EXPeditions - The living library of knowlegde11 Nov 2025

The living book of DNA - Davide Michieletto

DNA is the blueprint of life. It contains all the genetic information required for complex organisms to be alive and to sustain life.

About Davide Michieletto "I am a Professor of Biomaterials at the University of Edinburgh working on Topological Problems in Soft Matter and Biology. I am a 2024 Philip Leverhulme Prize Winner. I am the group leader of the Topological Active Polymers Lab. We aim to discover new DNA-based topological soft materials and complex fluids that can change properties in time. The group's expertise is rooted in polymer and statistical physics and employs both simulations and experiments to answer our questions. We believe boundaries between disciplines were made to be broken, and we do our best to shatter them every day."

Key Points • DNA is not only the blueprint of life, but from a physical perspective it is a long string that needs to be packaged in the cell. The way DNA is packaged and folded influences how genes are expressed. • The shape and folding of chromatin in the cell nucleus play a crucial role in determining which genes are active, impacting cell function and identity. • Genome organization is dynamic and responds to environmental cues, such as pathogens, allowing cells to adapt by altering gene expression. • The discovery of DNA’s structure was a competitive and interdisciplinary effort, highlighting both the collaborative and ego-driven sides of scientific research.

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Episoder(100)

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16 Mar 14min

What is "prejudice" ? | Jessie Munton

I think prejudice is best conceptualized as a phenomenon that can be supported by a whole range of mental states that will include beliefs, habits, emotions, and also attentional dispositions. About J...

12 Mar 16min

Global Public Investment | Simon Reid-Henry

The world today is overburdened with challenges that supersede the boundaries of nation states, and therefore of national governments, to address on their own. About Simon Reid-Henry "I am a research ...

9 Mar 18min

On ignorance and forgetting | Jessie Munton

I'm interested in the beliefs that we're not forming, the evidence that we're not attending to or using, the belief states that perhaps we form. What I think of as negative epistemology is the project...

5 Mar 19min

The empire of democracy | Simon Reid-Henry

"How do we understand, as it were, our era of democracy, which I argue began really as recently as the 1970s from previous eras, and what is it that is fundamentally at the core of the democracy we li...

2 Mar 19min

The life of the mind | Jessie Munton

On the one hand, we have that sense of really close identification with our minds. On the other hand, we're often surprised at the ways in which they operate. About Jessie Munton "I'm an Associate P...

26 Feb 19min

Volcanoes and the origins of life | Tamsin Mather

We don't really understand how life got going on this planet. There are various candidates for where the first molecules of life might have evolved, and some of those candidates are deeply volcanic. A...

23 Feb 18min

The origin myth of the modern West | Naoíse Mac Sweeney

We in the modern West still look back to ancient Greece as our imagined origin. We're still obsessed with ancient Greece. About Naoise Mac Sweeney "I'm Professor of Greek Archaeology at the Universit...

19 Feb 14min