The Code of Life

A heads-up, the Code of Life podcast is moving to Nice Genes!

This session will examine importance of not sensationalizing data and being clear what the science means. Overly emotive clickbait stories do more harm than good. How can you help break the chain of misinformation?

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The Code of Life is a partnered program of Conversations That Matter, brought to you by GenomeBC. For more information on Genome BC's work, visit https://www.genomebc.ca.

#covid19 #pandemic #health col015

This session will discuss public health response aided by genomics. 

Speed from sequencing to public health response: data drives course which requires flexibility to adjust and adapt accordingly. 

Vaccine has been produced at an unprecedented pace using a novel mRNA based technology which now allows us to update it taking only a few days to in response to the emerging escape variants.

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The Code of Life is a partnered program of Conversations That Matter, brought to you by GenomeBC. For more information on Genome BC's work, visit https://www.genomebc.ca.

#covid19 #pandemic #health col014

COVID-19 with a relatively low R factor and mortality rate has challenged our health care system, society in general and our economy. Canada and the rest of the world were caught rather unprepared. 

The next virus may be more transmissible and deadlier. 

How do we make sure we are better prepared as the world, as a country and as a province? 

Hear from the experts.

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The Code of Life is a partnered program of Conversations That Matter, brought to you by GenomeBC. For more information on Genome BC's work, visit https://www.genomebc.ca.

#covid19 #pandemic #health col013

Genomics has advanced health care by allowing medical treatments to be tailored to the specific needs of individual patients in what is sometimes described as ‘precision medicine’. But these genomic technologies, and the research that drives them, can be difficult for Indigenous populations to access or participate in. This is creating a genomic divide that prevents accurate diagnosis.  A group of scientists hope to change that - to improve outcomes not only for Indigenous Peoples - but all Canadians.

In sports, any leg up to help edge out the competition is welcome.  In fact, diet, sleep and supplements are key strategies that athletes have used for years to enhance their performance.  And increasingly, genetics and genomics are playing a role – not just for elite athletes – but anyone who wants to improve their performance. 

This episode picks up where the last one left off: a Q&A with BC’s Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, Dr. Mel Krajden, Medical Director at the BC Centre for Disease Control, and Dr. Carl Hansen, CEO of AbCellera. In this episode you’ll hear the most pressing questions answered about the pandemic- how we got here and where we are going.

In October of 2020 Genome British Columbia’s Don Rix Distinguished Keynote was focused on ‘fighting Covid-19 at the intersection of policy, treatment and prevention’. The panelists were Drs. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia; Mel Krajden, medical director of the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) Public Health Laboratory; and Carl Hansen, Chief Executive Officer, AbCellera.

Two scientists recently shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for transforming an obscure bacterial immune mechanism, called CRISPR, into “genetic scissors” – an editing tool for re-writing the code of life.

The two female Nobel Prize winners accomplished this through collaboration – which is exactly how two Canadian scientists – also women – are working to crack the code on two incurable diseases – a type of congenital blindness in children, and a deadly form of brain tumours.

Healthy forests support a healthy environment. They purify the water and the air, maintain wildlife habitats and help preserve healthy soils, just to name a few.  Studies are also showing human health is directly related to healthy forests.  But increasingly our forests are facing unprecedented threats… from invasive species and pathogens that can cause irreversible damage. 

Once again, science, and scientists are coming to the rescue.  Quietly studying these threats, coming up with devices to help uncover and stop them before they can establish and spread. 

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The Code of Life is a partnered program of Conversations That Matter, brought to you by GenomeBC. For more information on Genome BC's work, visit https://www.genomebc.ca.