Here’s a link to the published work:

Methylobacterium ajmalii sp. nov., Isolated From the International Space Station

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

Here’s a link to the Space Biology program at NASA Science.

This is the paper discussed in this podcast:
Counteracting Muscle Atrophy on Earth and in Space via Nanofluidics Delivery of Formoterol

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

This week’s episode discusses the impact of animal agriculture on the environment, what a plant-only agriculture system would look like, and some strategies for reducing methane emissions by cattle.

Here are the papers I discuss in this episode:

1. Nutritional and greenhouse gas impacts of removing animals from US agriculture
2. Inclusion of Asparagopsis armata in lactating dairy cows’ diet reduces enteric methane emission by over 50 percent
3. A heritable subset of the core rumen microbiome dictates dairy cow productivity and emissions

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

This first episode of 2021 discusses GalSafe Pigs which were recently approved by the FDA for human consumption and biomedical use.

The following are the papers I discuss in the episode:
1. Targeted disruption of the α1,3-galactosyltransferase gene in cloned pigs
2. Production of alpha 1,3-galactosyltransferase-deficient pigs

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

I’m finally back with a new episode! This episode focuses on the Southern White Rhino, and how captive diets are impairing their reproductive success.

Here’s a link to the paper I discuss:
Gut Microbiota and Phytoestrogen-Associated Infertility in Southern White Rhinoceros

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

This week’s episode talks about the hunting strategies of Great White Sharks, and how they relate to their energetics. Turns out, they’re kind of lazy hunters…check it out here!

Here is the paper I discuss:

Swimming strategies and energetics of endothermic white sharks during foraging

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

Here are the links to the papers I mention:

1. The axolotl genome and the evolution of key tissue formation regulators
2. Macrophages are required for adult salamander limb regeneration

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

Here are a couple links related to the work I discuss:
1. Cloning of Macaque Monkeys by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
2. Revive & Restore – Passenger Pigeon

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

This week I’m discussing my most recently published article! This is work that I did at Virginia Tech with dairy heifers, looking at the effects of supplemental post-absorptive propionate on energy metabolism and reproductive performance.

You can find the article here: Propionate Affects Insulin Signaling and Progesterone Profiles in Dairy Heifers

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

Here are a couple links to the papers I mention in this episode:
1. Gut/brain axis and the microbiota
2. Gut microbiome and depression: what we know and what we need to know
3. A gut microbial factor modulates locomotor behaviour in Drosophila

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

Here are a couple links to the work done at the University of Guelph:
Optimal Rate of Organic Fertilizer during the Flowering Stage for Cannabis Grown in Two Coir-based Substrates

Vegetative propagation of cannabis by stem cuttings: effects of leaf number, cutting position, rooting hormone, and leaf tip removal

This site gives a really good run down on the different terpenes, and how they could affect your experience: Leafly

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

This week’s episode discusses how the new USMCA agreement affects the dairy market, specifically in regards to the use of rBST in cattle.

Here’s the link to the meta-analysis I discuss:

A meta-analysis review of the effects of recombinant bovine somatotropin 2. Effects on animal health, reproductive performance, and culling

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

Here are links to the three papers I discuss:
1. Muscle-specific CRISPR/Cas9 dystrophin gene editing ameliorates pathophysiology in a mouse model for Duchenne muscular dystrophy
2. Inactivation of porcine endogenous retrovirus in pigs using CRISPR-Cas9
3. Development of broad virus resistance in non‐transgenic cucumber using CRISPR/Cas9 technology

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

As promised here’s the link to the abstract I discuss:

Discovery of CAZYmes for cell surface glycan removal through metagenomics: Towards universal blood

And here is an additional paper by the same group:

oward Efficient Enzymes for the Generation of Universal Blood through Structure-Guided Directed Evolution

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

This week I’m talking about our understanding of how humans differ genetically in order to have acquired speech, and how that understanding has changed based on current research.

Here are the links to the articles I discuss:
1. A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder
2. Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involved in speech and language
3. The Derived FOXP2 Variant of Modern Humans Was Shared with Neandertals
4. No Evidence for Recent Selection at FOXP2 among Diverse Human Populations

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

This week I’m talking about RNA Velocity, a cool new technique allowing for the calculation of not only RNA expression, but also whether that expression is increasing or decreasing at that point in time. Here’s a link to the Nature article (1), and the preprint PDF (2):
1) RNA Velocity in Single Cells
2)Preprint PDF

As promised, here’s an image depicting the translation of DNA into precursor (or unedited) RNA, then regular (edited) RNA. These are the two items which they are taking the ratio of for their RNA dynamics calculations.

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

On this week’s episode we take on the technique cell culture:

Here are links to the two articles I discuss in this episode.
Epithelial membrane protein 1 promotes tumor metastasis by enhancing cell migration via copine-III and Rac1

Anti-inflammatory effect of two Lactobacillus strains during infection with Gardnerella vaginalis and Candida albicans in a HeLa cell culture model

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

This week I’m talking about my trip to Knoxville to attend the ADSA (American Dairy Science Association) annual meeting. I’ve picked out 2 of the presentations to highlight on this episode. Here are the links to the abstracts where you can find more information:

Effects of feeding supplemental butyrate on passive transfer of immunity in Holstein calves

Effects of a recombinant bacterial expansin and an exogenous fibrolytic enzyme on preingestive fiber hydrolysis, fermentation and digestibility of corn silage

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/

Here it is, the first episode of Words About Biology!

On this episode I discuss the direction of the podcast and dive a bit into my background and experience. Specifically, I talk about some of the work I did for my PhD. I said I’d post the proposed method of action model for EGF in the small intestine of piglets, so here it is.

For reference: SGLT1 (sodium-glucose transporter 1) is a glucose transporter. GLP2R is the receptor for glucagon-like peptide 2, a protein involved in intestinal growth. KGF (keratinocyte growth factor) aids in the formation of the epithelium. Muc2 is mucin 2, a component of the mucus that lines the small intestine. IL-13 is interleukin-13, a mediator of inflammation.

I know I don’t talk about all of these pathways in the episode, but they represent the bigger picture of what I looked into.

Additionally, if you’re looking for the published work I discuss, it can be found here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168165615000164

With that, I hope you enjoy, and feel free to message me with any comments or questions!

Words About Biology is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://wordsaboutbiology.wordpress.com/