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This episode almost became a 3 hour long one - Robert "Bob" Lefkowitz, PhD., is a phenomenal, infinite source of knowledge. Dodi and Conor are still an awe and deep appreciation for the time spent with the 2012 Nobel Prize laureate for Chemistry (shared with Brian Kobilka).  Dive in and listen to the #discoverymakers story of Bob Lefkowitz talking about humor, creativity and resilience in science discoveries. 

In this episode of Discovery Matters, Dodi and Conor meet a professor of biomedical materials and regenerative medicine at Imperial College, a brilliant #DiscoveryMaker who heads the Stevens Group: a diverse band of researchers working at the frontier between living and non-living matter. Meet Molly Stevens. A scientist exploring the frontier between living and non-living matter. Molly works at the nanoscale, a million times beyond the range of the human eye, to boost the body’s powers of repair. In this strange world, a million times beyond the range of the naked eye, Molly and her team design materials that help the body heal itself. 

Remember our first episode on oligonucleotides, telling the story of Roy living with spinal muscular atrophy? We were so amazed by this technology, we promised to follow up at a later date - and today is the day! Listen to find out how Roy is doing today, and hear from Harvard medical doctor and researcher, Tim Yu and Nikki Reyes-McIntosh, mother of Miles who also lives with SMA and is treated by oligos.

Longer episode than we're usually used to, but we think it's worth it. Why does science denial exist, how does it work and what's the antidote?  Join Conor, Dodi and their guests: Haafizah Hoosen, Ask for Evidence Ambassador at Sense about Science +  Dr. Danna Young, Associate Prof Communication & Political Science at University of Delaware.  Enjoy, share and remember to rate us on your favorite podcast player!

Conor finally brings the 15 minutes of fame to fungi - mushrooms being second only to his "microbiomania". We invite you to the beginning of the journey to understand the importance of fungi and mushrooms.  Guests are Clare Blencowe, an amateur mycologist and manager at Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, and Merlin Sheldrake, a biologist and a writer with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. If you want to go down the rabbit whole yourself, follow the #MycoBookClub on Twitter

2020 wasn't all bad!  We met some fascinating scientists during the year who helped us understand topics like quantum biology, how baking bread helps us make medicines, and why we embrace the very, very cold.  We hope you have enjoyed Discovery Matters in 2020 and that you'll let us know what you want to hear in 2021!  As Conor says, "every day is a school day."

How do we find our way? Consulting a map is the age-old answer, at least geographically.  But the art of mapping - considered a superpower by one of this episode's guests - extends to anything we want to understand better.  Join Conor and Dodi on this exploration of data visualization.  Your challenge at the end of the episode - spend time on these sites: http://scimaps.org https://www.pnas.org/modeling https://visanalytics.cns.iu.edu thanks to our guests Paul Goodwin from Cytiva and Katy Borner at the University of Indiana.

This episode is easily one of our favorites: everything from design of experiments, to AI-powered math simulations, to existential questions. Conor and Dodi welcomed Tobias Hahn from GoSilico, alongside two of their colleagues from Cytiva - principal scientist Gunnar Malmquist and advanced chromatography specialist, John Scibetta.  Have a listen, share this gem and rate us on your favorite podcast.

With the arrival of October we notice the (re)arrival of pink ribbons - it is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  In this episode of Discovery Matters, Dodi and Conor talk to dr. Margaret Flowers who is the director of research at The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, BCRF. They discuss cellular nutrition,  hormone positive breast cancer, chemo prevention, and the state of breast cancer research during COVID times. Enjoy the episode, and if you want to find out more about the amazing work that BCRF is doing, simply go to www.bcrf.org 

Popular science and cell biology collide in this episode as Dodi and Conor discuss the science of cryogenics and its diverse applications.  They are joined by Cytiva Senior Scientists and cryobiologists, Peter Kilbride and Julie Meneghel, as well as Fernanda Fonseca, Research Director at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE).  Executive Producer and PopSci enthusiast, Andrea Kilin, kicks off the discussion by sharing her experience with cryotherapy!

Life sciences has a new podcast! A collection of stories and insights on matters of discovery that advance life sciences. Hosts are Dodi Axelson and Conor McKechnie, friends for gloriously long years and colleagues at Cytiva. Enjoy!

While it may not be here tomorrow, scientists around the world are racing to develop viable COVID-19 vaccine candidates. In this episode, Dodi and Conor share the perspectives of two researchers on the vaccine development team for the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology - Professors Trent Munro and Keith Chappell. Learn how Trent and Keith's team identified their lead vaccine candidate from an initial field of 200 in just over 5 weeks!

Dodi and Conor welcome colleague Kaycee Palumbo for the Discovery Matters special of "Did you know?" Sources:  Drugged-out hallucinating zombie cicadas https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1754504819300352 zombie ants https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166061617300593 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3309767/ https://explorebiotech.com/50-interesting-facts-biotechnology/ The human genome https://www.genome.gov/17516714/2006-release-about-whole-genome-association-studies About 99.9% of human DNA is the same. It is the other 0.1% that codes for all of the differences that make each person unique. The length of the human DNA compared to the world https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/how-long-is-your-dna/ Each cell contains about 2m worth of DNA, if you stretch it end to end, It would measure up to be twice the diameter of the solar system Small water pools in Mexico can show us the early seas/life on earth https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/pools-mexican-desert-are-window-earth-s-early-life How gut bacteria influences us. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/meet-psychobiome-gut-bacteria-may-alter-how-you-think-feel-and-act

Without baking and brewing, there'd be no biotech.  Join Dodi and Conor through the discovery of fermentation, bags of wheat at the Stockholm Brewing company, and too much pizza dough on Sundays at The Bakery.  Guest on this episode are: Anna Roswall, Head Baker at The Bakery; Michel Ahlin-Wigardt, Head Brewer at The Stockholm Brewery; Nigel Darby, Senior Advisor at Cytiva and Paul Goodwin, Science Director at Cytiva. Cheers! 

Excited about the combination of biology, engineering  and computing being the 21st century's big leap forward? Do you see biological computing actually becoming a thing? Join Dodi and Conor to discuss how all the lines are blurring: where there used to be separate industries we can all learn from each other.  Guests on this episode are Prachi Bogetto of Cytiva, and Cristian Norlin from Ericsson. 

The Scandinavians have done it again.  In this episode Conor and Dodi are (not really) surprised to find out that, just like chromatography, proteinA has also been discovered in the North of Europe.  What makes protein A special, though? What about protein G or protein L? Surely protein A is not the most popular because of alphabetical order? This episode's hosts are joined by Josefin Bolik, protein A subject matter expert at Cytiva, Glen Bolton, Director of Bioprocess Development at Amgen, and Jonathan Royce, former colleague of Conor's and Josefin's. 

How do birds know where to go in the winter? And why are plants so efficient at making food? Conor and Dodi chat with researchers studying whether quantum biology might offer answers.

In this episode Dodi and Conor take 2 minutes to celebrate the birth of Cytiva, company formerly part of GE Healthcare Life Sciences. Yes, only 2 minutes because they're immediately more interested in the science behind choices our brains make. They are joined by Uma Karmarkar, Assistant Professor in Marketing at UCSD focusing on Decision Neuroscience and Tim Arthur, currently a radio presenter for the BBC and an expert in helping organisations through change. 

"Vaccines are a way to educate our immune system to recognize foreign and dangerous stuff." - says Daria Donati, Director of Business Development and Innovation at Cytiva. Dodi and Conor embark on a journey in this episode of Discovery matters: the journey of a vaccine.  They are joined by Adrian Hill, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford and Consultant Physician and Rebecca Chandler, Senior Contributor at WHO's Uppsala Monitoring Center. 

How do big companies stay at the forefront of the industry? How do small companies "make it big" ? In this episode of Discovery Matters, Conor and Dodi chat with 3 guests to find some answers.  Please welcome Kath Mackay, managing director at Alderley Park, Steve Bates, CEO of the BioIndustry Asociation (BIA) and Oliver Hardick, board member of the BIA and business leader at Cytiva.