The Biollywood Podcast

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, Dr. Asha M. George, Associate Director for Research, J.T. O'Brien, and Associate Director for Government Relations and Policy, Robert Bradley, discuss S02E10 of NCIS: Origins, Lean on Me. We are joined by special guest, Patrick Cady, who directed the episode.
Patrick is an Emmy-nominated cinematographer-turned-director known for his visual storytelling on acclaimed series like Bosch and Insecure. He began his career working with legendary filmmaker John Sayles on films like Passion Fish and Sunshine State, and his cinematography credits include the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Girlfight. As a director, he has helmed pivotal episodes of Rectify, Interrogation, and the series finale of Bosch.
Premise: A Marine captain, Brian Polanco, stumbles into the NIS office at Camp Pendleton exhibiting symptoms that initially appear to be intoxication. When Gibbs attempts to place him in the drunk tank, Polanco begins seizing violently. Paramedics arrive and suspect the Lenkah virus—a fictional pathogen with a 95% mortality rate that last appeared in 1924—triggering a full office quarantine and lockdown. With Mike Franks sidelined by a thrown-out back and most of the team trapped at a bar offsite, Gibbs finds himself as the senior agent in charge during what appears to be a bioterrorism event.
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at Atlantic Council. Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org 

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, Dr. Asha M. George, Associate Director for Research, J.T. O'Brien, and Associate Director for Government Relations and Policy, Robert Bradley, discuss the 2026 Apple TV+ series, Pluribus.
Premise:
Pluribus begins with astronomers at the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico detecting a mysterious signal originating 600 light-years from Earth, repeating every 78 seconds. The signal is initially mistaken for Morse code split four ways, but scientists eventually decode it as the four nucleotides of RNA forming a complete genetic sequence for a novel lysogenic virus. Researchers synthesize the RNA sequence, convert it to DNA using reverse transcriptase, and inject it into laboratory animals at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). When the animal testing appears inconclusive, a scientist is bitten by an infected lab rat, triggering the first human infection. 
 
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at Atlantic Council. Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, Dr. Asha M. George, Associate Director for Research, J.T. O'Brien, and Associate Director for Government Relations and Policy, Robert Bradley, discuss the 1999 film, The Matrix, and its implications for the convergence of artificial intelligence and biological science.
Premise: In a dystopian future, a war between humanity and sentient machines has ended in humanity’s total defeat. The machines, cut off from solar energy after humans scorched the sky in a desperate last-ditch military operation, turned to the most readily available alternative power source: human beings. Billions of humans are now grown in vast fields of pods, their bodies harvested for bioelectric and thermal energy while their minds are kept pacified inside a neural-interactive simulation called the Matrix—a shared virtual reality modeled on late-20th-century civilization.
The film follows Thomas Anderson, also known as Neo, a computer programmer who senses something is wrong with the world. He is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary freed human who believes Neo is “The One”—a prophesied figure destined to end the war with the machines. Neo is unplugged from the Matrix, shown the horrifying truth of human enslavement, and trained to fight the machines’ enforcement programs (Agents) within the simulation.
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at Atlantic Council. Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, Dr. Asha M. George, Associate Director for Research, J.T. O'Brien, and Associate Director for Government Relations and Policy, Robert Bradley, discuss the 2026 film, Project Hail Mary.
Premise:Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of a mysterious substance called Astrophage that is causing the Sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction—but an unexpected friendship with an alien engineer he names Rocky means he may not have to do it alone.
Check out our other episode covering the novel: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-wytsi-17274e8
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at Atlantic Council. Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org 

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, Dr. Asha M. George, Associate Director for Research, J.T. O'Brien, and Associate Director for Government Relations and Policy, Robert Bradley, discuss the 2026 film, 28 Years Later: Bone Temple.
Premise: Set immediately after the events of 28 Years Later, The Bone Temple explores a fractured mainland where the uninfected survivors have become more dangerous than the virus. Young Spike is pulled deep into the violent, lawless cult of The Fingers, led by the charismatic and unhinged Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal. Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson deepens his macabre philosophical experiments in his titular Bone Temple, striking up a disturbing kinship with an evolved, Alpha infected, and testing a highly unstable chemical cocktail that blurs the line between a cure and torture.
Check out our other episodes on 28 Days Later (2003) and 28 Years Later (2025) for more!
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at Atlantic Council. Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org 

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, Dr. Asha M. George, Associate Director for Research, J.T. O'Brien, and Associate Director for Government Relations and Policy, Robert Bradley, discuss S02E03 of NCIS: Origins, The Edge. We are joined by special guest, Patrick Cady, who directed the episode.
Patrick is an Emmy-nominated cinematographer-turned-director known for his visual storytelling on acclaimed series like Bosch and Insecure. He began his career working with legendary filmmaker John Sayles on films like Passion Fish and Sunshine State, and his cinematography credits include the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Girlfight. As a director, he has helmed pivotal episodes of Rectify, Interrogation, and the series finale of Bosch.
Premise: A young Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard arrives at Camp Pendleton from D.C. to evaluate whether the NIS team needs an in-house medical examiner. While the team is initially suspicious of his motives, Ducky helps them solve the case of Mimi Lam, a woman found frozen in a restaurant freezer.
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at Atlantic Council. Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org 

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, Dr. Asha M. George, Associate Director for Research, J.T. O'Brien, and Associate Director for Government Relations and Policy, Robert Bradley, discuss the 2009 Dr. Who special, The Waters of Mars.
Premise: Mars, 2059. At Bowie Base One, an international crew begins succumbing to “The Flood,” a sentient, water-borne infection released from a subsurface glacier. As the base falls, the Tenth Doctor confronts a “fixed point” in history and his own hubris as Time Lord Victorious. 
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at Atlantic Council. Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org 

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, Dr. Asha M. George, Associate Director for Research, J.T. O'Brien, and Associate Director for Government Relations and Policy, Robert Bradley, discuss the 1982 film, The Thing.
Premise: Set in a remote Antarctic research station, The Thing tells the story of a group of American scientists who encounter a parasitic, shape-shifting extraterrestrial organism. This organism can assimilate and imitate other life forms with terrifying accuracy. The team must figure out how to identify and neutralize the creature before it can spread beyond their isolated outpost and threaten humanity.
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at Atlantic Council. Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org 

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, Dr. Asha M. George, Research Principal, J.T. O'Brien, and Policy Principal Robert Bradley, discuss the 2005 film, V for Vendetta.
Premise: In a near-future United Kingdom ruled by the fascist Norsefire regime, a masked vigilante known only as V seeks to topple the government through theatrical acts of sabotage. He rescues Evey Hammond and catalyzes a year-long campaign culminating on Guy Fawkes Night. As Chief Inspector Eric Finch investigates, he uncovers that the regime itself engineered a deadly “St. Mary’s virus” and released it at three targets to seize power. 
Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org 

In this episode of The Biollywood Podcast, the Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, Dr. Asha M. George, Research Principal, J.T. O'Brien, and Policy Principal Robert Bradley, discuss the 1998 episode of The X Files titled, The Pine Bluff Variant (S05E18).
Premise: In The Pine Bluff Variant, FBI agent Fox Mulder goes undercover to infiltrate a domestic terrorist group suspected of possessing a genetically engineered biological weapon. As the plot unfolds, it becomes clear that the group plans to release the agent in a public space, and that the U.S. government may not only be complicit but potentially the original creator of the pathogen. The episode’s title references Pine Bluff Arsenal, a real U.S. Army facility long associated with chemical and biological weapons research and destruction, anchoring the story in real-world biodefense history.
Learn more about the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense here.
Follow us on X (@Biodefensecomm), LinkedIn, and Facebook for more updates.
Email us with recommendations on what to review next: biollywood@biodefensecommission.org