Einstein A Go-Go - 2 December 2018 - a podcast by RRR - Triple R

Dr Linden, Dr Ray and Dr Laura join Dr Shane in the studio.

In news, A Chinese scientist has edited a human embyo's genome in CRISPR-Cas9, with the resulting twins recently being born. Another rover landed on Mars - this ones drills. And straight from from a horror movie, Bacteria found on the ISS has proved to be antibiotic resistant

First guest is Jim Radford from the Research Centre for Future Landscapes, Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution at La Trobe University.

Introduced predators (cats and foxes) have been a primary factor in the extinction of ~25 mammalian taxa in Australia (of the ~35 mammals that we have lost thus far) and in the ongoing decline of many others. In this study, we assessed the degree to which all 246 Australian terrestrial mammal species (excluding bats) are susceptible to predation by the introduced red fox and feral cat.

Second guest is Dr Holly Chinnery Senior Lecturer, Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

In the cornea, the number and variety of immune cells ready to respond to a variety of threats such as bacteria, viruses, injury/damage or allergens is strikingly low. Their precise role in healthy and diseased conditions is not very well understood. Our current research team is interested in understanding how the immune system interacts with the nervous system in the cornea. If we can understand more about the function of these cells, we might be able to target them in conditions where these interactions are associated with corneal disease (such as post-infectious inflammation and scarring and dry eye disease).

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