Transposons and epigenetic priming of enhancers within early human embryo development with Dr Christopher Todd
In today's episode I spoke again to Dr Christopher Todd from the Babraham institute. Chris is a postdoctoral researcher in Wolf Reiks lab who talked to me about transposable elements and epigenetic priming of enhancers with human embryonic development. Chris gave a great talk at GREECS 2022 where he discussed his research and I absolutely loved his talk, so immediately messaged him to join me on the podcast!
If like me, you feel unclear on what exactly are transposable elements, the details of their function & classification and want to learn more about enhancer priming, stay tuned to learn lots! Even if you do know these things, I guarantee you will still learn so much from Chris! Hope you all enjoy!
Chris' twitter: https://twitter.com/C_D_Todd
Reik lab twitter: https://twitter.com/ReikLab
Chris profile on Babraham website: https://www.babraham.ac.uk/people/member/746
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WPqJa6QAAAAJ&hl=en
--------
1:26:40
Neuroscience meets epigenetics - Doctor Ben Rein
TGL made it to 2022! On todays episode, I spoke to Dr Benjamin Rein, a neuroscientist all the way from Stanford. We speak all about Bens experience of science communication on social media, Ben uses Tik Tok & instagram to make awesome short videos on scientific papers and topics and has gained a following of +600,000 on tik tok! He also talks all about his passion for neuroscience, his PhD research and then we talked a lot about stuff we dont know a lot about!
Hope you enjoy this conversation & be sure to check Ben out on social media using the links below!
Bens tik tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.brein?lang=en
Bens instagram - https://www.instagram.com/doctor.brein/?hl=en
Bens website - https://www.benrein.com
--------
1:27:07
Spatial transcriptomics with Dr Patrick CN Martin
In today's episode I spoke again to Dr Patrick CN Martin from the Biotech research and innovation centre at the University of Copenhagen, about spatial transcriptomics. Patrick is a post doctoral researcher who has been working on ST and more specifically, this pre print which we also took a deep dive into, on todays episode! Patricks new tool, named Vesalius (stay tuned to find out why) is able to decipher tissue anatomy from ST data by converting transcriptomic information into a color code for image segmentation.
The tool is able to successfully detect tissue architecture in mouse embryo and brain from high resolution ST data by incorporating image processing algorithms. Vesalius is a tool to perform high-resolution in silico anatomization and molecular characterization from ST data.
If like me, you feel unclear on what exactly is ST and how it works, stay tuned to learn lots! Even if you do know what ST is, don't worry! once Patrick taught me all about ST, we took a deep dive into the pre print, and discussed so many interesting topics.
Patricks twitter: https://twitter.com/pcnmartin
The pre print: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.13.456235v2
GREECS registration : https://whova.com/portal/registration/early_202201/
--------
1:17:27
Epigenetics & fertility with Alka Gupta
This week I spoke to Alka Gupta. Alka has just finished up her PhD and begun her postdoctoral position at UCSC in the Sharma Lab where she is now working on epigenetic inheritance. Today we spoke about her PhD research in which she was looking at the role of microRNAs in male infertility. We learnt about Sertoli cells, spermatogenesis and shrinking testis! Tune in to find out more!
Contact Alka here: https://twitter.com/alka_gupta__
GREECS registration link: https://whova.com/portal/registration/early_202201/
--------
1:11:46
Biomarkers in genomics with Dr Paul Okunieff
Today I speak to Dr Paul Okunieff , founder and consultant of Diacarta. DiaCarta is a leading translational genomics and personalized diagnostics company based in California. DiaCarta provides highly sensitive and advanced technologies aiming to change the landscape of precision medicine and molecular diagnostics by impacting healthcare treatment plans and the well-being of individuals around the world. Today me and Paul chat about the use of biomarkers in genomics, we touch on his recent coauthored papers in nature scientific reports here. We also discuss some ethical issues behind biomarkers and how events like 9/11 led Paul to pursue his career in this field.
Please visit Diacartas website here to find out more about them and connect with them on LinkedIn here.