Master Minds

On this episode, Will sat down with Dr. Eric Green, the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (or NHGRI) since 2009, which is one of the research arms of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Prior to his appointment, Dr. Green trained at Washington University School of Medicine in the laboratory of Maynard Olson, and later as an assistant Professor of Genetics, where he spearheaded WashU’s contribution to the Human Genome Project from beginning to end. In his time as Director of NHGRI, Dr. Green has pioneered the development of the precision medicine agenda, which aims to deploy large, detailed, and diverse genomic and biometric datasets to inform personalized treatments to patients.

In this episode, Will sat down with Dr. Aaron Ciechanover, biologist and Distinguished Research Professor in the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Dr. Ciechanover is renowned for his work in studying the method that cells use to degrade and recycle proteins. While in the laboratory of Avram Hershko, they discovered that small proteins, called ubiquitin, were attached in chains to targeted proteins, marking them for degradation by a proteasome. This system is highly regulated and was subsequently found to be a factor in many diseases and areas of biology, so much that in 2004, Dr. Ciechanover was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry while on faculty at Washington University. Enjoy!

Today, we sat down with Professor Tansu Daylan, astrophysicist, Assistant Professor of Physics, and faculty fellow at the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences here at WashU. Dr. Daylan works with data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite on the discovery and characterization of exoplanets. He is also interested in researching the particle nature of dark matter. Have you ever been interested in how researchers discover planets outside our solar system? Or perhaps wondered if there could exist life in other corners of our universe? Listen on to find out!

Today we sat down with Dr. Charles Rice, the Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Professor in Virology at Rockefeller University. Dr. Rice is an expert in RNA viruses, viruses that use RNA as opposed to DNA in their genome, and studies the body’s innate immune response to infection. However, he is most known for his work on Hepatitis C Virus, which causes liver disease and cirrhosis if untreated. Dr. Rice was the first to achieve a successful cell culture of Hepatitis C, create a functional clone of the virus, and prove that the virus causes the disease. This work led to the first effective treatments for Hepatitis C, saving millions of lives worldwide and earning Dr. Rice and his collaborators the 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. Title music: World Is Holding Hands by WinnieTheMoog https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Today, we sat down with Dr. David H. Perlmutter, the George and Carol Bauer Dean of Washington University School of Medicine, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor. Dean Perlmutter leads one of the largest medical schools in the country, currently ranked #2 in NIH funding among US medical schools nationwide. He is also a pediatric gastroenterologist who is internationally known for his research on autophagy and on alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency or ATD, the latter of which is a genetic disorder resulting in liver damage. We hope you enjoy this episode with Dean David Perlmutter. Title music: World Is Holding Hands by WinnieTheMoog https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

In this episode, we’re talking to the “father of cardiac arrhythmia surgery”, Dr. James Cox. The former Division Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery here at WashU Med, Dr. Cox developed surgical procedures for multiple cardiac arrhythmias, including the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia, automatic atrial tachycardias, atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. He is best known for developing the Cox-Maze procedure, the first cure for atrial fibrillation, which he performed for the first time at Barnes Jewish Hospital in 1987. Dr. Cox’s contributions and developments forever changed the field of cardiac surgery and have saved countless lives. We hope you enjoy our fascinating discussion with Dr. Cox as much as we did! Title music: World Is Holding Hands by WinnieTheMoog https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Today, I sat down with Dr. Brian Kobilka, Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Kobilka is an expert on a class of receptors called G protein-coupled receports, or GPCRs, that are essential in a majority of biological processes including light, flavor, and odor perception and in the activity of adrenalin, dopamine, and serotonin. In fact, currently approximately half of all pharmaceuticals on the market target GPCRs. In the mid 1980s Dr. Kobilka and his colleagues from the Robert Lefkowitz lab were the first to clone the gene for an important GPCR called the beta2-adrenergic receptor, and later he and his collaborators were the first to determine its molecular structure, which served as the basis for understanding all subsequent GPCRs and creating drugs to target them. This work proved to be revolutionary in many areas of science and medicine, such that in 2012, Kobilka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to understanding GPCRs. In this interview, we talk about these amazing findings and the recent advances in understanding this important class of receptors. Title music: World Is Holding Hands by WinnieTheMoog https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Today, we sat down with Professor Mark Alford, theoretical physicist and former chair of the Department of Physics at Washington University. Prof. Alford researches the physics of ultra-high density matter, such as in the core of a neutron star to get insights on how particles behave in situations that we do not encounter on Earth. He has also done important work on characterizing Quantum Chromodynamics, or QCD, which describes the strong interactions between quarks that make up larger particles like protons and neutrons. In this episode, we talk about some of the basics of quantum mechanics and how they are applied in studying astrophysical phenomena. We also touch on some important philosophical questions regarding how to use physics in understanding the nature of reality. We think the episode boils down many complex topics in physics so that anyone with a basic level of understanding will learn a lot. Title music: World Is Holding Hands by WinnieTheMoog https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Dr. Jonathan Kipnis is the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Immunology and Director of the Brain Immunology and Glia Center (BIG) at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Kipnis is well known for his discoveries on the interactions between the brain and the immune system, including meningeal lymphatics, previously thought to not exist, and how immune cells and cytokines impact cognitive functions like social behavior. These findings have mass implications for the role of the immune system in psychiatric and psychological disease. We hope you enjoy this episode. Title music: World Is Holding Hands by WinnieTheMoog https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Today were talking to Dr. Sharon Deem, Director of the Saint Louis Zoo Institute for Conservation Medicine. Prior to this, Dr. Deem worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society and Smithsonian National Zoo. A veterinarian and epidemiologist by trade, she is also the current president of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians. Dr. Deem has conducted conservation and research projects in over 30 countries around the world, many of which are in Africa and South America.  In this episode, we’re going to cover her focus on how disease and environmental changes affect wildlife populations, and her work with endangered species, such as lemurs and turtles.