Episodes
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Have you ever wondered about the remarkable connectionbetween our food, therapeutics, and even washing powders? The answer lies inthe captivating domain of proteins, the fundamental building blocks of life! Inthis episode, we delve into the world of protein production, purification, andcharacterization, accompanied by the expertise of Dr. Oscar Vadas. Join us aswe dive deep into these processes and unravel their importance both within thelaboratory and in our daily lives. Here, Dr. Oscar Vadas sheds light on thefascinating techniques employed to produce, purify, and characterize proteins,revealing their pivotal role in various scientific domains, includingbiomedical research and industrial processes.
Episode introduced by Nathalia Williams.
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How would you explain why a plant is considered alive and a bonfire is not? What defines what is alive?
In this episode our correspondant Oriol Mañé will interview Prof. Karsten Kruse from the Department of Biochemistry. They will discuss about the link between physics and biology and how his lab tries to understand collective phenomena in living cells and tissues.
- Episode introduced by Emma Ganga.
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"... from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved." - Charles Darwin
Darwin's closing statement in On the Origin of Species often invokes images of colorful birds, strange plants, and odd animals. But have you ever stopped to consider the diversity of parasites? Parasite diversity is immense and they also play an important ecological role. Join our correspondent Cody Raul Cardenas as he chats with Natural History Museum of Geneva Curator Dr. Isa Blasco-Costa where they discuss the work she and her students do to describe and understand parasites.
Episode presented by Oriol Mañé.
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Barriers aren’t always bad. Sometimes, they are the bridge that gives rise to complexity. At all scales, biological units are separated from their environment by surfaces. From the membranes that surround our cells to the tissues that organize our body, these surfaces are governed by the same physical principles. Today, we are joined by Professor Aurélien Roux from the Faculty of Science to discuss how to better understand the barriers that organize life. Stay tuned as we explore the « Physics of Living Surfaces ».
Introduction by Cody Raul Cardenas
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Gaining trust is important, both in our daily lives and in the laboratory. But how do we build trust in science? In our research? Join us as we delve into the world of scientific reproducibility and explore how common laboratory tools may be hindering progress. Professor Pierre Cosson shares his expert insights with Joshua on the state of science today and reveals how the development of recombinant antibodies could be the game-changer we've all been waiting for. If you're ready to be on the cutting-edge of scientific discovery and learn how to build trust in your research, then don't miss out on this episode of Biosounds!
Introduction by Davide D'Amico.
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In this episode we explore the wonderful world of structural biology, where learning about the shapes and folding of proteins gives us an insight about how cells divide. Professor Andreas Boland shares with Olimpia the newest techniques with which we can now look at proteins and what they can tell us: from fundamental research to applied pharmacology the sky is really the limit.
Introduced by Joshua Tran
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One of the most fundamental characteristics of life is its ability to multiply and spread. In the very core of these phenomena lies cellular growth as a complex process of synthesis and accumulation of biomacromolecules and structures that these molecules form inside the cell. As any complex biological process, the growth of the cell is strictly regulated where the key role is held by TOR protein complex (TORC). In this episode our correspondent Aleksandar Arsović and his guest Prof. Robbie Loewith talk about basic principles of cellular growth, history of TORC research, current work and research questions that Prof. Loewith's team aims to answer and the exciting future of this field of biology. Introduced by Olimpia Bompadre.
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Scientists have always speculated about the existence of planets orbiting other stars. From the desert world of Arrakis in Dune to the lush jungles of Yoda's planet Dagobah in Star Wars, we have been always fascinated with the idea of faraway lands.
In this episode Inês Pinheiro talks to Professor Monika Lendl about the discovery and the characterisation of exoplanets and what do they teach us about our own origins.
What if we could reach them one day with a spaceship? What if these worlds outside our solar system are swarming with life? Our Universe is estimated to have over 100 billion galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. Our home, the Solar System is made up of eight planets, all orbiting the Sun but this is only one Star among billions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Now we know that worlds beyond our Solar System - known as exoplanets - do exist, with over 5000 cataloged.
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Did you know that around 90% of cervical cancer deaths occur in low- or middle-income countries? A major reason is lack of screening, which would catch it at an early or precancerous stage. In this episode, Zoé Valbret talks to Dr. Holly Clarke, a research fellow at the University Hospital of Geneva in the group of Patrick Petignat, about their international collaboration's work developing an AI-driven smartphone app for better screening in low-income countries including Cameroon. Introduced by Inês Pinheiro
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Welcome to the 1st episode of Biosounds Season 4 !
Do you eat a pint of ice cream after a bad breakup? Do you deal with uncomfortable emotions using food? Could you get addicted to food? Listen to this episode to find out !!
In this 1st episode of Biosounds season 4, our correspondent Nathalia WILLIAMS, interviews Prof. Geraldine Coppin of the Food and Human Behavior lab from Unidistance Suisse where she talks about her work on behavioral and neural correlation to food preferences.
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Although you won’t hear it tick, your body has its own internal clock regulating your circadian rhythm. Your circadian rhythm is your sleep-wake pattern over the course of a 24-hour day. Most living things have it, including animals, plants, and even some microbes.
Circadian rhythms affect your sleep patterns as well as other ways your body works, like your body temperature, eating habits, and hormones. When your internal clock gets out of sync, it might cause problems with your health. They’ve been linked to different disorders including diabetes, obesity, and depression. Maintaining healthy habits can help you respond better to this natural rhythm of your body.
In this final episode of BioSounds season 3, our correspondent Rouaa Ben Chaabene, interviews Prof. Emi Nagoshi from the faculty of Sciences where she talks about her work on circadian rhythms and how it can be linked to Parkinson’s disease.
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The nuclei of cells are full of noncoding RNAs, meaning RNAs that will not make proteins, however their functions is sometimes not really clear. In the last few years more and more roles have been attributed to this “junk” and it is now clear that they are important in health and disease. In all of this, what are piRNAs? What is their link to fertility? What is the perspective of RNA-based technologies? Prof Pei-Hsuan Wu gives us some interesting insights, interviewed by Olimpia Bompadre and presented by Rouaa Ben Chaabene.
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How do chameleons change colour? How do elephants get skin cracks all over? And what are the benefits when scientists from different domains work together to solve these questions? Professor Michel Milinkovitch discusses his interdisciplinary approach to research on animal skin and patterns with Zoé Valbret. Introduced by Olimpia Bompadre.
For more information on Professor Milinkovitch's research visit: https://www.lanevol.org/
Scientific articles mentioned:
Elephant skin: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06257-3
Chameleon nanocrystals: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms7368 -
How many languages do you speak? What are the benefits of learning more languages? In this episode, you will hear from Prof. Stephanie Durrleman interviewed by our correspondent Jiabin Xu, where they explore the scientific evidence showing the benefits of bilingualism.
Now imagine you are a physician and you are approached by bilingual parents of kids who have autism spectrum. You know these kids may have impairment of social communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviours or interest. Should you suggest the parents to stick with only using one language at home, or address their kids in a multilingual environment? Find out more in this episode presented by Zoe Valbret. -
Imagine the point of time when we lost concentration during an experiment because we were thinking about a song lyrics....
What if we could get feedback about our brain activity at the exact point of time? Could this feedback help us train our brain? Is it possible to treat brain disorders by training the brain?
In this episode, our correspondent Nathalia Williams dives deep with Dr. Tomas Ros on why he thinks we can treat brain disorders without medications and as to what motivates him to do science. Episode presented by Jiabin Xu.
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What if we could engineer our immune cells to efficiently cure any cancer in an efficient and scalable way? What if we could genetically arm and upgrade the immune system to kill cancer and infected cells? The team at Antion Biosciences, a spin-off from University of Geneva, has developed a breakthrough platform that harnesses the power of microRNA gene silencing to create a toolkit to efficiently upgrade the software of T cells to treat a wide range of diseases using healthy donor cells. If you want to know more about the future of gene engineering in the context of allogeneic molecular therapies listen to Marco Alessandrini, the Chief Technical Officer at Antion Biosciences, interviewed by Inês Pinheiro.
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Have you ever heard about the living beings residing in our gut? What if they can talk to our immune system and control it for their own benefit? And what if we could explore this conversation between both players and use it to promote health and prevent diseases? Listen to this episode and learn how Prof. Becattini's lab tries to answer these questions. The presenter of this episode is Inês Pinheiro and João Bonifacio Lopes interviewed prof. Simone Becattini
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Tune in with us for weekly episodes. Juicy science from the University of Geneva is coming ...
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Do you want to understand how we can prevent another SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak?
In this episode 7 of Biosounds, Camila interviews Doctor Manel Essaidi-Laziosi, who has been studying respiratory viruses for many years. The presenter of this episode is Inês Pinheiro.
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