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Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness

Are Parasites Out To Get Us? with Dr. Sebastian Lourido

Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness

Sony Music

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Comedy, Education

4.921.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2023

⏱️ 81 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Parasites are everywhere: in our bodies, in our water, even in our cats’ litter boxes. Are they agents of chaos—or just misunderstood? This week, Dr. Sebastian Lourido joins Jonathan to discuss the epic world of parasites, from pinworms to toxoplasma gondii to, yes, humans. Parasites! They’re everything, everywhere, all at once. Dr. Sebastian Lourido is an Associate Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Lourido grew up in Colombia before attending Tulane University, where he earned degrees in Art and Biology. He then worked with Arturo Zychlinsky, at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, before pursuing his Ph.D. at Washington University with L. David Sibley. In 2012, in lieu of traditional postdoctoral training, Lourido started his own lab as a Whitehead Fellow studying the molecular hallmarks of apicomplexan parasitism through proteomics and functional genomics. Lourido was recruited to his present position in 2017 where he continues his research and co-teaches courses in Microbial Pathogenesis and Cell Biology. You can follow Dr. Lourido and the Lourido Lab on Twitter @LouridoLab, @WhiteheadInst and @MITBiology. For more information, check out the websites for the Lourido Lab and Whitehead Institute. Curious for more? Check out these episodes from the archive: Are Mushrooms Truly Magic? How Does Dust Impact Earth’s Climate? When Viruses Spread, Who’s Most Vulnerable? Can You Say Cheese? Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Find books from Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our producer is Chris McClure. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Oh hello, I'm Kathy Burke, host and bona fide grim reaper of the where there's a will

0:06.8

there's a wake podcast.

0:08.8

And I'm goddess Katie, here for all your ad read needs.

0:12.0

What we looking at today then Kathy?

0:13.6

Yes thank god you arrived.

0:15.0

Oh show on the road with autotrader, the brilliant podcast hosted by Alex Lagui that takes

0:21.4

famous faces on a personalised road trip, visiting the places that help shape them and

0:25.8

hearing how the locations turn them into who they are today.

0:28.6

Yeah, I was just about to say that.

0:30.6

Great minds Kathy.

0:31.6

Show on the road, listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.

0:42.6

Welcome to Getting Curious.

0:43.6

This is Jonathan Vaness and every week I sit down for a gorgeous conversation with a brilliant

0:47.0

expert to learn all about something that makes me curious.

0:50.4

We explore viruses, fungi and bacteria on the show and now we're turning our attention

0:55.2

to parasites.

0:56.4

Welcome to Getting Curious.

0:58.3

The Bastion Laredo is an associate professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute

1:02.8

of Technology and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

1:07.5

He researches deadly parasites and exposes their vulnerabilities.

1:11.5

Welcome Sebastian, how are you?

1:13.3

I'm great.

...

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