Beyond Lab Walls | Salk Institute Podcast

Beyond Lab Walls | Salk Institute

Salk Institute
Beyond Lab Walls is Salk’s podcast that highlights cutting-edge science and the researchers making it all possible. On the podcast, hosts Isabella Davis and Nicole Mlynaryk interview Salk’s internationally renowned and award-winning scientists to explore the very foundations of life, and learn about new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. Beyond Lab Walls is a production of the Salk Office of Communications.
Joseph Swift says we're more like plants than we think
Joseph Swift is a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Joseph Ecker's lab at Salk, but has recently launched his own start-up called CropDiagnostix. Inspired by his parents, Swift has always embraced “crazy” choices—leading him to leave Australia to study plant genomics in New York City then San Diego. In this episode, you’ll hear about everything from the microscopic similarities between plants and humans, to what it’s like road-tripping with a car full of potatoes.
May 28
26 min
Jeff Jones shares what we can learn from jellyfish about human aging
Jeff Jones is a staff scientist in the lab of Professor Rusty Gage. Jones' journey to science started on a dirt road in Florida and with a slew of questions about cancer. His tinkering hands and inquisitive mind led him to study life's basic building blocks to uncover how, why, and when our cells age—and whether we can prevent age-related dysfunction.
Apr 28
23 min
Irene Gutiérrez | Searching For Answers To Alzheimer's With Neuroimmunology
Beginning as a spark stirred by rainy day boredom in Galicia, Spain and encouraged by wanting to understand her grandfather's brain tumor, Irene Lopéz Gutiérrez became a neuroscientist. Now, she's a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Susan Kaech's immunology lab—searching for answers about Alzheimer's disease in the exciting new field of neuroimmunology.
Mar 25
26 min
Getting to the Root of Alzheimers | Beyond Lab Walls | Salk Institute
Things are changing in Alzheimer's research. We've got new tools and new ideas, and we want you to know about them. To kick off Salk’s “Year of Alzheimer’s,” hear how our scientists are bringing us closer to a more modern and personalized landscape of Alzheimer's diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
Feb 24
28 min
Kay Watt | Beyond Lab Walls | Salk Institute
Kay Watt was not a scientist when she arrived in the remote jungles of Panama, assigned to help coffee farmers protect their plants from environmental harm. When she returned from the Peace Corps, she’d learned that driving change was a science in and of itself. Hear how the experience motivated Kay to become a plant geneticist and program manager, supporting the fight against climate change through Salk’s Harnessing Plants Initiative.
Dec 11, 2024
34 min
Daniel Hollern | Beyond Lab Walls | Salk Institute
"What are the things that cause cancer in people? Can we prevent cancer?" These are the questions Assistant Professor Daniel Hollern is asking in his research at Salk. From blending spices and vinegar on his kitchen floor growing up in Michigan to blending computational biology and immunology on the lab bench in San Diego, learn about Hollern's life and scientific journey in this episode of "Beyond Lab Walls."
Oct 10, 2024
28 min
Lara Labarta-Bajo | Beyond Lab Walls | Salk Institute
How can an infection in your lungs have such a lasting effect on your brain? Lara Labarta-Bajo, a postdoctoral researcher in Associate Professor Nicola Allen's lab, studies how the immune system and the brain communicate with each other. Her latest findings reveal a surprising relationship between infections, brain aging, and mobility.
Sep 10, 2024
35 min
Jesse Dixon | Beyond Lab Walls | Salk Institute
Did you know each of your cells contains a six-foot-long strand of DNA? In a miraculous feat of molecular origami, your genome can fold itself into a tightly packed structure that fits into the tiny space of a cell’s nucleus. Hear how Assistant Professor Jesse Dixon combines his scientific and medical training to unravel the rules of DNA folding and explain how a single misplaced bend or loop can lead to diseases like cancer.
Aug 10, 2024
32 min
Jake Minich | Beyond Lab Walls | Salk Institute
Jake Minich is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Research Professor Todd Michael. Minich had a long and winding journey to Salk, crossing continents and oceans to land in sunny San Diego studying microbial ecology. Combining his childhood joy of fishing and a passion for community, Minich is working to alleviate or prevent the burden of undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries.
May 30, 2024
31 min
Laura Mainz | Beyond Lab Walls | Salk Institute
Laura Mainz is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Professor Jan Karlseder. Always curious about the human body, her father's cancer diagnosis inspired a career in cancer biology. In this episode, we learn about Mainz's journey from Germany to California, the science of stopping cancer before it starts, and how researchers cope with such emotionally draining lab work.
Apr 17, 2024
24 min
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