Discovery Matters

This episode is a more immediately serious story than previous topics we've covered.  This story is about a discovery where a number of people had to go through unimaginable pain so that it can become useful for others. 

This is the story of Emily Whitehead, the first pediatric patient enrolled in a clinical trial investigating CAR T-cell therapy CTL019, now known as tisagenlecleucel, at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Emily is now a happy, healthy 14-year-old in remission for the past 7 years. 

This is also the story of Nicole Gularte, the leukemia patient who beat cancer 8 times (!!!) and is the recipient of no less than 3 rounds of CAR-T cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). On Nov 23rd she will walk 8 km ahead of Philadelphia Marathon to raise money and awareness for the Emily Whitehead Foundation. You can help by donating here: www.bit.ly/nicolecart 

Transcript

Keywords: cell, patient, therapy, doctor, story, discovery, gene therapy, cancer, treatment, manufacturing, industry, trial, therapeutic index, clinical trial

We humans have been mapping things since the beginning of time. In our endless quest to figure ourselves and our world out, there are projects galore. Does the 150-year-old periodic table ring any bells? 

In this episode, Dodi takes Conor on an explorer’s journey, destination: Human Protein Atlas project. 

Strap on your seatbelt, it’s a bumpy ride connecting the dots between explorers, chemists, geneticists…and even sociologists! 

Transcript

Keyword: atlas, periodic table, proteins, maps, protein, elements, project, mapping, discovery, classify, human protein atlas.

A pandemic starts with a picnic.  But can pandemics be prevented without cancelling feel-good gatherings?

Enter Artificial Intelligence into the world of healthcare and life sciences.  Dodi meets up with an expert panel on the topic and gets examples of the real potential of this very trendy topic.

Transcript

Keywords: pandemics, ai, data, infectious diseases, healthcare, outbreak, ebola outbreak, ebola crisis, predict, data sources, spread, humanitarian, infections.

Dodi and Conor discover how jam played a part in paving the way for biopharmaceutical drugs. 60 years ago, Swedish scientists happened upon a new method of protein separation through chromatography. The very same technique continues to be the foundation for modern biomedical manufacturing.

Transcript

Keywords: protein separation, chromatography, dextran, jam, protein, gel, Swedish, pectin, affinity chromatography, develop, column, antibodies, separate, pharmacy, sugar, biomedical manufacturing, sephadex.

Little did you know, but a single hamster has been a force of innovation and massive biomedical production. Scientists devote entire careers to so-called CHO cells from this Chinese hamster’s ovary. Dodi and Conor meet a couple of them to figure out why this hamster rules the biopharma world. 

Transcript

Keywords: cells, protein, hamster, CHO, patient, dna molecules.

The list of people needing kidney transplants is tragically long, and donor lists are desperately short. Conor and Dodi find scientists who are coming up with alternative solutions to this problem. Some enable transplantation of less-than-perfect organs, and others dream of 3D printing important organs.

Transcript

Keywords: organ, transplant, dialysis, kidney, transplantation, donors, patient, organ donation, surgeon, repairing, biomedical.