Holobiont Ursule Demael

Jorge L. Contreras is a Professor of Law at the University of Utah, specialising in Intellectual Property and Technology Law. He is the author of 150+ scholarly publications, alongside praised non-fiction books including “The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to determine who owns your DNA” (2021). This book explores the AMP vs Myriad Case, which was sparked by patents litigations on the breast cancer gene BRCA for diagnostics, and historically determined that naturally occuring genes cannot be patented.

Timestamps

[01:00] Fundamental Principles of Patenting

[08:30] Novelty and Utility in Patenting

[10:40] BRCA and the AMP vs Myriad Case

[17:00] Ethics of gene patenting 

[23:30] The case for gene patents in biotech

[28:15] Alternative intellectual property than patents 

[33:00] Gene patents on pandemic pathogens

[38:00] Patents in a globalised world

[44:00] Future challenges in biotech patents 

The Genome Defense Book Website : https://genomedefense.org

A thought about the genome as a public good, like a shared universal truth contained in all life forms, and faithfully entrusted from one generation to the next 

**Whoever has seen the universe, whoever has beheld the fiery designs of the universe, cannot think in terms of one man** (Borges, The God's Script (La escritura del Dios))

Barry Marshall is a Professor of Clinical Microbiology at the University of Western Australia. Alongside Robin Warren, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2005 for first showing that Helicobacter pylori bacteria, rather than acid, were the cause of stomach ulcers. For this, Marshall did a self-experiment where he ingested H.pylori and gave himself acute gastritis, establishing a first link between the infectious agent and the development of gastric disorders. 

We also embark on (a few) tangents: 


[00:00] The acid theory of ulcers
[09:20] Curiosity-driven research
[11:10]  Self-experiment ingesting H.pylori
[24:15] Non-invasive diagnostics
[31:00] Peer-review 
[40:45] Reproducibility
[46:15] Unanswered questions around H.pylori
[50:35] Bacteria as vectors 
[57:45] Inflammation and cancer 
[1:05:00] The Microbiome Revolution
[1:13:20] Charles Darwin
[1:18:45] Book recommendations
[1:21:10] Karry Mullis





Barry Marshall's blog: http://barryjmarshall.blogspot.com

Barry Marshall's Nobel Lecture (2005): https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2005/marshall/lecture/

Kary Mullis' Book: Dancing Naked in the Mind Field (1998)

Brother Surgeons: Brother Surgeons (1963) Garet Rogers

Thomas Pradeu is a CNRS Research Director in Philosophy of Science, leading a group at the ImmunoConcept called Conceptual Biology and Medicine. His group explores conceptual aspects spanning immunology, evolutionary biology, ageing and the microbiome. 

We discuss:


What Philosophy of Immunology is 
How to assess the influence of an idea
Misconceptions about the immune system
The usefulness of the self/non-self framework
Definitions of cancer in multicellular organisms
How to integrate philosophy in science

The ImmunoConcept lab page: https://immunoconcept.cnrs.fr

Prof Amaury Lambert is a mathematician, leading a research group called SMILE (Stochastic Models for Inference of Life Evolution) at the Collège de France in Paris. He is also a Professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. 



In this conversation, we discuss


Mathematical definition of species
Modelling the birth and death of species
Using DNA sequences to infer common ancestors and species history
Contingency in evolution
Beauty in mathematics vs biology





SMILE webpage: https://smile.cnrs.fr

SMILE webpage at the Collège de France : https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/en-cirb/lambert.htm

Miles Carroll is leading a research group on High Consequence Emerging Viruses at the University of Oxford, and has previously worked at Oxford Biomedica and as head of research at Public Health England (PHE).

This episode focuses on emerging viruses, which are viruses like coronaviruses and Ebola virus that have rising incidence or are increasing in distribution. We discuss:


What makes an emerging virus successful
Fieldwork during the West African Ebola outbreak (2013-2016)
Using Nanopore sequencing and molecular epidemiology to track emerging viruses
How to deal with the threat of future spillover events



Miles Carroll Lab Page : https://www.well.ox.ac.uk/research/research-groups/carroll-group

Dr Minmin Yen (PhD) is the co-founder and CEO of PhagePro, an early stage bio-tech company spun out of the Camilli lab at Tufts University developing bacteriophage prophylactics against cholera, a diarrhoeal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae. Minimin Yen has been recognised by the MIT's Tech Review as 35 innovators under 35 for her work bridging biological engineering and public health. 

In this conversation we discuss:


The evidence that bacteriophages play a role in cholera epidemics
The strategy of delivering lytic bacteriophages to prevent person-person transmission
How we can compound the emergence of resistance in cholera bacteria
Building trust in communities for adoption of experimental therapies
The challenges of developing a biotech and manufacturing bacteriophage prophylactics

Link to the PhagePro website: https://www.phageproinc.com

Minmin Yen's MIT Tech Review article : https://www.innovatorsunder35.com/the-list/minmin-yen/