In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming uncovered penicillin, an antibacterial compound that would alter the course of medicine. By the 1940s, this miracle drug entered clinical use, and humanity began to rely on penicillin and other antibiotics to treat once-lethal bacterial infections. Despite this success, bacteria continue to threaten global health as antibiotic-resistant strains emerge and spread. Scientists now race against time to develop new antimicrobial drugs before bacteria gain the upper hand. Fortunately, researchers have found a powerful ally: artificial intelligence.

In this episode, Charlene Lancaster from The Scientist spoke with César de la Fuente, a presidential associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, to learn how his team is leveraging AI to discover novel antibiotics from unique sources, including spiders, archaea, woolly mammoths, and ancient and modern humans.

The Scientist Speaks is a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services team. Our podcast is by scientists and for scientists. Once a month, we bring you the stories behind news-worthy molecular biology research.

Before CRISPR-based methods took center stage in the genome editing field, other bio-inspired tools such as zinc finger nucleases and Cre-lox system recombinases made genomic engineering possible. Some researchers are now looking back to these foundational technologies to improve upon and one-up the latest gene editing techniques.

In this episode, Deanna MacNeil from The Scientist spoke with Frank Buchholz, professor and head of the medical systems biology translational research group at the Technical University of Dresden’s University Cancer Center, to explore how his laboratory designs programmable recombinases for high fidelity gene editing.

The Scientist Speaks is a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team. Our podcast is by scientists and for scientists. We bring you the stories behind news-worthy molecular biology research. This episode is brought to you by Oxford Nanopore.

For centuries, people have relied on materials such as concrete, steel, and wood for the construction of buildings, bridges, and other structures. However, researchers have started exploring a far less conventional material for building therapeutics at the molecular level—DNA.

In this episode, Charlene Lancaster from The Scientist spoke with Björn Högberg, a professor of biophysics at the Karolinska Institute, to learn how his team is developing DNA-based nanorobots to fight cancer.

The Scientist Speaks is a podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services team. Our podcast is by scientists and for scientists. Once a month, we bring you the stories behind news-worthy molecular biology research. This month's episode is sponsored by Crown Bioscience.