ATCC's Podcast: Behind the Biology

ATCC’s unofficial historian Frank Simione takes us inside 100 years of scientific stewardship—from its origins at the American Museum of Natural History to shaping global biological standards that underpin modern research.

From mentorship to management, Rebecca Bradford reveals how curiosity and adaptability drive biotech leadership.

Dr. Cypess discusses the three pillars of research: integrative physiology, noninvasive imaging, and clinical trials, emphasizing the importance of new technologies in understanding adipocyte physiology. He highlights ongoing research into medications for obesity treatment and the complex role of bile acids in metabolism.

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Cypess, a senior investigator at NIH, discusses his research on brown adipose tissue (BAT) and its implications for metabolic diseases. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding BAT's metabolic pathways and its communication with other organ systems.

In this episode, David Yarmosh and Briana Benton revisit the origins and evolution of the ATCC Genome Portal, tracing its journey from an ambitious research concept in 2017 to a groundbreaking resource for high-quality, traceable genomic data. Benton shares how early internal research proposals—including her push for long-read sequencing and Dr. Marco Riojas’ vision for sequencing ATCC’s collection—laid the foundation for the portal. Their work, along with challenges in microbiome research where public genome assemblies failed to match known inputs, underscored the need for a reliable genomic resource. Launched in 2019 with just 250 genomes and basic sequencing tools, the portal has since expanded to over 5,500 genomes, backed by automation, a larger team, and advanced sequencing capabilities. The portal is continually evolving and now includes data from bacteriology, virology, mycology, and protistology collections, all accessible via a secure REST-API. Looking ahead, ATCC plans to enhance the portal with methylation data, expanded annotations, and additional QC-related metadata, striving to create a comprehensive “digital twin” of each organism to reinforce scientific reproducibility and informed decision-making.

Join in to hear Dr. Nilay Chakraborty introduce MicroQuant by ATCC, highlighting the portfolio's r ease of use and significant time and cost savings due to it's innovative engineering.

: Join in to hear Dr Nilay Chakraborty talk about his team's efforts to innovate technologies for better delivery and preservation of biological materials, emphasizing the importance of cryopreservation.

Tune in to hear Dr. Jesse Boehm discusses the importance of cross-institutional collaboration in cancer research, drawing parallels to NASA’s mission planning.

In this episode, David Yarmosh and Tasha Santiago-Rodriguez delve into their unexpected journeys into bioinformatics and data science. Tasha shares her transition from wet lab work to data science, emphasizing the importance of reproducibility and proper experimental controls in microbiome research. Finally, Tasha reflects on her work with ancient DNA and microbiomes, viewing it as a way of revealing history and making history by uncovering details about ancient cultures.

In a discussion about the future of One Codex, Greenfield shares upcoming changes to his organization’s business model. He also discusses the challenges of maintaining and updating their database due to the constant changes in taxonomy.

In this episode Nick Greenfield, the founder of One Codex, describes his organization’s evolution from a microbiome analysis company to a full-service microbial company.

Listen in to hear Jamie Crill discuss his research focus of microbial forensics, particularly the origins of bacteria and yeast.