StemCells@Lunch Digested

In this episode, Ina Sonnen, a researcher at the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands, is interviewed by Postdocoral researcher JF Darrigrand. Ina explains which are the big questions studied in her lab, notably how cells can communicate not only via the nature of signals they exchange but also through the dynamics of these signlas. She shares how advances in microscopy, microfluidics and cell culture are helping researchers to make more and more discoveries. Having recently founded her...

In today’s episode, Prof. Andrew Ewald, Director of the Cell Biology Department at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine is interviewed by Inês Tomás. Prof Ewald explains how he transitionned from a background in physics to the field of cancer biology. He touches upon why cancer is such a specific type of disease, how cancer cells talk to each other during metastasis, and how their interaction with immune cells is crucial for disease development. Prof Ewald also discusses the evolution of the...

In today’s episode, Dr. William Roman, a research associate at Stanford University, is interviewed by Dr. Davide Danovi. William explains how he is combining live cell imaging and quantitative approaches to answer fundamental questions in muscle biology. He shares some inspiring mentoring advice on how to let students use their PhDs as platforms to express themselves throught their science and discover what type of science they like, both in terms of subject and technique.

In today’s episode, Shalev Itzkovitz, a professor at the Weizman Institute, Israel, is interviewed by Postdocoral researcher Georgina Goss. Shalev shares the discoveries of his lab on the design principles that shape and maintain metabolic organs such as the intestine and the liver. He explains the very advanced techniques used in modern biology, and more specifically in his lab, to address such fundamental questions. Having started his education in mechanical engineering, he discusses what...

In today’s episode, Prof Xin Chen, a group leader at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is interviewed by PhD student Daria Belokhvostova. Xin takes us into the world of germline stem cell epigenetics and how its regulation can influence the ability of these cells to divide asymmetrically. She shares her passion for the biology of germ cells and explains why the fruit fly Drosophila is such a good system for her studies. Xin talks about how scientific collaborations are helping to expand...

In today’s episode, Dr Allison Bardin, a group leader at Institut Curie, is interviewed by PhD student Vassia Salameti. Allison talks about how she got interested in asymmetric cell division while working on budding yeast, followed by her work on fly as a postdoc that derived her into the field to study cell fate acquisitions and stem cell biology. She shared the details about how Drosophila is excellent model to study various genetic alterations and cost effective. Allison further...

In today’s episode, Prof Yukiko Yamashita, a group leader at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT, is interviewed by PhD student Joshua Reeves. Yukiko talks about how her lab got interested in understanding the possible mechanism of non siter chromatid segregation in germline cells. She talks about how they started looking at the interesting mechanisms regulating the immortality of germlines cells in Drosophila. Yukiko also shares her opinion regarding Junk DNA and how it might...

In today’s episode, Prof Ludo Van Den Bosch a group leader at VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, is interviewed by PhD student Abigail Isaacson. Ludo talks about his labs goal and how they use different model systems to understand disease as good as possible with goal to develop therapies. He also highlighted the importance of using different models from fruit fly, zebrafish to mice depending on context and questions. Ludo also emphasized about obstacles in managing ALS along...

In today’s episode, Prof Elena Ezhkova, a group leader at Icahn School of Medicine, is interviewed by PhD student Vassia Salameti. Elena talks about the potential of stem cells in therapy and how her interest developed towards understanding the role of epigenetic regulators in stem cell reprogramming. She shares about how companies are getting interested in small molecular drugs that target epigenetic regulators which could be used as personalized therapy. Elena also emphasizes the...

In today’s episode, Prof Filipe Pereira, a professor at Lund University, Sweden, is interviewed by postdocoral researcher Jean-Francois Darrigrand. Filipe shares how he started his career in the fields of stem cells reprogramming and immunotherapy, as well as his experience working in the US and different european countries. Filipe also discusses about how he balances his activities of leader of an academic group and of a biotech company. Lastly, he explains why mentoring is a fantastic...

In today’s episode, Prof Denis Duboule, a professor of developmental biology at EPFL and Univeristy of Geneva is interviewed by PhD student Abigail Isaacson. Denis talks about how his first interest for mushrooms initiated his whole career in biology. He shares with us his fascination for the encoding of time in the genome, which ensures the proper development of embryos. Denis also talks about how priotities change during the life of a laboratory head, shifting from publishing to seeing...

In today’s episode, Prof Dagmar Iber, a professor at ETH, Zurich, is interviewed by PhD student Vasiliki Salameti. Dagmar talks about the similarity between investment banking and academia . She describes her interest in modelling organogenesis and patterning systems. She discusses the importance of collaboration. She also advised students to take risk and initiative to try to do things they want to. As a university professor, she shared how she enjoyed the scientific journey in finding...

In today’s episode, Dr Vikas Trivedi, a group leader at EMBL Barcelona, is interviewed by PhD student Prudence Lui. Vikas talks about his scientific journey and his research on using embryonic organoids to study self-organisation of cells. He describes the challenge in this field to use interdisciplinary approaches to study complex biological phenomena. He discusses the benefits of developing broad multidisciplinary expertise at the lab. As a group leader in science, he finds problem...

In today’s episode, Dr Emma Rawlins, a senior group leader at the Gurdon Institute in University of Cambridge. She is interviewed by PhD student Elena Drudi. Emma talks about her research on stem cells in mammalian lungs using both mouse and human organoid models. She discusses the pros and cons of the two models. She describes her research interest in understanding normal embryonic lung development, with the aim to further repurpose these cues for lung repair/regeneration in adults. She...

In today’s episode, Dr Vanessa Ribes, a group leader at Jacques Monod Institute, Paris, is interviewed by PhD student Victoria Tsang. Vanessa talks about her research on embryonic development of the spinal cord, its transcriptional regulation, the pathology of related congenital diseases, as well as cancers. She describes her long-time passion for biology and how she went from marine biology to agriculture to her current research. She discusses how meeting patients motivated and influenced...

In today’s episode, Dr Carla Mulas, a postdoc in Stem Cell Institue at Cambridge University, is interviewed by PhD student Haneen Alsehi. Carla talks about her amazing research using biophysics to understand cell state transition. She discusses her journey in transiting from a biochemistry background to studying stem cells and their fate commitment, and her keen interest in how stem cells change their properties during differentiation. She talks about the challenge of the current cell state...

In today’s episode, Dr Kristina Haase, a group leader at EMBL Barcelona, is interviewed by PhD student Prudence Lui. Kristina talks about her amazing research on bioengineered vascular networks and what kept her motivated to work on this for years. She discusses some challenges to be considered when generating advanced vascularised experiment models. She shares her fruitful experience of doing research across continents and in different areas. She emphasises the importance of having a clear...

On today’s episode, Dr Dominika Dziedzicka, a postdoc working with Prof Ludovic Vallier from MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. She is interviewed by Daria Belokhvostova, a PhD student in Centre of Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine in King’s College London. Dominika talks about her PhD and recent postdoc work on human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells. She discusses the differences between differentiation propensity and differentiation potential of stem cells. To learn more about...

In today’s episode, Ieva Berzanskyte, our own graduating PhD student at the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King’s College London, is interviewed by PhD student Inês Tomás. Ieva talks about her exciting work on growing stem cells from patient tissues, then turning them into neurons to find a cure for spinal cord injury. She shares her thoughts on how the neuroscience field can speed up the discovery and translation of therapies into clinics. Following her deep interest in...

On today’s episode, Prof Michael Levin, a renowned regenerative and developmental biologist of Tufts University and Wyss Institute at Harvard University, is interviewed by Dr Davide Danovi, a group leader in Centre of Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine in King’s College London. Mike talks about his multi-disciplinary work in decoding bioelectrical signals of cells, in particularly how information is stored, processed and used for functions within the biological system. He discusses how this...