The JGI launched two podcasts in March 2020. Check out these audio stories, complete with transcripts.
Genome Insider hosted by Menaka Wilhelm
“Genome Insider” is a podcast that showcases the work of JGI collaborators in brief forays, connecting audiences with the people behind the science. Hear diverse voices in science talk about their groundbreaking research to better understand — and harness — the superpowers encoded in plants, fungi, microalgae, environmental viruses, and bacteria to contribute to a more sustainable world. Learn about JGI-supported projects, delving into the researchers’ motivations, the insights that amaze them, and how their work contributes to solving energy and environmental challenges.
Natural Prodcast hosted by Dan Udwary
“Natural Prodcast” is a “fireside chat”-style podcast about natural products and the science and scientists of secondary metabolism. Natural products, secondary metabolites, and specialized metabolites all refer to the chemicals that make species unique and different from one another. They are incredibly important to medicine, the environment, and human health. As the JGI acts on its goals in — and builds out its capabilities for — secondary metabolism research, “Natural Prodcast” serves as an important line of communication to the scientific community. Host Dan Udwary talks to luminaries in the field about current and future developments, and how the JGI can be part of that space.
Recent and Past Podcasts from JGI
Listen to all the latest episodes of Genome Insider and Natural Prodcast.
Genome Insider is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn Radio – Subscribe today! Natural Prodcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify – Subscribe today!
- Genome Insider S4 Episode 6: The Megadata of Lake Mendota – Part 1: Many, Many Mers (11/21/2023) - Lake Mendota sits right next to the University of Wisconsin, Madison. And Trina McMahon’s lab has been sampling the microbes of that lake for over 20 years, to understand how the freshwater ecosystem works. So a few years ago, when they set out to analyze 500 metagenomes, it was the biggest project the JGI had ever put together. The next 3 episodes are the story behind that giant assembly from Lake Mendota. In this episode: the software evolution that made metagenome assemblies like this possible.
- Natural Prodcast Episode 24 – Jackie Winter and SMC (11/16/2023) - Natural Prodcast focuses on the JGI Secondary Metabolism Collaboratory (SMC), a new data portal for natural product biosynthetic gene clusters.
- Genome Insider S4 Episode 5: Experimenting with EcoFABs for Student Labs – Jill Bouchard & Ying Wang (11/9/2023) - To set up flexible, repeatable experiments on plants and microbes, Trent Northen’s group at Berkeley Lab created a fabricated ecosystem – an EcoFAB. These small plastic growth chambers let researchers around the world compare their work consistently. And EcoFABs also work well in the classroom. This episode, we visit Los Medanos College to see EcoFabs in action in Jill Bouchard’s BIO 21 lab course.
- Natural Prodcast Episode 23 – Aaron Puri (11/2/2023) - Aaron Puri of the University of Utah on carbon-fixing methylotrophs, quorum sensing, and inverse stable isotopic labeling to explore biosynthetic chemistry.
- JGIota: A Surprise for Chloroflexota — The First Flagella! (10/19/2023) - To understand how organisms adapt to extreme environments, Marike Palmer and Brian Hedlund study organisms living in hot springs. Hear how their recent work revealed more about the history of the Chloroflexota phylum and a new way of moving: a tail-like flagella.
- Natural Prodcast Episode 22 – Alison Narayan (10/5/2023) - In Natural Prodcast, Alison Narayan on "biocatalysis" her DNA synthesis project with the JGI to explore flavin monooxygenases, and figuring out how to make predictions about the functionality and chemical capabilities of enzymes.
- JGIota: A Tool to Find the Nomadic Genes that Help Microbes Adapt – geNomad (9/21/2023) - A quick snippet on Antonio Camargo and Simon Roux, a few of the JGI researchers behind software that finds plasmids and viruses within microbial genomes. As mobile genetic elements like viruses spread their DNA, they can affect how microbes cycle nutrients and adapt to climate change.
- Natural Prodcast Episode 21 – Elizabeth Parkinson (9/7/2023) - Natural Prodcast guest Betsy Parkinson from Purdue on bacterial signaling molecules and regulation of biosynthetic pathways, student mental health, and getting kids interested in microbiology.
- Natural Prodcast Episode 20 – Brian Bachmann (8/10/2023) - In Natural Prodcast, guest Brian Bachmann covers genome mining from cave environments, and using biosynthetic engineering and synthetic biology to modify and analog complex natural product molecules. Natural Prodcast co-hosts Dan Udwary and Jackie Winter chat with Brian Bachmann on genome mining from cave environments, and using biosynthetic engineering and synthetic biology to modify and analog complex natural product molecules
- Genome Insider S4 Episode 4: Methane Makers in Yosemite’s Lakes – Mike Beman and Elisabet Perez Coronel (6/29/2023) - Meet researchers who have hiked, rafted and met local wildlife (a marmot!) as they’ve sampled the microbial communities living in the mountaintop lakes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. These lakes are isolated, but varied. They’re a great way to see how climate change affects freshwater ecosystems, and how those ecosystems work.