Future Science Group

In this interview, Greg Roman (Waters Corporation, USA) shares his experience with instrumentation and techniques such as LC–MS and HRMS and explains what drew him to the field.

In this edition of NCTalks, Lauren Pulling speaks to Emery Brown, Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School (MA, USA). Dr Brown has delivered a number of lectures in recent years on deciphering the dynamics of the brain under general anaesthesia, and how the potential of this area may currently be under-utilized. In this podcast we’ll hear more about Dr Brown’s work, how general anesthesia can be used to understand and develop new treatments for neurological and psychiatric conditions, and we’ll look ahead at the future of the field.

In this EpigenomicsNet podcast, Professor Hendrik Stunnenberg (Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands) discusses his work in gene expression, investigating regulatory epigenetic mechanisms and provides a summary of his talk on the epigenome of innate immune cells.

In this EpigenomicsNet podcast, Dr En Li (Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Shanghai, China) discusses his work leading Novartis’ research program in Shanghai and provides a summary of his talk on Novartis’ epigenetic research in cancer.

In this EpigenomicsNet podcast, Dr Danette Daniels (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) discusses her work at Promega in the area of functional proteomics and provides a summary of her talk introducing Promega’s technologies to study and characterize protein interactions inside cells, particularly for chromatin analysis.

In this MedChemNet podcast, Professor Paul Fish (University College London, UK) discusses his work in Alzheimer’s drug discovery and the talk he delivered on the discovery of fit for purpose chemical probes to investigate bromodomain proteins and the three new drug discovery institutes funded by Alzheimer’s research UK.

In this MedChemNet podcast, Professor Michelle Arkin (University of California, San Francisco; San Francisco, CA, USA) discusses her work in academic drug discovery and chemical biology and the talk she delivered on the progression of inhibiting protein-protein interactions and utilizing this to potentially re-modulate disease networks to a healthy state.

In this MedChemNet podcast, Dr Gemma Nixon (University of Liverpool, UK) discusses her work in antimalarial, antituberculosis, anti-filariasis and antifungal drug discovery and development and the talk she delivered on the development of the antimalarial E209.

In this podcast Dr Elizabeth Whittaker, Dr James Seddon, Dr Pete Dodd and Professor Beate Kampmann discuss their work in pediatric tuberculosis focusing on the areas of immunology, modelling and drug resistance.

In this edition of NCTalks, we speak to Robyn Klein, a Professor of Medicine, Immunobiology and Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri in the USA. Robyn’s research focuses on the pathogenesis of neuroinflammatory diseases in the CNS, specifically the mechanism of leukocyte recruitment into the CNS, and the direct effects of inflammatory mediators on resident neural cells. In this interview, we ask Robyn about her work in this area as part of our Spotlight on neuroimmunology – we’ll discuss Robyn’s research, how inflammatory processes contribute to neurologic disease, and whether immunology and inflammation could be the basis of an eventual preventative treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. You can find more podcasts, articles and news at www.neurology-central.com

Two key themes to come out of the Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) Conference (Aberdeen, UK, 14–15 March 2017) were the celebration of world-class research, and hope for the future of dementia understanding, prevention and treatment, particularly with the forging and strengthening of new partnerships, collaborations and initiatives. In May 2016, ARUK committed £50 million to support the MRC-led UK Dementia Research Institute (DRI), a new hub of dementia research based at University College London (UK), with additional centers across the UK to be announced imminently. Following an international search, Bart De Strooper was recently announced as the Director of the Institute. We caught up with Prof De Strooper at the ARUK Conference to find out more about the DRI and his visions for this exciting new venture for dementia research. You can find more podcasts, interviews and news at www.neurology-central.com

In part 2 of The Changing World of Bioanalysis our panelists discuss what the bioanalytical lab of the future might look like. Discussions included: The need for bioanalysts to acquire more biological skills in order to understand newer generation of complex molecules. Convergence of different units of companies and merging of skills. The role of automation in the bioanalytical lab of the future.

In part 1 of this 3-part video filmed at Barcelona our panel of experts discuss the issue of skills gap in the bioanalytical laboratory and the changing nature of the relationship between Pharma and CROs as outsourcing continues to increase. Discussions include: - Decreasing current skills gap evident in most bioanalytical labs, particularly in younger generation of bioanalysts. - Collaborations between industry and academia to produce a newer generation of bioanalysts better able to deal with more challenging bioanalytical problems. - Training both new and existing staff to deal with more challenging bioanalytical problems (more challenging molecules and newer constructs) and cross training staff within organisations. - The changing nature of the CRO-Pharma relationship.

In this RegMedNet podcast, Mike Rice explains the make or break impact of biopreservation in the potential commercialization of cell therapies.

Our RegMedNet Podcast talks to Dr Aric Rogers about how he is studying factors such as genetic variations and environmental conditions that can influence life span using roundworms. Dr Rogers provides his thoughts and predictions on how dietary restriction for therapeutic benefits could be adopted for the future.

Our RegmedNet Podcast talks to Dr Sandra Rieger about how the Rieger lab uses zebrafish as a model to study wound healing mechanisms and nerve regeneration in peripheral neuropathy. Dr Sandra Rieger provides her thoughts and opinions on the future of zebrafish in research, and future regenerative medicine therapies.

In this NCTalks podcast, we’re reporting from Neuroscience 2016 in San Diego (CA, USA; 12–16 November 2016). We spoke to Patricia Garcez from the Federal University of Rio Janeiro in Brazil, who presented at the conference her work on Zika virus and its disruption of normal cell division and differentiation. Zika virus was highlighted as one of the key research themes at the conference and remains a focus for researchers into 2017 as the world continues to face this global health challenge – in this interview, Patricia discusses her work and her hopes for the field in the coming months and years.

In this NCTalks podcast we speak to Jeffrey Cohen, Director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research (OH, USA). Dr Cohen has a large clinical practice and is also Director of Experimental Therapeutics program and is involved in a number of clinical trials. Today, Dr Cohen discusses the use of bone marrow transplantation as a treatment option for relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), the subject of a Hot Topics discussion at ECTRIMS 2016 (London, UK, 14–17 September 2016). Is the technique a good option for patients? How could it be improved? What does the future of MS treatment look like? Listen to our podcast to find out Dr Cohen’s opinions on these key issues and more.

In this edition of NCTalks we speak to Mark Frasier, Senior Vice President of research programs at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (NY, USA). Mark co-manages a team of research professionals who are developing a targeted and innovative agenda for accelerating research and drug development for Parkinson’s disease. Mark also supports the Foundation’s priority interest in developing biomarkers for the disease that will accelerating clinical trials for new drugs. In this interview, Mark discusses a recent Editorial (Parkinson’s disease is ready for precision medicine) from the Michael J. Fox Foundation published in Personalized Medicine, and looks ahead to the future of precision medicine for Parkinson’s disease. You can find more podcasts and interviews, as well as free journal content, at www.neurology-central.com.

As part of attending Neuroscience 2016 #SFN, our team took the time to interview Erica McGrath, 5th year graduate student at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Erica McGrath's work is focused on the Zika infection and the effect it has on neurological development.