Cell Biology podcasts

Cell researcher and author Katharina Vestre joins Gaute Einevoll for a Norwegian-language conversation about the cells that build the human body. They explore how diverse cells, from muscle fibres to red blood cells, cooperate while sharing a common organisation of membranes and organelles. The discussion considers how that internal machinery allows cells to survive, perform specialised functions and divide, drawing on Vestre’s book about cellular life.

Hosted by Gaute Einevoll

Francesca and Ilaria discuss taste-receptor research, mitochondrial biology and a reported ALS case study involving an antisense oligonucleotide treatment. Giuliana Galati interviews University of Padua physicist Francesco Recchia about nuclear phenomenology. The episode links these discussions to the underlying research papers and distinguishes a clinical case report from established treatment evidence.

Hosted by Francesca Cecilia Lauta, Ilaria Zanardi

Neurobiologist Tom Clandinin joins Nicholas Weiler to explore how interacting genetic, cellular and metabolic systems maintain brain health over a lifetime, and how their breakdown contributes to neurodegeneration. The discussion moves beyond single explanations such as inflammation or waste clearance to a systems-level study of brain resilience. Clandinin describes a collaborative programme combining large-scale genetic perturbations in flies and mice with molecular, circuit and behavioural measurements. Computational models will connect these observations across cell types, predict interactions and guide experiments toward potential ways to strengthen the aging brain’s maintenance systems.

Hosted by Nicholas Weiler

Vincent Racaniello speaks with Roberto Cattaneo and Kalpana Yadav at the 2026 American Society for Virology meeting about measles persistence in the brain. They discuss selection for highly fusogenic viral variants when usual measles receptors are absent, neuron-to-neuron spread, and the development of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a rare, fatal delayed complication of measles infection.

Hosted by Vincent Racaniello

Melissa and Jam examine the chemistry and cell biology proposed to explain red-light therapy. They discuss photobiomodulation, mitochondria, collagen and the limitations of available studies, alongside the distinction between regulatory clearance and evidence for a particular consumer device.

Hosted by Melissa, Jam

This Nature Podcast episode examines human brain organoids transplanted into mice lacking a cerebral cortex, where extensive cellular integration could create an in-vivo platform for testing therapies and studying human neurobiology. It also covers research highlights and Paper2Agent, an AI system that turns research papers into interactive virtual corresponding authors able to answer questions and support complex scientific tasks.

Carolyn Bertozzi explains why sugars on cell surfaces matter for communication between cells and how new chemical methods make these complex molecules accessible to research. The discussion connects this work to neuroscience, biological aging and drug development.

Hosted by Nicholas Weiler

Gaute Einevoll talks with Tatjana Tchumatchenko about a mechanistic mathematical model of how neurons minimize energy use by deciding whether ion-channel proteins are produced locally in dendrites or in the soma. The model’s predictions agree with experimental findings.

Nature staff discuss how a newly approved orexin-targeting narcolepsy drug could enable therapies for other neurological conditions, and examine human brain organoids that have remained viable for more than five years. The episode connects sleep medicine, therapeutic neuroscience, and long-term models of human brain development.

The hosts discuss nitrogen fixation in a marine alga and the evidence for a nitrogen-fixing organelle. Related topics include plastic pollution, antimicrobial resistance and the rumen microbiome. The episode links microbial evolution and physiology with marine nutrient cycling.

Hosted by Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt

This eLife episode explores trade-offs between body size and sperm production in gorillas, fever-driven changes in malaria-infected cells, the neuroscience of gambling machines, whether infants are predisposed to dance, and high-altitude adaptations in bird eggs.

Nature staff revisit the landmark cloning of Dolly the sheep from an adult cell and discuss the first direct observation of ocean-floor crust being created.

Monther Abu-Remaileh examines the cell's recycling machinery and its possible role in neurodegeneration. He explains how lysosomes process cellular material, why failures in that system can affect neurons, and how studying this biology may reveal connections among protein accumulation, aging and brain disease.

Hosted by Nicholas Weiler

Jure Leskovec connects data-driven biological modelling with relational deep learning. Topics include multiscale virtual-cell models, treating databases as graphs and using in-context prediction across multiple tables. The discussion also covers benchmark evaluation, explanations, agent integration and the practical limitations of relational foundation models.

Hosted by Sam Charrington

Nicholas Weiler and neurologist Katrin Andreasson discuss connections between inflammation, energy metabolism and Alzheimer's disease. Andreasson describes how aging can alter microglia and astrocytes, affecting the immune and metabolic support that neurons receive. The conversation explores research on inflammatory signaling and the possibility that immune dysfunction outside the brain contributes to neurodegeneration. It also examines experiments in which targeting peripheral inflammation restored memory in mouse models, and why human clinical studies are needed to establish whether these findings can lead to effective treatments.

Hosted by Nicholas Weiler

Nikolay Kukushkin connects research on cellular memory with a broader account of mind and meaning. Drawing on molecular biology, evolution and his book One Hand Clapping, he examines relationships across scales and the proposal that minds are continuous with the processes and environments from which they emerge.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Markus Covert discusses comprehensive bacterial cell simulations and what whole-cell modelling could contribute to future studies of neurons.

Will Ratcliff investigates the transition from independent cells to multicellular organisms through long-term evolution experiments. His snowflake-yeast model lets researchers watch cooperative structures emerge, test ideas about biological complexity and assess the strengths and limitations of laboratory approaches to a major evolutionary transition.

Hosted by Janna Levin, Steven Strogatz

Avrama Blackwell discusses computational models of chemical signalling inside neurons and their relationship to cellular information processing.

Thomas Reh and Juliette Wohlschlegel discuss their research on converting human Müller glia into retinal neurons with host Martin Pera. The conversation traces how regeneration in fish and frogs motivated experiments in mammals, then examines genetic reprogramming of cells derived from human fetal tissue or retinal organoids. Their study of ASCL1-induced neurogenesis provides a basis for discussing the remaining biological and translational challenges of retinal regeneration. The work concerns experimental cellular models and does not establish a treatment for vision loss.