Discovery Matters

Explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to revolutionize biomedical research and make personalized healthcare a reality.

Tune in to Discovery Matters to see how AI and machine learning will be the future of biomedical research. Featuring interviews with Professor Kourosh Saeb-Parsy and Dr Namshik Han — leaders in the AI and biotech space — this episode delves into the significance of advanced technology for unlocking discoveries in transplantation, understanding the causes of diseases, precision medicine, and more.

Show notes:

This AI learnt language by seeing the world through a baby’s eyes

Computational phylogenetics reveal histories of sign languages

We have lots of information at our fingertips, so how do we make sense of it all, especially in human health? Conor and Dodi speak to two experts making sense of this information overload by creating genetic and genomic databases.

Dr Artem Babaian, a computational biologist and now Assistant Professor leading The Laboratory for RNA-Based Lifeforms at the University of Toronto, explains how he and his team uncovered 100,000 novel viruses in old genetic data that could help us predict future pandemics.

Professor Jinchuan Xing, Associate Professor at Rutgers University in the Department of Genetics conducting research on genomic variation, walks us through his study on using genomic data to predict infertility from aneuploid egg production.

Let's dive into the data!

Show notes

Edgar, R.C., Taylor, J., Lin, V. et al. Petabase-scale sequence alignment catalyses viral discovery. Nature 602, 142–147 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04332-2

Sun, S., Miller, M., Wang, Y. et al. Predicting embryonic aneuploidy rate in IVF patients using whole-exome sequencing. Hum Genet 141, 1615–1627 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-022-02450-z

Transcript

Keywords: viruses, genome, patients, prediction, mutations, data, RNA viruses, computational biology, families, human genome, whole exome sequencing, discovery, machine learning, infertility, chromosomes, scientists.

Follow Dodi as she dives into the world of innovation. More specifically, the difference between talking innovation and being innovative. Meet Tobias the cyborg that likes thinking inside the box and learn what Gaud has to say about the concept of jugaad in India.

Transcript

Keywords: innovation, cyborg, jugaad, jugaad innovation.

Short and sweet. Conor brings an interesting story about the role of horseshoe crabs in the pharmaceutical industry. Our guest and subject matter expert is Ding Jeak Ling - or Lynne, as she prefers to be called. She is a professor at the Department of Biological Sciences National University of Singapore, and her main research interest is in innate immunity and cancer immunomodulation.

Enjoy - and rate us!

Transcript

Keyword: cancer immunomodulation, immunity, crabs, endotoxin, horseshoe crab, RFC, blood, LAL, bacteria, medicines, rabbits.

Meet Discovery Maker Mustapha Bittaye, now a senior scientist working on diagnostic assay development at Medicines Discovery Catapult, who previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Jenner Institute helping create the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Born in The Gambia, a scholarship took Mustapha to the UK to study Microbial Proteomics, and from then onwards he has made truly amazing contributions to human health globally.

Conor and Dodi examine Mustapha’s story, truly brilliant mind, and how he is looking to the future.

Transcript

Keywords: vaccine, pandemic, Oxford, Gambia, discovery, trial, AstraZeneca, scientists, COVID-19, scholarship, Jenner Institute, microbial proteomics.