Speaking of Science
39 episodes - English - Latest episode: 27 days ago - ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsKnown for its synergistic approach to biomedical science, the Intramural Research Program (IRP) is the internal research program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With 1,100 Principal Investigators and more than 4,000 Postdoctoral Fellows conducting basic, translational, and clinical research, the IRP is the largest biomedical research institution on earth. Its mission is science in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about living systems and the application of that knowledge to extend healthy life and reduce illness and disability throughout the world. In the IRP's new podcast, Speaking of Science, you will meet many of the federal researchers working to change lives by advancing all aspects of biomedicine.
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Episodes
Dr. Michael Ombrello — The Rare Case of Beverly Gage
April 01, 2024 02:41 - 28 minutes - 40.3 MBBeverly Gage came to the NIH with a condition that had never been observed before. A mysterious genetic mutation that caused her chronic joint pain and inflammation led her to Dr. Michael Ombrello, an expert in rare inflammatory diseases at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Where their paths cross shows us the current challenges of diagnosing, treating, and living with a disorder that is new to science.
Dr. Sadhana Jackson — Breaking Through the Blood-Brain Barrier
January 18, 2024 16:16 - 25 minutes - 35 MBThe blood-brain barrier keeps bad actors like toxins, viruses, and bacteria from entering the brain. But in the case of brain cancer when the danger is already inside, the blood-brain barrier can work against a person’s health by shutting out the medications meant to eliminate the threat. Dr. Sadhana Jackson from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) works to figure out ways to selectively get cancer treatments through the blood-brain barrier to treat patients w...
Dr. Meredith Shiels — Health in Numbers
October 26, 2023 04:40 - 29 minutes - 41 MBEpidemiologists are the watchful guardians of public health. They collect and analyze data to track the status quo. When there are deviations, they crunch the numbers to understand who is getting sick, where, how, and why. Dr. Meredith Shiels is an epidemiologist and senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) studying cancer mortality rates to discern what populations might be at higher risk, figure out ways to mitigate those risks, and evaluate whether those measures are wor...
Dr. Veronica Alvarez and Dr. Bruno Averbeck — On the Pulse of Compulsive Behaviors
June 06, 2023 14:02 - 32 minutes - 44.8 MBDespite negative consequences and the desire to stop, millions of people with compulsive behaviors can’t break the self-destructive cycles that disrupt their daily lives. Dr. Veronica Alvarez and Dr. Bruno Averbeck from the National Institute of Mental Health run the Center on Compulsive Behaviors (CCB) which brings together NIH scientists to understand what drives these repetitive and often detrimental behaviors. The CCB strives to decipher the neural circuitry that leads to compulsive beha...
Dr. John Hanover — The Bittersweet Study of Glycobiology
February 28, 2023 06:10 - 23 minutes - 33.1 MBSugars, also referred to as carbohydrates, aren’t just substances we add to make coffee taste less bitter or food sweeter; they are an entire class of molecules necessary for life. The study of these carbohydrates is called glycobiology. Dr. John Hanover is a glycobiologist and the chief of the laboratory of cell and molecular biology at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). His work is advancing scientists’ understanding of the sugar structures respon...
Dr. Sharon Milgram — Making the Most of the Trainee Experience
December 12, 2022 02:20 - 30 minutes - 41.7 MBNone of the groundbreaking research taking place in the IRP would be possible with the hard work and dedication of trainees. While they work to support the NIH’s mission to turn discovery into health, the Office of Intramural Training and Education (OITE) works to supports trainees in their professional pursuits. Dr. Sharon Milgram is the director of OITE and a strong proponent that good training begets good science. In this episode, she talks about the many ways OITE supports students and f...
Dr. Steve Holland — Sussing Out Susceptibility to Sickness
October 18, 2022 04:49 - 28 minutes - 39.4 MBFor Dr. Steve Holland, the mystery of why some people are more prone to disease is as much a curiosity as it is a calling. Dr. Holland is the scientific director and chief of the immunopathogenesis section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) where he searches for signs to explain differences in susceptibility to certain infections. In this episode, he discusses how the immune system can thwart its own defenses by producing antibodies that block the chemical s...
Dr. Hari Shroff — The Science and Play of Super Resolution Imaging
July 25, 2022 02:32 - 20 minutes - 28 MBNASA recently unveiled the first images taken by the James Webb Telescope. But the distant cosmos aren't the only ones coming into focus. While astronomers point their instruments up to peer into the stars, microscopists like Dr. Hari Shroff are focusing their gaze down to capture life on Earth. As chief of the Section on High Resolution Optical Imaging at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), Dr. Shroff engineers new microscopes to render the invisibly sma...
Dr. Joyce Chung — Gathering Helping Hands to Grasp Mental Health
May 03, 2022 05:40 - 18 minutes - 26.2 MBFinding treatments for mental health conditions doesn't just deal with people who live with them. Healthy volunteers play a critical part in the science of understanding our brains and behavior. But what qualifies as "healthy" can vary across labs and skew how scientists interpret study results. Dr. Joyce Chung, the Deputy Clinical Director at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is changing that. She is creating a pool of vetted volunteers to bolster the integrity, efficiency, an...
Dr. Lauren Porter — Molecular “Transformers:” Switching Form and Function
February 15, 2022 14:41 - 23 minutes - 32.5 MBScience is receptive to new information that can refine the theories we use to make sense of the world. Such is the case with Dr. Lauren Porter, a Stadtman investigator at the National Library of Medicine who is helping redefine the way we understand how proteins behave. She is looking at a new class of proteins that can change their structure and function much like the famous Transformer robots that morph into different machines. Understanding how these proteins switch their shape could hel...
Drs. Elaine Ostrander and Heidi Parker — Unleashing the Dog Genome
December 28, 2021 16:07 - 31 minutes - 44.1 MBCenturies of selective breeding have given rise to a staggering variety of dog breeds, each with its own traits and behaviors. But shallow gene pools have also put some breeds at higher risk for disease. Dr. Elaine Ostrander runs the Dog Genome Project at the National Human Genome Research Institute. Her team includes Dr. Heidi Parker. Together, they are digging for clues to understand how genes code for dogs' diversity and disease. Clues that might also inform the health of their two-legged...
Dr. Matthew Memoli — A Better Shot Against the Flu
November 01, 2021 20:05 - 33 minutes - 46 MBThe annual flu vaccine is the best way to prevent yourself and others from getting sick. But sometimes the antigens the vaccine trains your body to fight are not similar enough to the strains of influenza circulating that year. This mismatch allows viruses to fly under the radar and spread undetected. It's a problem scientists hope to solve with a universal flu vaccine. Dr. Matthew Memoli is an influenza expert at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He is prepa...
Dr. Bevil Conway — Coloring Inside the Minds
September 14, 2021 05:22 - 28 minutes - 39.5 MBThere is more to color than meets the eye. According to Dr. Bevil Conway, how we perceive color can inform how our brains receive, interpret, and generate knowledge about the world. Dr. Conway is a visual artist and a neuroscientist at the National Eye Institute. He is working to decode the neural basis of color. In a recent study, his lab mapped how different colors can stimulate different patterns of brain activity.
Drs. Natasha Caplen and Richard Maraia — What's Next in the RNAge?
August 02, 2021 04:19 - 22 minutes - 30.7 MBThe success of mRNA vaccines against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has brought RNA biology into the limelight. Now, with the world's attention, what's next for this biomedical rising star? NIH scientists, Dr. Richard Maraia and Dr. Natasha Caplen, have long recognized the potential of RNA in improving human health. In this episode, they discuss the prospects of RNA biology and how their work could inform the future of RNA as an innovative class of medicine.
Dr. Anna Nápoles — A New Dawn for Minority Health
June 07, 2021 17:08 - 22 minutes - 31.9 MBWhen the COVID-19 pandemic struck, racial and ethnic minority groups were disproportionately hit. The health inequities pulled at the seams of a system that was already frayed. Dr. Anna Nápoles works to close gaps in healthcare as the first Latina scientific director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). She is reducing the types of hurdles that once hindered her parents so that all populations can live long, healthy, and productive lives. Learn more ...
Dr. Diana Bianchi — Caring for Two: The Mom-Baby Unit
May 03, 2021 23:31 - 30 minutes - 42.1 MBPregnancy is by no means necessary for motherhood, but it is necessary for life. And it's no picnic. A pregnant person can experience complications like anemia, UTIs, hypertension, diabetes, and exhaustion. Maintaining maternal health during pregnancy can be challenging, but it is integral for the health of the fetus. Dr. Diana Bianchi is a physician-scientist and the director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), where she works to improve care for the mom...
Dr. Louis Staudt — The ABCs of B Cell Lymphomas
April 08, 2021 16:00 - 28 minutes - 39.8 MBSmall errors can quickly escalate to have large repercussions. When it comes to cancer, molecular changes to DNA can trigger chain reactions that cause cells to go awry and spread uncontrollably. Dr. Louis Staudt works to identify such changes, known as genetic mutations, and find ways to stop them from snowballing into a deadly disease. In this episode, Dr. Staudt recounts the story of how he differentiated subtypes of lymphomas to develop a treatment for patients as an early success of pre...
Dr. Kevin Hall — Dueling Diets
March 02, 2021 14:44 - 33 minutes - 45.5 MBNutrition is a contentious topic. It’s hard to tell fact from fiction. One day eggs are good for you, the next they have too much fat. But what about the keto craze? Doesn’t it say you should eat mostly fats? Fortunately, there are scientist like Dr. Kevin Hall who are working to debunk the myths and give us the real skinny on how the foods we eat affect our health. Most recently, Dr. Hall published a study that put two well-known diets head-to-head to see which led people to consume more ca...
Dr. Carlos Zarate — Ketamine to Combat Depression
January 08, 2021 17:57 - 30 minutes - 41.6 MBKetamine is often thought of as an illicit party drug—something people take for a momentary high. But it wasn’t designed to be a mind-altering drug. Originally, ketamine was developed as anesthetic to relieve temporary pain. And now it seems the drug can provide solace not just from physical distress. At the NIH, Dr. Carlos Zarate is investigating how ketamine can rapidly reduce depressive symptoms in people with treatment-resistant depression or bipolar depression, for whom other options ha...
Drs. Heidi Kong and Ian Myles — Derm Germs: The Human Skin Microbiome
October 07, 2020 19:06 - 23 minutes - 32.6 MBIn nature, strategic alliances can mean the difference between life and death. For humans, such vital partnerships exist between us and the trillions of microbes we unwittingly host in and on our bodies - together called the microbiome. Dr. Heidi Kong uses genomics to uncover the microbe-host interactions taking place all over our skin. Building on her work and a growing understanding of the skin microbiome, Dr. Ian Myles has developed a bacterial spray that improves eczema, an inflammatory ...
Dr. Peter Bandettini — Mr. MRI
September 01, 2020 06:10 - 31 minutes - 42.9 MBDr. Peter Bandettini spends a lot of time peering into people's heads. Not because he is clairvoyant, but because he is a biophysicist. Using functional MRI (fMRI), a revolutionary neuroimaging technique he helped pioneer in the '90s, Dr. Bandettini delves into the mysteries of the human brain. He is working to advance fMRI technology to parse out more information about the neural connections that are constantly and spontaneously active even when we think our minds are blank. Dr. Bandettini...
Dr. Hannah Valantine — At the Heart of Diversity
July 30, 2020 22:14 - 35 minutes - 48.9 MBTime and again, diversity and inclusion initiatives have proven to boost productivity and overall well-being in the workplace. But despite countless studies and although there have been significant strides in recent history, the struggle to ensure equal opportunity persists. At the NIH, the Scientific Workforce Diversity (SWD) Office is expanding recruitment and retention with Dr. Hannah Valantine as its first chief officer. She emphasizes how proper resources, mentorship, and community are ...
Drs. Richard Childs and Matthew Hall — Remdesivir Therapy for COVID-19
June 22, 2020 16:07 - 22 minutes - 30.8 MBIn this episode, Dr. Richard Childs, a senior investigator and Clinical Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), recounts his experience using the antiviral remdesivir to treat patients with COVID-19 in one of the early hot zones of the pandemic. He led a team sent to care for passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was held in quarantine in Yokohama, Japan at the start of the outbreak. Since then, remdesivir has continued to gain traction as a possible ...
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett — The Novel Coronavirus Vaccine
May 21, 2020 06:22 - 29 minutes - 40.2 MBPerhaps now more than ever, it is undeniable how integral vaccines have become to public health. Vaccines protect us from a whole host of infectious diseases, including chickenpox, measles and the seasonal flu. With a new threat at hand, scientists at the NIH swiftly developed a vaccine candidate against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The pre-clinical effort was driven in part by Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett. Dr. Corbett is a viral immunologist and research fellow in the Vaccine Res...
Dr. Nicole Farmer — The Mental Health Benefits of Cooking
April 15, 2020 15:31 - 26 minutes - 23.9 MBSocial distancing is the best way to curtail the spread of COVID-19, but if innumerable days of isolation start to feel like they’re taking a toll on your mental welfare, there might be some solace waiting in the kitchen. According to mental health experts, cooking can reduce anxiety and alleviate mental distress. Dr. Nicole Farmer is a clinical researcher studying many facets of how diet affects human biology and behavior, including the effects of cooking interventions on mental well-being....
Dr. Frank Lin — Radioactive Drugs for Rare Cancers
February 24, 2020 20:23 - 44 minutes - 62.2 MBRadioactive drugs carry radioactive substances that can be engineered to specifically target and kill tumor cells inside the body. In 2018, the FDA approved a radioactive drug called Lutathera to treat tumors that affect the pancreas or gastrointestinal tract. Now, scientists at the NIH led by Dr. Frank Lin are testing whether Lutathera can also be effective against rare tumors of the adrenal glands. Dr. Lin is a clinician and researcher focused on bringing radioactive drugs — also known as ...
Dr. Jerry Yakel — Acetylcholine Receptors and Neurological Disease
January 27, 2020 14:01 - 52 minutes - 47.8 MBThe neurons in our brains use both electrical and chemical signals to communicate. When those signals are not generated or interpreted correctly, serious problems can arise. Dr. Jerry Yakel is a neurobiologist studying acetylcholine receptors, which allow neurons to turn signals transmitted using the chemical acetylcholine into electrical messages. Because acetylcholine receptors are found on so many nerve cells, numerous neurological disorders can arise when they fail to work properly, incl...
Dr. Armin Raznahan — Genes, Brain Structure, and Neuropsychiatric Disorders
December 06, 2019 18:44 - 58 minutes - 53.5 MBAnybody who observes a person with a neurological illness like Tourette syndrome or schizophrenia can clearly see how these conditions affect behavior. What’s much more difficult to determine is how these ailments relate to changes in the brain. Dr. Armin Raznahan is a child psychiatrist who uses a genetics-first approach and state-of-the-art neuroimaging tools to examine how the size and shape of the brain differ in children and adolescents with neuropsychiatric disorders compared to health...
Dr. Catharine Bosio — The Weird and Deadly Francisella Tularensis Bacterium
November 18, 2019 14:19 - 50 minutes - 45.8 MBOur houses, workplaces, and even the air we breathe are teeming with microbes, some of which can cause severe illness. Dr. Catharine Bosio is an immunologist studying how airborne pathogens infect and alter cells in the lungs. Her work focuses in particular on a bacterium called Francisella tularensis, which causes a life-threatening disease called tularemia and has the unique ability to change how energy-producing mitochondria function in immune cells. Dr. Bosio's experiments with these dea...
Cynthia Dunbar — Stem Cell Therapies for Blood and Immune System Diseases
September 30, 2019 04:17 - 1 hour - 121 MBOur blood is made up of a diverse array of different cells, all of which originate from the same source: the ‘hematopoietic’ stem cells in our bone marrow. Dr. Cynthia Dunbar is a clinician working to understand how these stem cells grow, divide, and ultimately produce the cells that carry oxygen around the body and fight disease. Learning to safely transplant and manipulate hematopoietic stem cells could lead to treatments for a wide variety of diseases caused by a lack of properly function...
Dr. Cynthia Dunbar — Stem Cell Therapies for Blood and Immune System Diseases
September 30, 2019 04:17 - 1 hour - 121 MBOur blood is made up of a diverse array of different cells, all of which originate from the same source: the ‘hematopoietic’ stem cells in our bone marrow. Dr. Cynthia Dunbar is a clinician working to understand how these stem cells grow, divide, and ultimately produce the cells that carry oxygen around the body and fight disease. Learning to safely transplant and manipulate hematopoietic stem cells could lead to treatments for a wide variety of diseases caused by a lack of properly function...
Drs. Ira Pastan and Michael Gottesman — Cancer Immunotoxins and Multidrug Resistance
September 10, 2019 13:18 - 1 hour - 113 MBThis episode features two legends of biomedical research. In the realm of human health and longevity, cancer’s ability to mutate, grow, and thwart the body’s natural defenses presents one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time. In 2001, Dr. Ira Pastan led the creation of a new type of cancer drug, a recombinant immunotoxin, that promised to directly target and kill cancer cells. After years of research and clinical trials, this first-generation immunotoxin was approved by the FDA ...
Dr. Dori Germolec — Environmental Chemicals Versus the Immune System
June 28, 2019 16:00 - 54 minutes - 102 MBDr. Dori Germolec is a biologist studying how the chemicals in our environment affect the immune system, including toxic or carcinogenic effects of molds and dietary supplements. From bisphenols and flame retardants to arsenic in the drinking water and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, we are all exposed to a mixture of different compounds on a daily basis. Dr. Germolec’s research as part of the National Toxicology Program informs agencies like the EPA and FDA about the potential hazards of ...
Dr. Dennis Drayna — Part 2: Genetic Insights from Stuttering to the Taste for Menthol in Cigarettes
May 01, 2019 16:00 - 57 minutes - 106 MBThis is Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Dennis Drayna, a human geneticist who has identified mutations in several genes that cause communications disorders, particularly stuttering, using family- and population-based genetic methods. Dr. Drayna's team studies the biochemical and cellular effects of these mutations and how they may cause specific neuronal pathologies. With so much to cover, we divided this episode into two parts. Here, we continue to explore stuttering research and delve ...
Dr. Dennis Drayna — Part 1: Genetics of Stuttering and Communication Disorders
April 09, 2019 20:31 - 56 minutes - 105 MBDennis Drayna, Ph.D., is a human geneticist who has identified mutations in several genes that cause communications disorders, particularly stuttering. With so much to cover, we divided his episode into two parts. Here, in part 1, we discuss Dr. Drayna’s research into the genetics of stuttering, including the use of family- and population-based genetic methods. In part 2 to follow, we continue to explore stuttering research and delve into Dr. Drayna’s perspectives about research and research...
Dr. Bill Gahl — Medical Genetics and Hope for Rare Diseases
February 05, 2019 17:00 - 1 hour - 114 MBWhen people refer to the NIH as the “National Institutes of Hope,” Dr. Bill Gahl is one of the many people who come to mind. Dr. Gahl is a medical geneticist working to help patients with rare and undiagnosed diseases. His research group focuses on inborn errors of metabolism, which include defects in the body’s biochemical processes caused by rare genetic disorders, such as cystinosis, Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, alkaptonuria, and ciliopathies. Transcending biomedical boundaries to take ad...
Dr. Christine Alewine — Treating Pancreatic Cancer with New Immunotoxin Strategies
January 29, 2019 17:00 - 1 hour - 86.2 MBPancreatic cancer kills more than 40,000 Americans each year, and just 6% of patients survive five years or more after diagnosis, because the disease metastasizes very early in its development and is resistant to most current treatments. Dr. Christine Alewine is a physician-scientist exploring new treatment strategies for pancreatic cancer. Her lab and clinic are testing and refining two recombinant immunotoxins that target a protein called mesothelin that is present on the surface of severa...
Dr. Nehal Mehta — Linking Psoriasis Inflammation with Cardiovascular Risk
January 22, 2019 17:00 - 45 minutes - 62.5 MBPsoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Dr. Nehal Mehta currently directs the largest ongoing cohort study to date in psoriasis, and his research is showing that local inflammation in different areas of the body such as the teeth, scalp, knees, skin, or gut has systemic consequences, and treating that local inflammation can help heal heart disease. Nehal Mehta, M.D., M.S.C.E., F.A.H.A., is the inaugural NIH Lasker Clinical Research Scholar a...
Trailer for Speaking of Science
January 15, 2019 17:00 - 1 minute - 1.42 MBThe National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Intramural Research Program (IRP) is bringing you conversations with world-leading researchers working at the NIH IRP on problems across the spectrum of biomedicine. You’ll find out why they do what they do and how their efforts help people with rare and common conditions, from cancers to heart disease, mental health to genetic anomalies. Please tune in and share with your friends, family, and colleagues – and if you do, we hope you enjoy it. Find ou...