Host: Vincent Racaniello (Wikipedia entry, and photo with Hilary Koprowski)
Guests: Alan Dove and Angela Rasmussen
Vincent, Alan, and Angela discuss Kuru, prions in milk, ancient lentiviruses found in the chromosomes of lemurs, a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine failure in the 1960s, and recent outbreaks of H5N1 influenza in chickens.
Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #12 (30.8 MB .mp3, 44 minutes)
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Links for this episode:
- Episode transcript (pdf) – Thanks, Gertrude!
- D. Carleton Gajdusek obituary in the NY Times. We forgot to mention that he won the 1976 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on Kuru.
- PLoS Pathogens article on prions in sheep milk.
- PNAS article on endogenous lemur lentivirus
- Nature Medicine article on the failed respiratory syncytial virus vaccine.
- December 18 was the 100th anniversary of the discovery of poliovirus.
Science podcast pick of the week: Skepticality.
Science book of the week: Science Fictions: A Scientific Mystery, a Massive Cover-up and the Dark Legacy of Robert Gallo by John Crewdson.
Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv
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