What is PhageCast?
PhageCast is a new podcast where you can hear phage science! We feature interviews with bacteriophage researchers driving this exciting field forward!
We wanna help you stay up-to-date on the hottest topics in bacteriophage research: our expert guests will provide you with the latest insights and discoveries.
But we didn’t want to stop there, since we all have a (normally exciting) personal life aside from science, so we like our guests to share their personal experiences and career advice: Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or just starting out in the field, PhageCast has something for you!
Who are we? How this project started
The minds behind PhageCast are David Saez, Maria Sequeira Lopes, and Alexandre Lima. We are all PhD students in the Azeredo Lab in Portugal. The whole idea came together in small bites:
(David) I had considered the idea before but always backed down due to the amount of work it would take until I talked to Maria about it. Then she was like: “It’s such a great idea! We really have to do it!!” and Alex also joined the team as the IT expert: “I can help with the editing guys! It will be so cool!”
So we could not find a reason not to do it anymore and started it off!
Starting a Podcast is not easy and requires preparation, recording and then editing. Although we found the right balance of work between us and are running smoothly, learning on the go.
(Maria) We are all friends working in the same lab, so it’s easy to share a paper or a possible person that we can interview.
(Alex) Plus it’s so much fun to listen to it afterwards!
Why are we doing this? Our mission.
The three of us love podcasts. There is nothing like letting the knowledge get to your ears. It’s the simplest way to get new information into our brains. We many times searched for a Phage Science podcast where we could learn while going for a walk, driving home, or cooking, but could not find one that would fit our interests. So we thought, well we might as well just do it ourselves!
Moreover, it allows us to go beyond what the articles describe: direct communication with the authors allowed us to better understand the concepts behind the work and their inspiration.
What can you expect? Phage science meets life advice. Whom is this podcast for?
We believe what we do can be interesting for any researcher interested in phages or phage-related issues. We keep this in mind and try to go deep enough into the science so that any researcher listening can still get something valuable and learn something. (e.g. how to think of phage-antibiotic combinations, endolysin resistances, how to think about setting up the Appleman’s protocol, hypothetical gene discovery… and much more!)
We do believe that early-stage researchers are the ones who would enjoy listening to this the most, especially because we are kind of biased, and most of the advice we are asking for are directed to them (and us): how to navigate successfully your PhD, your life in science, how to deal with failure.
A sneak peek into the podcast
Do you wanna hear Joana Azeredo talk about phage activity against biofilms? Or Martin Loessner speaking about L-forms and endolysins? How to set up an Appleman´s protocol with Ben Burrowes? Or Rob Lavigne explaining how he tackles the phage genomic dark matter discovery?
You will hear phage experts’ bits of advice towards navigating your life: “The PhD can be the best time of your life”, “avoid competition”, or “do not let nay-sayers discourage you”, “…. and this helps separate your personal worth from the science…”, “celebrate small wins…”.
We will probably make you think (and laugh).
- Joana Azeredo did not know her social media when we asked her where people could find out about her.
- Martin Loessner confessed he typed his name on ChatGPT.
- Ben Burrowes told us about his life adventure moving from the UK to the US to make a career in science.
- Rob Lavigne doesn’t like TikTok yet!
Much more is coming!
Wanna participate?
Excited? We are as well! Our guests have been amazing so far and we have had a blast!
We would love to hear about you, if you have research and life experiences you want to share. Reach out to us at [email protected] and we will be more than happy to have a conversation with you!
How to Listen
We will publish one episode per month, around 30-40 mins where you can hear about both the science and the personal life of many researchers!
Tune in to PhageCast today and join the conversation.
You can listen to PhageCast on Spotify, Apple or Google Podcasts by searching for “PhageCast”.
You can also find more about us on our webpage!
Listen to us on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7fOF5O2StmOkTqyJtVLnqC?si=9e1c2d3c43994b9d
Have a Phagetastic day and hope to hear from you soon!
