Microbe Talk: September 2015

Posted on September 25, 2015   by Anand Jagatia

In this month’s podcast: Ebola vaccines for chimpanzees and engineering the built environment to prevent the spread of infections.

First up, Anand visited the labs of the Healthy Infrastructure Research Group at UCL. Dr Lena Ciric and her team told us about the spread of tuberculosis in offices, toxic black mould and light-activated antimicrobial surfaces. Lena also showed us around the group’s walk-in environmental chamber, which they use for safely releasing pathogenic microbes.

And we hear from Dr Peter Walsh of the University of Cambridge, who is currently leading efforts to vaccinate chimps and gorillas against Ebola. As many as a third of the planet’s wild populations may have been wiped out by the virus, which affects great apes in a similar way to humans. Peter told us more about his work, and the first ever trial to develop an oral vaccine for chimpanzees.

 

• The Healthy Infrastructure Research Group’s homepage
• More information on our event Understanding engagement: How to communicate your research to the public
• Dr Peter Walsh’s NGO Apes Incorporated, where you can find out more about the Ebola vaccine trial on chimpanzees

Don’t forget, you can subscribe to Microbe Talk on iTunes. You can also find us on Soundcloud and Stitcher.