Are we eating ourselves to death? Biomedical researchers tackle this question and more
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute scientists demystify the human body in the "Pocket Science" podcast.
Can foods be addictive? Can sound heal? What if we could predict when your heart is more likely to stop? How does the fluid that flows in our mostly liquid bodies affect deadly diseases?
"Pocket Science," a new short-form podcast produced by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, digs into those questions and seeks answers from the institute’s world-class investigators, who also explain their research into these systems and how to better treat the diseases that impact them.
With its launch this week, "Pocket Science" joins "Curious Conversations," a podcast produced by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, in highlighting groundbreaking research at Virginia Tech.
The first episode of "Pocket Science" features Alex DiFeliceantonio, assistant professor and interim co-director of the Center for Health Behaviors Research at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. She studies the neuropsychology of nutrition.
Latest episode
Are We Eating Ourselves to Death?
Alex DeFeliceantonio, an internationally known researcher in the neuropscychology of nutrition, who explores whether foods can be addictive, the role of ultra-processed foods in that proposition, and what can be done about the rise of such foods and a parallel rise food-related disorders.
More About Alex DiFeliceantonio
DiFeliceantonio is assistant professor and interim co-director of the Center for Health Behaviors Research at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, and leader of the DONNUT Lab. She leads studies that seek to understand the basic mechanisms of food choice by both isolating the properties of foods in our modern food environment to evaluate their effects on physiology, brain function, and brain-physiology interaction and trying to understand how individual differences in response to these food properties can confer risk or benefit for disease outcomes.
Other episodes include:
- What Makes a Heart Stop? Steve Poelzing, a groundbreaking cardiovascular scientist, divulges the complex mechanism behind a single heartbeat, how it can go awry, and what his research is discovering about identifying conditions that can disrupt healthy heart rhythms in order to head off fatal arrythmias.
- Why Don’t I Slosh When I Walk? Humans are 60 percent water, but where is that water? Jenny Munson, a world leader in the study of interstitial fluid flow, answers that question, explains how the movement of the fluid between our cells changes in diseases like brain cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, and how that understanding is being used to improve treatments of those conditions and others.
- What If Sound Could Heal? Wynn Legon, a researcher on the leading edge of low-intensity focused ultrasound research, explains how the technology is being investigated as a therapy for a range of health issues, from Parksinson’s disease and cancer to addiction and, as studied by his lab, chronic pain.
New episodes will be released each Wednesday through March 6. Listen and subscribe to "Pocket Science" on major podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube.