BioPOD

Video version: https://youtu.be/weaFSVsvyBY

Anna Motýľová talks with Dr Keira Tucker, manager of ASCUS Art & Science, the first open access lab space in Scotland. They host science workshops for the general public and art exhibitions inspired by science. You will learn about Keira's personal journey as an artist/scientist, as well as 3 weird and wonderful creative projects she has facilitated between artists and scientists from the University of Edinburgh.

By the end of this episode, you will have thought about things you never have before. What happens to cancerous organs once they leave the body? Should noise in scientific data always be discarded? When medical practicioners don't hear the voices of suffering patients, can an artistic approach help?

Interview recorded, edited and produced for BioPOD by Anna Motýľová.
Camera by Ainslie Rönsdorf.
Intro and outro recorded by Felix Selasi Dewornu.
Episode cover art by Amandine Hong-Minh.

Check out the featured artists:
ASCUS Art & Science [www.ascus.org.uk]
G-lands by Emily Fong [https://emilyfongstudio.squarespace.com/]
Fluorescent images & video of salivary glands by Dr Elaine Emmerson and Dr Sara Knox, Centre for Regenerative Medicine [https://regenerative-medicine.ed.ac.uk/research/elaine-emmerson]
Oculations by Victoria Evans [www.victoriaevans.space]
Blackford Eye video by Dr Richard Essery [https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/richard-essery/]
Hemispherical Mosquito by Dr Cecile Menard [https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/cecile-menard]

Chapters:
01:26 What is ASCUS Art & Science?
03:46 Keira's background
05:14 ASCUS as a lab space
06:39 Keira's artistic journey
08:55 Keira's work in ASCUS

09:56 Project 1: The Egyptian god in salivary glands
11:27 Why salivary glands?
14:22 Why bring artists into scientific teams?
18:24 The artwork: From drawings to cabbages
29:29 The workshops: Scientist-artist-sufferer discussion

33:46 Project 2: Noise in snow science
39:04 Scientific vs. artistic research
40:30 Changing mindsets

41:59 Project 3: Surface echoes
47:05 The eczema experience(s)
49:04 Communicating science through performance
53:07 Training GPs through art

54:15 Future projects
56:11 Final lessons

In this episode of BioPod’s entrepreneurship series, Keshav talks with Dr. Alex Speakman about his entrepreneurial journey of starting E.V.A Biosystems. Alex talks about the help and resources available to aspiring entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into successful startups. He also provides helpful information on navigating through the various stages of a startup including ideation, validation and patenting. 

 Interviewed by Keshav, edited by Evangelia, art by Amandine and produced by Keshav. 

Aging, or senescence has been a topic of scientific fascination for a long time. Natural populations like the Soay Sheep in St Kilda, a remote scottish island, are ideal to study aging theories in the wild.

In this summer episode, Professor Dan Nussey speaks to us about the long running Soay Sheep project and the insights they provide on the study of senescence. 

Interview by Markella Moraitou. Edited by Flora Caldwell, Art by Severina Marija Pociunaite, Produced by Nitara Wijayatilake. 

We have all heard about the importance of the gut microbiome. But how much do you know about the oral microbiome in our mouths? In the second interview with Dr Katerina Guschanski, Alastair Scott finds out all about how you can use the oral microbiome to study how antimicrobial resistance evolved through time. 

Dr Katerina Guschanski and her team extract ancient DNA from calcified dental calculus, to study their bacterial composition from before the existence of mass-produced antibiotics.

Art by Amandine Hong-Minh, editing by Elena Hartmann, produced by Liz Gaberdiel. 

In this first episode of a two-parter with Dr Katerina Guschanski, Neelakshi Varma finds out about the intricacies and quirks of primate evolution, specifically around guenon monkeys. We also learn about how Katerina accidentally found her way to working with primates, the difficulties and exciting aspects of field work in Madagascar and why you can’t really define a species. 

Edited by Frankie Swift, artwork by Liz Gaberdiel, produced by Liz Gaberdiel.

Check out some more research by the Guschanski lab here: https://www.ieg.uu.se/animal-ecology/Research+groups/guschanski-lab

In this episode of BioPod's publishing series, Severina and Dr Seema Grewal discuss the world of editing for scientific journals. Seema is the Executive Editor for the Journal of Cell Science, and talks through her journey entering publishing, advice for PhD students wanting to enter the industry, and gives helpful tips for those wanting to publish their own papers.  

In this episode of BioPod’s entrepreneurship series, Keshav and Dr. Wu Huang discuss the journey behind NucBarcoder, a species identification tool hoping to tackle the biodiversity crisis. Wu talks through some of the challenges and rewards of growing a start-up idea and how Edinburgh Innovations from the University of Edinburgh advised and helped throughout the process.

In this episode Anna and Andrea Paterlini talks about the approach to education of genetics and his experience developing a course for 2nd year bachelor students. They discuss diversity and inclusion in science and what remains to be done to be scientifically accurate when it comes to these sensitive topics in education as well as everyday life. Andrea also mentions what he and other scientists did to address the statements of the secretary of state for science (which you can find here ). And if anyone is interested, here is the author that Andrea mentioned https://www.adamrutherford.com/allbooks 

With many PhD students interested in alternative career pathways in science, we are keen to explore and demystify the world of scientific publishing. In this episode, Severina Marija Pociunaite talks to Dr Manuel Breuer, a deputy editor at Springer Nature, about his journey into scientific publishing. In particular, they explore the diversity of the role, how scientific publishing has changed in recent years, and advice for scientists preparing and submitting their manuscripts to improve their chances of acceptance.

In this episode, Haomiao chats with Professor Thorunn Helgason, the head of the School of Biological sciences at Edinburgh University. It’s been a year since Thorunn started her post here in August 2022, let’s meet her and hear how she sees the past academic year in the school, and how she expects the future to happen. And, have you also wondered how was Edinburgh Uni like years ago? Well, Thorunn doesn’t just see the university thriving today, she also witnessed the changes happened since she firstly stepped into Edinburgh Uni as a student. 

We also asked her advice for students and young professionals. So why not grab a tea and sit down with us to talk about the past, present and future about our school and yourself?