Biologists Being Basic

The B3 team is back for an episode discussing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. B3 hosts Robyn and Kelsey are joined by their colleagues Drs. Lorena Zuliani-Alvarez and Ujjwal Rathore, and their guest Laura Gladson, to talk about what vaccines are, as well as our own experiences in getting vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. Then we take a look at the common misconceptions, and try to address frequently asked questions regarding SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines.For a full transcript, please visit our website’s transcript page where you can find both the online and downloadable versions. http://biosbeingbasic.podomatic.net/transcripts.If you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected] or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).  See our website for more details (http://biosbeingbasic.podomatic.net).

In our second episode revisiting SARS-CoV-2 research we examine how SARS-CoV-2 infects cardiac cells and causes damage to the heart. We talk to co-authors Sarah Rockwood, Dr. Juan Perez-Bermejo, and Dr. Serah Kang about how they use induced pluripotent stem cells to study the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on heart tissue.

News coverage of this study, and the STAT article that is referenced during the episode can be found here:

https://abc7news.com/covid-heart-damage-palpitations-san-francisco-gladstone-institutes-attack/10433711/

https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/04/carnage-in-lab-dish-shows-how-coronavirus-may-damage-heart/

The primary peer-reviewed research article, published in Science Translational Medicine, titled “SARS-CoV-2 infection of human iPSC-derived cardiac cells reflects cytopathic features in hearts of patients with COVID-19” can be found here: https://stm.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/03/15/scitranslmed.abf7872

If you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter or Instagram (@biosbeingbasic). See our website for more details (biologistsbeingbasic.com).

In this episode we revisit SARS-CoV-2 research and take a look at new studies that have built on the work completed early in the pandemic. We focus on a story featuring Plitidepsin, a cancer drug that is being repurposed and tested in clinical trials to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. This discussion features B3 hosts Gina, Mehdi and Robyn who are joined by scientists Dr. Lucy Thorne and Dr. Ann-Kathrin Reuschl.

You can find the first article that was published in Science, “Plitidepsin has potent preclinical efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 by targeting the host protein eEF1A” here: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6532/926

You can find the second pre-print article, “Host-directed therapies against early-lineage SARS-CoV-2 retain efficacy against B.1.1.7 variant” at bioRxiv here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.24.427991v2

If you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected] or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).

See our website for more details (http://biosbeingbasic.podomatic.net).

The B3 team is back and in honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, we produced an episode that focuses on women in science. Join B3 hosts Robyn, Paige, Gina, and Alexa as we have a candid discussion about our own experiences in science and the women scientists we have looked up to and learned about during our careers.

If you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected] or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).

Episode notes:

The Sago Show by Rachel Lucero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVE8si4FfnA

Food52 article by Amelia Rampe: https://food52.com/blog/24700-maria-orosa-profile

Esquire article by Mario Alvaro Limos: https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/maria-orosa-the-war-hero-who-invented-banana-ketchup-a00293-20191109

In our last episode of 2020, come join our B3 holiday party and get to know teammates Robyn, Michael, Alexa, Gina, Paige, Joe, Mehdi and Kelsey! No science in this one, just some holiday cheer as we sit around the proverbial Zoom fireplace to ask and answer some comical questions.

Episode notes:

If Michael were a wrestler, this is the song he would walk out to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WN0T-Ee3q4

If Mehdi were a wrestler, this is the song he would walk out to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw

In this episode, Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Paige, Gina and Robyn continue their conversation with special guest, Professor Pascale Guiton.

Join us for a candid discussion about her path to science, her career in academia, her advocacy of BIPOC voices in STEM, and the importance of diversity, representation, inclusion and equity in the sciences.

Further Resources:

We highly recommend visiting Professor Guiton’s website, where you can find her publications and keep up with her latest science and BIPOC advocacy highlights: https://guitonlab.com/

In addition, if you are interested in the teaching material that was discussed in the episode, you can find the resource here: https://edarxiv.org/s9wkv/

In this episode, Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Paige, Gina and Robyn talk to special guest, Professor Pascale Guiton, about her research on the fascinating life cycle of Toxoplasma gondii. In part one, we take a deeper look into the science behind the king of parasites.

Further Resources:

For further information on topics we talked about in Episode 7: Part 1, we highly recommend visiting Professor Guiton’s website and looking into her publications: https://guitonlab.com/

In addition, you can watch Dr. Guiton talk about Toxoplasma gondii and her research on QBI TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckixqEbxZfs

For another look at Gina’s question (does this parasite make her love cats so much), check out this Ted-Ed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqno7K2zXi4

Dr. Guiton references work by Dr. Laura Knoll’s team on the role of delta-6-desaturase in Toxoplasma sexual reproduction: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31430281/

...and also discusses this study by Vyas et al on the behavioral changes induced by Toxoplasma infection in mice: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17404235/

Concerned about toxoplasmosis and pregnancy? No you don’t have to give up your cat, instead visit the CDC for more info: https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/gen_info/pregnant.html

Dr. Guiton mentioned the call for a One Health framework to study Toxoplasma gondii, described in this review: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10393-019-01405-7

...and references fluorescent staining of Toxoplasma gondii done by Dr. Sebastian Lourido. For cool videos and images of brightly colored Toxo (and coverage of his most recent research), watch this feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOnhthD3yz4

We talked about Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who was the first to observe microscopic organisms (“animalcules”): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/07/antoni-leeuwenhoek-microbe-microscope-discovery-contribution/

Still fascinated by parasites and want to learn more? Check out this “hilarious and ever-so-slightly creepy” Ted talk by Ed Yong, who describes the biology behind a handful of parasites (including Toxo): https://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_zombie_roaches_and_other_parasite_tales?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

If you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected] or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).

In this special bonus episode, Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts taste a bunch of different varieties of bananas… and that’s it!

No science in this one, but if you want to listen in on our pre-COVID-19 pandemic culinary adventure, you can join B3 hosts Joe, Kelsey, Robyn and our friend Sean (with a special late appearance from Gina) as we taste different banana species.

The Banana Variety pack was purchased from Miami Fruit (https://miamifruit.org/), and if you are curious about what each banana looks like, check out our pictures on instagram (@biosbeingbasic).

In this episode, Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Joe, Kelsey and Robyn are joined by our friend Sean to discuss Fusarium wilt, a fungus that threatens bananas as we know them. Listen as we explore the history of this pathogen and its relationship with the yellow tropical fruit that US residents love to eat.

Further Resources:

If you want to learn more about bananas and their history, check out Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World, by Dan Koeppel (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/299017/banana-by-dan-koeppel/).

For more technical peer-reviewed articles on TR4 resistant Cavendish strains, we recommend the following: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01670-6 and

https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005197

For news articles that covered the primary research, check out:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/devastating-banana-disease-may-have-reached-latin-america-could-drive-global-prices

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/gm-banana-shows-promise-against-deadly-fungus-strain

https://www.wired.com/story/fungus-could-wipe-out-banana-forever/

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/08/16/751499719/devastating-banana-fungus-arrives-in-colombia-threatening-the-fruits-future

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49331286

If you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected] or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).

Biologists Being Basic (B3) hosts Kelsey and Robyn are joined by our friends Megan and Gina as we take a look into the basic biology research behind the headline! This week, we look into a group of related viruses that cause the common cold called enteroviruses, and how these enteroviruses rely on a specific host factor inside human cells to replicate.

Further Resources:

Kate Shepherd’s article in The Washington Post, “A cure for the common cold? ‘It’s possible,’ scientists say, after new study finds key protein”, covering the Nature Microbiology paper: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/19/common-cold-cure-protein-stanford-research/

The peer-reviewed research article in Nature Microbiology, “Enterovirus pathogenesis requires the host methyltransferase SETD3” by Diep et al: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-019-0551-1

Scientific American also nicely summarizes the peer-reviewed research article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-newly-identified-protein-may-be-the-key-to-vanquishing-the-common-cold/

...provides some background information about why a cure for the common cold has been elusive: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-havent-we-cured-the-common-cold-yet/

...and covers previous outbreaks of the more severe illness of enterovirus infection: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poliolike-childhood-muscle-weakening-disease-reappears/

For more info on enteroviruses, including strains that cause more severe disease, visit the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fnon-polio-enterovirus%2Fabout%2Findex.html

If you want to watch the ABC news clip we featured in the beginning of the episode about this work: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/researchers-discover-cure-common-cold-65660556

We mentioned this paper’s technique to knock out genes using CRISPR, for more info about this trendy gene editing technique check out this Ted-Ed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tw_JVz_IEc

If you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected] or find us on twitter or instagram (@biosbeingbasic).