The Science Basement Podcast

Research excels when needs and wishes of the community are heard. It is through adept leadership practices that institutional heads address diverse needs, ensuring robust infrastructures. Join us and our guests, Juha Huiskonen and Maria Vartiainen, as we explore the nuances of academic leadership and the behind the scenes of establishing efficient scientific infrastructures.

Juha Huiskonen: Prof. of Structural Biology and a Director of the Institute of Biotechnology.

Maria Vartiainen: Group leader, director of the Light microscopy unit, vice-Director at the Institute of Biotechnology, HiLife deputy director for research and infrastructures.

Your hosts for this episode are Eleanna Asvestari & Anastasiia Marmyleva.


Editing by Marie-Noëlle Paludetto. 


Episode cover by Anastasiia Marmyleva.


TSB podcast logo by Tomás Garnier Artiñano.


Jingle by Havelocke. thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement
Instagram: @sciencebasement
Twitter: @ScienceBasement
Email: [email protected]

Peer support, such as mentorship, is inarguably one of the keys to success in academia. Mentoring often comes from senior colleagues. Still, stay sharp since one can also receive that valuable guidance from someone unexpected. Everyone is in need of mentorship independent of their career stages too. In this episode, Prof. Eero Castrén and Dr. Olli Pietiläinen help us delve deep into the importance of having a mentor, secrets to finding one along with what it brings to your personal growth.

Eero Castrén is a research director of the Neuroscience centre at HiLife. Prof. Castrén also runs his own research group which aims to understand neuroplasticity, aka how the brain can change and adapt through growth and reorganisation. 

Olli Pietiläinen is a senior group leader at the Neuroscience centre. His research group focuses on uncovering the genetic basis and biological mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, in order to develop new treatments for these disorders.

Your hosts for this episode are Rhiannon Newman & Anastasiia Marmyleva.
Editing by Marie-Noëlle Paludetto. 
Episode cover by Marie-Noëlle Paludetto.
TSB podcast logo by Tomás Garnier Artiñano.
Jingle by Havelocke. thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement
Instagram: @sciencebasement
Twitter: @ScienceBasement
Email: [email protected]

Being absorbed in their work, how often do researchers think about transitioning their ideas beyond the scope of the main question?

With ubiquitous university campaigns, it’s hard to overlook the business form of such enterprises. In this episode, our guests Johan Lundin and Andrea Ganna share their own experience with turning research into business, where and how to start, how to take risks smartly, and why even embark on such adventure.

Andrea Ganna is an associate professor at HiLife and a research associate at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. And Johan Lundin is a Research Director at FIMM (Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, which is part of HiLife) and a Professor at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

Your hosts for this episode are Anastasiia Marmyleva & Marie-Noëlle Paludetto.

Editing by Steven Simmonds.

Episode cover by Anastasiia Marmyleva.

TSB podcast logo by Tomás Garnier Artiñano.

Jingle by Havelocke. thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement

Instagram: @sciencebasement

Twitter: @ScienceBasement

Email: [email protected]

We all know who they are, they listen to our voices yet we may not even have met them in person, they carry the weight of the community’s concerns while tackling the big problems - this is the regular perception of our directors. One thing is different, they are more accessible than you think.

You don’t need to look any further, as in this episode, we are bringing you Jari Koistinaho, a Director of the Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE). Jari tells us about HiLIFE’s initiatives and activities, while also sharing his experience as a director and the essentials of leading a large academic institution.

This is the first entry of the 5-part series on HiLIFE, where we engage in conversations with key members of the HiLIFE team, exploring topics from leadership to the translation of scientific work.

Tell us what you think of our podcast!

forms.gle/jfN2sm2q8ZEUXS7K9

Your hosts this week are Eleanna Asvestari & Anastasiia Marmyleva.

Edited by Kerttu Kalander.

Episode cover by Anastasiia Marmyleva & Marie-Noëlle Paludetto.

TSB podcast logo by Tomàs Garnier Artiñano.

Jingle by Havelocke. thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org


Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement


Instagram: @sciencebasement


Twitter: @ScienceBasement


Email: [email protected]

Data security is a hot topic and its relevance is increasing with advancing technologies. Because of that, scientists have been putting their minds to work out ways to deliver information quickly yet securely. One doesn’t need to go far to see one of the ways to do it. It’s light! Indeed, we can use a single light particle - photon - to package and deliver our precious data. Our guest for this episode, Valentin, tells us how we can extract these tiny photons, stuff them with information and send out for delivery as a part of the quantum computing technology.

Valentin is a PhD in Physics and a Senior Research Scientist at Corning Incorporated.

Your hosts for this episode are Eleanna Asvestari & Anastasiia Marmyleva.

Editing by Marie-Noëlle Paludetto.

Episode cover by Marie-Noëlle Paludetto.

TSB podcast logo by Tomás Garnier Artiñano.

Jingle by Havelocke. thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement

Instagram: @sciencebasement

Twitter: @ScienceBasement

Email: [email protected]

Mitochondria are the irreplaceable assistants managing a myriad of cellular processes. Should they go out of hand, the cell will bear the consequences, often leading to severe disorders for which we have no found cures.

In this episode, we delve into how mitochondrial diseases originate, daily tribulations faced by the patients, and the treatments solutions currently at our disposal.

In this episode, we're joined by Rohit Verma, a medical doctor and Doctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki. Rohit offers unique insights into mitochondrial diseases from both a medical perspective and his own experiences in managing these patients.

Your hosts for this episode are Eleanna Asvestari & Anastasiia Marmyleva.

Editing by Anastasiia Marmyleva.

Episode cover by Marie-Noëlle Paludetto.

TSB podcast logo by Tomás Garnier Artiñano.

Jingle by Havelocke. thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement

Instagram: @sciencebasement

Twitter: @ScienceBasement

Email: [email protected]

We all have experienced the heat of the moment: utter words that weren’t meant to be said and often make things worse. It is natural to have rough days and can easily resolve such situations. Now imagine if this behaviour becomes a norm. When you, or someone else, find yourself under constant fire of such uncivil behaviour. These instances are labeled as harassment or bullying and are a serious problem in academic circles. Paradoxically, they are often covered up and left unresolved, allowing them to carry on and erode the very fabric of our academic community.

Join us to break down the problem of harassment in academia. We will uncover the many faces it carries, offer tips for addressing it, and hear a couple of our brave listeners who share their stories with academic harassment.

References:

1. Efforts to prevent sexual harassment in academia (Swedish Council for Higher Education) https://www.uhr.se/globalassets/_uhr.se/publikationer/2020/uhr-efforts-to-prevent-sexual-harassment-in-academia.pdf

2. Oksanen et al., 2021, Hate and harassment in academia: the rising concern of the online environment https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00787-4

3. Bondestam & Lundqvist (2020) Sexual harassment in higher education – a systematic review https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2020.1729833

4. Täuber et al. (2022) Harassment as a consequence and cause of inequality in academia: A narrative review https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101486

5. Wellcome Trust report "What Researchers Think About the Culture They Work In" https://wellcome.org/reports/what-researchers-think-about-research-culture

6. Täuber & Mahmoudi (2022) How bullying becomes a career tool https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01311-z

Your hosts for this episode are Eleanna Asvestari & Anastasiia Marmyleva.

Editing by Kerttu Kalander.

Episode cover by Eleanna Asvestari, Anastasiia Marmyleva, & Marie-Noëlle Paludetto.

TSB podcast logo by Tomás Garnier Artiñano.

Jingle:

Stay Groovy. Beat provided by freebeats.io

Produced by White Hot.

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement

Instagram: @sciencebasement

Twitter: @ScienceBasement

Email: [email protected]

Welcome back to the enchanting world of ants! This time, we embark on a journey to unravel the mysteries of how ants adapt to different temperatures. What makes hybrid ants the champions of temperature adaptation? And how does this help them overcome the struggles of climate change?

The guest for this episode, Beatriz Portinha, is an expert on this subject. As part of her PhD work, Beatriz got access to the insiders information on lives of mound building ants and their resilient hybrids, which she happily shared with us.

Beatriz is a PhD student at the evolutionary genetics lab of the University of Lisbon and SpecIAnt lab at the University of Helsinki. Stay tuned for her future work!

Tell us what you think of our podcast!

forms.gle/jfN2sm2q8ZEUXS7K9

Your hosts this week are Eleanna Asvestari & Katja Kaurinkoski.

Edited by Steven Simmonds.

Episode cover by Marie-Noëlle Paludettoa.

TSB podcast logo by Tomàs Garnier Artiñano.

Jingle by Havelocke. thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org


Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement


Instagram: @sciencebasement


Twitter: @ScienceBasement


Email: [email protected]

Tell us if you are not confused when you scroll your newsfeed or change TV channels and see a whole array of opinions on each and every topic. One example you can probably relate to is the COVID crisis: vaccines or no vaccines, masks or no masks - which information is true? Who should we listen to in the end?

The name of this problem is “infodemic”. It means just what you think it means. In this episode, we are talking to Tiffany Duque, a senior advisor at Cochrane, about infodemic, expanding to the topic of misinformation in research and how to manage it.

Cochrane is an international charitable organization promoting evidence-informed health decision-making by producing top quality systematic reviews which have now become the gold standard for evidence-based information. We had a pleasure to organise a mini-series with Cochrane back in 2021. Go check it out if you are interested!

Your hosts for this episode are Eleanna Asvestari & Anastasiia Marmyleva.

Editing by Steven Simmonds.

Episode cover by Eleanna Asvestari & Anastasiia Marmyleva.

TSB podcast logo by Tomás Garnier Artiñano.

Jingle:

Stay Groovy. Beat provided by freebeats.io

Produced by White Hot.

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement

Instagram: @sciencebasement

Twitter: @ScienceBasement

Email: [email protected]

Following a vegan diet is becoming more and more common these days for many reasons. In this episode, we are discussing veganism from a health science perspective! More specifically children following a vegan diet. To help us learn about this, we are joined by Topi Hovinen, who tells us about his ongoing research on the topic.

Topi has completed an MD and is currently a PhD student at the University of Helsinki.

Tell us what you think of our podcast!

forms.gle/jfN2sm2q8ZEUXS7K9

Your hosts this week are Anastasiia Marmyleva & Rhiannon Newman.

Edited by Marie-Noëlle Paludetto.

Episode cover by Anastasiia Marmyleva.

TSB podcast logo by Tomàs Garnier Artiñano.

Jingle by Havelocke. thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com

Follow The Science Basement:

Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org


Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement


Instagram: @sciencebasement


Twitter: @ScienceBasement


Email: [email protected]