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Wood Group researchers in the Department of Paediatrics collaborate with DPAG's Denis Noble to produce innovative podcast talks on a prominent global platform, the Future Tech Podcast. Following the release of the final podcast talk in February 2020, we chart the story leading to these innovative pieces of public engagement.

The fourth annual Oxosome meeting, held on the 23rd of October 2019, brought together researchers from across Oxford with an interest in cell communication involving exosomes and other extracellular vesicles (EVs). The meeting, organised by Deborah Goberdhan (DPAG), Dave Carter (Oxford Brookes), Cláudia Mendes (Wilson and Goberdhan Labs, DPAG) and Genevive Melling (Carter Lab, Oxford Brookes), was attended by 120 participants.  

The talks showcased the quality and breadth of local extracellular vesicles-based research, with speakers from a range of departments: Paediatrics, DPAG, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Radcliffe Dept of Medicine, Nuffield Dept of Clinical Neurosciences and Biological and Medical Sciences at Oxford Brookes.  Talks spanned topics covering fundamental biophysiological concepts of EV biology to the involvement of EVs in clinical disorders, including myocardial infarction, Parkinson’s disease and ovarian cancer.

Subsequent to a successful meeting, researchers from Prof. Matthew Wood’s lab (Paediatrics) who presented research at Oxosome and highlighted the potential role of different types of EVs in ovarian cancer, collaborated with Prof. Denis Noble (DPAG) to contribute towards a book entitled Exosomes: A Clinical Compendium.

Imre Mäger, Scott Bonner and Matthew Wood (Wood Lab, Paediatrics), along with former DPAG DPhil student Eduard Willms, and Prof. Andrew Hill (La Trobe University, Melbourne), authored a chapter about to the role of EVs in neurodegenerative disorders. Denis Noble, co-editor of the Elsevier Academic Press published book, authored a chapter presenting Charles Darwin’s theories on the inheritance of acquired characteristics and the existence of tiny particles, that he referred to as gemmules, which could induce changes in the soma by delivering their cargo to germline cells, sperm and eggs; a very early theory that closely aligns to current understanding of EVs.

Following the release of Exosomes: A Clinical Compendium on the 15th of November 2019 and thanks to the collaboration between researchers from Paediatrics and DPAG, Denis Noble, Eduard Willms and Scott Bonner were each invited to talk on the prominent US based podcast known as Future Tech.

The Future Tech Podcast is a science and technology podcast focused on “future technologies poised to transform [human] lives for the better”. Its host, Richard Jacobs, a successful US business and marketing figure, has conducted over 1500 interviews with leading researchers on topics spanning from artificial intelligence to gene editing.

All three episodes of the podcast in which Prof Noble, Willms and Bonner each discuss their own research and perspectives of extracellular vesicle research, are now available to listen to on all major podcast platforms:

Biologically Speaking – Denis Noble, CBE, PhD, FRS, Renowned British Biologist – The Complex Biology of Cells and Extracellular Vesicles

Extracellular Engagements – Eduard Willms, Postdoctoral Scientist at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia – An Interesting and Informative Overview of Extracellular Vesicles

Extracellular Vesicle Heterogeneity and Therapeutic Potential—Scott Bonner—Oxford University

 

Credit to author Scott Bonner for this feature.