Seper Ekhtiari, an orthopaedic surgery resident at McMaster, is the first-author on the first paper to report a case of osteosarcoma in dinosaurs.  Seper earned a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology at the University of Toronto before attending McMaster for medical school. On today's episode, he speaks to the ins and outs of residency, how he figured out that medicine was for him, what you don't know about medical school until you're there, making strategic gap year decisions, and what's next in orthopaedics and palaeontology research. 

This episode was made possible by the generous support of the University Students' Council at Western University. 

Producer: Jay

Timestamps:

(1:26); Educational background and undergrad experience

(7:06); How to decide what to do if you don't get into medical school the first time around

(10:59); What residency is like

(14:31); What you don't know about medicine and orthopaedics until you're there

(18:07); How Seper knew medicine was for him

(23:56); Dinosaur cancer

(32:19); How Seper got involved with palaeontology research

(35:10); Research in residency

(37:59); Taking a year off from residency to get a Master's degree

(40:30); Cool new research in orthopaedics and palaeontology

(43:48); Finding a balance in medical school

(49:48); Advice for undergrads

Link to the video referenced at (49:48); https://bit.ly/2WaREt0

At 17-years-old, Nivatha isolated microbes from soil samples from across Montreal that had the potential to be useful in bioremediation...which basically means they could help clean up oil spills. This discovery kick-started Nivatha’s research and entrepreneurial journey. She earned a bachelor's degree in physiology and international relations from McGill and founded Dispersa, a clean-tech company that she currently leads as CEO. Dispersa is focused on decarbonizing the chemicals industry. On today’s episode, Nivatha talks about spaces in clean-tech that students should look into, what projects Dispersa is working on, and the specific differences between conducting research in academia versus industry.

This episode was made possible by the generous support of the University Students' Council at Western University. 

Producer: Jay 

Timestamps:

(2:08); Educational background

(8:51); Finding and isolating the bacterial strain in high school

(12:51); Why an undergrad degree in physiology?

(16:55); Undergrad experiences

(20:20); Defining clean-tech and Dispersa 

(21:27); Biggest learning curve with starting Dispersa

(24:06); How to start a company to solve a large problem

(28:32); Industry vs. academia 

(30:43); Research in industry vs. academia 

(38:07); Juggling building the technology and the business side of a startup 

(44:23); Problems for undergrads to focus on

(47:15); How students can get involved in the clean-tech space

(49:05); Advice for undergrads 

"I was almost 30 when I found cellular agriculture and really decided that that's what I wanted to do. So there's no rush to get into any particular field.  Just try to be as open to different opportunities as you can be for as long as possible." - Matthew Anderson-Baron

Matthew is the founder and CSO of Future Fields, a cellular agriculture company in Edmonton working on building custom, cost-effective growth media. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry, and a PhD in cell biology from the University of Alberta. On this episode, we spoke to Matthew about the future of cellular agriculture, the translational skills you learn through doing a PhD, and what it's like to lead research and development at a startup. 

This episode was made possible by the generous support of the University Students' Council at Western University. 

Producer: Jay

Timestamps: 

(1:45); Educational background

(7:31); What undergrads should know when considering pursuing a PhD

(10:12); Translational skills Matt learned through his PhD

(12:54); Deciding to start Future Fields 

(15:51); Industry vs Academia 

(18:53); Defining cellular agriculture and what Future Fields does

(23:34); Common objections to cellular agriculture 

(26:23); The biggest learning curve that came with starting Future Fields 

(31:32); How research differs in an academic lab vs in industry

(36:53); Advice for students interested in cellular agriculture 

(40:52); Advice for undergrads in science 

From the time he earned his PhD in microbiology and immunology, Bharat Srinivasa has worked in consulting and venture capital. He is currently co-founder and Principal at Amplitude Ventures, a 200-million-dollar venture fund focused on building world-class Canadian companies in precision medicine and next-generation medical devices.

On today's episode, Bharat talks about his path from an undergraduate degree in genetics and biotechnology at UofT, his thoughts on the role of an undergraduate degree, networking, and the application of student research.

Producer: Jay. Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Before starting in the MD program at McMaster, Philipp earned an MBA and worked in a number of research, analytic, and marketing roles. On today’s episode, we speak to him about how he navigated medical school application setbacks, how he ascertained that medicine was for him, and his thoughts on the importance of being honest and realistic with yourself.

Producer: Jay. Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

"It was a journey, not from A to B to C, but it was all over the place, jumping out of Masters, into business, back into medicine and doing all sorts of different co-ops throughout. It was a lot of fun to have that uncertainty. Just doing things for the sake of doing them, trying them, and seeing what I liked and didn't like, and then letting that shape my vision for what I wanted my future to hold."

Philipp Kolb is an MD candidate at McMaster. On this episode of Spindle, we talk to Philipp about his journey to medical school and about using his MBA as a toolbox to bring science to market.

Producer: Jay. Music: https://www.purple-planet.com