Ground Truths

Thanks to so many of you who joined our live conversation with Devi Sridhar!

Professor Devi Sridhar is the Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh. Over the past 2 decades she has become one of the world’s leading authorities and advisors for promoting global health. Her new book —How No to Die Too Soon—provides a unique outlook for extending healthspan with a global perspective admixed with many personal stories.

We talked about lifestyle factors with lessons from Japan (on diet) and the Netherlands (on physical activity), ultra-processed foods, air pollution and wa...

Thank you Richard DeWald, Michael Mann, Dr Avneesh Khare, Maud Pasturaud, Lower Dementia Risk, and many others for tuning into my live video with Katie Couric! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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Ground Truths can also be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

The UK is the world leader in human genomics, and laid the foundation for advancing medicine with the UK Biobank, Genomes England and now Our Future Health (w/ 5 million participants). Sir John Bell is a major force in driving and advising these and many other initiatives. After 22 years as the Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford he left in 2024 to be President of the Ellison Institute of Technology.

Professor Bell has been duly recognized in the...

Audio file, also on Apple and Spotify

Tyler Cowen, Ph.D, is the Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He is the author of 17 books, most recently Talent.: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World. Tyler has been recognized as one of the most influential economists of the past decade. He initiated and directs the philanthropic project Emergent Ventures, writes a blog Marginal Revolution, and a podcast Conversations With Tyler, and also writes columns for The Free Press." He is writing a new book (and perhaps his last...

In our divided world we face or avoid conflicts on a frequent basis. I turned to Bob Bordone and Joel Salinas to find out the best strategies to deal with these, including having them take on a mock conflict between each other on the merits of Covid research.

Audio file

You can also find this on Spotify and Apple podcasts with Ground Truths.

The video is also posted on YouTube

Transcript with Audio Links

Eric Topol (00:06):

Well, hello. It's Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and...

“Eventually, my dream would be to simulate a virtual cell.”—Demis Hassabis

The aspiration to build the virtual cell is considered to be equivalent to a moonshot for digital biology. Recently, 42 leading life scientists published a paper in Cell on why this is so vital, and how it may ultimately be accomplished. This conversation is with 2 of the authors, Charlotte Bunne, now at EPFL and Steve Quake, a Professor at Stanford University, who heads up science at the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative

The audio (above) is available on iTunes and Spotify. The full video...

Thank you Katelyn Jetelina, Andy Meyers, Tracy Paeschke, MD, FACC, Bruce Lanphear, Tay MacIntyre, and many others for tuning into my live video with Katelyn Jetelina! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Funding for the NIH and US biomedical research is imperiled at a momentous time of progress. Exemplifying this is the work of Dr. Anna Greka, a leading physician-scientist at the Broad Institute who is devoted to unlocking the mysteries of rare diseases— that cumulatively affect 30 million Americans— and finding cures, science supported by the NIH.

A clip from our conversation

The audio is available on iTunes and Spotify. The full video is linked here, at the top, and also can be found on YouTube.

Transcript with audio and external links

Eric Topo...

Before getting into this new podcast, have you checked out the recent newsletter editions and podcasts of Ground Truths?

—the first diagnostic immunome

—a Covid nasal vaccine update

—medical storytelling and uncertainty

—why did doctors with A.I. get outperformed by A.I. alone?

The audio is available on iTunes and Spotify.

The full video is embedded here, at the top, and also can be found on YouTube.

Transcript with links to Audio and External Links

Eric Topol (0...

Before getting into this new podcast, have you checked out the recent newsletter editions of Ground Truths?

—how are gut microbiome drives sugar cravings

—the influence of sleep on brain waste clearance and aging

—the new findings of microplastics in the brain

—the surprise finding about doctors and A.I.

In this podcast with Dr. Emily Silverman, an internist and founder of The Nocturnists, an award winning podcast and live show, we discuss what inspired her in medicine, what led to her disillusionment, the essentiality of storytelling, of recog...

The Chief Scientific Advisor at Novo Nordisk, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, was the key force who pushed hard to develop GLP-1 drugs for treating obesity and subsequently for Alzheimer’s. She was recently recognized by the 2024 Lasker Medical Research Award, and the 2024 AAAS Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award. That recognition is richly deserved, since it is unclear if the GLP-1 drug path to obesity treatment, and all of the associated benefits, would have been seen at this time without her influence. That’s especially true given the mystery for why people with Type 2 diabetes (for which these drugs were used...

Piezo touch and pressure-sensing ion channels are showing up everywhere as the explanation for physiologic phenomena, both at the macro and micro levels. Ardem Patapoutian, my friend and colleague at Scripps Research, discovered these receptors back in 2010 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2021 for his work. As you’ll see/hear from our conversation, the field has exploded. And you’ll get to know Ardem, who is such a fun, charismatic, and down-to-earth person. He also recently got a unique tattoo (videos below) and I wonder (unlikely) if any other Nobel laureates have one related to their discovery?!

American healthcare is well known for its extreme cost and worst outcomes among industrialized (such as the 38 OECD member) countries, and beyond that to be remarkably opaque. The high cost of prescription drugs contributes, and little has been done to change that except for the government passing the Affordable Insulin Now Act at the end of 2022, enacted in 2023. But in January 2022 Mark Cuban launched Cost Plus Drugs that has transformed how many Americans can get their prescriptions filled at a fraction of the prevailing prices, bypassing pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that control 80% of US prescriptions. That was just the...

A leader for conducting rigorous randomized trials of humans along with animal models for understanding nutrition and metabolism, Dr. Kevin Hall is a Senior Investigator at the National Institutes of Health, and Section Chief of the Integrative Physiology Section, NIDDK. In this podcast, we reviewed his prolific body of research a recent publications. The timing of optimizing our diet and nutrition seems apropos, now that we’re in in the midst of the holiday season!

Below is a video snippet of our conversation on his ultra-processed food randomized trial.

Full videos of all Gr...

Below is a brief video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The current one is here. If you like the YouTube format, please subscribe! This one has embedded one of my favorite TikTok’s from Will. There are several links to others in the transcript. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.

Transcript with links to both audio and videos, commencement addresses, NEJM article coverage

Eric Topol (00:06):

Hi, it's Eric Topol from Ground Truths, and I've got an amazing couple wi...

Above is a brief video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.

Transcript with links to audio and external citations

Eric Topol (00:06):

Well, hello it's Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I'm really delighted to welcome Dr. Rachael Bedard, who is a physician geriatrician in New York City, and is actually much more multidimensional, if you will. She's a writer. We're going to go over some of her recent writings...

Superimposed on an impressive body of work on the blood-brain-barrier and immune system, Prof Akassoglou and her collaborators just published an elegant study in Nature that centered on the direct binding os the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to fibrin with marked downstream pro-inflammatory effects. The findings and potential treatments have implications beyond Covid, Long Covid to other neurologic diseases.

Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.

Transcript with links to audio and to relevant papers, graphics

When I think of digital biology, I think of Patrick Hsu—he’s the prototype, a rarified talent in both life and computer science, who recently led the team that discovered bridge RNAs, what may be considered CRISPR 3.0 for genome editing, and is building new generative A.I. models for life science. You might call them LLLMs-large language of life models. He is Co-Founder and a Core Investigator of the Arc Institute and Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Deb Faculty Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Above is a brief snippet of our conversation. Full videos of all...

Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor are well regarded computer scientists at Princeton University and have just published a book with a provocative title, AI Snake Oil. Here I’ve interviewed Sayash and challenged him on this dismal title, for which he provides solid examples of predictive AI’s failures. Then we get into the promise of generative AI.

Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.

Transcript with links to audio and external links to key...

Francis Collins is a veritable national treasure. He directed the National Institutes of Health from 2009 to 2021. Prior to that he led the National Human Genetics Research Institute (NHGRI) from 1997-2009, during which the human genome was first sequenced. As a physician-scientist, he has made multiple seminal discoveries on the genetic underpinnings of cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, neurofibromatosis, progeria, and others. This brief summary is barely scratching the surface oh his vast contributions to life science and medicine.

A video clip from our conversation on hepatitis C. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on...

Professor Joseph Allen directs the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard Chan School of Public Health. His expertise extends far beyond what makes buildings healthy. He has been a leading voice and advocate during the Covid pandemic for air quality and ventilation. He coined the term “Forever Chemicals” and has written extensively on this vital topic, no less other important exposures, which we covered In our wide-ranging conversation. You will see how remarkably articulate and passionate Prof Allen is about these issues, along with his optimism for solutions.

A video snippet of our conversation: buildings as the 1st line...

Steve Horvath made the seminal discovery of the—Horvath Clock— an epigenetic clock based on DNA methylation, which is now being used extensively in medical research and offered commercially for individuals (←we talk about that!). He was on the faculty at UCLA from 2000-2022 as a Professor of Human Genetics and Biostatistics, and now works on anti-aging research at Altos Labs.

A perspective on the importance of epigenetic clocks this week’s Nature”This insight is crucial for deriving reliable biological markers of ageing in tissues or blood. Such a feat has been accomplished through the ingenious identifica...

Pradeep is a brilliant geneticist and Director of Preventive Cardiology, holds the Paul & Phyllis Fireman Endowed Chair in Vascular Medicine at Mass General Hospital and on faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute. His prolific research has been illuminating for the field of improving our approach to reduce the risk of heart disease. That’s especially important because heart disease is the global (and US) #1 killer and is on the increase. We didn’t get into lifestyle factors here since there was so much ground to cover on new tests. drugs, and strategies.

A video snip...

A video snippet of our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.

Shane Crotty: A Landmark Study on Upper Airway Mucosal Immunity

Transcript

This is the first time a Ground Truths podcast is being posted simultaneous with a new publication, this one in Nature, by Professor Shane Crotty and his colleagues at La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Shane is one of the leading immunologists and virologists in the country; he and his group pub...

Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.

Thank you for reading Ground Truths. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Transcript with audio and external links

Eric Topol (00:05):

Hello, it's Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I am really thrilled to have with me Professor Faisal Mahmood, who is lighting it up in the field of pathology with AI. He is on the faculty at Harvard Medical...

Recently, a series of papers were published in Nature and Nature journals illuminating the physiologic effects of exercise from an NIH initiative called MoTrPAC. To understand the wealth of new findings, I spoke with Professor Euan Ashley, who, along with Matt Wheeler, heads up the bioinformatics center.

Earlier this week, Stanford announced Euan Ashley will be the new Chair of the Department of Medicine. He has done groundbreaking work in human genomics, including rapid whole genome sequencing for critically ill patients and applying the technology for people with unknown diseases. A few years ago he published The...

A book that reads like a novel; it’s humorous, it’s a love story. Dr. Christopher Labos, an imaginative cardiologist and epidemiologist at McGill University, takes us through multiple longstanding misconceptions about different foods and drinks, and along the way provides outstanding educational value.

Video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.

Transcript with external links and links to the audio recording

Eric Topol (00:07):

He...

The most enthralling conversation I’ve ever had with anyone on cancer.

It’s with Charlie Swanton who is a senior group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, the Royal Society Napier Professor in Cancer and medical oncologist at University College London, co-director of Cancer Research UK.

Video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.

Transcript with audio links and many external links

Eric Topol (00:07):

Well, hell...

In this podcast, Thomas Czech, Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a lineage of remarkable contributions on RNA, ribozyme, and telomeres, discuss why RNA is so incredibly versatile.

Video snippet from our conversation. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can be seen on YouTube here. The audios are also available on Apple and Spotify.

Transcript with links to the audio and external links

Eric Topol (00:07):

Well, hello, this is Eric Topol from Ground Truths, and it's really a delight for me to welcome Tom Cech...

Professor Venki Ramakrishnan, a Nobel laureate for his work on unraveling the structure of function of the ribosome, has written a new book WHY WE DIE which is outstanding. Among many posts and recognitions for his extraordinary work in molecular biology, Venki has been President of the Royal Society, knighted in 2012, and was made a Member of the Order of Merit in 2022. He is a group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology research institute in Cambridge, UK.

A brief video snippet of our conversation below. Full videos of all Ground Truths podcasts can...

After finishing her training in neurology at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Svetlana Blitshteyn started a Dysautonomia Clinic in 2009. Little did she know what was in store many years later when Covid hit!

Ground Truths podcasts are on Apple and Spotify. The video interviews are on YouTube

Transcript with audio and external links

Eric Topol (00:07):

Well, hello, it's Eric Topol from Ground Truths, and I have with me a really great authority on dysautonomia and POTS. We will get into what that is for those who aren't following this closely. And...

“We haven't invested this much money into an infrastructure like this really until you go back to the pyramids”—Kate Crawford

Transcript with links to audio and external links. Ground Truths podcasts are on Apple and Spotify. The video interviews are on YouTube

Eric Topol (00:06):

Well, hello, this is Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I'm really delighted today to welcome Kate Crawford, who we're very lucky to have as an Australian here in the United States. And she's multidimensional, as I've learned, not just a scholar of AI, all the dimens...

If there’s one person you’d want to talk to about immunology, the immune system and Covid, holes in our knowledge base about the complex immune system, and where the field is headed, it would be Professor Iwasaki. And add to that the topic of Women in Science. Here’s our wide-ranging conversation.

A snippet of the video, Full length Ground Truths videos are posted here and you can subscribe.

Ground Truths is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid s...

“Where do I think the next amazing revolution is going to come? … There’s no question that digital biology is going to be it. For the very first time in our history, in human history, biology has the opportunity to be engineering, not science.” —Jensen Huang, NVIDIA CEO

Aviv Regev is one of the leading life scientists of our time. In this conversation, we cover the ongoing revolution in digital biology that has been enabled by new deep knowledge on cells, proteins and genes, and the use of generative A.I .

Transcript...

Professor Doudna was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier for their pioneering work in CRISPR genome editing. The first genome editing therapy (Casgevy) was just FDA approved, only a decade after the CRISPR-Cas9 editing system discovery. But It’s just the beginning of a much bigger impact story for medicine and life science.

Ground Truths podcasts are now on Apple and Spotify.

And if you prefer videos, they are posted on YouTube

Transcript with links to audio and relevant external links

Eric Topol (00:06):

Th...

Note: This podcast is a companion to the Ground Truths newsletter “A Big Week for GLP-1 Drugs”

Eric Topol (00:06):

It is Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and with me today is Dr. Daniel Drucker from the University of Toronto, who is one of the leading endocrinologists in the world, and he along with Joel Habener and Jens Juul Holst from the University of Copenhagen and Denmark, have been credited with numerous prizes of their discovery work of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) as we get to know these family of drugs and he's a true pioneer. He's been...

Siddhartha Mukherjee is a Professor at Columbia University, oncologist, and extraordinary author of Emperor of All Maladies (which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize), The Gene, and The Song of the Cell, along with outstanding pieces in the New Yorker. He is one of the top thought leaders in medicine of our era.

“I have begun to imagine, think about what it would be to be a digital human..”—Sid Mukherjee

Eric Topol (00:06):

Well, hello, this is Eric Topol with Ground Truths, and I am delighted to have my friend Sid Mu...

There was so much to talk about—this is the longest Ground Truths podcast yet. Hope you’ll find it as thought-provoking as I did!

Transcript, with audio and external links, edited by Jessica Nguyen, Producer for Ground Truths

Video and audio tech support by Sinjun Balabanoff, Scripps Research

Eric Topol (00:00:05):

This is Eric Topol from Ground Truths, and I am delighted to have with me Holden Thorp, who is the Editor-in-Chief of the Science journals. We're going to talk about Science, not just the magazine journal, but also scie...

Transcript

Eric Topol (00:06):

Well, hello, this is Eric Topol with Ground Truths and I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Daphne Koller, the founder and CEO of insitro, and a person who I've been wanting to meet for some time. Finally, we converged so welcome, Daphne.

Daphne Koller (00:21):

Thank you Eric. And it's a pleasure to finally meet you as well.

Eric Topol (00:24):

Yeah, I mean you have been rocking everybody over the years with elected to the National Academy of Engineering and Science and right at the...

“A few years ago, I might have chuckled at the naiveté of this question, but now it's not so crazy to think that we will be able to take some sort of medicine to extend our healthy lifespans in the foreseeable future.”—Coleen Murphy

Transcript with external links

Eric Topol (00:06):

Hello, this is Eric Topol from Ground Truths, and I'm just so delighted to have with me Professor Coleen Murphy, who has written this exceptional book, How We Age: The Science of Longevity. It is a phenomenal book an...