Genetics Unzipped

In this episode we tell the stories of two women - one a scientist fascinated by dancing mice, the other a seamstress with a deadly family legacy - who made significant contributions to our understanding of cancer as a disease driven by genetic changes, paving the way for lifesaving screening programmes for families.

Over the past year or so I’ve been writing a new book, Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution and the Science of Life, exploring what we’ve learned so far about where cancer comes from, where it’s going, and how we might finally beat it. It’s coming out in the UK on the 6th of August and in the US on the 29th September - and is available now to pre-order from rebelcellbook.com - and we’ll have some excerpts coming up in a future episode of the podcast.

UK Amazon link (affiliate) https://amzn.to/2BdT5zu

While I was researching the book, I came across the stories of two remarkable women - Maud Slye and Pauline Gross - who both made significant contributions to our fundamental understanding of cancer, but who have tended to be overlooked in many tellings of the history of cancer research. Here are their stories.

Thanks to Jenny Rohn for the voice of Maud Slye. If you want to read more about Pauline and Family G, and the impact that their genetic legacy has had on the family down the generations, check out Daughter of Family G, a memoir by Ami McKay, which we’ve drawn on heavily for this episode. Ami weaves together the strands of family history and science together with her own personal story to create a really compelling and emotional story.

Full show notes, transcript, music credits and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with additional scripting and research by Emily Nordvang and audio production by Hannah Varrall. This podcast is produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics.

We’re off on our virtual travels, finding out about the highs and lows of genetics fieldwork. From chasing butterflies up mountains to artificially inseminating kakapos with the help of drones and putting angry birds in paper bags until they poo, we talk to the researchers studying genetics and evolution in action.

Every year The Genetics Society runs the Heredity Fieldwork Grant scheme, awarding up to £1,500 to cover the travel and accommodation costs for researchers wanting to carry out a fieldwork project in genetics.

Our stay-at-home roving reporter Georgia Mills caught up with four intrepid explorers who’ve been off on their travels in locations as exotic as New Zealand, Lanzarote and the Lake District to hear more about their research and what they learned out in the field.

If you’re a genetics researcher and you’d like to apply for a Heredity fieldwork grant, head over to The Genetics Society website, genetics.org.uk and take a look at the grants section.

Full show notes, transcript, music credits and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with reporting by Georgia Mills and audio production by Hannah Varrall.

This podcast is produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics.

In this episode we’re taking a look at the life of Dame Anne McLaren - one of the leading embryologists of the 20th century, whose work underpinned the development of the in vitro fertilisation techniques responsible for bringing millions of bundles of joy into the world, and much more besides.

This story was first published in the book A Passion for Science: Stories of discovery and invention, which is packed with 20 stories about amazing women in science and is available to download as an ebook for just £1.99.

With thanks to Suw Charman-Anderson, founder of Ada Lovelace Day, and Professor Azim Surani.

Full show notes, transcript, music credits and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with additional scripting and research by Emily Nordvang and audio production by Hannah Varrall. This podcast is produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics.

In this episode we’re taking a virtual trip to Africa to explore the genetic diversity in the birthplace of humanity, discover how researchers can read the cultural and historical stories written in the genome, and discuss the implications for the lack of diversity in our current genetic databases for global health. With Sarah Tishkoff from the University of Pennsylvania and Garrett Hellenthal and Lucy van Dorp from UCL.

Full show notes, transcript, music credits and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with additional scripting and research by Emily Nordvang and audio production by Hannah Varrall. This podcast is produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics.

The names of James Watson and Francis Crick are inextricably linked with the discovery of the DNA double helix. And if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that credit is also due to Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins and Ray Gosling too.

But what about Elwyn Beighton, Fred Griffith or Rudolf Signer? In this episode we’re unwinding history to uncover some of the less well-known stories behind the discovery of the structure and function of DNA.

Full show notes, transcript, music credits and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with additional scripting and research by Emily Nordvang and audio production by Hannah Varrall. This podcast is produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics.

Research into genetic conditions relies on information from patients and their families, whether that’s detailed health records or genomic data. As the tools and techniques for DNA and data analysis become cheaper and more organisations get in on this fast-growing field, it’s vital to make sure that the most valuable research resource - human lives - doesn’t get overlooked in the rush. In this episode, recorded at the recent Festival of Genomics in London, we find out why it’s so important to make sure that both academic and commercial research studies are done with rather than on participants.

Full show notes, transcript, music credits and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with audio production by Hannah Varrall. This podcast is produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics.

35 years ago this month, a small team of scientists at the University of Leicester published a paper that changed the world. We take a look at the story of genetic fingerprinting, and some of the very first ways that this game-changing technique was put to work.

Full show notes, transcript, music credits and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with additional scripting and research by Emily Nordvang and audio production by Hannah Varrall. This podcast is produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics.

To get involved in the Genomics Education Programme’s week of action you can follow them on Twitter, @genomicsedu, and get on the hashtag #GenomicsConversation or head over to genomicseducation.hee.nhs.uk

In this episode in partnership with the Genomics Education Programme, we’re taking a look at some of the common myths and misconceptions surrounding genomics and genetics tests. Are mutations always bad? If you’re more like your mum, does that mean you’ve inherited more of her genes? And is there such a thing as a perfect genome?

Full show notes, transcript, music credits and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with additional scripting and research by Emily Nordvang and audio production by Hannah Varrall. This podcast is produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics.

If you know a bit of biology, you might know that the genetic code of DNA is written in just four ‘letters’ - A, C, T and G. You may even know that these letters are the initials come from the names of the molecules that make up the double helix, known as nucleotide bases: adenine, cytosine, thymine and guanine. But where did those strange-sounding names come from? In this episode of Genetics Unzipped, we go from poop to pus to atomic bonds on our journey to learn about the discovery of these vital chemicals and how they got their names.

Full show notes, transcript, music credits and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with additional scripting and research by Emily Nordvang and audio production by Hannah Varrall. This podcast is produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics.

In this episode, we’re hunting for the ghosts in our genomes, recreating the story of the discovery of the double helix in Lego, and science writer and broadcaster Adam Rutherford tells us how to argue with a racist.

Full show notes, transcript and references online at GeneticsUnzipped.com

Follow us on Twitter @GeneticsUnzip

Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney, and produced by First Create the Media for the Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics. Production by Hannah Varrall.