Tracking diseases using genomics 

Stop the presses! New research shows that viruses locked in the Arctic permafrost for thousands of years have the potential to infect present-day organisms. Accompanied with a warming planet, this issue is really starting to thaw out. So what can brave scientists and institutions on the frontlines of tracking diseases do about it? And how can understanding our genomic history with diseases over thousands of years better prepare us in the fight to overcome them?

Dr. Kaylee Byers starts our journey by slinking into a disease-tracking genomics lab at Simon Fraser University to meet Dr. Michael Trimble and Dr. Will Hsiao to understand the challenge of outpacing the rapid evolution of viruses. Then she pops across the ocean to speak with Dr. Birgitta Evengård and Dr. Jean-Michel Claverie about whether the Pandora's box of ancient diseases frozen in the arctic have the potential to become the next global outbreak as temperatures warm. Plus, we unearth ancient burial sites in Vietnam with Dr. Melandri Vlok, to investigate how climate change exacerbates the tension between human health and pathogens.

Special thanks to Dr. Will Hsiao and Dr. Michael Trimble for allowing us to record with them at Simon Fraser University.

Click here for this episode's Learn-A-Long!

Resources:
1. Infection control in the new age of genomic epidemiology | British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory
2. The permafrost pandemic: could the melting Arctic release a deadly disease | Unearthed
3. Viral spillover risk increases with climate change in High Arctic lake sediments | The Royal Society
4. Healthy ecosystems for human and animal health: Science diplomacy for responsible development in the Arctic | The Nordic Centre of Excellence
5. Understanding and Responding to Global Health Security Risks from Microbial Threats in the Arctic: Proceedings of a Workshop | National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine
6. Next pandemic may come from melting glaciers, new data shows | The Guardian
7. Scientists Revived Ancient 'Zombie Viruses' Frozen For Eons in Siberia | Science Alert
8. A 48,500-year-old virus has been revived from Siberian permafrost | NewScientist
9. Anthrax outbreak in Siberia | euro news
10. CBC News: The National | Russia invades Ukraine | Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)
11. National Geographic: Explorer Directory, Melandri Vlok | National Geographic
12. Paleoepidemiological Considerations of Mobility and Population Interaction in the Spread of Infectious Diseases in the Prehistoric Past | Bioarchaeology International
13. The Epidemiological Transition: A Theory of the Epidemiology of Population Change | Milbank Memorial Fund
14. Forager and farmer evolutionary adaptations to malaria evidenced by 7000 years of thalassemia in Southeast Asia | nature portfolio
15. CARD 2020: antibiotic resistome surveillance with the comprehensive antibiotic resistance database | Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University

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Preparing the Environment: Climate Special Part 1 

In part 1 of our climate special, we revisit our oceans to look at the rocky atolls and reefs that are home to colourful world builders, coral!

Since the 1950’s the planet has lost half of its coral reefs due to degradation. With ocean temperatures rising and harmful environmental and human activities, how can we better protect essential ecosystems for communities and marine life alike?

Dr. Kaylee Byers sits down with Dr. Shayle Matsuda, a marine biologist looking into the effects of environmental stresses on coral reefs due to the climate crisis. And with the aid of genomic sequencing, Shayle wonders if we can utilize a clever symbiotic relationship found on these fascinating organisms to cultivate greater reef resilience into the future. Next, meet Ben Williams from the University of Exeter, who shares a unique acoustic invention to help restore reefs in Indonesia. And finally, researcher Madelyn Jones takes us through her work on the British Columbia coast to replenish the spiralling towers we call "kelp forests."

Click here for this episode's Learn-A-Long!

Resources:
1. The sound of recovery: Coral reef restoration success is detectable in the soundscape | British Ecological Society
2. Vital Signs: Ocean Warming | NASA
3. The Planet Has Lost Half of Its Coral Reefs Since 1950 | Smithsonian
4. Coral Reefs Could All Die Off by 2050 | EcoWatch
5. ‘Dire outlook’: scientists say Florida reefs have lost nearly 98% of coral | The Guardian
6. Report: Florida's Coral Reefs Among Most Damaged In U.S. | CBS Local News
7. HydroMoth: Testing a prototype low-cost acoustic recorder for aquatic environments | ZSL
8. What is a kelp forest? | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
9. Canada’s kelp forests are at risk. A seaweed farmer is trying to save them | CBC Creator Network
10. Months after mass die-off of sea creatures in B.C. heat dome, researchers return in search of signs of life | CBC News
11. Coral Bleaching Susceptibility Is Predictive of Subsequent Mortality Within but Not Between Coral Species | Frontiers
12. Larval thermal conditioning does not improve post-settlement thermal tolerance in the dominant reef-building coral, Montipora capitata | Springer
13. Genome-powered classification of microbial eukaryotes: focus on coral algal symbionts | Science Direct
12. Do Coral Reefs Produce Oxygen? | Techie Scientist
14. What is coral spawning? | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
15. Myth 5 - Genomics Can't Help Climate Change | Genome British Columbia

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A genomic whale of a story

Things aren’t always what they seem on the surface, especially when it comes to our oceans. So many mysteries hum below its watery surface. So, you may just have to use your ears when it's too dark to see exactly what's going on down there.

Dr. Kaylee Byers looks into the ocean giants that lurk in the depths and the unique songs they share with us. She sits down with whale biologist Dr. Jennifer Allen on how whale songs are imparting a cultural exchange between populations that are hundreds of miles apart. Filmmaker Joshua Zeman shares his journey to find the infamously dubbed 'Loneliest Whale'. And Paeleobiologist Dr. Travis Park from the Museum of Natural History in London tells us how whales developed their unique singing superpowers by taking us back through millions of years of evolution. Finally, researcher Grace Baer brings us to a remote west coast station studying whale populations and the effects of ocean traffic noise.

It's a whale-sized episode taking you on a listening journey into this wonderful watery world!

Click here for this episode's Learn-A-Long!

CREDITS:

Special thanks to Captain Gaelen Krause of the Island Odyssey, for capturing recordings on his journey to search for whales along the British Columbia coast. Thank you to BCwhales.org, North Coast Cetacean Society, for providing hydrophone recordings in this episode. Credit to Joshua Zeman and Bleecker Street Media for providing audio clips from their documentary The Loneliest Whale: The Seach for 52. And finally, credit to Watkins Mammal Sound Database with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for access to their whale recordings.

Resources:
1. Southern Resident Killer Whale Research Project | Parks Canada
2. Whales learn songs from each other in a cultural 'deep dive' | phys.org
3. Whale-monitoring robots are oceanic eavesdroppers with a mission | Popular Science
4. Whale Songs Are Getting Deeper | The Atlantic
5. The search for the loneliest whale in the world | The Guardian
6. The Loneliest Whale: The Search fro 52 | Bleecker Street Media
7. BTS (방탄소년단) Whalien 52' MV | BigHit Entertainment
7. Watkins Marine Mammal Sound Database  | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
8. Underwater Noise Pollution Is Disrupting Ocean Life - But We Can Fix it | TIME
9. Convergent evolution in toothed whale cochleae | BMC Evolutionary Biology
10. Evolutionary Basis of High-Frequency Hearing in the Cochleae of Echolocators Revealed by Comparative Genomics | Oxford Academic
11. Genome-culture coevolution promotes rapid divergence of killer whale ecotypes | Nature
12. DNA Suggests Cultural Traits Affect Whale Evolution | Science
13. San Francisco: Dead Whale Opens Seafood Season | Universal International Newswire
14. Songs of the Humpback Whale | Roger Payne, CRM Records
15. Whaling Commission | Associated Press Archive
16. Monaco - International Whaling Commission | Associated Press Archive
17. Bubble Net Feeding | BC Whales
18. Cool Genomics Facts - Fact 4 & 5: Environmental DNA | Genome British Columbia

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The Importance of Biodiversity 

Conservation is often about protecting the species that still wander around our Earth. But what about those that once did but have gone extinct? In this Halloween-inspired episode, we take a look into how one spooky idea has gone from science fiction to science fact, de-extinction style.

Dr. Kaylee Byers takes us to the upside-down world of wild animals in Australia. She sits down with Dr. Axel Newton whose research addresses how to resurrect a species that has been extinct for nearly a century. Also joining her is  Dr. Carolyn Hogg who uses the latest genomic technology to understand the impacts of reintroducing endangered species into their native habitats. In this wacky tale of resurrection and 'devils' will the spirit of scientific discovery mean incredible changes for the future, or is a line being crossed that we can't come back from?

Click here for this episode's Learn-A-Long!

Resources:
1. Lab takes 'giant leap' toward thylacine de-extinction with Colossal genetic engineering technology partnership | The University of Melbourne
2. Thylacine Integrated Genomic Restoration Research Lab (TIGRR Lab) | The University of Melbourne
3. Thylacine: How we plan to de-extinct the Tasmanian tiger | Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences
4. Extinction of thylacine | National Museum Australia
5. A year after Australia's wildfires, extinction threatens hundreds of species | Science News
6. Rewilding returns lost species to strengthen ecosystems | Science News
7. Park Conscious | U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
8. Endangered Tasmanian devils insured against future threats | The University of Sydney
9. The 9 Steps to De-Extincting Australia's Thylacine | The University of Melbourne
10. The Value of Reference Genomes in the Conservation of Threatened Species | Marsupial Genetics and Genomics
11. Assessing evolutionary processes over time in a conservation breeding program: a combined approach using molecular data, simulations and pedigree analysis | Biodiversity and Conservation

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Protecting Local Wildlife Icons

What do you get when you cross a polar bear and a grizzly… and why should you care?

In this episode of Nice Genes!, host Dr. Kaylee Byers and National Geographic explorer Dr. Christine Wilkinson look into the mysterious case of pizzly bears, a rare hybrid between polar bears and grizzlies. Together they speak with Dr. David Paetkau, whose team unravelled this strange genomic crossbreeding after receiving more and more sightings coming from the Arctic Circle. Is this hybridization occurring because of climate change? They also speak with Wiuikinuxv scientist Jennifer Walkus, who gained local notoriety for her efforts in ending the trophy hunt of grizzly bears in British Columbia.

Special thanks to Gaelen Krause, Captain of the Island Odyssey with Bluewater Adventures and Ellie Lamb, Naturalist and Hiking Guide.

Click here for this episode's Learn-A-Long!

Resources:
1. Lions, tigers, and Whatsitbears | zoohistories.com: 
2. Recent Hybridization between a Polar Bear and Grizzly Bears in the Canadian Arctic | JSTOR
3. Arctic hybrids not a good sign, warn scientists | Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)
4. "Bears Teach Us" -- Sharing With All Our Relations | Watershed Sentinel 
5. DNA analysis of grizzly bears aligns with Indigenous languages | raincoast.org: 
6. How Indigenous Knowledge is helping to protect Canada's grizzlies | National Geographic
7. Pizzly or grolar bear: grizzly-polar hybrid is a new result of climate change | The Guardian
8. Province ends controversial grizzly bear trophy hunt | Global News
9. Glacial ice supports a distinct and undocumented polar bear subpopulation persisting in late 21st-century sea-ice conditions | Science
10. Sockey salmon collapse due to lack of food, study says | Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)
11. One Health Basics | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 

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Species loss, warming temperatures, and pollution are just the tip of the iceberg concerning the challenges of climate change. Oh, and you can forget about that iceberg... because it's melting too. The point is, it's easy to feel down on our luck on this planet we all know and love. But what if we don't have to feel that way?

On Season 2 of Nice Genes! we look into the incredible science, bold missions, and brainy ideas that give us hope for the spinning rock we call home. Through tools like genomics and confronting big ethical questions, we can see a glimmer of a brighter tomorrow.

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Solving murder mysteries with genomics

[TW: murder, mention of suicide, violent imagery]

In order to seek genomic justice, you have to get out of the lab and into the field.

Dr. Kaylee Byers grabs a magnifying glass and a deerstalker cap as she goes to the scene of one of North America’s oldest cold case murder mysteries, the “Babes in the Woods.” This over 70-year-old unsolved case has finally had some closure due to emerging forensic genomic science.

But while looking for leads, Dr. Byers spots a bright red thread pointing her to questions about how our genomics are being accessed by law enforcement. How can genomics bring justice to unsolved mysteries? And at what cost are we willing to pay to find answers?

Genetic Genealogist, Cece Moore, from ABC’s Prime time series The Genetic Detective helps connect the dots. And partnering with us to get to the bottom of one of Canada’s oldest mysteries is true crime author and podcaster Eve Lazarus from Cold Case Canada.

Listen to Nice Genes! wherever you get your podcasts, brought to you by Genome British Columbia.

Check out this episode's Learn-A-Long at the following link: https://bit.ly/3vULWxp

Warning. This episode contains details of murder mysteries, suicide, and ongoing investigations some listeners may feel uncomfortable with.

Resources: 

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Just like any good superhero comic, we start this episode with the science going incredibly wrong. Think: vats of toxic waste producing evil mutants that ravage the city. Or maybe not so evil. It really depends on your perspective. Just like the X-men, genetic mutations get a bad rap in the public eye. But they aren’t all nasty.

Dr. Kaylee Byers speaks with data scientist and evolutionary biologist Dr. Brian Arnold on how the genetic ‘mistakes’ known as variants occasionally encode incredible abilities. Odd elephants, immortality hiding in our ocean depths, and Rogue-ish bacteria are just a few examples. Dr. Arnold defends these genetic anomalies, and explains how they can make a huge difference to the future of humanity and life on this planet. Also joining us is marine biologist Dr. Maria Pia Miglietta, who shares an incredible ability sitting in our ocean depths. Immortality.

So strap on your capes, because we’re heading straight into the strange terrain of “heroic mutations.” 

Listen to Nice Genes! wherever you get your podcasts, brought to you by Genome British Columbia.

Check out this episode's Learn-A-Long at the following link: https://bit.ly/3bey4XT

Resources: 

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Race is not genetic.

TW: racism, systemic racism

What exactly is the relationship between race and genetics? And where do concepts of ancestry and identity enter the conversation? In the realm of genomics, these are myths waiting to be busted.

“What does the information stored in our genomes tell us about our past and our present?” Dr. Kaylee Byers and Co-host Dr. Shawn Hercules join forces to break into this fundamental question of science, ancestry and race.  First, they speak with “Genet-SIS” and Executive Producer of the podcast In Those Genes, Dr. Janina Jeff (A.K.A. “Dr.J²”) about how race is really a social construct. Together, they delve into the important distinctions we must make between ancestry and race in order to better understand our biology. 

Dr. Hercules discusses their research into advanced breast cancer in Caribbean and West African women and how it relates to hereditary genes. This opens the conversation up to how scientists need to be mindful when working with marginalized communities to extract genetic information. Finally, globe-trotting scientist and ancient DNA expert Dr. Eske Willerslev, shares stories of his intercultural journeys to understand human ancestry and migration around the world. Join us for this fascinating episode about race, ancestry, and genomics without borders.

Listen to Nice Genes! wherever you get your podcasts, brought to you by Genome British Columbia. 

Check out this episode's Learn-A-Long at the following link: https://bit.ly/3zgWKrS

Resources: 

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How the hunt for wild species leads to eDNA

Most of us have a hard-enough time looking for our cell phone chargers in the dark. So imagine trying to find something that’s hidden high in building rafters, deep in muddy bogs, or scattered across endless savannahs. And now, imagine the thing you’re looking for has fangs… and sharp claws.

Dr. Kaylee Byers and her wing-woman Dr. Cylita Guy, call-in wildlife conservationist Gabi Fleury to assist in answering, ‘How do you find that which doesn’t want to be found? And should you?’ Globally speaking, does our need to turn over every rock to find vulnerable species really intersect with conservation? Rats, bats, and cheetahs weasel their way into this exciting conversation on how the study of genomics may be the “hopping off point” into a more sustainable future.

Also joining us is world famous DNA scientist, professor and globe-trotting adventurer Dr. Eske Willerslev, sharing the secret weapon he pioneered to find some of the world’s most elusive creatures.

Listen to 'Nice Genes!' wherever you get your podcasts, brought to you by Genome British Columbia.

Check out this episode's Learn-A-Long at the following link: https://bit.ly/3QlLVue

Resources: 

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