IHMC launches 2023 Evening Lecture Series in January

Published 1.5.23

IHMC’s 2023 Evening Lecture series is kicking off this month with speakers highlighting healthy longevity and progress in exoskeleton research.

Both IHMC campuses — Pensacola and Ocala — are opening the free public lecture series with January lectures by Dr. Alexander Fleming and Dr. Gwen Bryan.

How can you increase healthy longevity beyond common senses measures such as good nutrition and physical activity? That’s the subject that Fleming will explore on Jan. 25 in Pensacola.

Fleming’s talk, “Targeting Healthy Longevity—Why, How, and When Will We Have the Means of Living Longer and Healthier,” is the first of the 2023 season of Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition’s public lecture series.

Fleming, a former head of clinical review at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for products for diabetes and other metabolic and endocrine disorders, is scheduled to speak at IHMC’s downtown Pensacola campus. The doors open at 5:30 p.m.; the talk begins at 6 p.m.

Guests can hear Fleming share more about what the latest science says about slowing the aging process and what you can do now to increase healthspan. His talk also covers drugs that are under development to slow the aging process and increase healthspan — and the challenges of doing so.

Register for the free event here.

Fleming founded Kinexum, a company with professional expertise in developing drugs, biotech products, including gene and cell therapies, medical devices, and digital health technologies. In 2020, he founded the not-for-profit Kitalys Institute to facilitate testing, regulation, and commercialization of healthspan products. Kitalys produces the annual Metabesity conference, which began in 2017 and brings together global experts, policymakers, and advocates for equaling healthspan to lifespan.

Fleming earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of West Florida, his M.D. and internal medicine training from Emory University and training in endocrinology at Vanderbilt University. After four years at the National Institutes of Health, he went on to the FDA. His notable, but then controversial drug approvalsincluded the first statin and metformin. He represented the FDA at the World Health Organization and other international initiatives.

For the latest updates to the Evening Lecture schedule, click here.

In Ocala, Dr. Gwen Bryan kicks off the lecture series with a look at the future of exoskeletons on Jan. 19 with her talk, “Improving Human Performance Through Wearable Robotics.” The doors open at 5:30 p.m.; the talk begins at 6 p.m. For details, and to register for the free lecture, click here.

Bryan is a Research Scientist at IHMC who focuses on powered exoskeletons. She investigates lower-limb wearable robotic devices aimed at augmenting human performance in clinical, occupational, and military applications and intends to maximize exoskeleton benefits through a human-centered research approach.

This talk will highlight IHMC’s work developing an augmentative exoskeleton for U.S. Department of Energy workers and a rehabilitative exoskeleton for those with spinal cord injuries. It concludes by discussing future directions of exoskeleton technology at IHMC.

Lower-limb exoskeletons have the potential to help a variety of user populations. These devices can augment user performance to increase human capabilities or rehabilitate individuals with limited mobility or chronic injuries. Performance augmentation devices could reduce the strain felt by those in high-intensity professions, such as laborers, military personnel, or athletes. Meanwhile, rehabilitative exoskeletons are well-suited to assist patient populations, such as those with spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, or multiple sclerosis.

Bryan earned her Ph.D. in the Stanford Biomechatronics Lab, where she developed a hip-knee-ankle exoskeleton emulator, a flexible research testbed for rapid iteration of exoskeleton strategies. She then optimized exoskeleton assistance in response to real-time physiological measurements through human-in-the-loop optimization (HILO). With this strategy, she evaluated the impact of exoskeleton assistance on walking economy when assisting the hips, knees, or ankles individually or simultaneously.

Save the date for these upcoming Ocala lectures: March 9, Tom Jones; April 20, Morgan Cable.

STEM-Talk: Dr. Gwen Bryan shares the future of exoskeletons

Published 1.4.23

We walk every day, so we think it’s an easy thing to do. But when we try to recreate it with an exoskeleton in the lab, the truth reveals how complex and challenging it is.

That’s the puzzle that Dr. Gwen Bryan is working to solve as part of the exoskeleton team at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.

Episode 147 of “STEM-Talk” features a conversation with Bryan, an IHMC Research Scientist who investigates wearable robotic devices aimed at augmenting human performance in clinical, occupational, and military applications.  The episode is available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

With the exoskeleton team at IHMC, Bryan is particularly focused on maximizing the benefits of powered exoskeletons. At IHMC, Gwen leads the exoskeleton team, which is developing a novel augmentative device that continues IHMC’s research on mobility devices for people with spinal cord injury. The team also is researching a powered exoskeleton to aid government employees who work at nuclear site remediation.   

The team’s effort, which utilize a human-centered research approach, is uniquely situated to expand exoskeleton research and technology because of the expertise and collaboration among IHMC’s robotics and human-performance research groups. 

Listen to the conversation here.

STEM-Talk: Dr. Dan Pardi on flipping the focus to “actual health”

Published 12.16.22

What a revolution might it be if the healthcare system was built around our actual health, as opposed to the way it currently centers on treating an injury or disease once it occurs? 

That’s one of the ideas that Dr. Dan Pardi explores in the latest episode of STEM-Talk (Episode 146). In his conversation with IHMC Founder Dr. Ken Ford and IHMC Senior Research Scientist Dr. Marcas Bamman, Pardi talks about the flaws in a health system that is really built around treatment, rather than health and wellness support — and what it might take to switch that focus. 

Pardi is the CEO of humanOS.me – a digital health training application. He is well known for his research into sleep and has collaborated with the U.S. military as well as organizations including Adobe, Salesforce, Workday, Pandora, Intuitive Surgical, and more.  

His own podcast, humanOS Radio, is the official podcast of the Sleep Research Society, the Canadian Sleep Society, and a content partner of the Buck Institute on Aging. Dan collaborated with more than 100 science professors around the globe to create his digital humanOS application.

Pardi has a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from Leiden University in the Netherlands, and Stanford University in the United States. He has a master’s degree in exercise physiology from Florida State University and currently lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, two young boys, and their dog, Wally. 

The STEM-Talk conversation with Pardi covers his early career in bioinformatics and how a trip to Moscow led to his doctoral research of sleep and treatments for narcolepsy.  

He also talks about the Loop Model to Adopt and Sustain Health Behaviors, a behavior model he developed during his Ph.D. studies. The Loop Model became the core of humanOS. Finally, the conversation moves to the concepts of “actual health,” health performance experts and a shift in what aging means that he believes is important to improving the quality of life for all of us. 

Listen today wherever you enjoy podcasts.  

Exoskeleton research at IHMC moving forward

Published 12.7.22

IHMC has a long legacy of excellence in exoskeleton research. The potential benefits of exoskeletons include increased strength and endurance, reduced joint loading, resistance exercise, rehabilitation after injury, and enabling mobility for those with disease or disability.

Two exoskeleton projects at IHMC — Quix and Eva — are undergoing upgrades thanks to a robotics team that is itself been expanded in the last two years. Read more about this and other IHMC projects in the newest edition of the newsletter.

Quix is the fourth exoskeleton prototype developed by the IHMC exoskeleton team. It’s getting a new lease on life as the team has been upgrading the device and its software. Quix was designed to increase the mobility and independence of people with lower-body paralysis. The team is now investigating potential applications for rehabilitation therapy.

Team members have now developed another wearable robot, Eva, to help extend healthspan and the quality of life for workers who must use heavy personal protective equipment during physically demanding and hazardous work.

The revamp of Quix and the development of Eva are among the first major projects for the growing robotics team, and Research Scientist Dr. Robert Griffin said it has been exciting to see the way new personnel and ideas have enhanced the projects.

Quix has been at rest since the 2020 Cybathlon, where it finished as a finalist among intense international competition. Griffin and his team have spent the last several months putting Quix through its paces to move toward the next iteration of software governing the exoskeleton.

“Over the next six to nine months, we will be continuing to work on improving the gait,” Griffin said. “We will be collecting biomechanical data so that the IHMC team can better understand the physiological demands of using the device. We also will be exploring methods for increasing the speed and robustness of the existing gait.”

While improving the mechanical and software aspects of Quix are important, the team also is deepening the active research areas in the project.

While an exoskeleton offers people with lower-limb paralysis the chance to resume everyday activities, the device is heavy. Understanding how Quix affects the wearer physiologically can lead to improvements that make it easier to wear for longer periods of time.

“This will help us understand how to improve exoskeletons to be more accessible,” Griffin said.

Continuing to work on improving Quix’s gait while broadening the scope of the effort to tie in IHMC’s human performance research program is precisely the kind of cross-discipline, collaborative work that IHMC fosters.

Growing the team

A big part of Quix’s next steps — both figuratively and literally — has been to add expertise to the robotics team. Team members Dr. Gwen Bryan and Dr. Greg Sawicki have come on board, bringing with them an important focus on the interface of robotic exoskeletons and human performance.

“Our team has traditionally focused solely on robotics,” Griffin said. “Adding people like Gwen — with her experience in robotics and biomechanics — and Greg — who has expertise in both disciplines but has been focused more on biomechanics — will broaden us in a critical way.”

Bryan joined IHMC after completing her Ph.D. at Stanford University in 2021. During her doctorate, she developed a hip-knee-ankle exoskeleton emulator and used that device to find optimized exoskeleton assistance. Through human-in-the-loop optimization (HiLO), she found effective exoskeleton assistance for a range of walking speeds as well as with a variety of worn loads. She also investigated if people are sensitive to customized exoskeleton assistance.

“Exoskeletons are a fantastic bridge between the disciplines of robotics and health, resilience, and human performance,” Bryan said.

Sawicki says the main innovation the team is hoping to apply to Quix’s control is human in the loop optimization (HiLO).

“Gwen Bryan is a world leader in applying this approach to discover full-leg exoskeleton assistance strategies that can improve human ‘gas mileage’ in young, healthy people — think soldiers or aid workers,” Sawicki says. “We are working to adapt her previous approach to focus on finding walking gaits on Quix that can maximize a pilot’s walking speed without de-stabilizing them or overtaxing their body. We are also explicitly including feedback from user’s regarding their preference in order to customize the tuning of the exoskeleton’s motions.”

Sawicki joined IHMC in 2022 while maintaining his home base at the Human Physiology of Wearable Robotics (PoWeR) laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

Sawicki will embed with the robotics, exoskeletons and human robotics interdependence group, with Quix among the projects on which he will focus.

Sawicki’s lab at Georgia Tech has focused on adapting the biological mechanisms that drive human lower-limb joint power output to develop wearable robots that help people walk better.

Sawicki says the team is close to starting testing using Quix to navigate the in-lab “terrain park.” The goal is to implement the new optimized control and compare it against baseline “out-of-the-box” exoskeleton gaits.

“If we are successful, pilots should be able to walk faster and with less effort in Quix,” he says.

Bryan says the Quix team has been working the last few months on ground contact detection and adjusting exoskeleton gaits to look more natural. Contact detection leverages sensors in Quix to signal when the pilot’s foot has made initial contact with the ground, and then algorithms in Quix’s controller adjust the gait in response. This could be useful when walking over uneven terrain, climbing 32 stairs, or if the pilot’s gait varies step to step or is slightly unstable.

“Currently, (our pilot) is able to adapt to any sort of disturbances while walking, and this feature would reduce the amount of effort needed to maintain stable walking,” Bryan says. “Natural gait has adjusted the gait patterns to look more similar to able-bodied walking.”

This is easiest to see in foot clearance during swing, Bryan says. In the previous gait pattern, there was a large amount of foot clearance during swing, which made the gait look like marching instead of walking. The new pattern has a lower foot clearance, giving the gait a walking appearance and allowing the pilot to walk faster with fewer disturbances, Bryan says.

That includes incorporating more biomechanical feedback to continue to improve Quix’s form and function. This means looking into how gait pattern “impacts self-selected walking speed, muscle activity, metabolic cost, crutch force, torso sway, and more.
“One area that we very much want to explore is how an exoskeleton like Quix could be useful in rehabilitation therapy,” Griffin said.

Eva exoskeleton moving forward

Improving quality of life for a specific group of workers is the drive behind the Eva exoskeleton project as well.

Eva is a powered lower-body exoskeleton that is being developed to offload the weight of heavy personal- protective equipment from users’ bodies to the ground while also augmenting user motion. The suit is designed to assist throughout the users’ natural range of motion so as to not restrict movements and postures common.

The Eva project is a collaboration to create a testbed to evaluate the efficiency of existing devices and the effectiveness of modifications to other commercial devices.

The Eva suit provides net positive power to hip and knee flexion/extension as well as ankle plantarflexion while passively allowing motion in other degrees of freedom of the hips. The hips and knees are driven by collocated brushless DC motor actuators, while the ankles are driven by cables attached to actuators located in the backpack. The exoskeleton is built around a common harness used for 60-minute SCBA tanks, and the tank can be removed and attached easily. Eva is also designed to be modular, so that the linkages connecting each of the joints can be swapped to fit different users.

IHMC has begun testing the current hardware and control algorithms to explore how Eva can be used to decrease this musculoskeletal load, by measuring muscle activation during activities.

By coupling this with experimentation performed by Georgia Tech on human biomechanics when performing manual labor, the team believes Eva can be a device that genuinely helps during heavy-duty physical tasks.

The focus to this point has been on developing a device that is transparent to the user so as to not limit the user’s motions and capabilities when performing meaningful work. This is an area that has been traditionally unaddressed by existing exoskeletons, Griffin said, which have suffered from limited adoption.

The team is continuously iterating on the device through improvements to exoskeleton weight, development of custom actuators, and implementation of custom electronics.

STEM-Talk: “Ask Me Anything” episode tackles AI, hypersonics, fasting and more

Published 12.2.22

It’s time for another Ask Me Anything episode where STEM-Talk cohost Dawn Kernagis asks Ken questions submitted by listeners.

In this episode, available wherever you listen to podcasts, Ken and Dawn weigh in on:

—  Whether AI is becoming sentient.

— How women in midlife might protect their bodies from the negative effects of a slowing metabolism.

— A Stanford study that compared a low-carbohydrate diet with a Mediterranean diet.

— Whether fasting helps optimize cognitive performance.

— The future of hypersonic technology.

— And a lot more.

If you have a question after listening to today’s episode or any episode of STEM-Talk, email your question to STEM-Talk Producer Randy Hammer at rhammer@ihmc.org.

STEM-Talk is the podcast of IHMC, a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System. Researchers at IHMC pioneer science and technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us. 

IHMC launches multi-year project augmenting, assessing performance in extreme environments

Published 11.22.22

Recently, IHMC kicked off a multi-year project sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate (AFRL/RX) with participants from AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing, Airman Systems Directorate (RH).  

The program “Augmenting and Assessing Performance in Extreme Environments” (A2PEX) aims for real-time sensing via wearable sensors, and assessment and augmentation of cognitive performance in missions conducted in extreme environments.   

The goal is to develop a robust wearable system that helps overcome fatigue and other stressors by continually sensing, assessing, and augmenting Airmen and Guardian performance.     

Principal Investigators are IHMC’s own Dr. Morley Stone and Dr. Tim Broderick. It draws on team members from our human performance, robotics, and human-centered computing teams — a truly cross disciplinary collaboration. 

Academic partners in the project are The Ohio State University and Georgia Institute of Technology. Industry partners are Triple Ring Technologies, Abbott Biowearables, electroCore, and Polar Electro.  

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others. 

STEM-Talk: Dr. Jason Fung, “The Obesity Code” author, on insulin resistance and metabolic health

Published 11.10.22

Dr. Ken Ford is joined by guest co-host Dr. Tommy Wood for a fascinating interview with Dr. Jason Fung,  the best-selling author of “The Obesity Code” and “The Complete Guide to Fasting,” on episode 144 of IHMC’s podcast STEM-Talk, which is now live and available on podcast apps and YouTube.

Fung is a Toronto-based nephrologist who has gained international attention for combining a low-carb diet with intermittent fasting to help thousands of overweight patients reverse their type 2 diabetes, lose weight, and improve their metabolic health.

“We mistook the symptom (high blood glucose) for the disease (type 2 diabetes) and we were treating the symptom and expecting the disease to get better and it never did,” Fung says.

In addition to “The Obesity Code,” Fung is also the author of the “The Diabetes Code,” and “The Cancer Code.”  In the “The Complete Guide to Fasting,” Fung and co-author Jimmy Moore look at the history and culture of fasting and how it helps people improve their metabolic health.

In this interview, Ford and Wood delve into:

• How in the beginning of his practice, Jason prescribed insulin for type 2 diabetes patients.
• Jason’s realization that type 2 diabetes is largely a dietary disease and therefore requires a dietary solution rather than a pharmaceutical one.
• The origins of Jason’s Dietary Management program, which counsels overweight and obese patients to follow a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet to reduce insulin.
• A critique of the “eat less, move more” strategy acclaimed by many obesity experts.
• The various forms of fasting, including time-restricted eating, intermittent fasting and extended fasts over multiple days.
• Mark Mattson’s research into the powerful impact of intermittent fasting on metabolic health. (Mattson was the guest on STEM-Talk episodes seven and  133.)
• A recent paper that questioned the effectiveness of time-restricted eating when compared to daily calorie restriction.
• Recent research and evidence that fasting during chemotherapy may reduce the side effects of the treatment.

STEM-Talk is the podcast of IHMC, a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System. Researchers at IHMC pioneer science and technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us. 

STEM-Talk: “Why We Get Sick” author Ben Bikman on insulin resistance and metabolic health

Published 10.13.22

The STEM-Talk interview with the author of “Why We Get Sick” is now available on podcast apps and IHMC’s website. Dr. Ben Bikman is a biomedical scientist at Brigham Young University who is known for his research into the role of insulin and ketones as key drivers of metabolic function.

In “Why We Get Sick,” Bikman takes a deep dive into insulin resistance and metabolic health. In his STEM-Talk interview, Bikman discusses his books as well as his extensive research that links many of today’s major diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease, to insulin resistance.

STEM-Talk cohosts Drs. Ken Ford and Dawn Kernagis talk with Bikman about how around the world people are struggling with diseases that were once considered rare. Today, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes affect millions each year.

A growing number of people in the U.S. are struggling with hypertension, obesity, fatty liver, dementia, low testosterone, menstrual irregularities, and infertility as well as a host of other disorders. Bikman identifies insulin resistance as one of the root causes behind all of these.

Ben and his colleagues at the Bikman Lab investigate the molecular mechanisms behind the increased risks of disease that accompany obesity and excess visceral fat. The Bikman Lab focuses on the etiology of insulin resistance and how it disrupts mitochondrial function.

In Bikman’s STEM-Talk interview, cohosts Ford and Kernagis talk to Bikman about:

• How insulin resistance is tied to multiple chronic diseases.
• The relevance of ketones in mitochondrial function.
• How so many of our modern chronic diseases are self-inflicted and driven by insulin resistance.
• How more than half of the people in the U.S. are insulin resistant.
• How many of the hallmarks of aging are a consequence of insulin resistance.
• The theory that the longest-lived people are likely the most insulin sensitive.
• The benefits that occur with carbohydrate reduction as a result of increasing insulin sensitivity.
• Ben’s thoughts about the degree of intermittent fasting needed to induce autophagy in humans.

STEM-Talk is a podcast that is part of IHMC’s outreach initiatives. IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us. 

Video shows progress of IHMC humanoid robot Nadia

Published 10.5.22

The IHMC Robotics team has unveiled a video of the first humanoid robot built in-house in nearly 10 years.  

Working with Boardwalk Robotics, the IHMC team has designed Nadia as the next generation of humanoid robots the team has created. 

The Nadia project aims to develop highly mobile ground robots that can function in indoor and urban environments where stairs, ladders, and debris require robots to have mobility and manipulation dexterity nearing that of a human. The applications of this design could be particularly useful in explosive ordinance disposal, nuclear remediation, disaster response, firefighting, and other scenarios that might be dangerous for humans.  

Nadia’s development is supported by several sources, including the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Army Research Laboratory (ARL), NASA Johnson Space Center, and TARDEC.  In the summer of 2022, IHMC received a grant totaling $3 million from ONR to continue work on the project.

Research Scientist Dr. Robert Griffin notes that Nadia’s range of motion and power density are significant improvements over humanoids IHMC has worked with previously. Key elements of this version of Nadia are the joint designs, which feature mechanisms that aim at achieving near human-level ranges of motion in the hips and knees, and the use of a carbon-fiber exoskeleton structure.  

“We hope to use this design to enable multicontact motions, where the robot can use any part of its body to make contact with the world, as well as survive falls in the long run,” Griffin says. 

Watch Nadia’s progress here:

You can read the companion review by Evan Ackerman and the IEEE Spectrum here.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others. 

IHMC’s Ken Ford leads ketosis session at Targeting Metabesity Conference 2022

Published 9.26.22

IHMC’s founder and CEO Dr. Ken Ford will be one of more than 70 speakers at a virtual conference on Targeting Metabesity.

Also speaking at the conference is Dr. Morley Stone, the former Chief Technology Officer for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and former Senior Vice President for Research at Ohio State University, who is now IHMC’s Chief Strategic Partnership Officer.

At the Oct. 10 to 13 conference, Ford will moderate a session on emerging research related to endogenous and exogenous ketosis in health and disease as well as the role of ketones in mild traumatic brain injury and the prevention and treatment of cancer. His session begins at 1:15 p.m. (EDT) on Oct. 12.

The conference will feature experts talking about the growing evidence that the major chronic diseases of the day share common metabolic roots and as a result may also share common solutions.

The conference features many former guests on STEM-Talk, the IHMC podcast that Ford co-hosts with Dr. Dawn Kernagis. STEM-Talk listeners are being offered free admission to the conference. Follow this link where you will find instructions on how to receive a code for complimentary tickets.

Former STEM-Talk guests who are participating in the conference:

• Steven Austad, who studies virtually every aspect of aging. He is a distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
• Colin Champ, a radiation oncologist at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center, and author of a book about the role of nutrition and exercise has in cancer treatment.
• James Kirkland, a geriatrics specialist and researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who is known for his research into the role that senescence and senescent cells have on age-related dysfunction and chronic disease.
• John Newman, a geriatrician and researcher who is well-known for a 2017 study that found a ketogenic diet reduced the mid-life mortality of aging mice while also improving their memory and healthspan.
• Dr Brianna Stubbs, a scientist and world-class athlete who researched the effects of ketone drinks on elite athletes. She helped the company HVMN Ketone roll out an FDA-approved drink that promises increased athletic ability as well as heightened focus and energy.
• Jeff Volek, a researcher, professor at Ohio State University, and founder and the chief science officer of Virta Health, an online specialty medical clinic dedicated to reversing diabetes.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us. 

 

 

 

STEM-Talk: Vyvyanne Loh on “TOFI”, metabolic diseases, and weight management

Published 9.22.22

Metabolic disease may be the greatest epidemic we face.

Dr. Vyvyanne Loh has built her medical practice around dealing with it. She is the founder and leader of Transform Alliance for Health, a Boston preventive-care practice that specializes in weight management and the treatment of chronic metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia

Loh is a board-certified physician in obesity and internal medicine. She joins us on the latest episode of STEM-Talk, where the conversation includes the concept of TOFI — Thin Outside, Fat Inside.

“Most people assume my patients could be identified visually in terms of their obesity, but it turns out that a good number of my patients have this phenotype of looking thin, but they still have a metabolic problem in the sense that they have dysfunctional fat in their bodies.”

At play in this scenario is abdominal, or visceral fat, which is linked to a wide range of metabolic disorders. Loh also explains how there’s a clearcut association between obesity and decreased brain volume that rarely gets discussed.

In her Boston-based practice, she and her staff have had success helping people lose 50 pounds or more and getting them off their many medications. She has spent her medical career developing expertise in immunology, metabolic syndrome, fat metabolism, clinical nutrition and preventive medicine.

You can listen here, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You also can catch her Evening Lecture at IHMC, titled “The Magical Mystery Macrophage Tour” here.

In the show notes for Loh’s interview, you can also learn about the upcoming virtual conference on Targeting Metabesity.

STEM-Talk cohost Dr. Ken Ford will be one of nearly 70 speakers, including many former guests on STEM-Talk, talking about the growing evidence that the major chronic diseases of the day share common metabolic roots and as a result may also share common solutions.

If you are interested in a free ticket to the conference, follow this link where you will find instructions on how to receive a code for complimentary admission that is being offered to STEM-Talk listeners.

At the Oct. 10 to 13 conference, Ford will moderate a session on emerging research related to endogenous and exogenous ketosis in health and disease as well as the role of ketones in mild traumatic brain injury and the prevention and treatment of cancer.

STEM-Talk is a biweekly podcast that is part of IHMC’s outreach initiatives. IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us. 

2022 Evening Lecture series speakers announced

Published 9.2.22

The award winning IHMC Evening Lecture Series provides a community forum where individuals gather to hear engaging and enlightening conversation. Speakers present an ongoing series of fascinating lectures on meaningful topics in subject areas including science and technology, civic leadership, and urban planning.

“The Evening Lecture Series has long been an important part of IHMC’s outreach to the community at large,” said Dr. Ken Ford, IHMC’s co-founder and CEO. “The Fall slate of speakers is an impressive mix of topics and subject matter areas. We do hope that the community will join us to hear these fascinating experts share their wisdom.”

The series begins Sept. 22 in Pensacola and ends for the fall on Dec. 13. Lectures are free and open to the public, but registration is suggested. Visit https://www.ihmc.us/life/evening_lectures/pensacola-lecture-series/  to register and learn more.

The 2022 Fall Evening Lecture Series will feature the following speakers: 

Sept. 22 – Dr. Daniel Pardi

Pardi’s work looks to create major structural changes to better address lifestyle health in society. This work includes creating new academic tracks, new professional positions in society, new forms of research trials, and major foundational changes to health education. He is currently co-authoring a book with Dr. Josh Turknett provisionally titled, Actual Health – Realizing Untapped Potential, to detail the need for these structural changes as well as lay out a path for personal health mastery. He is the founder and CEO of humanOS.me – helping people achieve a higher health level through digital health training.

Oct. 13 – Dr. Art DeVany

DeVany is a Professor Emeritus of Economics and the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences of the University of California, Irvine. His work in spectrum laid the foundation for market allocation of spectrum use rights and auctions, which has become the model for spectrum allocation through-out the world; his work on military manpower helped establish the viability of a voluntary force; his work in air transport was the first to forecast or anticipate the efficiency of the hub and spoke pattern of flight routing and frequency. He is often referred to as the “Grandfather of Paleo,” and is working on a book on aging tentatively titled Renewing Cycles: Healing the wounds of aging through improved cellular defense and systemic renewal signaling. 

Nov. 2 — Matt Turpin

Matt Turpin is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution specializing in U.S. policy towards the People’s Republic of China, economic statecraft, and technology innovation. He is also a senior advisor at Palantir Technologies. From 2018 to 2019, Turpin served as the U.S. National Security Council’s Director for China and the Senior Advisor on China to the Secretary of Commerce. In those roles, he was responsible for managing the interagency effort to develop and implement U.S. Government policies on China. Before entering the White House, Turpin served over 22 years in the U.S. Army in a variety of combat units and as an assistant professor of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He retired from the Army in 2017. 

Dec. 13 — Dr. Marcas Bamman

Marcas Bamman is a Senior Research Scientist and Director of Healthspan, Resilience, and Performance Research at IHMC. He helps catalyze high-impact research development and leads clinical and translational research to advance knowledge across the spectrum from elite performers to chronic disease populations, and from biological underpinnings to clinical outcomes. Prior to joining IHMC in 2020, during a 25-year academic career at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he is now professor emeritus. He was founding Director of the UAB Center for Exercise Medicine.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

Dr. Jeffery Iliff on glymphatic system’s role in health of brains young and old

Published 9.1.22

In the latest episode of STEM-Talk, Dr. Jeffery Iliff talks about his research into neurodegeneration and traumatic brain injury. The episode is available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Iliff is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington as well as the associate director of research at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. He also is a co-leader for research at the University of Washington’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

In the interview, cohosts Dr. Ken Ford and Dr. Dawn Kernagis talk with Iliff about his investigations into the newly discovered glymphatic system, a brain-wide network of perivascular spaces that facilitates the clearance of waste products from the brain during sleep.

Iliff was part of a team at the University of Rochester that discovered the system, which Science Magazine cited as one of the Top 10 Breakthroughs of 2013.

Much of Iliff’s research today explores how the glymphatic system fails in the aging brain — and in younger brains following traumatic brain injury.

Illiff and Kernagis also talk about their collaboration on a research project that’s looking into how extreme stressors impact the glymphatic system. The project’s aim is to investigate a potential approach to optimizing glymphatic clearance for individuals with acute or chronic sleep deprivation.

STEM-Talk is a biweekly podcast that is part of IHMC’s outreach initiatives. IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us. 

Put IHMC’s Science Saturday on your calendar today

Published 8.15.22

Back-to-school means back to Science Saturdays for the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.

The 2022-2023 school year may have just begun, but it is never too early to plan for Science Saturday in your schedule. The Fall season of IHMC’s STEM enrichment series starts Sept 24 in Pensacola and Sept. 10 at the Ocala campus.

Science Saturday is a series of 90-minute educational enrichment sessions aimed at students in grades 3-6. Sessions slated for the fall include bottle rockets, Sphero robots, 3D printing and more.

Science Saturday sessions are led by IHMC researchers who take part of their Saturday mornings to share their love of science, technology, engineering and math with students. The sessions are free and you can keep tabs on the schedule and sign up at https://www.ihmc.us/life/science_saturdays/

Community sponsorships from Cox, Escambia Sheriff’s Office, Florida Blue Foundation, Gulf Power and Barnes Insurance make the Pensacola sessions possible.

Dr. Ursula Schwuttke is the director of educational outreach for both IHMC’s Pensacola and Ocala campuses. She surveys Science Saturday parents to gauge the impact of the sessions.

“We see that Science Saturdays are impactful for all families, but we see that we continue to make the most difference among families of more limited means — families who might not be able to offer their children the regular experience of hands-on science if our events weren’t free,” Schwuttke said.

Last school year, students from 27 Escambia and Santa Rosa elementary schools attended these weekend enrichment sessions at the Pensacola campus. Also:

• 83 percent of students attend more than one Science Saturday.
• 43 percent of attendees are female; 57 percent were male.
• 25 percent were third-graders; 19 percent were fourth-graders; 27 percent were fifth graders; and 29 percent were sixth graders.

All families report that the sessions boost their children’s scientific curiosity, motivation in science class, enjoyment of science and self-confidence in general. But families whose children qualify for free and reduced-price lunch uniformly report more impact on motivation and self-confidence in science class than other participating families.

Parents surveyed share that the diversity of programming and consistent high-quality are important, but the excitement their children share once they return from the workshops is what keeps them coming back.

“IHMC’s outreach effort provides a continuum of engaging hands-on science and technology events to give students the opportunity to nurture their interest, independent of family resources,” Schwuttke said. 

SCIENCE SATURDAY FALL SCHEDULE

The schedule for Science Saturday for the Fall is complete. Please use this link to stay up to date on dates and topics for these sessions. And share the link with friends with children in grades 3-6 https://www.ihmc.us/life/science_saturdays/

Pensacola Sessions

Sept. 24: Jeff Phillips, Paper Airplanes.

Oct. 22: Heath Parr, Sphero Robots.

Nov. 19: Pat Hayes, Bottle Rockets.

Dec. 17: Nicole Esposito, 3D Printing.

Ocala  Sessions

Sept. 10: Arash Mahyari, Electric Circuits.

Oct. 15: Manal Fakhoury, Reaction Time.

Nov. 12: Archna Bhatia, Harry Potter and Programming in Python.

Dec. 10: Erin Benavides,  TBD.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

Dr. Kaleen Lavin on STEM-Talk talks about biology, exercise, and aging

Published 8.12.22

STEM-Talk episode 140 is now available featuring Dr. Kaleen Lavin, an IHMC researcher who investigates the molecular mechanisms by which the body adapts and reacts to stressors such as exercise, training, and aging.

At IHMC, Lavin uses computational-biology techniques to understand and improve human health, resilience, and performance. STEM-Talks co-hosts Dr. Ken Ford and Dr. Dawn Kernagis interview Lavin about this work as well as her use of exercise as a countermeasure for a wide range of diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.

The conversation includes an in-depth talk with Lavin about her recent paper that took a comprehensive look at the current literature surrounding the molecular and cellular processes underlying exercise-induced benefits and adaptations in humans. Other topics discussed include:

• A 2017 study Lavin worked on that took people with Parkinson’s disease and ran them through a high-intensity exercise program and found that not only did the exercise program help people preserve some of their motor function, but also restored some function.
• Why the reduction in skeletal muscle mass with advancing age is such a serious issue.
• How the lifelong habit of exercise offers protection against “inflammaging,” which is the experience of chronic low-grade inflammation throughout the aging process.
• Lavin’s use of algorithms to assess the evidence of gene networks that link muscle building to gene expressions.
• Lavin’s recent research suggesting that exercising in the past leaves a molecular footprint, a kind of “muscle memory” that can come back to help people as they age, even if people haven’t kept up the habit of exercise.
• A project that Lavin and an IHMC colleague are undertaking to enhance a tool known as PLIER (pathway-level information extractor) to handle higher dimensions of data.

Lavin is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology. She also earned a master’s in sports nutrition and exercise science from Marywood University in Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in human bioenergetics from Ball State University in Indiana.

STEM-Talk is a biweekly podcast that is part of IHMC’s outreach initiatives. IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us. 

IHMC receives grant to continue SquadBot research program

Published 8.8.22

The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition robotics team lead by Dr. Robert Griffin secured a $3 million grant from the Office of Naval Research for SquadBot 2. The grant was approved in the summer of 2022.

The grant will allow the team to build upon the progress made on the first iteration of the SquadBot platform, named Nadia. A fully functional Nadia would be capable of working alongside and in place of soldiers in operations including building search, patrol, and bomb disposal.

“Nadia has the potential to shift the paradigm for urban operations and exploration, with the potential to save lives and reduce collateral damage,” Griffin says.

The SquadBot 2 project will work to improve the hardware platform, as well as enhance Nadia’s semi-autonomous behavior architecture to include persistence, particularly for entering structures and moving objects and obstacles. The work also will focus on developing advanced mobility algorithms focused on high-speed and multicontact locomotion, including approaches for bracing, crawling, and standing up after a fall.

Success will be measured by execution speed and reliability compared to humans. The goal is the design of a robot able to remove debris from its path, capable of multicontact locomotion, and a high power-to-weight ratio to support fast, dynamic motions.

he key innovations of this project will be:

• Improved survivability of falls.
• Multicontact controls for building exploration.
• Persistent behaviors for building exploration.

The goal of the project is to create a high-performance humanoid robot platform with the range of motion approaching that of a human.

“We want to advance both the capabilities of humanoid robots and their speed of operation,” Griffin says. “The goal is to achieve human-level speeds so that the robots can keep pace with the tempo of real-world action.”

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

STEM-Talk explores rapamycin and the biology of aging

Published 7.26.22

On episode 139 of STEM-Talk Dr. Matt Kaeberlein talks about the biology of aging, rapamycin, and what he has learned about slowing the aging process.

Kaeberlein is a professor of pathology at the University of Washington who is well-known for his investigations into the basic mechanisms of aging. Much of his research is focused on identifying interventions that promote healthspan and lifespan.

In a wide-ranging interview, STEM-Talk cohosts Dr. Ken Ford and Dr. Dawn Kernagis talk to Kaeberlein about longevity, his research into fasting and caloric restriction, and his recent investigations into rapamycin, the only known pharmacological agent to extend lifespan.

Kaeberlein’s 2017 paper that showed rapamycin may reduce the mortality of companion dogs landed on the front page of The New York Times and was picked up by news outlets around the world. Other topics that Ford and Kernagis discuss with Kaeberlein include:

• His attempts to uncover the molecular mechanism behind lifespan extension via calorie restriction.
• Research into how inhibiting mTOR has been shown to extend the lifespan of insects, rodents, and animals.
• His 2006 study that showed fasting extends lifespan in worms more than caloric restriction.
• An article he published last year that summarizes several of the most popular anti-aging diets and compares them with classical caloric restriction.

In addition to his work in the Kaeberlein Lab at the University of Washington, Kaeberlein is the co-director of the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging and the founding director of the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute at the University of Washington.

He also is the founder and co-director of the Dog Aging Project.

STEM-Talk is a biweekly podcast that is part of IHMC’s outreach initiatives. IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. For more information, visit ihmc.us.

Dr. Mark Lewis talks hypersonics in STEM-Talk Episode 138

Published 7.13.22

Failure is an important part of research.

But in a risk-averse culture, the chance to learn from failure is hampering the development of some of the most important national defense tools needed for our arsenal, argues the expert guest on Episode 138 of STEM-Talk.

Dr. Mark Lewis is executive director of National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technologies Institute (ETI), a nonpartisan think tank focused on technologies that are critical to the future of national defense.

Previously, Lewis was the Director of Defense Research & Engineering in the U.S. Department of Defense, overseeing technology modernization for all military services and DoD Agencies. He also served as the acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research & Engineering.

In this role he was the Pentagon’s senior-most scientist, providing management oversight and leadership for DARPA, the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Innovation Unit, the Space Development Agency, federally funded research and development centers, and the DoD’s basic and applied research portfolio.

A self-described nerdy kid who was into model airplanes and rockets, Lewis traces his love of engineering to the Apollo program and the pivotal moment of watching Apollo 11.

“I remember watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. As a kid I was hanging on every Apollo mission, every Gemini mission before that,” Lewis says.

The highlights of his STEM-Talk include:

• A return to the test-fail mindset of the past. Lewis argues that a movement away from the acceptance of failure as part of the learning process is hindering the development of tools our defense arsenal needs to compete with Russia and China.
  

  The X-51A Waverider, shown here under the wing of a B-52 Stratobomber is set to demonstrate hypersonic flight. Powered by a Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne SJY61 scramjet engine, it is designed to ride on its own shockwavem and accelerate to about Mach 6. (U.S. Air Force graphic)

  One example he shares is the X-15 rocket plane, first test flown in 1959. The three X-15s built flew 199 times and set all manner of records in altitude, speed, etc. Mishaps and crashes didn’t end the program in part, Lewis argues, because failure was considered a vital part of the scientific process.

The X-51 hypersonic aircraft, by comparison, has flown four times since its initial fight in 2010 — with stretches of a year between test flights as investigators picked apart things that failed about previous tests. The long delays between test flights hindered the ability to learn more about what works and what doesn’t, he says.

The approach Lewis advocates: “Flying early, flying often, and when things break, we fly them again. When things fail, we learn quickly why they fail, and we recover.”

• The health of our defense infrastructure. The ETI’s Vital Signs report evaluates the readiness and health of the defense industrial base. The 2022 report gives it a D — an overall grade of 69, which is three points below last year’s grade.

The report authors assigned a failing grade in five areas, with one of the most troubling declines being in supply-chain performance. Another significant drop came in productive capacity and surge readiness.

• Hypersonics is the successor to stealth. Lewis argues hypersonics is a critical technology for the future of national defense. It is the logical follow-on from stealth, a technology that makes weapons effective because it makes them hard to see — and subsequently hard to stop.

Stealth technology has now been seen by the world, and our adversaries, who have had time to develop defenses to it and their own versions of it. While hypersonic flight itself is not new, Lewis says today we use the term to refer not only to speed, but also to maneuverability at that speed.

“In the biggest sense, hypersonics is about survivability,” Lewis says. “If I can be seen, the next logical step is that I travel in such a way at high speed and with unpredictable maneuverability that even though I can be seen, they won’t know exactly what I am or where I’m going and I’ll be difficult to stop.”

The “boom and bust” cycle of funding behind hypersonics has been frustrating, Lewis says, and in some cases stymied its development.

Russia has deployed hypersonic weapons in Ukraine. Lewis argues that their use is less about a military requirement in the current war in Ukraine per se, than it is about strategic messaging to NATO: That they have these weapons and are deploying them, and we do not.

• As Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force: Lewis got the job in 2004. It’s a position that dates to the Air Force’s earliest days in the late 1940s. By tradition the chief scientist comes from outside the Air Force to provide an outsider’s viewpoint. The Chief Scientist is empowered to be free-thinking – and free-speaking.

A predecessor in this position likened the job to being the court jester, Lewis says, and here is why: In medieval times, the king had a court of noblemen surrounding him. The jester was often the only person who could speak honestly to the king “without having his head lopped off. That’s the job of the chief scientist.” Lewis says.

He stayed in the role for four years, returning to academia in 2008.

• At the Pentagon. Lewis worked with Mike Griffin (STEM-Talk episodes 23and 134) in the Pentagon as the Director of Defense Research and Engineering. Modernization of the office was Griffin’s key priority — everything from space to cyber, AI to 5G communication, and of course, hypersonics.
• A Day Without Space study: In 2008, when Lewis was concluding his time as Chief Scientist of the Air Force, he launched a study that became known as the Day Without Space Study — essentially examining what warfare would be like without our space assets. What’s the answer? “Go watch ‘Saving Private Ryan.’ There is no situational awareness, limited communications. That’s what life would be like without space,” Lewis says.

• Directed Energy Technology. Historically there has been a sense that directed energy technology is hovering just over the horizon in the future, but Lewis argues we are “already there” in terms of its application.

“We’ve matured in our understanding of how we would use it.” It used to be the sense of directed energy’s application was replacing the gun with the laser. Rather, Lewis says, think about is as using the laser to do things that the gun can’t do.

• Investing in research funding. U.S. government funding for research and development fell by 12 percent between 2011 and 2016, while in the same time frame China increased its R&D investments by 56 percent.

Lewis notes, the United States is still the destination of choice for international students to come and study and stay.

“It has always been the American tradition for the best and brightest to come here and to stay here,” Lewis says. “And that’s still what we see.”

IHMC Summer Robotics Camp helps fuel a love of science for students

Published 7.5.22

If Jones Moore grows up to be an engineer, IHMC might be able to take a little credit.

Jones, 12, has been to nearly every Science Saturday session Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition has hosted. This month, he spent his first week at Summer Robotics Camp as a rising eighth-grader. He was one of nearly 40 students who spent a week learning from the best at IHMC’s 2022 summer camp experience.

Jones says the best part of robotics camp was building robots and learning to code.

Robotics Camp is one of IHMC’s signature community outreach efforts for students, which also includes Science Saturdays, a school-year science enrichment program, and school-year field trips. Science Saturday is a series of 90-minute sessions on key topics including computer game design, robotics, roller coasters, butterflies, circuits and more. All are aimed at educating and inspiring the next generation of scientific minds.

Robotics Camp is one of the best times of year at IHMC. It is when the doors open wide — and the next generation of scientists walk through. Instructor Heath Parr, whose day job is as an Escambia County middle school teacher, led some 40 students in grades 8-10 through the basics of robotics, coding, and problem-solving.

Dr. Ursula Schwuttke is the director of educational outreach for both IHMC’s Pensacola and Ocala campuses. She organizes Robotics Camp and the Science Saturday series, which both are meant to spur a love of science in students so that the best and brightest minds are inspired to look for what’s next.

“Fun science gives kids the ability to discover their interest and ability in science, and to develop self-confidence,” says Schwuttke. “Opportunity is vitally important for kids. Without the opportunity to discover their interest, they can’t know that it’s something they should pursue.”

While assembling and programming the robots is of course the fun part, a highlight of camp is the chance to meet and mingle with researchers on the IHMC team. This year, Senior Research Scientist Dr. Jeff Phillips, Research Scientist Dr. Gwen Bryan, and Research Associates Duncan Calvert, Nicole Esposito and Josh Farina all took time out of their schedules to visit with campers, have lunch and share information on their current research, and how they launched their own science careers.

They made a big impression on Jones.

“I think since they had professionals on hand it helped that you could talk to them and learn new things,” said the Pensacola middle schooler.

Robotics Camp is sponsored by Cox, the Escambia Sheriff’s Office, Barnes Insurance, and Florida Blue.  Their support made camp possible and allowed us to include students from the Educational Talent Search Program at Pensacola State College and Pace Center for Girls, to help create a pipeline for IHMC to share what we love about science with students in every corner of the community.

Serving the whole community is an important component of IHMC’s outreach. Schwuttke surveys Science Saturday parents to try to gauge the impact of the sessions. All families report that the sessions boost their children’s scientific curiosity, motivation in science class, enjoyment of science and self-confidence in general. But families whose children qualify for free and reduced-price lunch uniformly report more impact on motivation and self-confidence in science class than other participating families.

“We see that Science Saturdays are impactful for all families, but we see that we continue to make the most difference among families of more limited means — families who might not be able to offer their children the regular experience of hands-on science if our events weren’t free,” Schwuttke said.

Science is about pushing the boundaries of what is known to explore the depths of what is possible. IHMC is proud to have been a small part of that for kids like Jones Moore, and all of the students who have been part of our education outreach efforts. We can’t wait to resume Science Saturdays in the fall — and we hope many more young science enthusiasts out there will join us.

Visit https://www.ihmc.us/life/science_saturdays/ for the most recent updates.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

Greg Potter talks sleep quality, influences in STEM-Talk episode 137

Published 6.17.22

Sleep is a precious commodity — especially if you struggle with it. Nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, and circadian biology are an interrelated web with tremendous influence on the quality of our sleep.

In the latest episode of STEM-Talk (episode 137), we pick up a conversation with Dr. Greg Potter in an interview where he explores topics including insomnia, sleep apnea, time-restricted eating, exercise, nutrition, and supplementation. The first part of our interview (STEM-Talk episode 136) with Potter brought a deep-dive into circadian biology, sleep, diet, and metabolism.

Potter ‘s work has been featured in the BBC World Service, the Washington Post, Reuters and other scientific journals and news outlets. Some of Potter’s conversation with IHMC’s CEO and founder Dr. Ken Ford in episode 137 touches on whether there is a biological basis for the idea of chronotypes, a concept that some people are better suited to an earlier or later sleep schedule.

So, is there such a thing — biologically — as morning larks and night owls?

“I think the chronotype does exist in both human and non-human animals” but it is hard to work out the influence of genetics and environment.,” says Potter, who cites a study about the impact of camping on early birds and night owls.

In this study, once folks were camping, their biological clocks synced very strongly with the environmental clock — and the difference between the early and late risers shrank noticeably. The late risers’ biological clocks moved back to more closely match the early risers, who were in general already closer to the environmental day-night cues from nature.

Ford and Potter also talk about chrononutrition, the relationship between a person’s nutrition and their body clock. What you eat influences the function of your body clock, because your clock optimizes your body for certain processes at certain times of day. The question is whether you can use that understanding to optimize your diet.

Some key terms for this conversation: Time-restricted eating. (restricting eating to a period of 12 hours or less each day). Intermittent fasting is periodic use of a fast of 24 hours or longer.

Potter’s key takeaways:

• “If we think about the day beginning when you wake up, you should wait before you consume anything other than water. At least an hour, especially if you awaken in the “biological night” because you likely have a good deal of melatonin circulating in your body.
• Time-restricted eating using a 6- to 12-hour “eating window” is a good way to go for most people. Base your “eating window” on what your goals are. If you currently eat over a 14-hour period, don’t jump straight to an 8-hour eating window. Start with a 12-hour window, then back it down. If your goal is to lose weight, using an 8-hour window might be preferable.
• In general, a shorter eating window is well-suited to the ketogenic diet. The longer fasting period is likely to accelerate the ketosis period. So, if you are just starting on the ketogenic diet, you might want to implement time-restricted eating to make it more straightforward.
• Wait maybe 3 to 6 hours between meals. If you eat more frequently than that, if you are interested in your body composition, you might not be able to maximally stimulate muscle tissue synthesis over time.
• Front-loading intakes matters. Studies have shown that front-loading — eating a big breakfast followed by smaller meals as the day goes on — can help weight loss and blood sugar control.
• When you exercise also matters. If you exercise in the afternoon, you don’t need to worry so much about front-loading because of the influence exercise has on metabolism.
• Distribute your protein intake relatively evenly throughout the day. A lot of people have loads of protein at dinner and little at breakfast. With respect to body composition, that’s not ideal. At each meal, you need enough protein to maximally stimulate muscle protein synthesis. And at the end of the day, stop eating two hours before bedtime.

There is a school of thought that we should re-engineer our lifestyles to better mimic certain aspects of our distant ancestors to protect ourselves from chronic diseases and boost our energy levels. While that may not be practical in total, Potter says there are  aspects of our ancient ancestors’ lives we ought to emulate.

• Eat food that is minimally processed and locally available.
• Build physical activity around eating. Studies show a 20-minute walk after eating improves blood sugar response.
• Spend enough time outdoors in daylight and keep the sleeping area dark.
• These people shared everything – food, caregiving responsibilities in a fairly un-hierarchical life. Community and connection is important not only for our biological, but also our social well-being.

Listen to the full conversation here.