We hear a lot about genetic fingerprinting, but what about the genetics of fingerprints? Dr Sally Le Page looks at the evolution of fingerprints in primates and koalas, why we have them, and what they can tell us about life before we were born.
Answer's on the back of a postcard
Genetic fingerprinting doesn’t have to be used only for big, high profile dramas like international espionage. Sometimes it can reveal the small, personal stories lived by everyday people which are no less meaningful. One such story was uncovered at the start of this year by a group of Swiss geneticists who were asked if they could help lay to rest a family secret that had hidden in the shadows for nearly 150 years…
Harpal Kumar: a cancer treatment revolution
Dr Kat Arney speaks with Sir Harpal Kumar, the President of GRAIL Europe, a company that has developed a blood test for multiple different types of cancer based on looking for DNA methylation patterns on fragments of circulating tumour DNA. How can we use this information to detect cancer, and what else can it tell us?
Susan Galbraith: when cancer DNA circulates
Dr Kat Arney caught up with Dr Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President of Oncology R&D at AstraZeneca to find out more about where circulating tumour DNA comes from, and what it can tell us about cancer.
Charles Swanton: finding hidden tumours
Dr Kat Arney sat down with Professor Charles Swanton, professor of oncology at University College London, and a group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, where he and his team are applying CT DNA technology in research and ultimately in the clinic to improve treatment for cancer patients.
Family dinners: when relatives are on the menu
Cannibalising your relatives doesn’t seem to be a one off, but a behaviour that has been deliberately and repeatedly selected for. So how can eating your family be a good thing for your genes? Presenter, Dr Sally Le Page, explores the gruesome evolution of family dinners, from offspring eating their mothers, siblings eating each other and parents eating their own children. Kids meal, anyone?
Jamie Foster: squids in space
Professor Jamie Foster is sending glow-in-the-dark squid into space to find out more about their microbiome.
Sarah McAnulty: the secret lives of squid
Squid biologist Dr Sarah McAnulty explains what squid are, how they evolved, and why they are so difficult to genetically modify.
The wobble of life
Presenter Dr Kat Arney explores how Professor Ben Lehner’s worm-breaking research has changed our understanding of the importance of randomness in genetics. How can we explain differences between individuals with identical nature and nurture? Perhaps there’s another factor involved; the ‘wobble’...
Rohin Francis: one small step for a heart
Dr Sally Le Page chats with cardiologist Dr Rohin Francis, from the YouTube channel MedLife Crisis, about the groundbreaking operation this year transplanting a genetically modified pig heart into a human, and the ethics of such a procedure.
Angelika Schnieke: making pigs more human
Dr Kat Arney chats with Professor Angelika Schnieke from the Technical University of Munich about how we create genetically modified pigs suitable for producing organ transplants for humans, and how we can avoid getting more than we bargained for from pigs.
The monkey in the mirror
Dr Kat Arney is looking at the monkey in the mirror, investigating how flipped genetic switches and long-dead viruses make all the difference between our human faces and those of our closest primate relatives.
Doug Williams: Taming the toxicity of cancer drugs
By targeting drugs directly to tumours, exosome therapies can reduce side effects from cancer treatment
Davide Zocco: From Petri dish to patients
Exosomes are exciting treatments of the future - but how are they made?
Rossella Crescitelli: What are exosomes and what can they do?
Once thought to be little more than ‘dust’, exosomes are tiny biological mailbags that travel around the body.
Does cancer care about sex?
Presenter Kat Arney tells the story of how biomathematician Kristin Swanson discovered that cancer cells with XX chromosomes behave differently to cancer cells with XY chromosomes.
Jennifer Raff: A Genetic History of the Americas
Jennifer Raff discusses her new book, Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas, telling the story of how humans first populated the American continents.
Krystal Tsosie: Exploring Native American genetics
Krystal Tsosie joins us to discuss why Native American genomes are of such interest to modern geneticists, and how Indigenous researchers are working to take ownership of the field.
Matthew Jarron: the life of D'Arcy Thompson
Matthew Jarron, curator of the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, tells us the story of this geneticist’s extraordinary life.
Adam Rutherford: Control - The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics
Adam Rutherford discusses his new book, Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics, plotting the history of the eugenics movement, from its early days through to today.