ATGthePodcast 301 - A Conversation with Michele Frison, Postdoctoral Research Assistant, MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge
Against the Grain - The Podcast
Release Date: 01/06/2026
ATGthePodcast 318 - A Conversation with Rachel Caldwell, Academic Engagement, University of Massachusetts, Amhurst; and Robin Sinn, Director of Collections and Open Strategy, Iowa State University
Against the Grain - The Podcast
Today’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Rachel Caldwell, Academic Engagement, University of Massachusetts, Amhurst, and Robin Sinn, Director of Collections and Open Strategy, Iowa State University. Rachel and Robin are two librarians who co-founded the Library Partnership Rating which is a “collaborative and library-developed framework for librarians who seek to quantify the alignment of publishers with themselves as they consider investing library resources.” It’s an open, rubric based system to evaluate journal...
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ATGthePodcast 317 - A Conversation with Lorcan Dempsey, librarian, consultant, writer and advisor
Against the Grain - The Podcast
The following interview is part of the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. In this series, we sit down with leaders and innovators who are making a real difference in scholarly publishing, libraries, and the broader information world. Each conversation is a chance to hear firsthand how these decision makers tackle new challenges, rethink traditional models, and collaborate across sectors. Today’s episode features the next conversation from the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. Heather Staines, Senior Consultant, Delta Think, and a Conference...
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ATGthePodcast 316 - A Conversation with Elizabeth Bik, Science Integrity Consultant and Microbiologist
Against the Grain - The Podcast
The following interview is part of the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. In this series, we sit down with leaders and innovators who are making a real difference in scholarly publishing, libraries, and the broader information world. Each conversation is a chance to hear firsthand how these decision makers tackle new challenges, rethink traditional models, and collaborate across sectors. Today’s episode features the next conversation from the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. Heather Staines, Senior Consultant, Delta Think, and a Conference...
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ATGthePodcast 315 - A Conversation with Xan Arch, Dean of Libraries, Portland State University
Against the Grain - The Podcast
The following interview is part of the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. In this series, we sit down with leaders and innovators who are making a real difference in scholarly publishing, libraries, and the broader information world. Each conversation is a chance to hear firsthand how these decision makers tackle new challenges, rethink traditional models, and collaborate across sectors. Today’s episode features the next conversation from the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. Erin Gallagher, Chair, Acquisitions & Discovery Services at...
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ATGthePodcast 314 - A Conversation with Lucy Santos Green, Director, Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of Iowa
Against the Grain - The Podcast
The following interview is part of the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. In this series, we sit down with leaders and innovators who are making a real difference in scholarly publishing, libraries, and the broader information world. Each conversation is a chance to hear firsthand how these decision makers tackle new challenges, rethink traditional models, and collaborate across sectors. Today’s episode features the next conversation from the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. Heather Staines, Senior Consultant, Delta Think, and a Conference...
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ATGthePodcast 313 - A Conversation with Ciaran Talbot, Director: AI and Ideas Adoption, The University of Manchester Library
Against the Grain - The Podcast
Today’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Ciaran Talbot, Director: AI and Ideas Adoption, The University of Manchester Library. Ciaran studied computing and began his career as an IT support analyst in the central team at Manchester University before an IT position opened up in the library, where he has now been for over 15 years. He says his current role allows him to work more connectedly with students, researchers and collections, and he encourages staff in open discussion and the adoption of useful tools in...
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ATGthePodcast 312 - A Conversation with Thorsten Fröhlich, Professor of IT Management and Big Data at IU International University of Applied Sciences
Against the Grain - The Podcast
Today’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Thorsten Fröhlich, Professor of IT Management and Big Data at IU International University of Applied Sciences. Thorsten has over 35 years of experience in higher education, IT & digital transformation, and curriculum development and he holds a doctorate in chemistry. He is an entrepreneur, having founded several companies in scientific publishing and software development, including LUMITOS AG and Unchained Intellect Press, and he’s an author of textbooks and publications on...
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ATGthePodcast 311 - A Conversation with Phillip Bradley, Consultant on AI and the Internet
Against the Grain - The Podcast
Today’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Phillip Bradley, Consultant on AI and the Internet. Phillip has titled his life story “From CD-Rom to AI”. He says he decided as a child that he wanted to be a librarian and obtained an Honours degree in librarianship from the Polytechnic of North London. Phillip then went to work for the British Council in the UK, where he became involved in training people from overseas offices that would come to the UK. He discovered that he really enjoyed teaching people about information...
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ATGthePodcast 310 - A Conversation with Brewster Kahle, Founder & Director, Internet Archive
Against the Grain - The Podcast
Today’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Brewster Kahle, Founder & Director, Internet Archive. Brewster says that back in the 1980’s he believed that everything would eventually become digital. He dreamed of building a Library of Alexandria where humanity’s knowledge would be freely accessible. In this conversation, he talks with Michael about his work building early search technologies at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. In 1983, he helped create Thinking Machine Corporation, a pioneering supercomputer...
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ATGthePodcast 309 - A Conversation with Rachel Miles, Research Impact Coordinator, Virginia Tech University Libraries
Against the Grain - The Podcast
Today’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Rachel Miles, Research Impact Coordinator, Virginia Tech University Libraries. Rachel is “an expert in the applications and impacts of research in academia and the public sphere: how it's communicated, what makes it most visible to different audiences and why, what makes it "impactful" and how this impact is tracked, as well as how academics perceive impact when they publish, go up for promotion and tenure, and how they view it from a philosophical perspective throughout the different...
info_outlineToday’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Michele Frison, Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge.
Michele is originally from Italy and completed his PhD at UCL in England with a focus on cell biology. He defines himself as a cell biologist and biochemist, and much of his current research specializes in cell and mitochondrial biology, aging and disease. The Mitochondrial Biology Unit is part of a larger infrastructure that runs clinical trials for rare diseases. Michele says the process is very slow, taking up to a decade or so, but that he has been fortunate enough to have made a recent discovery that could well lead to clinical trial: the protein target that he’s worked with is actually a target for drugs that have already passed phase one clinical trials and are now passing phase two for Parkinson's disease. If the research he has done in models replicates in humans, then it could well lead to a drug for diseases that affect one in 8,000 humans.
Michele also talks about the disconnect between the public understanding of science and scientific practice, research culture and competition, open science and the review process, and the vast amount of literature that scientists have to keep up with, as well as his views on the use of AI and social media in his field.
The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/ri_djNwi1jw
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