For Whom the Cell Tolls: Cancer Biology
Episodes
027 Cancer Surges Among Young Patients - Time Bombs over “Turbo”
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to our most CONTROVERSIAL episode yet! We address “Turbo cancer” (idk what’s specifically meant by this still but I outline the likely/h...
026 Tumors to Textbooks - My Cancer Biology Students Discuss the Science and Future
08 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to a special episode where I'm joined by 11 of my Minnesota State students as we close out our Cancer Biology lecture! We weave through discus...
025 Do CAR-T Cells Cause/Become Tumors?
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The basic answer is no. When faced with R-CHOP resistance, DLBCL patients now have the option to utilize genetically modified Chimeric Antigen Recepto...
024 Resistance: How Healthy B-cells Fight Back Against Your Tumor
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hello! I’m recently returned from my annual ASH meeting where I see all of the latest advances in blood cancers. This specific facet was my favorite...
023 Depleted: How we are Beginning to Visualize the Tumor Microenvironment
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back! It's been a while. I'm excited to get going again with an episode on the emerging science of "ecotyping" the cells around tumors - the m...
022 What if we DNA Sequenced Everybody?
10 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What do you think? Would the immensely powerful amount of data be a game-changer for medicine? Or does DNA sequencing miss too much of the picture to ...
021 Can DNA Predict Who We Love? Part II
25 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Can your genome match you with a soulmate? Sort of, but we’d need more than just mammal genomes to know... I hope you enjoy, and collect your though...
020 Can DNA Predict Who We Love? Part I
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Netflix series The One is based on a book with a similar premise: via genome sequencing, we can match you with your best possible partner. The sho...
019 Viral Gene Therapy: Augment Your DNA
16 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers how gene therapy may emerge as a critical tool for medicine as we seek to treat the previously untreatable. Can we ADD genes to sp...
018 BONUS: The Top 20 Insights for Students Interested in Medical or Healthcare Graduate Programs
14 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
BONUS EPISODE - I collected the top 20 insights from my personal and professional colleagues that completed or are currently undertaking medical schoo...
017 Journeys Into Biology Education
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me and Gustavus Adolphus College colleague Katie Peterson to discuss our research, how we teach, our paths to becoming professors, and student qu...
016 Tumorigenesis: How Cancer Begins and How it Can End
26 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers the basics of how a cancer begins. Genetic mutations can often knock out genes responsible for keeping an eye on how many cell div...
015 CAR-T Cell Therapy: The Age of Living Cancer Drugs
21 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells (CAR-T) represent one of the most profound and exciting advances in modern medicine and science. Many lymphoma patie...
014 Social Media, Medicine, and Trust
11 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We live in an age where social media provides a platform for everything - good and bad. I wanted to summarize how ideas can be spread, weaponized, and...
013 B-cell Biology, Rampant DNA, and Lymphomas
23 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode details my research area: B-cells and the resulting lymphomas. The journey of a B-cell is violent and chaotic. To produce the best p...
012 The Viruses Within Us and How They Help Treat Cancer via Epigenetics
12 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This is an exciting and quick episode that mainly covers the findings of a recent Daniel D. Carvalho paper in Nature Reviews called “Epigenetic ther...
011 Domestication: Fear, Behavioral Genetics, and Why Your Dog Loves You
01 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Domestication is a very interesting process and was first performed millions of years ago. The relationships between humans and dogs is of particular ...
010 Pandora’s Box Exists, and it’s Called CRISPR-Cas9
14 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Everything you’ve heard about CRISPR is likely closer to the truth than not. The possibilities are exiting, and the possibilities are terrifying. Th...
009 Creators vs Created, Bioethics, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
06 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is the first one that is primarily driven by literature and philosophy, namely borrowing themes explored in Frankenstein and Paradis...
008 Superpowers of Survival and Evolution
21 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode covers the basics of evolution so that we can address a case of extreme survival in some of the smallest organisms to exist: yeast! ...
007 Cancer Therapy: 20 Traditional and Emerging Directions
15 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The days of chemo-only cancer treatment ended years ago. This episode introduces 20 diverse therapies that scientists and clinicians are turning to in...
006 The Arms Race: Our Immune System vs. Pathogen
06 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The power of immune system is on full display every day of our lives and has been throughout our history. As pathogens try to enter our bodies and hur...
005 The Microbiome - How Human do You Feel?
31 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Internal human ecosystems? Transmissible personality traits? Tune in for the best episode yet where we get you up to speed on the human microbiome, a ...
004 The Wolf, His Brother, and Infinite Genes
26 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This episode goes over why DNA and the information it encodes could be what defines life. Organisms are finite things, but the information coded by su...
003 Welcome to the Jungle: Tumor Evolution
24 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Cancer is more than cells that proliferate and survive like mad; it's a lethal combination of Genetics and Evolution. They also rely on parasitizing r...
002 Goodbye Dinosaurs, Hello Mammals - and Fungi?
23 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This episode addresses further definitions of life, the end of the dinosaurs, and the emergence of the mammal, along with the partnership that they ma...
001 For Whom the Cell Tolls - Intro and the Intersection of Philosophy and Biology
21 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hello! My name is Keenan, and I’m a professor at Minnesota State University Mankato and a cancer scientist. I also love going over the amazing stori...