Free Forum – RESPONDING TO TRUMP Eddie Kurtz, Courage Campaign – Colby Devitt, Standing Rock First NEW SHOW since 2014. Opens w 15 minute commentary.

Written on January 14th, 2017

After hosting and producing this show for 17 years, I stepped away from recording new live interviews nearly two years ago, but I couldn’t resist commenting about Trump’s election and our path forward confronting his administration. The Courage Campaign is spearheading resistance in California with a mix of online and ground organizing and action. Colby Devitt shares her experience at Standing Rock and her work in the campaign to divest from banks funding the pipeline.

Disruptive #7: FISSEQ – Fluorescent In Situ Sequencing

Written on October 7th, 2016

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Until recently, to analyze many mRNAs simultaneously, scientists had to grind cells to a pulp, which left them unable to pinpoint those mRNAs within the cell. Developed by a team at the Wyss and Harvard Medical School, FISSEQ allows scientists to pinpoint thousands of mRNAs and other types of RNAs at once in intact cells, and stands to revolutionize clinical diagnostics and drug discovery.

Listen and subscribe to Disruptive on Soundcloud, iTunes, or Google Play.

http://harvard.wyss.edu

Disruptive #7 Transcript

Disruptive#6: Rapid, Low-cost, Paper-based Test for Zika

Written on June 24th, 2016

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In early May, a rapid, low-cost, freeze-dried, paper-based, strain-specific diagnostic system for detection of the Zika virus was introduced by an international team of researchers led by James Collins of Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. The core of the test kit is a piece of paper that changes color in the presence of Zika virus RNA and produces results in two to three hours. University of Toronto biochemist Keith Pardee says that it should cost less than a dollar per test. And, according to Collins, in response to a new outbreak, a custom tailored diagnostic system could be ready for use within one week’s time.
In this 53-minute podcast, I speak with Collins and Pardee, and explore how they did it, what they learned, and what this might mean for the future. Listen and subscribe to Disruptive on Soundcloud, iTunes, or Google Play.

http://wyss.harvard.edu

Disruptive #6 Transcript

 

Disruptive #5: Molecular Robotics – Building with DNA

Written on April 5th, 2016

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DISRUPTIVE – the podcast from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

We’re learning to take advantage of properties of DNA that have served nature well- but in ways nature may have never pursued. We build with it. We tap its capacity to carry information to enhance our ability to explore the inner life of cells.

In this episode, Wyss faculty members William Shih, Wesley Wong and Peng Yin share what it’s like being on the frontier of science, explain how and why they program DNA, and consider potential applications of their work.

http://wyss.harvard.edu

Disruptive: Molecular Robotics transcript