The Biorevolution Podcast

Cells are the basic units of life. For over a century, understanding cellular processes has been the basis for understanding human development and disease, and for deciphering the actions of novel disease treatments. But there’s a caveat: wet-lab studies in cells take time and money, they are often reductionist. To overcome those challenges of the wet lab, researchers have for some time tried to model cellular processes mathematically, in so-called virtual cells. With the availability of large-scale datasets and sophisticated AI models, virtual cells are advancing into useful tools for researchers. In episode 41 of the BioRevolution podcast we spoke to Prof. Fabian Theis, Chair of Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems at TU Munich and director of the Institute of Computational Biology at the Helmholtz Zentrum München. With Fabian we discussed the convergence of mathematics and biology into virtual cell models and their potential use cases in basic research and drug development. You can find more on Fabian's research here: Theis Lab: https://www.helmholtz-munich.de/en/icb/research-groups/theis-lab Disclaimer: Louise von Stechow & Andreas Horchler and their guests express their personal opinions, which are founded on research on the respective topics, but do not claim to give medical, investment or even life advice in the podcast. Learn more about the future of biotech in our podcasts and keynotes. Contact us here: scientific communication: https://science-tales.com/ Podcasts: https://www.podcon.de/ Keynotes: https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/louise-von-stechow Image Aden Lao via unsplash

Every second man and every third woman will experience a cancer diagnosis during their lives. Getting the news can be devastating and paralyzing, but making the right decisions about treatment, care, mindset and lifestyle is a crucial part of finding a cure. In her book “The 8 Essentials for Overcoming Cancer - Cancer, I can” medical doctor and pharma executive, Stefanie Walther describes her very personal journey and gives holistic advice for battling a cancer diagnosis, from finding the right treatment center and medical team, to finding the right diet, exercise plan and sleep schedule. In the newest episode of the BioRevolution podcast Andreas Horchler and Louise von Stechow spoke to Stefanie Walther about her story, her book and about the outlook of eradicating cancer as a disease in the future. Find Stefanie Walther: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-stefanie-walther-ab871966/ Order “The 8 Essentials For Overcoming Cancer - Cancer, I Can” here: https://www.amazon.de/Essentials-Overcoming-Cancer-Can/dp/B0FNMDZT5Y Disclaimer: Louise von Stechow & Andreas Horchler and their guests express their personal opinions, which are founded on research on the respective topics, but do not claim to give medical, investment or even life advice in the podcast. Learn more about the future of biotech in our podcasts and keynotes. Contact us here: scientific communication: https://science-tales.com/ Podcasts: https://www.podcon.de/ Keynotes: https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/louise-von-stechow Further reading on the topics we discussed during the episode and found in the book can be found in here: CANCER FACT AND FIGURES https://www.cancer.org/cancer.html https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/understanding-cancer-risk/lifetime-probability-of-developing-or-dying-from-cancer.html https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2025/2025-cancer-facts-and-figures-acs.pdf https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27196525/ https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/more-evidence-that-a-healthy-lifestyle-might-help-prevent-cancer https://www.who.int/activities/preventing-cancer ESSENTIAL 1: CALM DOWN https://www.cancer.org/research/cancer-facts-statistics/survivor-facts-figures.html ESSENTIAL 2: ASK FOR HELP https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31123497/ ESSENTIAL 3: NAME THE DISEASE https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30822350/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5038982/ ESSENTIAL 4: FIND A CANCER CENTER FOR ERADICATION AND REHABILITATION https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12648693/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6132422/ ESSENTIAL 5: I STAY MENTALLY STRONG https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22438289/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31024362/ ESSENTIAL 6: CHOOSE HEALTHY FOODS https://www.aicr.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/summary-third-expert-report.pdf https://www.aicr.org/cancer-prevention/healthy-eating/new-american-plate/ ESSENTIAL 7: ACTIVATE YOUR BODY https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2019/cancer-survivors-exercise-guidelines-schmitz https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34213826/ ESSENTIAL 8: NORMALIZE YOUR SLEEP https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29032088/ OUTLOOK https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1204479 https://www.annalsofoncology.org/article/S0923-7534(19)37684-7/fulltext

This time Louise and Andreas invited the artist Annette Goessel into the show to discuss the once united forces of art and science that seem so seperate in our day and age. And: For the first time since the beginnings of the show we speak German once more (apologies to the non German speakers) In dieser Episode diskutieren wir die faszinierende Verbindung zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft. Wir erkunden, wie Neugier und Emotionen sowohl Künstler als auch Wissenschaftler antreiben und welche Rolle der kreative Prozess dabei spielt. Zudem betrachten wir die Herausforderungen und Chancen, die Künstliche Intelligenz für beide Disziplinen mit sich bringt. Disclaimer: Louise von Stechow & Andreas Horchler and their guests express their personal opinions, which are founded on research on the respective topics, but do not claim to give medical, investment or even life advice in the podcast. Learn more about the future of biotech in our podcasts and keynotes. Contact us here: scientific communication: https://science-tales.com/ Podcasts: https://www.podcon.de/ Keynotes: https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/louise-von-stechow Image: Annette Goessel You can find Annette Goessel's art here: https://www.annettegoessel.de/ or on socials: https://www.facebook.com/annette.goessel https://www.linkedin.com/in/annette-goessel-325153194/ https://www.instagram.com/annettegoessel?igsh=MXZoNXNhOGc3cWRxZw==

It sounds promising: AI chatbots acting as scientists, condensing the work of weeks, months, or even years of reading, debate, and hour-long lab meetings into minutes. Researchers at Stanford University and Google DeepMind have released multi-agent AI “scientist” systems. But how good are they, really, and will they overcome current limitations of large language models like OpenAI’s GPT or Google’s Gemini—such as the lack of robust reasoning capabilities, which are crucial for scientific discovery? In the 38th episode of the BioRevolution Podcast, Andreas Horchler and Louise von Stechow discuss the promise and the reality of AI scientists. Learn more about the future of biotech in our podcasts and keynotes. Contact us here: scientific communication: https://science-tales.com/ Podcasts: https://www.podcon.de/ Keynotes: https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/louise-von-stechow Image: Igor Saikin via Unsplash