing her work on spinal cord injuries, and how they change a person's outlook, mobility and prognosis. Tauh, who is now entering her fourth year of medical school, has...
Physician, heal thyself
July 18, 2021 04:00 - 28 minutes - 28.9 MBFor doctors, depression and anxiety have skyrocketed during the pandemic. We check in with Dr. Camelia Adams, an associate professor of psychiatry, who's been tracking Saskatchewan physicians' mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic. Only one of the 118 physicians she surveyed reported asking for help with mental health issues. That's no surprise to one of the psychologists working with the University of Saskatchewan's Employee Assistance Program. Angie Wiebe shares warning signs...
Physician, heal thyself: doctors’ mental health suffers during pandemic
July 18, 2021 04:00 - 28 minutes - 28.9 MBFor doctors in Saskatchewan, depression and anxiety have skyrocketed during the pandemic. We check in with Dr. Camelia Adams, an associate professor of psychiatry, who's been tracking physicians' mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic. Just one of the 118 physicians she surveyed reported asking for help with mental health issues. That's no surprise to Angie Wiebe, one of the psychologists working with the University of Saskatchewan's Employee Assistance Program. Wiebe said almos...
A light touch: Dr. Katherine Knox on Multiple Sclerosis research
June 20, 2021 04:00 - 25 minutes - 14.1 MBWhen Dr. Katherine Knox first arrived in Saskatchewan more than two decades ago, the province covered one prescription drug for patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Beyond that, patients had to pay for drugs out-of-pocket. Today, Knox said the province reimburses MS patients for 14 different drugs. “MS is an expensive disease on many levels,” said Knox, noting Saskatchewan’s coverage is now the most favourable for MS patients anywhere in Canada. In Saskatchewan, three in 1,0...
A light touch: Katherine Knox on Multiple Sclerosis research
June 20, 2021 04:00 - 25 minutes - 14.1 MBWhen Dr. Katherine Knox first arrived in Saskatchewan more than two decades ago, the province covered one prescription drug for patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Beyond that, patients had to pay for drugs out-of-pocket. Today, Knox said the province reimburses MS patients for 14 different drugs. “MS is an expensive disease on many levels,” said Knox, noting Saskatchewan’s coverage is now the most favourable for MS patients anywhere in Canada. In Saskatchewan, three in 1,0...
'In a war zone': Alex Wong looks back at the Covid-19 pandemic
June 06, 2021 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.3 MBDr. Alexander Wong remembers forcing himself to hide his fear last year, as he treated his first Covid-19 patients. “It kind of felt like we were staring down the bottom of a big gun barrel," said Wong, an assistant professor in the College of Medicine's Department of Infectious Diseases. The virus has killed 546 people in Saskatchewan. In this episode, Wong looks at public health, at politics, and at 'really complicated' decision-making during the pandemic, as Regina's critical-care t...
'In a war zone': Dr. Alex Wong looks back at the Covid-19 pandemic
June 06, 2021 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.3 MBDr. Alexander Wong remembers forcing himself to hide his fear last year, as he treated his first Covid-19 patients. “It kind of felt like we were staring down the bottom of a big gun barrel," said Wong, an assistant professor in the College of Medicine's Department of Infectious Diseases. The virus has killed 546 people in Saskatchewan. In this episode, Wong looks at public health, at politics, and at 'really complicated' decision-making during the pandemic, as Regina's critical-care t...
'Good Troublemaker': Manuela Valle-Castro roots out bias in medicine
May 23, 2021 04:00 - 24 minutes - 25.2 MBManuela Valle-Castro remembers growing up in a home where social justice was frequently part of the dinner-table conversation. She spent the first six years of her life in exile, after her family joined thousands of Chileans fleeing Augusto Pinochet's oppressive political regime. Upon her family's return to Chile, she watched her parents and their friends organize and push back, even when dissent could lead to jail time, torture, or death. "It wasn't a very conventional way of growing ...
The inventor: Ron Geyer harnesses the power of nature, to fight disease
May 09, 2021 04:00 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MBDr. Ron Geyer is the man behind the Saskatchewan Therapeutic Antibody Resource, the Advanced Diagnostics Research Laboratory, and the Centre for Biologic Imaging Research and Development. But when the biochemist and pathologist began university, he was more interested in improving his downhill race times. "I was very into skiing," Geyer said, recalling his experiments with different waxes and techniques, which set the stage for a lifetime of tinkering. After being sidelined by a kn...
"It made all the difference": a patient perspective on research, with Lois Miller
April 25, 2021 04:00 - 16 minutes - 15.9 MB"The medication that I'm taking today would not have happened if we weren't doing this research 30 years ago," said Lois Miller. In this episode, she offers a patient's view of research, and how it can change lives. Miller is 52. Once again she's able to walk, to work, and to live a relatively normal life five years after her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis. But that didn't happen overnight, nor was it easy. Miller initially had 'incredibly painful' side effects with the drugs ...
Making the cut: Adam Baxter-Jones on teen athletes and growth
April 11, 2021 04:00 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MBAs a young man finishing his biology degree, Adam Baxter-Jones was decidedly more interested in being a punk than a professor. "I was far more interested in things like music and fashion than I ever was in academia," he said. But Baxter-Jones needed a job, and eventually found one testing the lung function of hospital patients. Then, he found himself measuring aerobic fitness for up-and-coming teenage swimmers, gymnasts, soccer players and tennis players. As he earned his PhD in m...
Wa sati wa nhenha: Women strengthening health
March 28, 2021 04:00 - 19 minutes - 19.3 MBIn Mozambique, the Xitswa phrase, "wa sati wa nhenha" means "strong women" or "women's strength". Jessie Forsyth and Nazeem Muhajarine are two of the University of Saskatchewan researchers learning how to build on that strength in rural and remote communities. And they've done so during a pandemic. In this episode, hear why Covid-19 did not stop the Mozambique-Canada Maternal Health project from opening several brand-new rural medical facilities this year. Nurses also managed to keep ...
A one-year pandemic checkup, with Preston Smith, Dean of Medicine
March 14, 2021 05:00 - 20 minutes - 21.9 MBOne year ago, Dr. Preston Smith remembers watching the coronavirus inch closer and closer to the University of Saskatchewan. "It felt like being in the emergency room and hearing the police and ambulances had been called to an accident. You knew something was coming," he said. By mid-March 2020, nearly every aspect of teaching and research was shutting down at the medical college he oversees. "Experiments were interrupted. There was an enormous loss to our research," said Smith. Cred...
A one-year pandemic checkup, with Dr. Preston Smith, Dean of Medicine
March 14, 2021 05:00 - 20 minutes - 21.9 MBOne year ago, Dr. Preston Smith remembers watching the coronavirus inch closer and closer to the University of Saskatchewan. "It felt like being in the emergency room and hearing the police and ambulances had been called to an accident. You knew something was coming," he said. By mid-March 2020, nearly every aspect of teaching and research was shutting down at the medical college he oversees. "Experiments were interrupted. There was an enormous loss to our research," said Smith. Cred...
Inside the black box: Changting Xiao on the role of lipoproteins in chronic disease
February 28, 2021 05:00 - 16 minutes - 17.5 MBTo crack the causes of metabolic disease, Dr. Changting Xiao is peering into the "black box" of the human gut. As a boy, Xiao frequently ran homemade experiments, trying to figure out how systems work. Over the decades that followed, he observed an 'epidemic' increase in diabetes, obesity, strokes and heart disease. In this episode, the biomedical researcher explains why he recently moved to Saskatchewan, and his fascination with the human gut, and its role in creating 'bad blood fats'. ...
Medical anthropologist Caroline Tait, on transplant medicine
February 14, 2021 05:00 - 26 minutes - 24 MB"Western medicine can give you the heart of another person, but no meaningful direction on how to lead a good life with that heart," said Dr. Caroline Tait. That's the dilemma many Indigenous people face, as disproportionately early deaths and chronic disease boost the need for organ transplants. "Our whole public education if you look at it, is all about convincing people to sign their donor cards," said Tait, a medical anthropologist and psychiatry professor at the University of Saska...
The burden of lung disease and lightening it, with Erika Penz
January 31, 2021 05:00 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBRespiratory disease now accounts for one in four hospital admissions, with lung cancer killing more patients than any other cancer. As both a respirologist and a health economist, Dr. Erika Penz knows Canadians spend a staggering amount of money treating lung diseases and cancer -- conditions that can be prevented. That's why, early on, Penz chose to put respiratory disease in her crosshairs. "That's actually why I get excited," said Penz. "The more we can understand and reduce these r...
Do serious doctors tweet? Brent Thoma, on digital scholarship
January 17, 2021 05:00 - 16 minutes - 14.7 MBWhether it's a blog, a podcast, a wiki, a tweet, or an infographic, a growing number of doctors now turn online when they need answers. For the past five years, Dr. Brent Thoma has led research supporting the use of free, open-access, and high-quality resources for medical education. “I think we’re really elevating our game in medical education, because these resources are available from such exceptional educators and researchers," said Thoma, who specializes in emergency medicine and t...
Indigenous wellness through "slow" research, with Alexandra King
January 03, 2021 05:00 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MBLike the "slow food" movement, Dr. Alexandra King promotes "slow research" when it comes to Indigenous people's health and wellness. As a First Nations physician, and the Cameco Chair in Indigenous Health and Wellness at the University of Saskatchewan, King wants Indigenous elders and people with lived experience to lead and shape more health research. "What does knowledge translation look like if it's being done on a very personal level?" asked King. "We're now finding new and interesti...
Understanding the way nerves talk to tumours, with Anand Krishnan
December 20, 2020 05:00 - 13 minutes - 14.8 MBEver wonder how tumours spread? For Dr. Anand Krishnan, finding effective anti-cancer therapies means finding a way to decode the language tumours use to communicate with nerves. "What we are trying to do is cut the lines of feeding from the nerves to the tumours," Krishnan said. In this episode, he explains why applying the principles of cancer biology to neuroscience may lead to more targeted anti-cancer therapy, even regenerating damaged nerves.
Remodelling project: Dave Cooper and the mysteries inside our bones
December 06, 2020 05:00 - 17 minutes - 18.5 MBA self-described computer nerd, Dave Cooper was always fascinated by the way technology could push fundamental science research forward. After bone density scans became commonplace in the 1980s, Cooper watched imaging technology and forensic science begin to advance. Today, his laboratory uses the Canadian Light Source to take detailed snapshots of bones evolving and changing in real time, honing treatments and improving outcomes for patients with osteoporosis. “People ar...
"My disease does not define me"
November 22, 2020 05:00 - 15 minutes - 16.9 MBEmma Linsley managed to power through fatigue and weight loss, but when her joints started to swell, she and her family knew something was wrong. "I thought I would have to quit all my sports, and that I wouldn't be able to do all the things I loved," she said. "This is something that's going to play a role in the rest of my life." In this episode, we look at research from her perspective, as a teenager and young adult navigating the medical system as a patient with a chronic illness. ...
Why kids react differently to the coronavirus, with Rupeena Purewal
November 08, 2020 05:00 - 19 minutes - 18.9 MBRupeena Purewal says when the coronavirus infects children, their bodies react differently than those of adults. She's leading the only Saskatchewan-based clinical trials of human convalescent plasma on children sick enough to be admitted to hospital. So far, there aren't many children with Covid-19 in hospital, but with the cold weather come higher infection rates, and the risk of other serious respiratory infections. And, as she learns more about the coronavirus' asymptomatic spread, D...
Motorcycles for maternal care: Ron Siemens makes the links in northern Mozambique
October 25, 2020 04:00 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MBAfter raising five children of his own, Dr. Ron Siemens brings an empathetic, pragmatic approach to pediatrics. Whether it's in Saskatoon or in Mozambique, his goal is to make life better for infants, children and their families. "You see all the obstacles parents have," said Siemens. From road-testing motorcycle trailers for expectant mothers in Mozambique to creating self-sustaining chicken farms, Siemens explains what fuels his passion for healthy families and communities.
His father's son: Nazeem Muhajarine connects the coronavirus and human behaviour
October 11, 2020 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24.8 MBThe way people perceive threats in a pandemic affects the spread of Covid-19, according to social epidemiologist Nazeem Muhajarine. Since he was a boy, he's studied the way government interventions really work, from the perspective of citizens who have to live with them. In this episode, Muhajarine explains why he left medical school for a career in public health research, why politicians' words and actions can change infection rates, and why he strives to treat every person he ...
Keeping brains active and connected, in a pandemic lockdown
September 27, 2020 04:00 - 15 minutes - 13.8 MBSarah Donkers is a physiotherapist and specialist in neurological who had to rethink everything when the Covid-19 lockdown slammed doors shut this spring. Donkers couldn't stop thinking about her patients, and the care they were now missing. As she tells host Jen Quesnel, her team went on to design online movement and expert masterclasses for more than 800 Saskatchewan people with MS, with spinal cord injuries, and with Parkinson's disease. "It was two-way learning," Donkers said, as s...
Pinning down a drug-resistant ESKAPE artist, with Jenny-Lee Thomassin
September 13, 2020 04:00 - 14 minutes - 16 MBThey're two millionths of a metre, and they can be found outside, as well as on your skin, even inside your nose, throat, and gut. The World Health Organization calls Klebsiella pneumoniae a major concern, because this tiny bacteria can cause deadly infections. Molecular microbiologist Jenny-Lee Thomassin recently arrived at the University of Saskatchewan to study one of the most drug-resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae. “Bacteria are constantly changing," said Thomassin. "What...
"Like water-wings": how Kerry Lavender gave mice human lungs
August 30, 2020 04:00 - 20 minutes - 21.2 MBThey look like ordinary black mice with pink whiskers -- and small furry water-wings. To test coronavirus therapies, viral immunologist Kerry Lavender is using a grant of $267,500 to create designer laboratory mice. She's one of the only people in the world who can give each mouse a human immune system, and its own pair of human lungs.
Dr. Cory Neudorf looks at what takes priority and what gets cut, during an unprecedented public health crisis
August 16, 2020 04:00 - 23 minutes - 24.1 MBAfter winning grants of just over $240,000, Dr. Cory Neudorf is sharpening the blurry picture Canadians currently have of public health spending during the Covid-19 pandemic. He calls this an "unprecedented" crisis for both the medical system and politicians, one that lays bare cracks and divisions across Canadian society.
5. Suppressing the coronavirus: Joyce Wilson leads the hunt for existing drugs that stop COVID-19
August 02, 2020 04:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBJoyce Wilson leads the team of virologists and geneticists searching for antiviral drugs we can repurpose to stop COVID-19 infections from spreading. Using a $449,000 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Wilson and her team use genomic tools to identify pathways the virus uses as it hijacks cells in the human body. As she tells host Jen Quesnel, from there her team will narrow down antiviral therapeutics that slow or inhibit COVID-19 infections.
Suppressing the coronavirus: Joyce Wilson leads the hunt for existing drugs that stop COVID-19
August 02, 2020 04:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBJoyce Wilson leads the team of virologists and geneticists searching for antiviral drugs we can repurpose to stop COVID-19 infections from spreading. Using a $449,000 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Wilson and her team use genomic tools to identify pathways the virus uses as it hijacks cells in the human body. As she tells host Jen Quesnel, from there her team will narrow down antiviral therapeutics that slow or inhibit COVID-19 infections.
What happens in the lab that's hunting for a COVID-19 vaccine in Saskatchewan, with Darryl Falzarano
July 19, 2020 16:00 - 9 minutes - 13.5 MBAt first, Darryl Falzarano was unenthusiastic about COVID-19. He had hoped it would be contained early on. But... it wasn't. And now Falzarano's work days are dedicated to COVID-19 as he leads a research team at the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre. Chelsea Laskowski interviews Falzarano about his mental pivot, and what happens in the next few months.
Preparing for when the COVID-19 surge hits hospitals... and responding when it doesn't, with Dr. Gary Groot
July 05, 2020 16:00 - 11 minutes - 15.2 MBWhile the world has been in what can sometimes feel like chaos, a few people out there are bringing order into our lives. Dr. Gary Groot is bringing order into healthcare, and he’s adapting as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves in the prairie province of Saskatchewan. Interviewer Chelsea Laskowski speaks with Groot about measuring what's happening, what needs to happen, and the level of pressure he faces to get it right.
Preparing for when the COVID-19 surge hits hospitals, with Gary Groot
July 05, 2020 16:00 - 11 minutes - 15.2 MBWhile the world has been in what can sometimes feel like chaos, a few people out there are bringing order into our lives. Dr. Gary Groot is bringing order into healthcare, and he’s adapting as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves in the prairie province of Saskatchewan. Interviewer Chelsea Laskowski speaks with Groot about measuring what's happening, what needs to happen, and the level of pressure he faces to get it right.
Drilling down on how COVID-19 affects vulnerable people with Donna Goodridge
June 21, 2020 16:00 - 10 minutes - 14.7 MBEmergency room visits plummeted in Saskatchewan when COVID-19 hit. Why? That's what Donna Goodridge wants to find out. She is doing a study that is crucial to understanding what’s happening to groups of people who we haven’t heard much from during the COVID-19 pandemic -- people living in lower income housing. In a physical distancing interview with Chelsea Laskowski, Goodridge shares her insights on long-term care homes, palliative care and what scares her about the residents' experience du...
Eric Sy talks about hitting COVID-19 with Hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and blood plasma
June 07, 2020 16:00 - 10 minutes - 14.6 MBEric Sy's greatest passion is looking after patients and trying to get them better. COVID-19 is stumping so many in the medical field. But Sy and so many others are working hard to find treatment methods to alleviate COVID's toll on patients around the world. Interviewer Chelsea Laskowski gets Eric Sy on Skype and they talk Trump, blood plasma, and why Sy is approaching everything with extreme caution right now. Recorded on May 5, 2020.
Trailer: Researchers Under the Scope
May 13, 2020 20:45 - 1 minute - 1.61 MBWelcome one, welcome all. At Researchers Under the Scope, you will get to know what amps up the researchers at the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine. In mid-2020, they are dealing with COVID-19 in so many different ways: extracting blood from COVID-19 patients, planning a province's hospital response to a pandemic, asking residents why they're avoiding hospitals even when they face potentially fatal crises. And they're just getting started. Listen in starting June 7, 2020.