The Control and The Variable: Recent Episodes
The Control and The Variable
A podcast by Sonia Shinhmar and Sarah Muscat. Hello! We are Sonia and Sarah, not only do we have a birthday in common, we also share a passion for biomedical research! I (Sonia) am a PhD student looking at the mechanisms of action of Chinese Herbal Medicines and Sarah is currently working for the #NHS as a COVID-19 tester! We enjoy discussing recent papers and we interview other women in biology about their careers and what it is like being a minority in academia!!!
Hello everyone!
Thank you so much for listening to our episode today on The Climate Change Crisis!
It's a tough pill to swallow, but we have some work to do to save our planet! I invited onto the show James @bio_boy, an avid climate warrior, to share some insight into the current crisis and to help give a balanced review to the sea documentary Seaspiracy.
We hope you enjoyed!
Please reach out to us:
Instagram- @controlandvariable
Twitter- @sonia_shinhmar
@bio_boy
Hi all! It's just me, Sonia, today!
Thank you so much everyone who still follows the podcast! We know we haven't been very consistent and tbh it's been quite hard juggling PhD work, paper writing and organising new guests the past few weeks! Especially as it's exam season! But as they say, all good things to those who wait!
This week I was sent a fantastic article from a friend about DNA encapsulation within glass nano-balls, where the DNA has been synthetically made to store data! https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2021/06/honoured-by-european-inventor-award.html Have a read because it's mind-blowing!!!
This episode I've been joined by Professor Alessandra Devoto, an academic from RHUL who has recently published a paper concerning the role of an isolate found in a common weed as an anti-breast-cancer compound. Very impressive! She also shares some advice, funny stories as well as her journey into research! It was a lovely conversation and I can't wait to invite her back!
Thanks for listening! x
Sonia xx
Social media:
Twitter: sonia_shinhmar
instagram: @controlandvariable
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Hi everyone!
This episode resulted in a lot of tears for me! We recorded this episode 3 times due to my computer freaking out!!!
We discussed the rest of Chapter 10 from Invisible women by Caroline Criado Perez, we still cannot recommend this book to read enough! Sarah found a very interesting piece on the benefits of green areas to urban living (living in the city- not how old people use the word urban) and we invited Asma Al Husari on the podcast to discuss her career move into nutrition and health! We loved hearing about her perceptions of nutrition and how these have changed since she started her latest degree!
Thank you for listening!
Sonia + Sarah!
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933270-800-green-spaces-arent-just-for-nature-they-boost-our-mental-health-too/ https://www.waterstones.com/book/invisible-women/caroline-criado-perez/9781784706289 (it's on sale right now too!)
In today's episode Sonia and Sarah are discussing part one of the tenth chapter of 'Invisible women' By Caroline Criado Perez. This chapter focusses on the lack of sufficient testing and knowledge of female health and diseases. Due to the length of this chapter and the numerous topics to discuss, this segment has been split in half with more information being shared in the next episode!
Sarah found an interesting article about horizontal gene transfer between plants and white flies resulting in their resistance to secondary metabolites of plants that would usually ensure their survival. Very interesting.
Thank you to Dr Eleanor Warren (Ellie) for joining us on the podcast to discuss her journey from Oxford university to RHUL and now her work on C. elegans and venoms at the London Institute of health and research!!!
Here's links to the paper and book!
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.02.014
https://www.waterstones.com/book/invisible-women/caroline-criado-perez/9781784706289
Social media:
Instagram: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @sonia_shinhmar @sarahmuscat3
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Hey all!
Thank you to all of our listeners from series 1, we appreciate you all so much!
This episode marks the first episode of series 2, where Sarah gives us a book review of 'The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks', where we discuss the source of HeLa cells that have been used in so many research projects leading to the production of vaccines such as the HPV vaccine as well as the ethical concerns to the origins of such cells! Sonia discusses the theory of tertiary vaccine doses and we interview Harpreet Shinhmar, a PhD student at UCL investigating Red light therapy in the context of ophthalmology.
We hope you're all staying safe and we hope you all get that text from the NHS for your vaccine soon!
HEY ALL!
Can you believe it's been a year since we started this podcast?! And yes, we know we've been a little inconsistent with releasing episodes- but we're students and therefore we're letting ourselves believe we can be late! Thank you to all of our listeners, near, far and wide! We appreciate you all so much!
Anywhooo... we took a short trip down memory lane and discussed our previous episodes, what we have enjoyed and the guests we have interviewed! We also manifested the idea of interviewing @fryRsquared, @profbriancox and I forgot to mention my favourite author @angelasaini although I talk about her all the time, so you should've just guessed that she was on the list!
We hope you're all doing well and continue to listen, share and enjoy the podcast! xx
Hi everyone!
A special thank you to every single one of our listeners, especially those of you from different countries around the world!
This episode Sarah and Sonia discuss using bread as a scaffold for cell and tissue culture and how encouraging cell metabolism in ageing cells shows repair against neurodegeneration!
We were joined by Dr Versha Prakash, a RHUL alum who took her skills and passion for the future of science to Arctoris as their Head of Partnerships. We discussed the idea of institutionalisation, representation in science and, of course, the stupidest thing she's done in the lab!
We hope you're all doing well!
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03160-0
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.13.353698v1.full
Hi everyone!
This week Sonia talks about Race science (what's new??) and Sarah explains why we have such dark eye circles whilst admiring how COVID has left her looking her best!!!! Is there such thing as a COVID glow up???
We were also kindly joined by Tamsin Williams, a PhD student at RHUL looking at nematodes and sports field health! Definitely a topic we never knew existed! It was a great conversation and we not only wish Tamsin the best for the rest of her PhD but we hope she finds the time to come back on the podcast soon!
We hope you're all doing well and staying safe!
Sonia + Sarah xx
Social media:
Insta: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @sonia_shinhmar @sarahmuscat3
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
https://retractionwatch.com/
Hey Listeners!
We hope you're all feeling positive and testing negative!
In this fortnight's episode, Sarah discusses declining penguin populations, Sonia discusses substance abuse drugs and we interview another research inspiration. We are very excited, of course, to be joined by Professor Ranjit Lall, a Professor (yes we’re officially getting more professional!) of clinical trials and biostatistics at Warwick University, she is also the associate director of stats there! We discussed her journey into research and her love for Maths as well as top tips for living life! We thoroughly enjoyed interviewing her and would love to invite her back some time!
In terms of our 'funny' stories, there has been a lot of editing in order to avoid a case of 'dry snitching'! Maybe I'll let you know the details soon???
As always thank you for listening, please like and share this podcast with all of your buddies!
Thanks!!!
Social media:
Insta: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @sonia_shinhmar @sarahmuscat3
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Adopt a penguin:
https://support.wwf.org.uk/adopt-a-penguin?pc=AUL005003&gclsrc=aw.ds&ds_rl=1262365&ds_rl=1262365&gclid=CjwKCAiAlNf-BRB_EiwA2osbxfIIg3_IOM6m5IJkG1MwOrh_wYVafvZnQh3ep0FOwwtlEePkUMD_OBoCk-cQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Paper:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3008-z
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
Hey all!
For this special episode Sarah talks about a CRISPR documentary she watched recently and Sonia gives a review on mRNA vaccines.
We invited long time listener and supporter Prof Julia Koricheva onto the podcast to talk about Women in Biology society and just some general advice!
We hope you enjoy! Don't forget to like and share with all your friends!
Social media:
instagram: @controlandvariable
twitter: @sonia_shinhmar @sarahmuscat3 @Korichevalab @RHULWiB
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30803823/
Human nature- Netflix
Hello to all our listeners!
We're on EPISODE 10!!!!! This is very exciting for us! Thank you to everyone who listens and subscribes to the podcast!
This episode focuses on the new Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and a BBC four documentary about eugenics and British scientists!
We also invite onto the podcast Stacey Vincent, a research PhD student at RHUL investigating plant microbiomes! She imparted a wealth of knowledge about her research and advice for prospective post graduate research students! We will definitely be inviting her back after she publishes her work to talk all things plants and bioinformatics!
We hope you are all staying safe and doing well!
Contact us:
Instagram: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @sonia_shinhmar @sarahmuscat3
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
@StaceyDigitalis
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
Hello lovely listeners!
As always we hope you're all doing well both physically and mentally and that your research is smashing it out of the park!!!
This week we are joined by our dear friend Diane Gabriel who is also a post-graduate research student, sharing her experiences of working in clinical research and her time here in the UK so far! The papers discussed this week range from using CRISPR to change the fat content of mice to our social media habits negatively effecting our memory! This was a lovely episode to record, thank you Diane for joining us!
If you would like to share your work and research on our podcast please get in touch via twitter, insta or email!
See/ hear from you all soon! xx
Socials:
Insta: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @sonia_shinhmar @sarahmuscat3
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33116309/
Hey everyone! We hope you're all doing well and safe!
This fortnight's episode covers a coronavirus update as well as the potential for life on venus and mars!
We had the opportunity to interview and friend of the podcast, Joe, on his experiences as a researcher in biological sciences! Exciting stuff!
We also discussed the nation's favourite, David Attenborough, and why he's not really our favourite! #controversy!
Stay safe! Until next time!
Social media:
Insta: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @soniashinhmar @sarahmuscat3 @damsa_j
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54133538
Hi everyone!
We hope you're all doing well! Here is episode 7 of the podcast, listen to our review on the book Spoonfed by Tim Spector and a mini biography on Noble prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn! We also share appreciation for @lab_shenanigans twitter page!
Stay safe!
Social media:
Insta: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @soniashinhmar @sarahmuscat3
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
Hello listeners!
We know it has been some time since we recorded an episode so, apologies!
This week we have discussed the use of iodine in face masks and the amazing book "Superior" by Angela Saini!
https://www.waterstones.com/book/superior/angela-saini/9780008293864
Thank you for listening! We hope you enjoy! xx
Social media:
Insta: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @soniashinhmar @sarahmuscat3
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
Hello everyone! It has certainly been a long time since we recorded a podcast episode! Apologies! We're back now, and starting the new episodes with topics of race based science and Hypatia of Alexandria! We hope you enjoy the episode and as always give us a follow and a like and subscribe!
Today's episode includes information from:
Derry, D. (2009) Iodine: the Forgotten Weapon Against Influenza Viruses Thyroid science 4(9):R1-5
Wikipedia (with a pinch of salt)
https://www.waterstones.com/book/superior/angela-saini/9780008293864 <-- FAB BOOK
Social media:
Instagram: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @soniashinhmar @sarah_muscat3
Email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
Hey listeners!
We really hope you're all doing well in these troubling times! Our thoughts are with all the people effected by this pandemic both at home and abroad! xx
Today's podcast covers the topics of anorexia and a review of the chapter 'the myth of meritocracy' from the potentially life changing book 'Invisible Women: exposing data bias in a world designed for men' by Caroline Criado Perez. [Such a good read!].
We also talk about Hildegaard of Bingen! (who??? Listen and find out!) and what we're doing during quarantine!!!
Stay safe! xx
Sonia + Sarah
Contact us:
twitter: @sonia_shinhmar @sarahmuscat3
Instagram: @controlandvariable
email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
https://www.waterstones.com/book/invisible-women/caroline-criado-perez/9781784706289
Hey everyone!
We really hope you're all doing safe, well and healthy.
We're both in self isolation right now and are unable to record with each other in the same room. So we've moved onto the most popular video calling network, Zoom! Please don't hate on the lack of brilliant sound quality, we're doing our best!
This episode we talk about cancer + sleep and a universal flu vaccine! The mini-biography section is dedicated to the first female Nobel prize winner : Marie Curie! And we discuss the fake news going around about CORONAVIRUS CURESSSSSSS!
As always, we hope you enjoy this episode. Please like, share and follow us on social media!
Instagram: @controlandvariable
Twitter: @sonia_shinhmar and @sarahmuscat3
Email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
Hello everyone!
We really hope you're all doing well and staying safe!
Episode 3 of the podcast includes a story of curing HIV, using microRNA to treat cystic fibrosis and a mini biography on the amazing Tiera Guinn Fletcher! ...not forgetting the time Sonia's colleague (let's call her Judy) trash talked her DAD!!!
Please share and like the podcast!
Instagram: controlandvariable
Twitter: sonia_shinhmar and sarahmuscat3
Email: thecontrolandthevariable@gmail.com
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
Hi everyone.
With coronavirus on the news are spreading worldwide, this week's podcast is focussed on the virus.
Links to good articles:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2235847-coronavirus-what-are-the-worst-symptoms-and-how-deadly-is-covid-19/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2231864-new-coronavirus-looks-set-to-cause-a-pandemic-how-do-we-control-it/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2235342-covid-19-why-wont-the-who-officially-declare-a-coronavirus-pandemic/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/coronavirus-outbreak
Please remember to share the podcast with friends and family!
Instagram : @controlandvariable.
Twitter : sonia_shinhmar and sarahmuscat3
Thank you for listening!
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!
Welcome to The Control and The Variable podcast! A (hopefully) weekly podcast where two Post-Graduate-Research students [Sonia and Sarah] share the latest papers they've read as well as some less than intelligent lab stories!
Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please share with your friends and family!
Episode 1: An introduction to Sonia and Sarah and their research, as well as their hopes and dreams for the podcast!
Note: We do not own the rights to any of the papers mentioned in the podcast, we are simply interested in high quality research in our community and would like to share the results with people from all walks of life and levels of education. We endeavour to share the original papers with you in the description boxes for you to read them yourself. Nothing but the biggest respect to our fellow scientists who publish their work in journals across the world!