93. Antibiotic Resistance

In our latest Wild Minds episode, we explore life cycles across species with Dr. Z Yan Wang. We learn about what regulates senescence, the biological process of programmed death, in cephalopods, how it is different in males and females, and the possible evolutionary origins of this behaviour. We also zoom out to discuss senescence on a larger scale - the life cycle and gradual decline of bumblebee colonies. Along the way, we discover how life cycles are intertwined with social behaviours, and how climate change may shape colony dynamics. Z Yan Wang is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Biology at the University of Washington, Seattle. She uses emerging invertebrate model systems, such as the bee and the octopus, to investigate how the nervous system organizes, encodes, and mediates end-of-life transitions and death. She holds a PhD in neurobiology from the University of Chicago, where she characterized the neuroendocrine mechanisms of maternal behaviors and death in octopuses. As a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University, she studied the impact of social isolation on nervous system development and behavioral expression of bumblebees. --- We hope you enjoy the episode! Please feel free to share with your friends and family, it means a lot to us🤍

In today's episode we are joined by Juan Gallego, a systems neuroscientist to discuss how the brain controls and learns movement. He is based in the Champalimaud Foundation’s new Centre for Restorative neurotechnology, where he leads the NeoCybernetics Lab, continuing his work on the neural basis of movement while blending fundamental and applied neuroscience. In January 2020 he joined Imperial College London’s Department of Bioengineering as an Associate Professor, where he led a research group combining behavioral experiments, large-scale neural recordings, data analysis, and computational modeling to understand motor learning and control. Over his career he has published more than thirty-five journal articles, with funding from the EU Commission, UK research councils, ARIA, and the ERC.

In our latest episode of Wild Minds, we are joined by Professor Stephen Montgomery to talk about how evolution has contributed to the diversification of both brain and behaviour, using neotropical butterflies as an example. We discusshow diversification across butterfly species has enabled adaptation to different habitat types and resulted in various sensory adaptations and novel behaviours. We also explore the complex interactions between ecological niche, lifestyle factors, brain function, and behaviours like spatial navigation and foraging, and how this can be studied in butterflies both in the lab and in the wild. Stephen Montgomery is a the University of Cambridge as a Prince Philip Professor of ecology and evolution. Previously, Stephen completed a BSc in natural sciences followed by a PhD in primate brain evolution with Nick Mundy at the University of Cambridge. He then joined Judith Mank’s lab at UCL for a postdoctoral fellowship where he began to research brain evolution in neotropical butterflies of the Central & South Americas, which developed into his current research focus. He was previously a professor of evolutionary neurobiology and behaviour at the University of Bristol. His work so far has identified genes associated with the evolution of brain size, and investigated the causes and consequences of co-evolution between different regions of the brain. --- We hope you enjoy the episode! Please feel free to share with your friends and family, it means a lot to us🤍

In today's episode, we are joined by Dr. Laura Fedele, neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher, to discuss how the heart interacts with the nervous system. Drawing from her experience using in vitro systems to model these interactions in a dish, Laura tells us about her extensive experience studying the electrical behaviour of many different cell types using patch-clamp electrophysiology, and the role that ion channels play in regulating the function of electrically excitable cells, as well as the translational relevance and clinical implications of her research. This episode is part of our Tools for Looking into the Brain series which is sponsored by Scientifica, leaders in electrophysiological equipment and expertise. This series is dedicated to creating engaging and informative content exploring various techniques used by researchers in neuroscience. Find out more ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Dr Laura Fedele is a research associate at the Wolfson Centre for Sensory Processing and Ageing at King's College London, currently investigating signalling pathways that regulate the activity of autonomic neurons. Previously, Laura completed a BSc in Neuroscience at the University of Dundee, then a Masters and PhD on NMDA receptor function and dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders at University College London. Following this, Laura carried out postdoctoral research on the cellular physiology of cardiomyocytes at Imperial College London, before making the switch back to neuroscience, developing in vitro models of peripheral neurons in the context of pain. She is now bringing together her experience to investigate how neurons and cardiomyocytes interact. --- We hope you enjoy the episode! Please feel free to share with your friends and family, it means a lot to us🤍

In today's episode of Wild Minds, we are joined by Dr Saikat Ray, a neuroscientist who researches how the brain represents space and social interactions under naturalistic conditions. Saikat is one of the pioneering scientists to perform electrophysiological recordings of brain activity in animals freely moving in the wild, specifically freely-flying bats. In the episode, we discuss how the brain represents space both in the lab and in the wild, hear about Saikat's experiences working with wild bats on a remote island off of Tanzania, and learn about the value of doing wild neuroscience for contributing to our understanding of the brain. Dr. Saikat Ray completed a BSc in electrical engineering followed by a PhD in neuroscience at the Humboldt University of Berlin where he researched the development and organisation of the medial entorhinal cortex, a brain area important for spatial navigation and memory. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Nachum Ulanovsky's lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science. --- We hope you enjoy the episode! Please feel free to share with your friends and family, it means a lot to us🤍