This is conclusion of the mini-series! In this episode, we uncover the question, is the “cholinergic anti-inflammatory reflex” nerves entirely vagal? The answer is not so straightforward. Building on good work by Davide Martelli and…
Why our consideration that Kevin Tracey as the single innovator who contributed to vagus nerve stimulation to treat RA is wrong?
Can you tell me the last time that you know of that we eulogised and attributed even the most difficult concepts to a single eureka moment? Was it yesterday? Was it last week? Was it…
JoJo and Arun are producing some key content that will make you turn your heads in disbelief. Until then, we thought it would be good to get your mind focussed on that wonderful molecule –…
What Is a BCI? And just as importantly, what isn’t a BCI?
This is an unusual episode and an incredibly fun one. Arun and JoJo enlisted some of the field’s top folks to talk through what’s in and what’s out in this exciting field.
At SKRAPS, we are always looking to get behind the veil of the happenings in the field. We want to go beyond the facade of the news headlines. In recognition of this, we are now…
Julia Child was a master. She was not a classically trained chef, but pursued cooking as a hobby. Her super power? Passion. A passion for making gastronomy accessible, to deliver an honest and attainable presentation,…
Skraps is turning two. Or is it our second anniversary? I can’t quite decide so let’s celebrate both. Join us as we walk down memory lane with some highlights (and hopefully no lowlights) of the…
European Innovation Council & NeuroTechnology/MedTech funding
“Laugh and the world laughs with you. Snore and you sleep alone” is a famous quote from the author Anthony Burgess. Sleep Apnea affects 425 million adults over the age of 40. Yet, good treatments…
We are joined by Imran Eba of GlaxoSmithKline’s Bioelectronic Medicine fund – Action Potential Venture Capital to talk about investing in Bioelectronic Medicines.
Most of us can pretty certainly say that we are alone within our heads. We may joke about inner voices, but what really happens when there genuinely is an external influence deep within a brain? In the case of two research pioneers, Ian Burkhart and Benjamin Stecher, the answer is nothing short of a miracle.
FIRST, PUT YOUR HEADPHONES ON! What does a 4 cm long and 25g in weight crustacean have to teach us about Bioelectronic Medicine and human health? And what does its feeding habits have to tell…
The saying, as grotesque as it might be, goes “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” In our case, there’s more than one way to stimulate a nerve and we’ve gathered some experts…
Bench-Bedside considerations for Bioelectronic Medicine
Join Arun & JoJo as they go behind the wall of the science that underpins new treatments for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). While MDD is the leading cause of both personal and societal disability, there…
The NIH’s Neuromodulation Prize was announced on Jan 17, 2002. The $9.8 million dollar prize pot will be awarded over three phases. So we did an interview for Ladan Jiracek & Neural Implant Podcast around this prize, purely because Arun has…
Our Sponsors: Episode Description/Slug Episode One Slug Bioelectronic Medicines – What’s in a name? “Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is not hand,…
What is a Bioelectronic Medicine? How many of us really even know what it is and understand it? This trailer serves as a primer to the season dedicated to Bioelectronic Medicines where our hosts go…
As promised last month, here is part 2 of the story of sound design for the PsychedeRx series. Remember to rate us on Spotify and subscribe to our newsletter HERE. Visit our website: www.skrapspodcast.com for all…
Jim Cavuoto has been reporting on the field of neurotechnology for over 20 years. Neurotech Reports is the go-to source for industry news, institutional highlights, conference updates, original research and reporting, and more. Jim’s a little bit like our very own Walter Cronkite.We’ll also hear about Jim’s newest venture, the BioElectRx Business Report – working to bridge the gap between pharma and the neuro device worlds.
It’s the start of Season 4 of SKRAPS. So first, credit where it is due, thanks so much for the support! Have you ever wondered where the food you eat comes from? No, we do…
Hello all, This is JoJo, your friend and co-host of SKRAPS. I grew up around construction. Tradesmen and experts at the crafts of building and repairing homes were omnipresent in my childhood. From a very young…
Over the ten episodes in this series, it’s clear that we are enthusiastic about the future of psychedelic medicines. There are so many potential applications for responsible, physician-assisted therapies that it almost seems as though…
the massive, but necessary funds required to support the important and carefully regulated research necessary to bring psychedelic therapies to market.
Mushrooms changed the world in the 20th century, some say. Others say, psychedelics are older than humankind. But instead of synthesizing molecules and providing it people in a clandestine manner, what if, proper systematic drug discovery and development was done to make psychedelics better?
Zeus gave Sisyphus the eternal punishment of forever rolling a boulder up a hill in the depths of Hades for his crimes of being a trickster and twice cheating death. “Then I witnessed the torture…
JoJo and I do a fortnightly (bi-weekly) newshour session on all things Neurotech spanning the academic and industry updates. This week we covered a few updates. Most important of all, it is the first women…
There’s no shortage of heartbreaking stories about men and women who have dedicated their lives to the service of their countries and endured unfathomable trauma. Add to this population the other sources of PTSD like car accidents, witnessing or experiencing violence – or even the threat of violence, sustained stress in traumatic situations (hello, COVID frontline workers – I’m looking at you), and you have an explosion in an untreated or treatment refractory population.
We are here to bring to you how the road to psychedelic renaissance was built. And if you think, it came from overwhelming people with data, just like how a typical scientist thinks, you would be amazed at the personalities who paved the way, as much as the ones that broke it for themselves and for the world.
You can’t fight fire with fire. Or can you? You can’t treat addiction with drugs. Or can you? You can’t bandage bruises to a brain. Or can you?
War on Drugs is wrong, unethical and impacts society in a bad way. There is no data to suggest it has worked.
Dear Skraps Friends, We, Arun and JoJo, have had taken on a huge project in PsychedeRx, a ten episode series about psychedelics – their history, their abuse, their potential, and their future. We’re halfway through the…
We’ve spent some time already on the definition of psychedelics – and we’ll spend more time before this series is over. But, Skraps is a podcast whose roots are run deep in the sciences, we couldn’t ignore the topic of the basic pharmacology of psychedelics. This episode is a primer for citizen scientists and holds some intriguing information for the bonafide scientists among us.
Fear. Fear causes people to do amazing and improbable things. Fear of an enemy, fear of an unknown. They are powerful motivators and ones that Syndey Gottlieb embraced with every fibre of his professional being. The same man whose family would have been Nazi victims engaged in some of the most insidious “experiments” known to man – experiments based on the knowledge and tutelage of the same Nazi scientists who deployed the gasses that would have killed his own family.
We move psychedelic history to characters like Albert Hoffman, Humphry Osmond, Abram Hoffer, Duncan Blewett, Sandoz, and even Arun’s Grandmother.
In episode two of PsychedeRx, Peyote comes north to the good old US of A. And it’s not just for religious ceremonies anymore, either. Spanish conquistadors and European explorers, seeking to dominate the indigenous tribes, used Peyote to show force by banning its use and denying the tribes their spiritual practices. And we all know what happens when prohibitions are imposed – the use doesn’t stop, it just gets moved underground.
We explore the use, misuse, and history of psychedelics. In this episode, we will cover the most important question of what these substances are.
First glimpse of the podcast series and what’s to come. PsychedeRx is a SKRAPS original podcast exploring the therapeutic use of Psychedelics. An enthralling story of an improbable drug class, as old as humankind itself,…
After this episode, we’re going to take a week or two sabbatical in order to wrap up our big project. In the meantime, have a listen to what we thought Skraps would be vs. what it has become – and maybe reach back and take a listen to one of our many, many amazing guests.
Daniel Powell and Navid Khodaparast are getting on peoples’ nerves. No, really. They’re disrupting everything you know, or think you know, about opioid use disorders and tackling the hardest part of helping people break free of the vice grip of addiction – acute withdrawal.
Howard is an MD and together with his friend and professional colleague, Mark Gelfand has created some of the landmark medical device companies in cardiology.
Arun and JoJo sat down with this year’s Conference Co-Chairs, Professor Thomas Stieglitz and Professor Silvestro Micera to find out what makes this particular conference so special
Join us for part 2 of the coverage on what it means to be and feels like a fellow in the Cleveland NeuroDesign Innovation Fellowship Program run collaboratively by the Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic.
Here we are joined by the inaugural cohort comprising: Efstathios Kondylis, Swarna Solanki, Patrick Smith and Nick Couturier with strong recognition for a Case Western Biomedical Engineering Alum, Michael Ackermann.
The next cohort applications are now open: https://www.clevelandneurodesign.org/application
Each of them have a unique story that led them to this point. They walk us through what drove them here, how the process was, their experiences, what they learned, gained and more importantly implement moving forward.
This one is surely one not to miss, as it exposes what it means to be in a program that teaches scientists and engineers how to innovate based on need., a principle well documented by the Stanford Biodesign.
Here we are joined by the inaugural cohort comprising: Efstathios K, Swarna S, Patrick S, Nick C and Michael A.
It is not often that we get to cover and you get to hear the story of an innovation design program. This is part 1 of the chat on Cleveland Neurodesign Innovation Fellowship Program with Andy Cornwell of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic and the faculty at the program.
What is the difference between intelligence and wisdom and why should you care? Dr. Robert Sternberg introduces us to his theories of adaptive intelligence and his triangular theory of love. He provides insights as to how our society misdirects and prioritizes our focus on exactly the traits that lead us down untenable social and political paths. He also proves to us once and for all that it’s a bad idea to use an IQ test to get a first date.
There is a Vietnamese proverb that reads “Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet.” Theo and Stavros Zanos are perhaps one of the best personifications of this notion. They are independent, they accomplish vastly different things, yet they are perfectly paired and, at the end of the day, part of the same system.
We try to capture myriad voices on Skraps, but this one is legendary. Truly. If you don’t trust us, we have a few testimonials to prove it. Dr. Robert Hamlin is a DVM and Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University (please don’t get Arun started on his Buckeyes) and he knows more about the heart (animals and humans) than any single person has a right to.
You can check out his prolific research publications here, but don’t miss out on the story behind the investigator as we take on the peer-review process, lab culture and contracts (get that heart rate up!), being an outsider to both of your own cultures, sleep and exercise, and InequalityInSTEM (which his wife aptly points out should be STEAM!) an effort driven by Dawn Taylor that TK whole-heartedly endorses.
Arun and JoJo speak with Juan-Pablo about each of the portfolio companies funded by APVC (Axon Therapies, Cala Health, CVRx, EXO, Neuspera, Presidio Medical, Saluda Medical, and SetPoint Medical) and then dive head-long into what it’s like to be a Puerto Rican American influencing the future of medicine, exploring what it took to get there, and what he’ll do now that he as arrived. Answer: He’s not just talking about it – “Hire someone, mentor someone, spotlight someone.” Check. Check. Check
We have a candid chat with Anil Achyuta – a founding member of TDK Ventures and recently ranked as #2 of the Global Corporate Venturing’s Rising Stars of 2021- and yes, you’ll get to hear how he feels about that.
Casterton worked her way through the bigs (Edwards Lifesciences, Boston Scientific, Stryker, and Verily) and picked up a thing or two along the way. She’s broken the land-speed record in medical device product development, built successful teams across continents, worked with Google, Verily and others to scale COVID testing sites in a pinch (entirely online, too), and is ready, willing, and able to share those lessons with you. She has also recruited some other impressive leaders to have a little fireside chat with you, too.
Join us as we talk to Professor Lynne Carpenter-Boggs about the new trends in final remains disposal – human composting (or more tactfully called Natural Organic Reduction). If you’ve tried to live a life of sustainability, why stop there? Why not let your final act of earthly love be 1.4 tons less carbon than cremation or burial?
Have you ever wondered or seen someone and thought they could be a psychopath or have psychopathic tendencies? What if you found out if you really had the all the attributes of being a psychopath?
Does it make you question everything you have experienced and have been through wondering what if you had flipped and why you hadn’t flipped yet?
Dr. Hubert Lim talks about how his love for biomedical engineering starts off with wanting to understand music preferences a.la Napster, then branching to auditory implants, invasive and non-invasive neuromodulation. We talk about his fantastic journey into figuring out a treatment for Tinnitus via his company, Neuromod Devices. They published a fantastic study by performing bi-modal stimulation of the brain using tongue stimulation and sound to treat Tinnitus.
As a wannabe vet and an artist who took up medical illustrations as a career, Alissa’s career has surely been an unusual one. She has mastered the art of pushing beauty and uncovering of sense of awe and fear into people’s minds with her illustrations of Zika, Ebola and now infamous – SARS-Cov-2.
In a world where “your”data is commoditized, how willing should one be to provide access to their deeper brain activities? Who should benefit?
It is an interesting journey from liposomal drug delivery to looking carbon nanotubes to graphene in Kostas’ case. While, in Carolina’s case how her journey through deep brain stimulation and diabetes franchise shaped her outlook and leadership skills/capabilities.
Kate recounts the story from her birth, to her varied upbringing, her interest in music and architecture, engineering to neuroscience. This is one amazing conversation.
Konstantinos’ diplomacy, critical reasoning and how he overcomes challenges is a lesson to many budding and established entrepreneurs
This is a behind-the-scenes look at the journey that these wonderful people took to making this wonderful piece of scientific story-telling.
Today, October 26, 2020 – Rune Labs announced the closing of their seed round of $5 million.
Dr. Amanda Grannas leads us a fantastic journey of her experiences as an analytical chemist and how analytical chemistry is a topic that most people don’t think but still is such an important part of our life.
Robert Ruffolo Jr has accomplished this feat as the lead scientist for Carvedilol, the first beta-blocker ever to be approved for heart failure.
Jarrod Kimber is an award winning documentary film maker. From humble beginnings in Melbourne to becoming a well known sports writer and documentary film maker, Jarrod has constantly used data to point to the fallacies, assumptions and substantiate where the game should go.
What if your device (be it a consumer device (like a phone or a driverless car) or a medical implant) was capable of doing all of this on the chip and enable real-time decision making.
Dr. Sanford Greenberg has overcome disability that affected him since he was a Junior at Columbia University. He has since overcome this limitation to chart an unprecedented success as an innovator, entrepreneur, in politics, administration and more recently, in philanthropy via his www.Endblindnessby2020.com campaign.
The pioneer of the transcatheter valve shares his story on how innovation is a lonely sport.
Jason Osborne describe how he went from being a kid in South Central Pennsylvania to scuba-diving for fossils.
From engineered cardiac tissue to ceramic barbecue to employing artists in a science lab, cuttlefish to fashion, employing counter-insurgency methods learnt in battlefields in Afghanistan to turn science on its head
In part 2 of the interview, Warren eloquently describes a neuromodulation theory in layman terms. Plus, we also ask him about his work on peripheral nerve stimulation efforts and more recent modelling efforts.
In the first of our two-part episode with Professor Warren Grill, we learn how cars, a failed letter of recommendation, and sailing led him to where he is today.
Stories of science and about scientists that rarely get the headlines.
