Not Another Science Podcast

The SARS-Cov-2 (Covid-19) pandemic swept around the world in a frighteningly short amount of time. With each news update, the number of affected regions, the number of cases, and the number of deaths climbed. In such a frantic situation,  where the virus was seemingly everywhere, how do you determine how the disease spread through populations and across the world?

This is where researchers like Dr. Samantha Lycett come in. Since the start of the pandemic, scientists have been collecting and cataloguing samples of SARS-Cov-2, sequencing their genetic information, and publishing it with open access. Dr. Lycett has been using the sequences of different SARS-Cov-2 genomes published online to trace the evolution of the virus, and to help establish how it was transmitted across the world. Comparing the genomes allows her to find mutations within the sequences, which she can use to establish the order in which the mutations appeared and thus, how the virus travelled through different populations.

You can find out more about Dr. Lycett and her work on her lab’s website, and her University of Edinburgh staff page.

Not Another Science Podcast is edited by Helena Cornu, hosted by Tom Edwick and brought to you by Edinburgh University Science Magazine (EUSci). Our podcast logo  was designed by Apple Chew. The podcast cover art was designed by Heather Jones. Visit our website at www.eusci.org.uk to check out the latest issue of the magazine, a ton of other cool science content by our student journalists, and to see how to get involved. All podcast episodes and transcripts can be found at www.eusci.org.uk/podcasts/.

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Music by Kevin Macleod:

Drug development is a slow process at the best of times. So the best way to rapidly find treatments for Covid-19 was to find known drugs that could be repurposed to fight the new disease. But with the confusion created by the myriad of studies published about Covid-19, often without peer-review, how do you keep track of everything?

This is where Jamie Davies stepped in. His lab created a curated database of known drugs and drug targets that should be prioritised in the fight against Covid-19, and provided a reliable source of information about new research. In this episode, Tom talks to Professor Davies about the purpose of this new database, how the pandemic has changed the way research is done, and what effects this could have on science going forward.

You can find out more about Professor Davies and his work on his lab’s website, his University of Edinburgh staff page, and his blog.

Not Another Science Podcast is edited by Helena Cornu, hosted by Tom Edwick and brought to you by Edinburgh University Science Magazine (EUSci). Our podcast logo  was designed by Apple Chew. The podcast cover art was designed by Heather Jones. Visit our website at www.eusci.org.uk to check out the latest issue of the magazine, a ton of other cool science content by our student journalists, and to see how to get involved. All podcast episodes and transcripts can be found at www.eusci.org.uk/podcasts/.

Music by Kevin Macleod:

When a pandemic disrupts your 3D printing operations, what do you do? Well, if you’re the team at Augment Bionics, you shift gears and start mass producing Personal Protective Equipment. Augment Bionics is a student start up from the University of Edinburgh, and in normal times their engineers design and print prosthetic limbs. Financed by a GoFundMe campaign, they are currently making 10 000 face shields a week, which are donated to the NHS. Tom talks to Jess Cox, the social media and marketing lead at Augment Bionics, to find out more.

You can find Augment Bionics on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Instagram.

Check out their website for more information on how they make prosthetic limbs, and PPE.

And if you can, please donate to their GoFundMe. If you can help in other ways, get in touch with them via their website.

Other titles considered for this episode included: PPE, Fresh Off The Press; Mind the PPE Gap, Rushed to Print, and Having a Shield Day.

Not Another Science Podcast is edited by Helena Cornu, hosted by Tom Edwick and brought to you by Edinburgh University Science Magazine (EUSci). Our podcast logo  was designed by Apple Chew. The podcast cover art was designed by Heather Jones. Visit our website at www.eusci.org.uk to check out the latest issue of the magazine, a ton of other cool science content by our student journalists, and to see how to get involved. All podcast episodes and transcripts can be found at www.eusci.org.uk/podcasts/.

Music by Kevin Macleod:

Why do some people get more sick than others? The answer could lie in our genes. 

In this episode we talk to Max Fourman, who is part of the Baillie Lab run by Dr Kenneth Baillie, and based at the Roslin Institute at The University of Edinburgh. They use genomics - the sequencing, study, and mapping of the genome - to search for the genes that make some people more susceptible to disease. The lab is using this knowledge to study COVID-19, leading a large, collaborative, open-source research study called GenOMICC (the Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) to try and understand why some people are more severely affected by SARS-CoV-2.

Not Another Science Podcast is edited by Helena Cornu, hosted by Tom Edwick and brought to you by Edinburgh University Science Magazine (EUSci). Our podcast logo  was designed by Apple Chew. Visit our website at www.eusci.org.uk to check out the latest issue of the magazine, a ton of other cool science content by our student journalists, and to see how to get involved. All podcast episodes and transcripts can be found at www.eusci.org.uk/podcasts/.

Music by Kevin Macleod: