Big Questions. Curiosity-driven Science.
What if together they transformed the way we treat disease?
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VideoJoin us in our pursuit to unravel the mysteries of life.
At the Stowers Institute, our scientists ask the questions that others might set aside as too ambitious, too unconventional, or too far from an obvious answer.
What if we could understand how proteins drive aging? What if the unexplored depths of the ocean hold answers to questions about human health? What if artificial intelligence could accelerate life-saving biological discoveries in this decade?
Episode 1: What if...we didn't have to age?
Follow Investigator Randal Halfmann, PhD, in his search to understand aging and how nature may hold clues to healthier, longer lives. Learn how his lab has identified the moment diseases like Huntington's, Parkinson's, and ALS first start – and the hope that could provide.
Episode 2: What if...we could repair broken ribosomes?
Assistant Investigator Kamena Kostova, Ph.D., researches ribosomes — the cell's molecular machines that produce proteins — to better understand how their breakdown could open new paths to treating diseases. Learn what led her to focus her lab's work on ribosomes and why they could be the key to one day treating cancer and neurodegeneration.
Episode 3: What if solving one of biology's oldest mysteries helps shape the future of medicine?
Assistant Investigator Arvind Pillai, Ph.D., is uncovering the origins of protein complexity. But it's not just to solve an ancient mystery. The same principles that allowed evolution to build nature's molecular machines may one day help scientists design entirely new proteins capable of delivering drugs and performing tasks biology has never attempted before.
The Stowers Institute's What if? campaign features the scientists bold enough to ask big questions in biology. Through each story you'll meet the researchers whose curiosity drives them into forests, coral reefs, chromosomes, and beyond, following ideas wherever the biology and their questions lead.
Some will take years to answer. Some may never be fully resolved. But each reflects the belief at the heart of the Stowers Institute: the most important discoveries begin not with a conclusion, but with the courage to wonder and ask.
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