Bridging Across Methods and Models in the Biosciences

Podcast Series

Hearing the voices of scientists telling us about their experience of doing things in an interdisciplinary way: what works, what doesn’t, what do they hope for?

In June 2021, we organised the conference ‘Methods and Models in Biomedical Research: Building Bridges’. A collaboration between the Champalimaud Foundation, the EU Reference Laboratory for alternatives to animal testing, based in the JRC Systems Toxicology Unit,  and FRESCI, the workshop created an opportunity for cross-disciplinary discussions across diverse communities in biomedical sciences (agency, regulatory, industry, researchers) to talk freely about methods and models, and explore common ground. This series of podcasts extends the conversations started at that workshop.  The approach we used is distinctive: rather than try to define the different forms of cross-disciplinarity and offer a theory of how it works, we chose to start from the practices of scientists, what do they actually do, that lends itself (or doesn’t) to crossing boundaries. The podcasts are hosted by Annamaria Carusi, Director of Interchange Research. Listen to the podcasts, and read more about our approach here.

Research leaders and project managers need to be proactive and visionary to create opportunities for the ‘magic’ of real interdisciplinary exchange.

In Episode 1, Annamaria talks to Sofia Batiste Leite, former Scientific Officer at the JRC Unit for Systems Toxicology.  

With a little bit of help from an intermediary, research ideas can be connected up to real world applications.

In Episode 2, we hear about the work of Marco Straccia the CEO and Co-Founder of SCIENCE&STRATEGY, known under the brand of FRESCI, .

Different sectors offer different challenges and opportunities for interdisciplinarity. 

Episode 3 has Annamaria in conversation with Robert Mader, Project Toxicologist at Roche pRED (pharma Research and Development).

Exploiting data fully through bringing on board a wide range of people with very different expertises.  

Listen to Anna Olsson, Researcher and Group Leader at i3S-Institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto in conversation with Annamaria.

Beyond communication, building up trust with potential interdisciplinary collaborators. 

Annamaria in conversation with Blanca Rodriguez, Professor of Computational Medicine at the University of Oxford.