How does our understanding of environmental exposures and our own hormones shape how we can predict, detect, and treat lung cancer? 

Lung physiologist Patricia Silveyra and advocate Dana Cattani join Richard Carpenter to connect the dots between environment, biology, and lived experience. Together they navigate diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship, and discuss the support systems patients need as they face both medical and environmental challenges over time.

Patricia Silveyra, PhD, is a lung physiologist and professor and chair the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Indiana University School of Public Health. Her research examines how environmental exposures such as air pollution, allergens, smoking, and e-cigarettes affect respiratory health, with a focus on sex differences in lung inflammation and immunity. She is the Anthony D. Pantaleoni Eminent Scholar, a member of the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a fellow of the American Thoracic Society.

Dana Cattani is a cancer survivor and advocate who works to strengthen support services for patients and caregivers at the individual, community, and national levels. She mentors survivors, leads local support efforts through Cancer Support Community South Central Indiana, and speaks at national conferences about communication, mental health, and patient-centered care. Before this work, she spent more than 30 years teaching and coaching across K–12 and higher education in California, North Carolina, and Indiana.

Dr. Richard Carpenter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Indiana University School of Medicine–Bloomington. His research focuses on molecular signaling and the cellular mechanisms that drive cancer development and progression. He brings both scientific expertise and an accessible, conversational style to the series, guiding listeners through how research moves from bench to bedside.

Triple-negative breast cancer is aggressive and hard to treat. How are new therapies and early phase clinical trials changing what’s possible for patients?

Mateusz Opyrchal joins host Richard Carpenter to talk about metastatic and triple-negative breast cancer, where progress often comes through small but critical advances. They discuss why some tumors resist current therapies, how the immune system can be recruited to fight cancer, and what it takes to move a new idea from the lab into an early phase clinical trial. 

Mateusz Opyrchal is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at IU School of Medicine and the Vera Bradley Foundation Scholar in Breast Cancer Discovery. He specializes in breast oncology and directs the Early Phase Clinical Trial Program at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. His research and clinical work focus on metastatic and triple negative breast cancer, developing novel therapies and strengthening immune responses to improve patient outcomes.

Dr. Richard Carpenter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Indiana University School of Medicine–Bloomington. His research focuses on molecular signaling and the cellular mechanisms that drive cancer development and progression. He brings both scientific expertise and an accessible, conversational style to the series, guiding listeners through how research moves from bench to bedside.

In this episode, host Richard Carpenter talks with Dr. Maegan Capitano and oncology social worker Brynn Parkinson about cancers from two perspectives: the lab bench and the living room. Dr. Capitano explains how a better understanding of temperature, environment, and other factors can have dramatic effects on scientists’ ability to advance cancer research. And Brynn Parkinson shares how a better understanding of cancer has changed her work as am oncology social worker.

Dr. Maegan Capitano is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine and an Associate Member of Tumor Mircroenvironment and Metastasis. Her research areas include understanding how the protein DEK influences healthy blood cell development, leukemia, and other bone-marrow disorders, and how low-oxygen environments affect stem cells as we age. She studies how DEK and related signaling pathways may help drive certain cancers, with the goal of finding new ways to target and treat diseases like myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Brynn Parkinson, MSW, LCSW, is a clinical social worker who supports Hoosiers navigating cancer, chronic illness, anxiety, and grief. She serves as an oncology counselor with Cancer Support Community South Central Indiana and also runs In Bloom Counseling, offering in-person, virtual, and outdoor therapy. She’s passionate about meeting people where they are and helping them find steadiness during challenging seasons.

Dr. Richard Carpenter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Indiana University School of Medicine–Bloomington. His research focuses on molecular signaling and the cellular mechanisms that drive cancer development and progression. He brings both scientific expertise and an accessible, conversational style to the series, guiding listeners through how research moves from bench to bedside.

How is AI reshaping the workforce and where it is headed next. Kevin Jones hosts guests Sagar Samtani and Kun Huang.  

How is AI reshaping the ways we work, make decisions, and collaborate? Kevin Jones hosts guests Alan Dennis and David Crandall. 

How can AI-driven technologies be designed to better serve aging populations and improve health outcomes? Kevin Jones hosts guests Aqueasha Martin-Hammond and Fawzi BenMessaoud. 

How can AI empower both teachers and students, now and in the future? Kevin Jones hosts guests Cindy Hmelo-Silver and Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich.