Episode 89 Dr. Jonathan Keats

Glioblastoma—it's a diagnosis no one wants to receive. A deadly cancer with few treatment options, GBM is also incredibly difficult to monitor. Doctors simply cannot 'see' if a treatment is working well or not at all and must rely on MRI scans to try to look at a patient's tumor.  Liquid biopsies have shown promise in this and other difficult cancers, and a recent paper by TGen researchers is shedding light on how to get more accurate information through cell-free DNA in a patient's blood. The Barthel Lab is continuing its research into this promising technique, and in this episode, we talk with Sharvari Mankame, a PhD candidate whose research in this field is not only the subject of her doctoral thesis, but likely also her life's work.

SuperAgers and Alzheimer’s The quest for a fountain of youth goes back thousands of years. Stories throughout history have hinted at a secret that could stop time, but no one’s ever found it.
While modern science keeps searching for ways to slow physical aging, many of us focus on something closer to home: keeping our brains sharp and healthy for as long as possible. That’s where SuperAgers come in, older adults in their 80s and 90s whose memory and cognitive abilities are just as vital as they were decades earlier. So what’s their secret? In this month’s episode, we meet Ignazio Piras, Ph.D., co-Author of a paper seeking to define what it is that these people have that makes them so unique. Dr. Piras explains what a "SuperAger" is, how his study looked at these individuals, their episodic memory performance, and whether their polygenic risk score (a number that estimates their personal genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease) factored into their prolonged high cognitive abilities.

In this episode of TGen Talks, we explore the art and responsibility of mentorship in biomedical research. Behind every breakthrough is not just data and experiments, but the guidance of seasoned scientists who shape the next generation. And while the results may not appear in a lab notebook, they’re just as important. TGen neuroscientist and educator, Dr. John Fryer, joins the podcast to share how mentorship transforms careers, fosters resilience, and sparks creativity. From the lessons learned in his own training to the values he instills in his lab today, Dr. Fryer reminds us that science is an apprenticeship at heart, and choosing the right mentor can make all the difference in the world. Because in the end, the breakthroughs we celebrate are powered not only by experiments, but by the people who take the time to guide others along the way.

For many Arizona students, the path into science begins with a single summer that reshapes their confidence and their future. Since 2007, the Helios Scholars Program at TGen has been that turning point. Each year, Helios Scholars spend eight weeks working directly with TGen researchers exploring cancer biology, neurological and infectious disease, diabetes, and the fast‑growing world of computational genomics. Some even step into administrative roles that keep scientific projects moving. The program began with a Helios Education Foundation grant in 2006. The pilot’s success led to a $6.5 million endowment and the official launch of Helios Scholars at TGen, a program built to educate, inspire, and strengthen Arizona’s STEM workforce. Now entering its 20th year, the impact is undeniable. Alumni have published research, earned national recognition, and joined top graduate and medical programs across the country. Helios alumna Saahithi Mallapragada joins TGen Talks to discuss how her Helios experience became a launchpad for her career in science. You’ll hear about her internship experience, her work in the lab, and why she would encourage anyone to apply to the Helios Scholar program to see if science might be a true passion.

May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month. In this episode, meet two new TGen researchers whose shared love of science—and math—first brought them together in the lab and later in life. Drs. Simona Migliozzi and Luciano Garofano are married to each other and to their work. They discuss their education in Italy, their research journeys across institutions in the U.S., and the path that ultimately led them to TGen, where Dr. Garofano’s expertise in math and statistics pairs seamlessly with Dr. Migliozzi's passion for improving outcomes for patients with glioblastoma. You’ll also hear about their individual contributions to the growing body of GBM research and learn which partner believes the other is the true “smart one” in the partnership.

It’s well known that smoking is the number one factor that significantly increases your risk of developing cancer over a lifetime. But obesity also poses an increased risk. While the relationship is well known, the reasons behind the link between body weight and cancer were not … until now. In this episode of TGen Talks, Dr. Cristian Tomasetti, senior author on a recent study in Cancer Research, highlights why obesity and cancer are so closely connected. While the link between excess weight and cancer has long been observed, Tomasetti and colleagues are the first to mathematically explain why the risk rises. Their work revealed that obesity enlarges organs, increasing the total number of cells that could potentially become cancerous. This episode blends math and medicine for a compelling look at how understanding cancer at the cellular level can shape the future of risk assessment.

March is Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month. In this episode, we speak with TGen Associate Professor Jonathan Keats, Ph.D. Dr. Keats’ revisits the COMPASS study from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundationm a 12-year research project that examined the different forms of this blood cancer and revealed why some patients respond well to treatment while others face more aggressive disease. His work on the project led to the development of two advanced tests that can deliver results in days instead of weeks, helping doctors choose the most effective treatment for each patient. These tests can also show when some patient may no longer need therapy, sparing many people from years of difficult and costly treatments. Listen as Dr. Keats shares why he believes the future is becoming much brighter for patients with multiple myeloma and other forms of cancer.

Why do some people stay mentally sharp well into their seventies and eighties, while others begin to struggle with memory much earlier in life? MindCrowd, an ambitious online brain study created at TGen, set out to explore that question more than a decade ago. Instead of bringing small groups of volunteers into a lab, Matt Huentelman, Ph.D., and his team did something almost unheard of at the time: they opened the study to anyone with an internet connection. In just a few minutes, participants answered basic questions and completed simple tasks that measured memory and reaction time. 
 Over time, those millions of data points have revealed how thinking, learning, and remembering evolve across the human lifespan. Today, MindCrowd is nearing an extraordinary milestone: one million participants. That massive, global dataset representing people of all ages, backgrounds, and countries has made possible discoveries that simply couldn’t be captured in traditional studies. Researchers have seen clear patterns in how response time changes with age, consistent performance differences between men and women, and even surprising findings about participants with high blood pressure. And despite our widespread fears about Alzheimer’s and dementia, MindCrowd reinforces a hopeful truth: roughly 87 percent of us will not experience dementia in our lifetime.
 As the project approaches the one-million mark, Dr. Huentelman joins us to talk about what study’s already taught us, the outliers who intrigue him most, why identifying the factors that protect, or challenge, our brain health matters to every one of us, and how this work moves us closer to the goal of precision aging.

Episode 87 of TGen Talks features Dr. Haiyong Han, who dives into his latest work on one of the deadliest of cancers: pancreatic cancer. He breaks down why this disease is so hard to catch early, how it can grow silently for years before symptoms appear, and why identifying true positives in the general population is such a big challenge. Dr. Han also shares promising progress toward a new non-invasive screening test that could one day enable earlier detection of pancreatic cancer. The goal? To turn this deadly disease into a more manageable condition, and give patients real hope for the future. As we recognize Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month in November, this episode emphasizes the urgent need for improved diagnostic methods, more effective treatments, and continued research to change the outcome for patients everywhere.

In this episode of TGen Talks, we sit down with three researchers who are working to make cancer care safer and more precise for some of the most vulnerable patients—children with rare brain tumors. Dr. Floris Barthel, Dr. Shea Gallus, and graduate student Sharvari Mankame are part of a team at TGen and Phoenix Children’s Hospital exploring liquid biopsies—a method that uses small samples of blood or spinal fluid to detect and monitor brain cancer. This approach could reduce the need for invasive surgeries, which are especially hard on young patients. Our guests explain how liquid biopsies work, what they’re learning from genetic markers called K-mers, and how artificial intelligence is helping them analyze tumor DNA in ways that weren’t possible before. Their goal is to find a better way to track cancer in real time—giving doctors more information while easing the burden on patients and families. While this science is still developing, it’s already showing real potential to shift how we approach diagnosis and treatment—not just in pediatrics, but across cancer care.