The Symbiotic Podcast
Evolution is about more than survival of the fittest. It's also about the survival of the most cooperative. Join us as we explore the collaborative side of life sciences research and work to consciously evolve science itself. This podcast is a production of Penn State University's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. Watch the video versions, complete with cool animations at www.thesymbioticpodcast.com
Episodes
23 episodes
Changing the Game in Stem Cell Engineering: Xiaojun (Lance) Lian
The field of stem cell research has progressed immensely since its high-profile politicization in the early 2000s, with researchers now able to harvest cells from uncontroversial sources and manipulate them with ever-increasing accuracy and ...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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45:12
Changing the Game in Epigenetics: Sally Mackenzie
Sally Mackenzie is one of the world’s foremost experts on epigenetics, the study of how environmental changes affect the way genes are expressed. In this conversation we cover an epigenetic techniques she’s patented, the biotech company she fou...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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49:00
Changing the Game in Ancient DNA Research: Laura Weyrich
Laura Weyrich leads efforts to better understand the impact of diet on the communities of microorganisms residing in our mouths, and their influence on human health. In this livestreamed conversation, she talks about her work with Neanderthal t...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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44:03
Changing the Game in Global Pediatrics: Dr. Steven Schiff
Dr. Steven Schiff has spent much of his career fighting the scourge of infant infection, especially in low and middle-income countries with minimal healthcare infrastructure. In this livestreamed conversation, he explains the difficulties of wo...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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46:32
Changing the Game in Epidemiology: Nita Bharti
Nita Bharti is an expert on the interplay of population movement and disease and a pioneer in the use of unorthodox data sources to better inform public health decisions. In this livestreamed conversation, she shares her open-minded, intellectu...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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52:00
Changing the Game in Food Security: David Hughes
David Hughes has won a number of accolades, both from the academic world and in the mainstream media, for his work with PlantVillage. In this livestreamed opening episode of season three, Hughes talks about the factors in his life and career th...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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48:48
How much do we know about the origins of SARS-CoV-2?
On November 11, 2020, we hosted three members of Penn State’s Center for Disease Dynamics, all of whom all of them are deeply involved in ongoing international efforts to piece together a bigger picture of how and why new viruses like SARVS-CoV...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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1:08:16
Inside Penn State’s COVID-19 Response
On October 26, 2020, we teamed up with the hosts of the Podward State podcast to interview two members of Penn State’s coronavirus task force. Both have spent countless hours since that start of the pandemic doing all they can to help protect s...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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50:46
Collecting COVID-19 Data for Action
On October 19, 2020, we teamed up with the hosts of Podward State – a Penn State student-produced podcast, to interview researchers working on a profoundly collaborative project designed to measure multiple impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on r...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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39:50
Can Lasers Speed Up Coronavirus Detection?
On August 20, 2020, we spoke to an interdisciplinary team of scientists collaborating at the intersection of physics, engineering, materials science, epidemiology, and information technology. Their work holds the promise of new rapid identifica...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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41:04
Evolving Through Our Meta-Crisis (PART 2)
On June 8, 2020, we spoke to Riane Eisler and David Loye, two veteran systems scientists who have collaborated for more than 40 years as both researchers and marriage partners. In this wrap-up of a 2-part conversation, we explore the promise of...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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55:00
Evolving Through Our Meta-Crisis (PART 1)
On June 8, 2020, we spoke to Riane Eisler and David Loye, two veteran systems scientists who have collaborated for more than 40 years as both researchers and marriage partners. In this first of a 2-part conversation, we unpack lost insights of ...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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58:02
Cryo-Electron Microscopy and the Resolution Revolution
In this episode, recorded in-person on February 4, 2020, we talked to a team of Penn State researchers and about the stunning advancements made in recent years in the field of electron microscopy. Up for discussion was a short histo...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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1:01:38
Global Effects of Health Messaging on Perceptions, Anxieties & Behaviors
Aiming to better understand the efficacy of public health messaging in a pandemic, a team of Penn State researchers designed and deployed an unusually open-ended survey that has been translated into 23 languages and reached more than 73 countri...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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34:40
Open-Source PPE Manufacturing and Sterilization
In this episode, recorded via Zoom on May 11, 2020, we talked to Penn State personnel about their involvement with the Manufacturing and Sterilization for COVID-19 Project, or MASC. We discussed how University staff and researchers used their r...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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43:10
Research, Policy, and Democracy in the Age of COVID-19
For this special collaborative episode recorded via Zoom on May 6, 2020, we partnered with the Democracy Works podcast to explore the dynamic and sometimes tense relationship between peer-reviewed scientific research and public policy decision-...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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49:20
Season 2 Intro: Inside Stories of Open-Source Science
In this brief “special announcement” episode, Symbiotic Podcast host Cole Hons lays out the new direction and format for Season 2, a series of COVID-19 Research Briefs that explore radically open and transparent efforts currently underway world...
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Season 2
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9:26
Confronting Global Outbreaks
On February 4, 2020 as the COVID-19 virus began to go global, Cole spoke with three scientists from the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics to hear their perspective on the outbreak. The resulting conversation uncovers aspects of humanity’s ...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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1:12:48
Intraoperative Bioprinting
In this episode, Cole and his guests discuss a transdisciplinary effort at Penn State to advance the printing of living tissues, from skin to bone to organs. Combining the efforts of engineers, nanotechnologists, and surgeons, the team has coin...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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50:34
Rule Breakers of the Plant World
In this episode, Cole and his guests discuss Penn State’s launch of the world’s first Center for Parasitic and Carnivorous Plants. These fascinatingly strange organisms have much to teach us about the outrageous diversity of life - especially n...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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57:16
Live from the 2019 National Science Writers Conference
This special live episode was recorded at SciWri 2019 - a national conference for science journalists hosted by Penn State in 2019. The panel featured a panel of ground-breaking Penn State researchers sharing their trials, tribulations, and har...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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1:13:42
Bugs vs. Drugs: How many antibiotics should we take?
In this episode, we discuss a unique, collaborative research project that brought together experts in infectious disease and communications to explore appropriate interventions for reducing the threat of antibiotic resistance. Through a collabo...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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50:22
Life evolves through collaboration. Science should too.
In this pilot episode, we discuss the importance of collaboration as an evolutionary driver and explore ways that trans-disciplinary teams of scientists can mimic nature, evolving the way research is done. We also unpack the story of why and ho...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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57:56