Science & Chill

In this episode of Science & Chill, my guest is Dr. Austin Robinson from Auburn University. 

Dr. Robinson is an expert in blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and exercise. His main research interest focus on how blood pressure is influenced by lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, and even race. We share a common research interest in the fact that Austin is also interested in studying blood vessel function, a topic we cover in detail during this episode. 

Along with these topics, we discuss endurance exercise performance and review a study he was a lead author on that profiled a 70-year old marathoner who holds the world record for his age group! 

I was really excited to have Austin on, and hope you enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with a fantastic scientist and human being. 

 

Relevant links:

Follow Austin on Twitter: @AusRob_PhD

Austin's publications: Google Scholar

Auburn University Neurovascular Physiology Lab

Link to NEJM paper on 70-year old marathon WR holder: "Record Breaking Performance in a 70-Year Old Marathoner"

This audio (and video) was originally released on my YouTube channel (you can find that video HERE!!)

It has long been said and believed by athletes/coaches that hard and strenuous exercise "compromises" your immune system. But is this true? 

I take a look into a review article that looks at the evidence behind this statement, the research to support and refute it, and propose some alternative conclusions and ways of looking at exercise in the context of immune health.

In this episode, I interview Dr. Rachael Seidler. Dr. Seidler is a research scientist at the University of Florida College of Health and Human Performance, where she is also the graduate program coordinator.

Dr. Seidler's research primarily focuses on how our brain changes with aging, and how this affects our ability to complete motor tasks and our learning capabilities. She is also a NASA-funded scientist who explores the effects of spaceflight on the brain -- specifically how our motor and cognitive capabilities change in space, and what we can do to prevent or counteract these changes.

We briefly discuss the recent COVID-19 epidemic, and how this unique time period is influencing academia in general and her research specifically. We talk about changes she's implemented with her laboratory and what she is going to try to accomplish while "in quarantine." The conversation also begins with a bit of a background into Dr. Seidler's life as a scientist and how she got interested in research.

This was a fascinating conversation and one that I could have continued for hours. I hope you enjoy. Take a look at the show notes below for relevant links, references, and how you can "connect" with Dr. Seidler on social media!

Relevant links:

-Follow Dr. Seidler on Twitter: @SeidlerRachael

-Watch this podcast on YouTube

-Dr. Seidler’s lab page: www.SeidlerLab.com

-Dr. Seidler’s publications:

          -Google Scholar

          -NeuroTree

-Link to YouTube lecture: "This is Your Brain in Space"

- Support me on Patreon!

 

Show Notes:

 

5:30: How COVID-19 is affecting research and what Dr. Seidler is doing with her lab to manage research-related activities during the epidemic

 

12:45: Dr. Seidler’s experience using Twitter for science-related activities

 

17:40: How Dr. Seidler got interested in science and research, internship at NIKE, early college years

 

23:05: How brain structure and function change with aging

 

24:00 Prefrontal brain areas show the most significant and steepest structural declines with age

 

25:20: Why is there an increase in some brain activity with age? How does the balance of inhibitory and excitatory processes change?

30:00: Is the extra brain activity with aging compensatory, or a result of neuronal dedifferentiation? 

 

32:50: Compensation Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH) 

 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00221/full#T2

36:30: Is the decline in brain structure and function with age intrinsic to the aging process, or a result of external/environmental factors?

 

39:00: Lifestyle factors that influence brain aging

 

Research by Denis Clark (UT Dallas) https://bbs.utdallas.edu/faculty/detail.php5?i=431

 

** Interesting paper I found by Dr. Clark: Cognitive Ability in Old Age is Predetermined by Age 20 (PNAS)

 

42:00: Do people get enough exercise? (Dr. Seidler doesn’t think so)

 

44:00: What strategies does Dr. Seidler implement to protect and enhance her brain health?

 

46:00: START DISCUSSION ON SPACEFLIGHT

 

47:05: How do we use what we learn in space that we can use to apply to human health on earth?

 

50:00: Why we spend so much money on space research when we haven’t even explored all of our own planet.

 

NASA research budget: https://www.thebalance.com/nasa-budget-current-funding-and-history-3306321

 

52:30: Why astronauts are at a higher risk for kidney stones, and a supplement that was created to combat this issue.

 

54:10: Don’t be a vegan astronaut

 

54:20: Why do we move differently in space than we do on earth?

 

55:00 How our vestibular system works

 

57:00 Motion sickness in space and why there is no “upside down” 

 

1:01:30: How long it takes to adapt to these changes, and how long it takes to “recover” once you return to earth

 

1:03:00 EXERCISE in space

 

Can exercise mitigate the bone/muscle mass loss that takes place during spaceflight?

Supplements that combat bone loss during spaceflight

Does exercise help with the coordination/moveme

In this episode of Science & Chill, I talk with Dr. Karyn Esser, the associate program director at the Institute of Myology at the University of Florida. 

Dr. Esser is an expert in the area of biological rhythms, also known as circadian rhythms. In particular, her group focuses on how circadian rhythms function in skeletal muscle and respond to things like exercise, feeding, and light. 

In this episode, we talk about why humans (and plants and animals) have circadian rhythms in the first place, the importance of sleep and exercise for maintaining circadian rhythms, and much more. Dr. Esser also answers some bonus questions at the end! 

I hope you enjoy this episode. If you do, please leave a 5-star rating, share it with friends and family, or write a review!

If you have any questions or comments about the podcast, send them to [email protected].

 

Links:

Great video on Dr. Esser and Circadian Rhythms: https://youtu.be/QZWllk38iSE

Dr. Esser's bio: https://physiology.med.ufl.edu/faculty/karyn-esser-phd/

Dr. Esser's publications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?cmd=search&term=esser+ka

Follow Dr. Esser on Twitter: @kaesser 

Follow Science & Chill on Twitter: @ScienceChill

Subscribe on iTunes

 

 SHOW NOTES:

 

Check out this great video on Dr. Karyn Esser from the University of Florida

https://youtu.be/QZWllk38iSE

Dr. Karyn Esser’s scientific publications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?cmd=search&term=esser+ka

 

Relevant publications:

 

Harfmann BD, Schroder EA, Esser KA. Circadian rhythms, the molecular clock, and skeletal muscle. J Biol Rhythms. 2015;30(2):84–94.

Riley LA, Esser KA. The Role of the Molecular Clock in Skeletal Muscle and What It Is Teaching Us About Muscle-Bone Crosstalk. Curr Osteoporos Rep. 2017;15(3):222–230.

Wolff CA, Esser KA. Exercise Timing and Circadian Rhythms. Curr Opin Physiol. 2019;10:64–69.

Hodge BA, Zhang X, Gutierrez-Monreal MA, et al. MYOD1 functions as a clock amplifier as well as a critical co-factor for downstream circadian gene expression in muscle. Elife. 2019.

In this episode we talk about: 

 

7:30: The utility of Twitter for scientists: how Dr. Esser uses Twitter to solve problems in her lab, and why she encourages her students and trainees to use Twitter for academic reasons.

You can follow Dr. Esser on Twitter here: @kaesser 

13:17: Dr. Essers introduction into science. She didn’t always “want” to be a scientist -- instead starting as a math major and was interested in band and athletics (she wanted to be a conductor at a young age). 

Her 7th grade laboratory class taught her a lot about the fundamentals of science 

She started as a chemistry major at Wake Forest, and in one class was able to take a trip to the Galapagos Islands. This trip shaped a lot of her thinking about evolutionary approaches to science.

19:00: Our mutual experience working in cardiac rehabilitation 

22:30: Working with an exercise program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV)

30:30: 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology and/or Medicine. The prize was awarded to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young “for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.” 

Nobel Society press release:  https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2017/press-release/

36:00: The SCN is no longer considered the “master clock” controlling our circadian rhythms.  

We have clocks throughout the body that dictate their own rhythm

38:15: What time of day and when we are exposed to cues like exercise, light, and food play a crucial role in “setting the clock” for our cells

We can “misalign” clocks by sending cues at the wrong times of day or traveling time zones

“Social jetlag”

40:00: Circadian clocks in skeletal muscles and how they respond to exercise

Clocks are sensitive to temperature

42:00: Chronic diseases and aging affect  our circadian clocks

44:20: Consequences of circadian misalignment

Shift workers have higher risks for cardiovascular disease and metabolic proble

In this episode, I sit down with Orlando Laitano, PhD. Orlando is a post-doctoral researcher in the department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology at the University of Florida, where his research interests include studying exertional heat stroke in mice. We talk about Orlando's journey into science, the perils and joys of scientific publishing, and his work with the Brazilian national soccer team and Gatorade. This episode is a can't-miss if you enjoy human physiology, or simply listening to someone who really has a great life story! 

 Comments, questions, or feedback about this podcast? Email [email protected]

My inbox is open, and I’d love to hear what you think about the podcast! 

Links: 

- Subscribe to the podcast by pasting this RSS feed URL into your podcast app:

https://feed.podbean.com/bholmer/feed.xml

- Follow Science & Chill on Twitter: @Science&ChillPodcast

- Follow Orlando on Twitter: @olaitano

- EHS paper

- Orlando’s Publications