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PODCAST

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta

Talking Biotech is a weekly podcast that uncovers the stories, ideas and research of people at the frontier of biology and engineering. Each episode explores how science and technology will transform agriculture, protect the environment, and feed 10 billion people by 2050. Interviews are led by Dr. Kevin Folta, a professor of molecular biology and genomics.

science life sciences

All Episodes

31:30

CAR-T Cells: Engineered to Attack Cancer

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/11/02

Can we use genetic engineering to help the body’s immune system target cancer cells? This is exactly what happens with CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cell therapy. CAR-T cells are T-cells, immune cells of the body that are reprogrammed to identify specific surface signatures that define specific types of cancer cells. It allows these immune agents to seek and destroy cancer cells with great accuracy and with fewer side effects to traditional chemotherapy or radiation. While in

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48:08

Impossible Burgers and Biotechnology

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/10/26

The Impossible Burger is meat alternative that gets its meat-like qualities from a combination of plant-based ingredients, plus “meatiness” from a biotech-derived product. There is a lot of discussion about the product, and the internet has even questioned the safety of the biotechnology steps used in its creation. This episode discusses the Impossible Burger with Dr. Chana Davis, a scientist familiar with the product. We discuss questions about meat alternatives, processed food, and if

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45:07

Edible Cotton Seed

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/10/19

Cotton production is massive, but mostly used for fiber. The cotton seed is a tremendous potential resource as it contains high amounts of oil and high-quality protein. However, the seeds are not directly edible by most mammals because they contain a toxic chemical called gossypol. Gossypol is a terpenoid that the plant produces as a natural insecticide. A team led by Dr. Keerti Rathore at Texas A&M University has worked for decades to produce cottonseed without gossypol. The plants

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33:59

Farm Aid: Anti Biotech and Farmer Choice?

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/10/12

The Farm Babe Michelle Miller is a farmer, speaker, columnist and blogger that advocates for agricultural producers, and seeks to better connect consumers to agricultural reality. She recently attended Farm Aid, the annual concert event that originally was held to provide funding to struggling farmers in the 1980’s. Since then farming has become even more challenging, but Farm Aid has seemed to shift its focus to more political causes than direct farmer assistance. Michelle reports what

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52:42

Engineered Microbes to Fix Nitrogen

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/10/05

Nitrogen is a reality of growing plants, and must be supplied to maximize crop yields. At the same time our atmosphere is >70% nitrogen that is not usable by plants in its atmospheric form. Humans have devised processes to “fix” nitrogen into plant usable forms, but they require energy and the products need to be transported, both leading to a substantial carbon footprint. A number of microbes naturally fix nitrogen, yet do not form good associations with all plants. Joyn Bio is a

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65:24

The Ugly Politics of Glyphosate Litigation

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/09/28

Dr. David Zaruk has become the foremost authority on the questionable practices within the IARC and their decision-making process. Over the last several years he has taken a key point position in interpreting the IARC’s 2015 decision and the political landscape around the agricultural chemical glyphosate. While controversy swirls, he brings it back to reality with deep dissections of the politics involved in the IARC guidance and other regulatory decisions. He has paid a personal and

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33:33

Mosquito Biotech Solutions – Getting the Story Straight

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/09/21

The tiny mosquito is a nuisance in the industrialized world, yet around the world it is a ruthless killer, spreading blood-borne diseases that bring about pain and suffering, particularly in developing nations. In many regions these are invasive species with little to no ecological role. For years scientists have used “sterile insect technique” to control them, a process that treats sexually compatible insects with radiation, rendering them infertile. The low-fertility insects are

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46:45

Plagiarism and Image Manipulation in Scientific...

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/09/14

Dr. Elisabeth Bik is a hero. Classically trained with plenty of lab-bench expertise, today she patrols the best scientific literature in search for plagiarism and image manipulation. Her expert eye identifies manipulated images in our best scientific publications, including the revered science weekly journals that present allegedly breakthrough work. Dr. Bik talks about her path to become a publication sleuth, a high-resolution machine with an eye for things that just don’t look right. She

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32:17

An HIV Preventative in GE Rice

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/09/07

While HIV incidence has remained stable in the industrialized world, the virus is still transmitted in the Developing World. The development of methods of prophylaxis are critical to disease containment, yet moving products into affected areas is not practical or affordable. Dr. Evangelia Vamvaka was part of a team that placed anti-HIV proteins into rice. The rice produced a transgenic protein that inhibited the virus, and did so with great efficacy in the presence of other compounds

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30:59

Supporting Farmer Choice in South Australia

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/08/31

Australia has welcomed the use of genetically engineered crops, and farmers have found particular benefit from broad acre canola and cotton cultivation. However, the benefits were not realized by some states because of local moratoriums imposed by state governments. Farmers in South Australia grow wheat, canola and pulses, along with wine grapes, olives and other horticultural crops. They would like the option to grow GE canola, as it may offer some benefits. More importantly, new

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38:00

A Bioengineered Hangover Helper?

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/08/24

Genetically engineered microbes commonly manufacture our vitamins and amino acid supplements, but can they be supplements themselves? Zbiotics has developed genetically engineered bacteria that may help to metabolize the residues of alcohol consumption, altering the accumulation of the compounds that lead to next-day malaise. These microbes are consumed as a pro-biotic, fortifying the digestive system with a means to break down deleterious metabolites. Today’s podcast covers the

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64:50

Food 5.0 -How We Feed the Future

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/08/17

Robert Saik is an agronomist and entrepreneur with a lifetime of experience in farming. For years he has been a leading advocate for farmers, and a passionate voice promoting the newest technologies, whether they are genetic or engineering marvels on the farm. The 200th episode of the Talking Biotech Podcast aptly hosts Rob and the introduction of is new book, Farming 5.0, How We Feed the Future. Rob discusses the five waves of agricultural history and speaks to their convergence in the

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24:18

Gene Editing and Sickle Cell Disease

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/08/10

Tweet Sickle cell disease is an inherited condition that predominantly affects people of African descent. The disease results in chronic pain and early death, and is caused by a misfolding of oxygen-toting hemoglobin, a central protein in red blood cells. Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the CRISPR Therapeutics companies have combined to test a potential therapy. A patients stem cells are gene edited using CRISPR/Cas9 so that they stop producing adult mutant hemoglobin, and produce a fetal

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33:21

Nano Bar Codes and Product Fidelity

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/08/03

Products move from producer to consumer through complicated networks called supply chains. These routes of custody involve many people and organizations, and oftentimes cross international borders. All of these product touch-points are opportunity for contamination or willful adulteration of the product. High value products like authentic high-end wine, honey or olive oil can be diluted with lesser value amendments, which misleads the consumer and can introduce food safety issues.

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41:30

Citrus Greening Disease Update

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/07/27

What is the current state of the devastating citrus greening disease, Huanglongbing (HLB). Dr. Jude Grosser from the University of Florida Citrus Research and Education Center discusses the current state of the disease, the current therapies and the future possibilities of leveraging genetics and nutrition to help keep citrus in production.# COLABRATalking Biotech is brought to you by Colabra – an R&D platform that brings your lab’s world-changing research together in one shared space

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44:34

Immunotherapies Against HIV

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/07/20

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the causal agent of the spectrum of disorders known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). For decades, those infected have found relief from anti-retroviral therapies that suppress viral numbers. However, the treatments are difficult, require strict compliance and are not 100% efficacious. New therapies have been developed that target the virus using Chimeric Antigen Receptor engineered T cells. These immune cells have been armed with

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35:52

Bt Brinjal in Bangladesh

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/07/13

Bangladesh is a population dense country with relatively little farmland. Subsistence farmers make a living by growing, harvesting and selling brinjal, or the fruit westerners know as the eggplant. The biggest threat to production is the fruit and shoot borer, an insect larvae that digs into the fruit, leaving its waste, and inviting pathogens and decay. To combat this, farmers traditionally use massive amounts of insecticides, upward of 80-100 sprays per season. It is their family’s

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61:55

Countering Disinformation in Africa

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/07/06

The African continent is emerging in many ways, yet still is developing economically. Technology is a huge part of the African transformation, yet farmers there are often forbidden to use crop technologies that were developed for Africa, by African scientists and governments. The resistance is rooted in a vigorous disinformation campaign by European NGOs that spread fear, uncertainty and doubt among the African populations. In June 2019 these organizations funded a meeting on Agroecology

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33:21

Domesticating Bacteria for Industrial Production

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/06/29

Bacteria surround us and have specialized functions in adaptation and metabolism. Could they be helpful as micro machines that catalyze key reactions? Could teams of collaborating bacteria be combined to perform important industrial processes? Dr. Sarah Richardson from MicroByre asks that question. She is in the business of bacterial discovery and domestication, bringing wild bacteria that perform important chemistry into human control. Her company then uses collaborations of microbes

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34:59

Curing PRRS with Gene Editing

Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta ·

2019/06/22

Pork production worldwide is limited by a series of viral pig diseases that slow growth, cause illness and restrict reproduction. One of these is known as PRRS, Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome. PRRS has a massive cost to producers, as they either have to manage the disease or spend significant resources in vaccination and biosecurity. Dr. Christine Burkard of the Roslin Institute has a solution. Her team has studied how the virus docks with cells and replicates. They have

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