The EMBO podcast

12 November 2021 - Maria Leptin became the fifth EMBO Director in January 2010. We spoke with Maria about how she became a scientist and her research in immunology and developmental biology. We also discussed initiatives to increase participation in EMBO Programmes across all EMBC Member States, and the unanswered scientific questions that she will leave behind as she winds down her laboratory activities to assume the presidency of the European Research Council.

29 October 2021 - EMBO Member Adriano Aguzzi is the Director of the Institute of Neuropathology at the University of Zurich. The Aguzzi lab investigates the molecular basis of prion diseases and other neurodegenerative illnesses. We spoke with Adriano Aguzzi and Review Commons project leader Thomas Lemberger about preprints, peer review, paying for innovation in publishing, and an unexpected positive control.

22 October 2021 - Pediatric infectious disease physician Ameneh Khatami, senior author Jonathan Iredell and their collaborators recently published in EMBO Molecular Medicine the story of a seven-year-old girl infected with a multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas strain. The team resorted to an experimental treatment with a long history, phage therapy. In this episode of the EMBO podcast, Khatami told us the story of her young patient. We’ll also hear about a very sick sea turtle and discuss the challenges of interpreting single-patient studies.

Note: We’d like to thank Dmitriy Myelnikov (University of Manchester) and Jessica Sacher (Phage Directory) for their participation in this episode.

13 October 2021 - Tel-Aviv University neuroscientist Oded Rechavi was elected an EMBO Member in 2021. We spoke with Oded about his lab’s work on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in worms, his forays into archeology and economics, and his life as a science social media star. 

6 October 2021 - In early July, science journalist Kai Kupferschmidt spoke with the co-founders of BioNTech Özlem Türeci and Ugur Sahin. Kai spoke with them about their journey from physician scientists to entrepreneurs and how BioNTech, a company with a strong focus on cancer developed the first approved Covid-19 vaccine in less than one year. Türeci and Sahin were elected EMBO Members in 2021.