From inside a repurposed storage closet in the Galveston National Laboratory, a team of University of Texas Medical Branch scientists and students blends One Health science with down-to-earth banter between hosts and guests. The team recently launched the second season of the Infectious Science Podcast, led this season by a team that includes UTMB students.
Like a group of intrepid explorers, the group seeks to unravel the tangled web of naturally emerging pathogens, vectors, animal health, and environmental factors and how they combine to impact human health.
“It was personal enthusiasm that started all of this, along with the recognition that the general public could benefit from more science communication,” said Dennis Bente, professor in the department of microbiology and immunology and one of the hosts of the podcast.
Bente and Connie Holubar, director of operations at the Galveston National Lab, were part of the original team that came up with the idea for the podcast. They were having lunch with infectious disease professor Gregory Gray and Matt Dacso, who was at the time an internal medicine professor at UTMB. They discovered they were all aspiring podcasters who could clearly see the need for better understanding of science and the link between animal and human disease.
Since the 1800s, scientists have noted the similarity in disease processes among animals and humans, but human and animal medicine were practiced separately until the 20th century. In the last decade, the One Health concept, which recognizes that human health is closely tied to the health of animals and the environment, has gained more recognition in the public health and animal health communities, but little recognition among the general public.
That knowledge gap was the inspiration for the Infectious Science Podcast.
Since its debut in 2022, The Infectious Science Podcast has released 15 episodes, covering pathogens ranging from E. coli to Lassa fever to avian flu. Episodes like “Kitten Killer and the Black Market” and “Leader of the Pack” explore the links between animal, human and environmental health. The podcast can be found on all major platforms and at www.infectiousscience.org.
The team rolled out its first 2024 episodes in August, with medical student Christina Rios and graduate student Camille Ledoux adding their talents and enthusiasm to the mix.
“I'm passionate about translating scientific and medical information into accessible language that engages the public and increases health literacy,” said Ledoux who co-hosts and writes scripts for the podcast. “Working on the podcast has been a great opportunity to sharpen my writing skills and connect with a broader audience and I feel very fortunate to be part of such a great podcast team.”
Rios said the rigor and structure of medical school left her looking for a way to be creative.
“During medical school, you are required to memorize so much information and learn very regimented procedures to diagnose and treat your patient,” Rios said. “While this is absolutely important and necessary, it can leave one craving an outlet for creativity. I saw the podcast as a great way to combine creativity with medicine, so I was excited to help in any way I could.”
The new season has started with “Decoding Leprosy: Stigma, Science, and Godzilla” and “Decoding Leprosy Part II: Diagnosis and Treatment.” A few weeks later, they published “Antibiotics, Antivirals, and the Fungus Among Us.” They kicked off October with “Bitten by Myth: Unraveling Rabies and the Werewolf Tale.” The team plans to continue publishing new episodes on the first Friday of every month.
“Dennis has always been on the leading edge of technology,” Holubar, producer and first season writer for the podcast, said. “He has grant funding and can make a case for purchasing equipment. He just started cobbling this thing together.”
But they needed a home – a relatively quiet place to record. They considered the Ashbel Smith Building, also known as Old Red, because they thought that would be iconic, but ended up a little closer to home, in an underutilized storage closet in the Galveston National Lab.
“The next thing I knew, Dennis had painted the closet and moved in a couch,” Holubar said. “There was a table in there. All this equipment appeared.”
The group had some experience bringing the “This Week in Virology” podcast to campus, but they knew they needed to do their homework.
“We had a huge spreadsheet of all the science podcasts,” Holubar said. “We knew their numbers. We knew what they were doing, and we would listen to them. We did a lot of planning for every episode that first year, and we tried a few different formats – some with guests, some just discussions among the team.”
Bente said the Infectious Science Podcast team learned through experience, improving with each episode during the first season.
“It is a lot of work to do this, so we were excited to get some other people involved,” Bente said. “Lucky for us we found two very willing and motivated students who have really put some new energy into the effort. I get a kick out of seeing how it empowers the students. I think people underestimate the rewarding feeling that you get when it's uploaded and you see yourself on Spotify and you're like, ‘Oh my gosh, I just did that.’”