Molecular Neuroscience podcasts

Andrew Huberman joins Patrick O’Shaughnessy to discuss the frontier of neurotechnology and sustained human performance. Their conversation considers the convergence of AI and biotechnology, gene-based methods for changing neural activity and motivation, and the relationships between visual behaviour, arousal and sleep. Huberman is a neuroscientist and professor at Stanford University.

Hosted by Patrick O’Shaughnessy

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

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.

Timothy O'Leary discusses how neurons preserve functional identity despite molecular turnover and how related processes may contribute to changing representations.

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

Gabriele Scheler argues that computational accounts of neurons should include intracellular processes alongside spiking. She discusses a proposed single-neuron model, neuromodulation and possible implications for simpler AI architectures, while connecting those ideas to verbal thought, language models and the experience of establishing an independent research foundation.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Sam Gershman discusses molecular accounts of memory and how they relate to the dominant view of storage through changes in synapses.

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