Peter writes:
Thanks for all your hard work, Vincent! Great podcasts.
Attached is the correct way to pronounce apoptosis…according to the first pub.
See footnote on page 241.
Please tell Alan.
Cheers!
-Peter
Peter Knopick, PhD, MLS(ASCP)cm
Medical Laboratory Science Program Director
Assistant Professor – Biology Department
Winona State University
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4561027/
Catherine writes:
Hi TWiV,
Thank you for hosting such an informative podcast. I was introduced by the Bi115 class at Caltech. It was interesting to hear about the recent measles spike in your podcast. You mentioned people are getting conjunctivitis from cows that have measles, but it is not at the stage of human-to-human transmission yet. Why is that the case? Why isn’t there human-to-human transmission even though there are multiple symptomatic instances of cow-to-human transmission already?
Given the many local outbreaks we’ve seen so far, I am also wondering at what point the government would step in and stop the spread of measles. How bad could it get before the government realistically intervened and what would that government response look like?
Best,
Catherine
Sophia writes:
Dear TWiV Team,
Thank you so much for providing such a valuable platform for those of us who are relatively new to virology. I am currently taking a course at Caltech titled “Viruses and Applications to Biological Systems,” taught by prof. Pamela Bjorkman, prof. Viviana Gradinaru, and prof. David Van Valen (Bi115). Listening to your episodes has greatly helped my understanding of virology and has been helpful in bridging the topics we learned in class with real-world virological studies.
I have a few thoughts/questions from recent episodes that I would love to share with you and if possible, hear your insights:
In TWiV1109, we discussed the paper on the loss of ORF8 in SARS-CoV-2. I was wondering how could such deletions result in a selective advantage, when they might be expected to weaken the virus’s ability to evade host defenses? Could there be compensatory mechanisms within other viral components that improve fitness despite the loss of ORF8?
The H9N2 virus exhibits mammalian-like traits such as pH stability and ferret transmission, despite originating from an avian influenza virus reservoir. What mechanisms or evolutionary pathways might have allowed this virus to develop such mammalian-adapted traits while replicating in the bat host reservoir?
In TWiV1111, we discussed the paper on using CRISPR/Cas9 to identify virus receptors. This is a really impressive and well-designed study that takes full advantage of the modern CRISPR/Cas9 screening technology. By using genome wide CRISPR libraries in knockout cell lines deficient for other known viral receptors, the authors were able to identify MYADM and integrin subunits as host factors required for parechovirus infection. However, one disadvantage of CRISPR screens is the possibility of off-target mutations being introduced by the gRNAs, which could interfere with the interpretation of the phenotypes observed. The authors performed extensive validation using isogenic knockout cell lines and complementation studies, but off-target effects can sometimes be difficult to fully rule out. Do you think any additional steps could have been taken to more rigorously control for off-target mutations and validate that the infection defects seen in the MYADM knockout lines were specifically due to disrupting MYADM itself?
Any insights into these questions would be greatly appreciated and will help deepen my understanding of virology!
Thank you again for your continued dedication to educating and engaging with the scientific community.
Sincerely,
Sophia
Gail writes:
Vincent,
If I understand recent test results correctly, there are strands of viral DNA in various parts of the body of those suffering from Long Covid even though the strands don’t comprise the full virus and the virus can’t be grown. In the meantime, the components of H5N1 which have been found in non-raw milk have similar characteristics in that they’re DNA strands which can’t be grown (at least so far) and are therefore considered not to be alive. Since the strands of SARS-CoV-2 seem to be correlated somehow with Long Covid, isn’t it possible that the strands of H5N1 which people can get from pasteurized milk could also turn out to be correlated with a possibly still unknown disease in the exact same way? If not, why would the “dead” particles from H5N1 be considered to be safe while the “dead” particles from SARS-CoV-2 seem to be correlated with extremely serious and dire long-term effects for many people?
Thanks,
Gail
Tom writes:
Dear TWiV Team,
Over the last few Covid years, I have observed people talking about “boosting their immune system” by taking supplements like zinc and Vitamin D. Even some legitimate healthcare websites (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Mt. Sinai, for example) have statements about how zinc may boost the immune system.
If I have correctly learned anything from Microbe TV, it is that the human body and its immune system requires a complex balance of many biochemical substances – many of which upregulate or downregulate others. But shouldn’t that up or down regulation be a temporary response to an imbalance? It seems to me that the ideal immune system is one that is properly balanced. I understand that deficiencies of vitamins or minerals may make the immune response weaker. But shouldn’t all we want be proper balance; i.e. normal, neither deficient nor boosted. If I understand correctly, the COVID-19 cytokine storm is an example of an overly responsive immune system. Who would want that?
Am I missing something?
Tom
Pasadena, California
P.S. When you read my last email on a podcast, you said I was from Pasadena – but not adding “California”. FYI, there are also Pasadena’s in Texas, and Maryland.
Moragh writes:
hi dear TWiV team!
if nobody has already suggested this for a Listener Pick yet:
may I please recommend the Paper Cuts podcast with Miranda Sawyer, Alex von Tunzelmann, Jonn Elledge, etc
“We read the papers so you don’t have to”
https://www.podmasters.co.uk/papercuts
It’s 20-30 minutes of a small, intensely funny, rotating cast of UK comedians/authors/journalists. They read some of the day’s headlines in UK papers, and riff on the stories.
The humor can be raunchy, but never cruel. There are F-bombs dropped, but frankly “news with swearing” is the only way some of us can bear it!
The topics range from frivolous (Royal Family, food trends, celebrity gossip) to profoundly moving (a special episode on UK newspaper coverage of the October 7th Hamas attack)
and everything in between (the Royal Post Office scandal, the recent measles outbreak in UK, a whole lot of Rishi Sunak and other UK politicians, frequent soccer metaphors)
Paper Cuts is the only other podcast I listen to so far that matches TWiV’s effect on me: routinely cracks me up laughing, teaches me things I didn’t know,
and feels like – as Will Newcomb just commented – a family gathering ♥️
One of their co-hosts has been comedian/virologist Ria Lina! PhD in viral bioinformatics from University College London)
But she has already been a Listener Pick (TWiV Epitope 852, ‘Tree Man Syndrome’, from listener Chris)
but I’d like to recommend her again along with the Paper Cuts show, for her tireless and persistent willingness to be the “guest boffin” on TV, radio, podcasts etc who clearly explains immunology and how vaccines work and why they’re important. While also being incredibly funny and honest.
I hope she might even be a guest on TWiV someday?
many thanks for all you do
Love the banter and the digressions!
Moragh “Mo” (My Alter Ego is An Eager Alto)