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Billions of people live with parasitic worm infections — yet most of us never hear about them. In this episode, Dr. Neima Briggs explains why neglected tropical diseases stay neglected, how worms outsmart the immune system, and why making vaccines against parasites is far harder than for viruses. From unexpected allergic reactions in vaccine trials to the promise (and limits) of mRNA technology, we explore the science, global inequities, and future of fighting infections that thrive in poverty but increasingly affect a warming, interconnected world.

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How can we leverage the legal system and the medical system to best support the communities these systems should be serving?

In this episode, our hosts Shivani and Shakeri interview the dearly admired Dr. Suzi Ruhl, a lawyer and epidemiologist who shares her expertise on equitably building individual and community resiliency by tackling highest priority conditions created by health, economic and environmental challenges. In this lively and enlightening conversation, Dr. Ruhl expresses the link between environmental justice and public health, the disproportionate impact of environmental, economic and health burdens faced by minority, low-income and tribal communities, and the legal, medical, and environmental dimensions to providing equitable healthcare.

Links to Initiatives Mentioned in this Episode:
An Environmental Justice Mapping Tool: https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen
The Elevate Lab: https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/services/community-and-schools-programs/elevate/
Yale’s Child Study Centre: https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/

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YJBM Science News is back with Part 1 of our very first Special Episode! Join Hanna, Majo, and Roxanna as they sit down with Dr. Diyendo Massilani, a researcher and professor at Yale investigating evolutionary genetics. We’ll hear from Dr. Massilani about the challenges and ethical considerations of working with ancient DNA, as well as the incredible doors it has opened to what we can interrogate and what we know about extinct human populations. Keep an eye out in the new year for Part 2, which will dive into the groundbreaking work of Dr. Massilani’s former mentor and 2022 Nobel prize winner Dr. Svante Pääbo.

Keep up with Dr. Massilani’s work:
https://massilani-lab.com/
https://x.com/Diyendo

Related links:
https://news.yale.edu/2024/08/26/seeking-ethical-approach-ancient-dna-analysis

Read more about YJBM at:
https://medicine.yale.edu/yjbm/

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In this episode, we’ll learn more about the work that the Anti-Eugenics Collective at Yale (AECY) dedicates itself to. Our host, Stella Park, sits down with Modupe Karimi and Hanifah Ouro-Sama, Yale College seniors and student members of AECY, to discuss their work in the collective, particularly on AECY’s undergraduate biology curriculum project and their recent anti-eugenics workshop in London with our partners at University College London.

Read the “History of Medicine” issue: https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/explore-yjbm-september-2025-issue-history-of-medicine/

Read more about YJBM at:

https://medicine.yale.edu/yjbm/

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In this episode, we go behind the scenes with Reem and Adriana, the deputy editors who led the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine’s special issue on Epigenetics. Our hosts Isha and Delyar discuss the editors’ experience in facing new frontiers in scientific publishing, including developing protocols to detect AI-generated content and ensuring manuscripts contribute meaningfully to the scientific consensus.

Read the “Epigenetics” issue: https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/explore-yjbms-june-2025-issue-on-epigenetics/

Read more about YJBM at:
https://medicine.yale.edu/yjbm/

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https://www.instagram.com/theyjbm/

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In this week’s episode of the YJBM Science News podcast, co-hosts Hanna and Roxanna explore papers that take us all around different organs in the body! Can we 3D print functional blood vessels? How does the brain spy on our organs? Find out the answers to these questions and more as we discuss recent Yale-affiliated research in biology and medicine.

Papers featured in this episode:
“Development and deployment of a functional 3D-bioprinted blood vessel”: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-93276-y
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/scientists-successfully-implant-bioprinted-aorta-in-rats/
“Typhoid toxin causes neuropathology by disrupting the blood–brain barrier”:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-025-02000-z
https://news.yale.edu/2025/05/09/how-typhoid-fever-triggers-severe-neurological-symptoms
“Adaptation to Volumetric Compression Drives an Apoptosis-Resistant and Invasive Phenotype in Liver Cancer”:
https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-24-0859
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/new-study-finds-that-physical-pressure-escalates-liver-cancer-aggression/
“The subfornical organ is a nucleus for gut-derived T cells that regulate behaviour”:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09050-7
https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01655-2
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/t-cells-take-up-residence-in-the-healthy-brain-via-a-gut-fat-brain-axis/

Read more about YJBM at:
https://medicine.yale.edu/yjbm/

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Get insight into the work that went into the most recent YJBM issue, ‘Kinase Signaling’! In this episode, our hosts Shivesh Shourya and Shivani Dayal speak to this issue’s deputy editors Ingrid Heumann and Rahul Gupta to discuss early challenges in the process of creating this issue, publishing new work in the basic sciences, and future directions in the field of kinase signaling, and what they hope readers take away from this issue.

Read the “Kinase Signalling” issue:
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/kinase-signaling-is-focus-of-the-march-2025-yjbm-issue/
Read more about YJBM at:
https://medicine.yale.edu/yjbm/
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https://www.instagram.com/theyjbm/

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This week’s episode of YBJM Science News discusses how our surroundings impact a variety of health outcomes. From air pollutants to sleep quality to pharmacy access and more, join Roxanna and Hanna as they discuss recent Yale-affiliated research in biology and medicine.

Papers featured in this episode and associated links:
“Early-Life Exposure to Air and Light Pollution Linked to Increased Risk of Pediatric Thyroid Cancer” – https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/early-life-exposure-to-air-and-light-pollution-linked-to-increased-risk-of-pediatric-thyroid-cancer
“Perinatal Exposures to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Outdoor Artificial Light at Night and Risk of Pediatric Papillary Thyroid Cancer” – https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14849
New York Times article on Environmental Health Perspectives journal – https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/science/science-journal-environment-trump.html
“Reduced Deep and REM Sleep Could be Early Markers of Alzheimer’s” – https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/reduced-deep-and-rem-sleep-could-be-early-markers-of-alzheimers/
“Lower slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep are associated with brain atrophy of AD-vulnerable regions” – https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.11630
The Atherosclerosis In the Community Study – https://www5.cscc.unc.edu/aric9/
“Groundbreaking Study Highlights Critical Gap in Global Mental Health Research” – https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/news-article/groundbreaking-study-highlights-critical-gap-in-global-mental-health-research/
“Psychiatric genetics in the diverse landscape of Latin American populations” – https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-025-02127-z
Latin American Genomics Consortium – https://www.latinamericangenomicsconsortium.org/
“A New Metric to Identify – and Prevent – Pharmacy Deserts” – https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/a-new-metric-to-identify-prevent-pharmacy-deserts/
“Vulnerability Index Approach to Identify Pharmacy Deserts and Keystone Pharmacies” – https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.0715
“Timing of RSV Immunization Matters for Infant Protection” – https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/timing-of-rsv-immunization-matters-for-infant-protection/
“Estimated Effectiveness of Nirsevimab Against Respiratory Syncytial Virus” – https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.0380
Read more about YJBM at:
https://medicine.yale.edu/yjbm/

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https://www.instagram.com/theyjbm/

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Why is a lower impact of COVID-19 seen in children compared to adults? In this episode of the YJBM podcast, co-hosts Delyar Khosroabadi and Amy Guan speak with Timothy Watkins, a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Ellen F. Foxman at the Yale School of Medicine. He shares what initially drew him to research and how his journey has evolved across disciplines. Tim also discusses the importance of understanding host-virus interactions, mechanisms underlying heightened nasal innate immunity in children, and some of the challenges he encounters in his work.