Global Health (Audio)

CRISPR gene editing grew out of curiosity-driven research into how bacteria defend themselves against viruses. Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna and Kit Pogliano, dean of UC San Diego's School of Biological Sciences, discuss how that discovery became a powerful research tool. Doudna describes the Innovative Genomics Institute's partnership with UC San Diego and potential work on rare diseases and ocean-related research. They examine an FDA-approved sickle cell disease therapy, the challenges of delivery, cost, and access, ethical responsibilities, and the value of basic science for young researchers. Event sponsors: UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences; Deep Look Public Speaker Series. Series: "Deep Look Public Speaker Series" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 41800]

Nobel Laureate and biochemist Katalin Karikó's groundbreaking work on COVID-19 vaccines earned her the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023, alongside co-collaborator Drew Weissman. She's also the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's 2023 recipient of the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest. Karikó, an adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania, is best known for her research on messenger RNA — the genetic material that tells our bodies how to make proteins — and the development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Karikó and Weissman invented the modified mRNA technology used in Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s vaccines to prevent COVID-19 infection. In this program, Karikó talks about the progress and development of mRNA over the past six decades. Karikó will discuss the journey from the discovery of mRNA in 1961 to its groundbreaking milestone as the first FDA-approved mRNA product in the form of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in 2021. Series: "Science in the Public Interest" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 39337]

What we eat -- and don’t eat -- is directly related to our health. Poor diets lead to poor health outcomes, including cancer. Dr. Donald Abrams, integrative oncologist at UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, is an expert on nutrition and cancer. Here Dr. Abrams discusses the issue of fruit juices. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 38816]

The world's population is aging. How can we improve the lives of older people, their families, and their communities? Alison A. Moore, M.D., UC San Diego, shares the impacts of studying healthy aging globally. From the World Health Organization (WHO) to the UN and locally in San Diego, learn how the world community is studying aging to improve health, equity, longevity and more. Series: "Stein Institute for Research on Aging" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 38425]