Future Tech: Almost Here, Round-the-corner Future Technology Podcast

In recent years, interest in organoid technology has exploded. More than ever before, scientists, researchers, and the public at large are beginning to appreciate the value that organoids can contribute to the understanding and clinical treatment of diseases, as well as drug development. In 2009, the first-ever paper on this technology was published, and on today’s episode, CEO of Hubrecht Organoid Technology (HUB) in the Netherlands, Robert Vries, PhD dives into the details and complexity of how it's grown since then. He explores with us the different types and functions of organoids, how they are made, and where this field of research is headed in the near future. Interested in the details of all this and more? Tune in to discover: Why mimicking a cancer tumor is virtually impossible without the use of adult stem cells How organoid technology could change the gold standard in drug development and research in toxicology How induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) differ from adult stem cells For more

Associate Professor in the Computer Science and Operations Research Department at the University of Montreal, Irina Rish, PhD focuses her work on the intersection between artificial intelligence (AI) and neuroscience, researching the ways in which our knowledge of neuroscience can improve AI, and how AI models can aid our understanding of neuroscience. On today’s podcast, you will discover: How the brain differs from artificial neural networks and deep learning What will be needed in order to achieve broad AI Under what conditions neurogenesis occurred in a study using rat models Learn more about Dr. Rish’s work by visiting https://mila.quebec/en/person/irina-rish/.

Eduard Willms, Postdoctoral Scientist at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, provides an overview of the types of extracellular vesicles, and the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs). Willms research is focused on the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in cellular communication. Willms holds a BSc in Pharmacy and a DPhil in Physiology. He has intensively studied EV heterogeneity in an effort to more fully understand the specific roles of various types of EVs released by cells. Willms explains how he got into the study of exosomes—membrane bound extracellular vesicles that are created in the endosomal compartment of nearly all eukaryotic cells. Starting with some fascinating early experiments during his education years studying pharmacy, Willms was intrigued by what he was learning, and was hooked on cellular study from then on. Willms explains cellular communication, discussing hormones and neurotransmitters, etc. Willms talks about his interest in extracellular vesicle heterogeneity, and looking a

Not more than twenty years ago, only four or five blood cancers could be defined; today, hundreds of different types of lymphoma, leukemia, and myeloma cancers have been characterized—each one with a unique molecular structure and genome. As a result, an enormous amount of data has become available in the area of research and development for cancer drugs. According to Panna Sharma, CEO of Lantern Pharma, there is no better place to apply the tools of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). “There could be more permutations of chemical compounds than there are galaxies, so it’s a perfect problem area for AI,” says Sharma. He goes on to explain why some drugs—despite being extremely effective for some people—don’t stay on the market. In addition to depriving patients access to a drug which could truly help them, this also represents a significant financial loss, considering that hundreds of millions of dollars can go into the development of a single cancer drug. The technology being employed by Lante

When you think of what addiction recovery looks like, you probably don’t envision the consumption of psychedelic drugs. On today’s episode, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins and author of 47 articles on psychedelic drugs, Matthew Johnson, PhD, explains why and how psychedelic therapy might have a place in addiction recovery after all. His area of expertise lies in understanding the ways in which psychedelic drugs can serve as behavior change agents. This idea is consistent with neuroscience research findings, countless anecdotal stories, and ceremonial use of psychedelic substances in a variety of indigenous cultures. Intrigued by the idea? Tune in to hear all the details and learn more, including: How Dr. Johnson characterizes the commonality between people who benefit from the use of psychedelics (and it’s not about religion or spirituality) How psychedelic drug use could help those who suffer from addiction to cocaine, alcohol, or tobacco, as well as cancer-re

Dr. Christian Regenbrecht, shareholder, CEO, of CELLphenomics, provides an overview of his company’s important work that could assist researchers as they strive to develop new drugs to treat disease. Regenbrecht studied biology and philosophy at the University of Bonn, and continued his postdoc with noted scientist, Hans Lehrach, at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genomics in Berlin. Regenbrecht has focused some of his time on improved patient-derived in vitro models, culture technologies, and preclinical efficacy studies. Regenbrecht discusses his extensive work and the innovations that are happening at CELLphenomics. With greater than 400 proprietary patient-derived 3D (PD3D®) cell cultures, CELLphenomics can offer researchers an opportunity to test compounds with a comprehensive screening approach in an, up to, 384 well format. In simplest terms, patient-derived cell cultures are essentially novel multicellular systems newly isolated from primary organs through mechanical and enzymatic dissociatio

Imagine increasing your business’ retention rates by 28.9%, and increasing them by over 20% within the first week of making an investment. With a new machine learning application from Bellwethr, you can. CEO and founder, Matt Moody, joins the podcast to discuss the importance of customer retention and how Bellwethr is making it happen. Compelled by the belief that everyone should have access to the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and the motivation to show his customers the range of problems that AI can solve, Matt Moody and his team at Bellwethr are making it easier than ever for businesses and individuals to benefit from this technology. Tune in to learn more, including: How the Bellwethr win-back engine, upsell engine, and retention engine work Why Bellwethr products offer so much more than other business intelligence and data analytics tools What’s on the horizon for Bellwethr in the coming year Check out https://www.bellwethr.com/ to learn more.

Tjasa Zajc, podcaster, entrepreneur, head of the “Faces of Digital Health” podcast, a podcast about digital health and healthcare systems technology adoption, talks about the current state of healthcare in developed and developing countries. Zajc talks about her background and the troubling early medical condition that led her to dig deeper into learning about health. After her diagnosis with IBD, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (which in name covers many disorders that can generate chronic inflammation of the digestive tract), Zajc was compelled to learn more, eventually studying healthcare management and economics in order to better understand healthcare beyond the patient perspective. Zajc talks about the modern healthcare experience in various countries and digital technology in healthcare, covering issues such as availability, chronic conditions, and financial expenses. She discusses private insurance versus public healthcare. She provides detailed information on retirement funds and the concept of saving m

Small, medium, large, soft, firm; when it comes to finding a pillow that works for us, these adjectives are pretty much all we have to work with. For this reason, it can be difficult if not impossible to find a pillow that properly supports your head, neck, and shoulders and retains its integrity over time. After years of dealing with this problem, serial entrepreneur Richard Jacobs decided to do something which had never been done before: design the world’s first custom-tailored pillow that is both simple and sensical, as well as easy for a person to get. No complicated measurements or calculations are necessary: all that’s required is a picture or two of your upper body, which can be sent through The Good Night’s Sleep Project app. From there, you can just sit back and wait for your custom-tailored pillow to arrive. With the use of AI computer vision, 14 measurements will be extracted from your photos and serve as a guideline for the creation of a pillow that’s completely unique to you. Tune in to learn abo

Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, Director of Cell Biology at the Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Principal Investigator at Muthuswamy Lab, Senthil K. Muthuswamy, Ph.D. is working to better understand the molecular biology of cancer and the most effective method of treating it by creating organoids from patient tumors. When cultured under the proper conditions, a sample of tissue from a patient’s tumor will grow into a 3D structure that resembles the patient’s tumor. Once that’s been accomplished, the organoid can be used to determine which drugs will most effectively treat the specific tumor at hand. This approach addresses one of the main challenges to chemotherapy and targeted therapy, which is that not all patients will respond to the same drug in the same way—even if they have the same type of cancer. Dr. Muthuswamy’s lab is currently working with breast and pancreatic tumors. On today's episode, you will learn: Why two people with a certain type of cancer resp

David Freedman, a co-founder and the founding CEO of NanoView Biosciences, discusses noninvasive diagnostics and extracellular vesicles. Freedman was essential to NanoView’s entry into the expanding extracellular vesicle market with the development and subsequent launch of the ExoView R100. He has been a successful entrepreneur for more than ten years, formerly as CTO of eHomes, and President of a computer services company. Freedman is interested in commercialization strategy and organizational build-out, product and services development, tech engineering, as well as automation. Freedman completed his Ph.D. and Postdoc in Electrical Engineering at Boston University. NanoView Biosciences is at the leading edge of exosome discovery and they provide innovative solutions to detect and characterize extracellular vesicles. Freedman explains what extracellular vesicles are, for those who might not be familiar. As he states, extracellular vesicles are like the “Twitter of cells,” in that they are tiny messengers, p

The USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory was founded in 2005 with the goal of putting an undergraduate student-designed and built rocket into space—which is defined as being at least 100 km or about 330,000 feet above Earth’s surface. Just this past year, this goal was finally reached. In today’s episode, Michael O’Neill and Lauren Potterat, media lead and avionics lead at the lab, respectively, share their experiences as members of the team who finally made this happen, the challenges they faced along the way, and what the accomplishment means for their future work. By tuning in, you'll discover: How the work being done at USC Rocket Propulsion Lab could lead to a cheaper and simpler way of obtaining atmospheric data What a peek into the design and function of space rockets looks like The challenge of characterizing the performance of the rocket, including its acceleration and position Check out uscrpl.com to learn more.

Do you ever notice a little bit of blood on your toothbrush while brushing? This isn’t uncommon, and most of us just “brush it off” you might say, but the truth is if your gums are bleeding, then you have a wound where bacteria is penetrating the tissue and entering your bloodstream, paving the way for systemic illness throughout your body. James Hyland, DDS, President and CEO of OraVital, discusses oral infections, how to eliminate them, and why traditional brushing and flossing isn’t the solution. He also explains the science behind halitosis (also known as bad breath), why it can occur even in the healthiest of mouths, how to address it in your daily oral hygiene routine, and why failing to do so could lead to plaque formation in your brain—the hallmark of Lyme disease, syphilis, and Alzheimer’s. On today’s episode, you will learn about all of this and more, including: Where bad breath comes from and what it’s composed of The most effective way to clean your teeth and gums What Dr. Hyland recommend

Audrey Gaskins, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology at Emory University, delivers an interesting overview of normal sperm motility, causes of abnormal sperm morphology, and the various factors involved with fertility and semen quality. Gaskins’ extensive research has focused heavily upon the connections between environmental, dietary, and lifestyle factors with fertility and fecundity in women and men. She has published on the many benefits of folic acid, exceeding levels well above the current recommendations, in regard to preventing anovulation and incident pregnancy loss as well as boosting the success probability of infertility treatment. She is currently working on an NIH grant that is primarily focused on extending her research to study the possible interactions between diet, air pollution, and fertility among groups of women. Gaskins talks about semen quality in men, and some research has shown that male semen quality globally is on the decline, which is of course an area of concern for researchers. S

Most of know that the climate is changing, and it’s changing rapidly--in ways that will continue to cause environmental degradation and extinction. Most of us also want to do something about it but have a hard time seeing how we can really tackle such a big problem on the individual level. How can MY choices actually affect the future? After all, I can’t just decide to ban deforestation or switch everything over to clean energy. What is it that I CAN do? According to the biologist, author, and environmental consultant Mary Ellen Harte, Ph.D., the answer lies in a solution that’s just as important as protecting the forests and becoming global leaders in clean energy technology, but not talked about nearly as often: family planning. By preventing unintended pregnancies through free and effective family planning services, we can slow the growth of the population. This approach will not only address the problem of climate-changing pollution, but also the relationship between population growth and stress, physica

Jonathan Hull, Head of Business Development at Thryve Inside (thryveinside.com), talks about their company’s mission, highlighting important areas of discussion such as probiotics weight loss, and the importance of gut health. Hull discusses the background and origins of Thryve, evolving from a microbiome testing company to its current place today as not only a testing company but a manufacturer of personalized probiotics targeted for gut health. Hull discusses the kinds of reporting they produce and the probiotics they offer, based on testing results. As he explains, more and more people are coming to the understanding that GI health is the key to wellness and Thryve seeks to help everyone improve their health. Continuing, Hull talks about various gastrointestinal conditions and distress, and the importance of correcting GI issues. He explains the process that they go through as they work with people who come to them with various health and gut issues. Hull continues, discussing the latest evolution i

Dale R. Pfost, PhD, Director and Cofounder, Microbiome Therapeutics, delivers an interesting overview of microbiome therapeutics, prediabetes treatment, and more. Dr. Pfost has more than 25 years of solid leadership experience in the biotechnology industry. He has held many important executive positions at numerous respected companies, and was the Chief Executive of six biotechnology companies, most recently as the founding CEO of MicroBiome Therapeutics. Dr. Pfost earned a BS degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his PhD in physics from Brown University. Dr. Pfost explains the premise of his company, Microbiome Therapeutics. As he states, the field of the microbiome encompasses a wide range of human health issues. With the increase in popularity of probiotic foods, clearly there is a strong interest in improving gut health through diet. Dr. Pfost states that through his 30 years of experience in the biotechnology field, the microbiome arena is one of the richest and broadest paradigm

Did you know that about half of the bottled water on the market has a pH of four? You may be wondering what that even means and why it matters. On today’s episode, Dr. Kim Kutsch, owner of CariFree, is welcomed back to the show to discuss what he’s learned over the course of his career as a dentist, and how it can greatly benefit your health. After spending years “drilling and filling” cavity after cavity, Dr. Kutsch finally had enough: he knew he needed to fill in the educational gaps left by the dental school, which meant he needed to understand the root cause of cavities and the disease mechanism at play. Why do some people get so many cavities despite flossing and brushing every day, while others go their whole lives with less-than-ideal oral hygiene and not one cavity? Are genetics or environmental factors at play in dentistry? “It all goes back to the pH in the mouth,” he says. He continues by discussing the interplay between the drop in pH (i.e. the increase in acidity) that occurs every time we eat

You leave your house in the morning and are immediately hit with the acidic taste and smell of the thickest air you’ve ever experienced. You walk by ancient cathedrals and forests and lakes, only to notice them dissolving away and slowly dying from this thing called “acid rain.” For Gretchen Cara Daily, Ph.D., this became a part of her ordinary experience as a teenager growing up in Germany. At the time, millions of people were demonstrating in the streets, protesting the environmental degradation and corporate activities which were leading to the slow death of everything beautiful in their lives. Dr. Daily was strongly impacted by these events, and she’s carried them with her as a source of motivation and insight throughout her life and career. She currently serves as Director of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University. “Looking back to my upbringing, we solved the problem of acid rain…and I feel we can rise to the task of changing the way we think about how we live on the planet, how we

Fedor Galkin, Project Manager at Insilico Medicine, Inc., discusses his work studying the microbiome, human genotypes, and aging/longevity. Galkin graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in Bioengineering & Bioinformatics. His work focuses on human microbiome aging clocks based on deep learning. Interestingly, the microbiome can serve as an incredibly accurate biological clock, able to predict the age of many people within just years. Galkin discusses the earliest microbiome aging clocks and recent advances, and the technology that is behind them. Some of these technologies can make assessments based on an individual’s blood biochemistry and gene expression levels, etc., but as he states there has never before been a clock that predicts age based on gut microbes. Galkin discusses their work in detail, discussing how they select and look at the microbes. Galkin explains the correlations and organization in the microbes, and how with age, things fluctuate. He details how they observe the cha