NEXT BREAKTHROUGH: The Biomedical Innovation Brainstorm

Francesca Chen
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  • SCIENCE

This is where ideas for biomedical innovation are brainstormed and born. In this extraordinarily important field, it is vital to ask the right questions- as the resulting solutions will aim to go on and solve some of the greatest medical issues. Do you want to create this change? Because that next breakthrough starts here. We invite guest researchers from the many niche areas of this field not only to pry at existing problems they face in their innovative work, but we then take this information, and here is our core element, look into the cracks, and derive ideas for the creation of new devices to target these problems.  My name is Francesca Chen, and as your host, I’m a student fascinated in the potential of the near future of biomedical innovation- one that the ideas cultivated directly in this podcast could go on to impact.  This is the real lab behind the innovation, alive with real ideas that could go on to change real people's lives.  With NEXT BREAKTHROUGH, you could be the one to change them.  Follow to be the first to know when the new episode drops. In the meantime, check out our podcast trailer! 

Episodes

  1. RNA Vaccines, Self-Amplifying RNA Vaccines and Therapies, Gene Delivery, LNP Drug Delivery, Animal Models, Machine Learning

    AUG 14

    RNA Vaccines, Self-Amplifying RNA Vaccines and Therapies, Gene Delivery, LNP Drug Delivery, Animal Models, Machine Learning

    Imagine an RNA printer device that could print RNA… overnight.  This would drastically alter the pace at which RNA is designed and made- which consequently would increase the pace of researchers as they develop the next vaccines and therapies for us.  Welcome back to Next Breakthrough: The Biomedical Innovation Brainstorm, everyone. In this episode, I interviewed Dr. Anna Blakney, and she, similar to Dr. Kelly McNagny, who you met in our first episode, is a Principal Investigator at School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Blakney’s lab is interested in RNA formulations and their delivery into the human body, for vaccine and therapeutic purposes. I’m not sure if many of you are aware of this, but Dr. Blakney works closely with Dr. Pieter Cullis, who was a pivotal part of the development of the Lipid nanoparticle (LNP) based vaccines during the pandemic. Throughout this episode, we talked about this development, and the continued improvement of self-amplifying RNA delivery Dr. Blakney and her team are working on. Fun fact: Dr. Blakney began a TikTok channel during the pandemic to answer the questions people had regarding vaccines. Interested in learning more about scientific innovation with Next Breakthrough? Consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts to get those neurons firing. And without further ado, let’s go ahead and meet Dr. Anna Blakney.

    25 min
  2. Innate Lymphoid Cells & The Immune Response, Bacteria, Crohn’s Disease, Next Gen Vaccines and Researchers, Cancer

    JUL 14

    Innate Lymphoid Cells & The Immune Response, Bacteria, Crohn’s Disease, Next Gen Vaccines and Researchers, Cancer

    I just want to zoom in onto a particular part Dr. McNagny talked about in this episode: the sort of innovation he sees when looking into the future of Innate Lymphoid Cells and patients with diseases associated with them. He talks about a pill that patients could take, which could activate a certain subtype of Innate Lymphoid Cells causing a disease, and through that action, turn them on and off. That’s an incredible thought, and what’s even more incredible is the entire context behind, which leads to, this thought. Dr. Kelly McNagny is a principal investigator at the School for Biomedical Engineering (SBME) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Throughout this episode, our main discussion was on a specific type of recently discovered immune cells called Innate Lymphoid Cells; we discussed their role in inflammation, their relationship with bacteria and disease, such as Crohn’s disease, and the next generation therapies currently being explored to regulate and control their function, and more. Towards the end, we talked about the future of research in this area: the type of innovation that could deal with the problems we discussed earlier, and the type of mindset needed to will continue to drive this innovation forwards. Finally, Dr. McNagny gave us a teaser on a potential following episode with him about the novel cancer immunotherapies being developed in his lab at this moment. They target a particular tumour stem cell protein that has been discovered by the lab which drives cancer to metastasize.... Make sure to follow to know when the next biomedical brainstorm is released. Welcome to Next Breakthrough.

    35 min
  3. Trailer

    TRAILER

    Trailer

    Want a glimpse of NEXT BREAKTHROUGH: The Biomedical Innovation Brainstorm before you begin listening? Make sure to follow to stay updated on the latest biomedical innovation brainstorm happening.

    1 min

Trailer

About

This is where ideas for biomedical innovation are brainstormed and born. In this extraordinarily important field, it is vital to ask the right questions- as the resulting solutions will aim to go on and solve some of the greatest medical issues. Do you want to create this change? Because that next breakthrough starts here. We invite guest researchers from the many niche areas of this field not only to pry at existing problems they face in their innovative work, but we then take this information, and here is our core element, look into the cracks, and derive ideas for the creation of new devices to target these problems.  My name is Francesca Chen, and as your host, I’m a student fascinated in the potential of the near future of biomedical innovation- one that the ideas cultivated directly in this podcast could go on to impact.  This is the real lab behind the innovation, alive with real ideas that could go on to change real people's lives.  With NEXT BREAKTHROUGH, you could be the one to change them.  Follow to be the first to know when the new episode drops. In the meantime, check out our podcast trailer! 

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