This Week in Virology

TWiV 241: The ferret looks ill

July 14, 2013

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Vincent, Alan, Rich and Kathy review how human placental trophoblasts confer viral resistance via exosome-mediated delivery of microRNAs, and isolation of the first human influenza virus in 1933.

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Download TWiV 241 (73 MB .mp3, 101 min)
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Links for this episode:

Human placental trophoblasts confer viral resistance (PNAS)
Placental circulation (Wikipedia)
Ovum in uterine decidua (Wikipedia)
A virus obtained from influenza patients (Lancet)
80 years ago today (the guardian)
Influenza: Exposing the true killer (J Exp Med)
Letters read on TWiV 241

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy – Bats use blood to reshape tongue
Alan – Science Studio
Vincent – Steel bacteriophage lamp
Rich – Nobel Prize Chemistry 2009 (pdf); By ribosome possessed

Listener Pick of the Week

Joe – Grand challenges in science education (Science)
Mark – Weather Underground

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 240: Virology in Vermont

July 7, 2013

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Markus Thali and Jason Botten

Vincent travels to the University of Vermont to talk with Markus and Jason about their work on HIV, influenza virus, arenaviruses and hantaviruses.

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Download TWiV 240 (54 MB .mp3, 74 min)
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Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 239: Filterable camels

June 30, 2013

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Matt Frieman

Matt joins Vincent, Alan, and Rich to summarize what we know and what we do not know about the MERS coronavirus.

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Download TWiV 239 (74 MB .mp3, 102 min)
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Weekly Science Picks

Matt – The Kid Should See This
Alan – Cassini to photograph Earth
Vincent –Cockroaches! (YouTube)
Rich – Sydney Brenner (Web of Stories)

Listener Pick of the Week

Ebrahim – Virus Hunter by CJ Peters and Mark Olshaker

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 238: Lost in translation

June 23, 2013

translation initiation Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Vincent, Rich and Kathy discuss mechanisms of protein synthesis and regulation in virus-infected cells.

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Download TWiV 238 (73 MB .mp3, 101 min)
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Links for this episode:

Slides for this episode (pdf)
R17 ribosomal binding sites (CSH Symp Quant Biol)
Tinkering with translation (CSH Persp)
Translation at nexus of infection and immunity (Cell Host Microbe)
Viral subversion of protein synthesis machinery (Nat Rev Micr)

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy – Vaccine-preventable outbreaks
Rich – To Catch a Virus by John Booss and Marilyn J. August
Vincent – This is Water by David Foster Wallace

Listener Pick of the Week

Jon – Confessions of a converted lecturer by Eric Mazur
Peter – FameLab

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 237: Paleovirology with Michael Emerman

June 16, 2013

Michael Emerman Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Guest: Michael Emerman

Vincent and Rich recorded this episode at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA, where they met up with Michael to talk about his work on the molecular and evolutionary basis of HIV replication and pathogenesis.

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Download TWiV 237 (59 MB .mp3, 81 min)
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Links for this episode:

Ancient origins of SIV (PLoS Path)
Paleovirology (PLoS Biology)
Harmit Malik on TWiV 205
Sara Sawyer on TWiV 193
Behind the scenes of TWiV 237 – see photos below
Letters read on TWiV 237

Listener Pick of the Week

Molly – Facts in the case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWIV 236: Flu gets the VIP treatment

June 9, 2013

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

Vincent, Alan and Kathy review novel approaches to preventing influenza virus infection.

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Download TWiV 236 (64 MB .mp3, 89 min)
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Links for this episode:

Ultraprotective influenza vaccine in mice (PNAS)
Vectored immunoprophylaxis of influenza in mice (Nat Biotech)
Intranasal antibody gene transfer protects agains influenza (Sci Transl Med)
Estimating influenza associated deaths (CDC)
Multistate HAV outbreak (CDC)
Subscribe to Microbeworld video (YouTube)
Save podcasting (EFF)
Letters read on TWiV 236

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Psychology of antivaccinationists
Vincent – Virology on Coursera
Kathy – Meteorites through the ages

Listener Pick of the Week

Basel – Self-medication in animals
Sheryl – Noadi’s art
Felicity – Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 235: Live in Edmonton, eh?

June 2, 2013

TWiV 235 Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Guests: Dave Evans, Stan Lemon, and Lorne Tyrrell

Vincent and Rich recorded this episode before an audience at the 2nd Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology Symposium at the University of Alberta, where they spoke with Dave, Stan, and Lorne about their work on poxvirus vaccines and recombination, an enveloped picornavirus, antivirals against hepatitis B and C viruses, and supporting virology research in Alberta.

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Download TWiV 235 (56 MB .mp3, 77 min)
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Links for this episode:

Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research
Raised on a farm (YouTube)
Vaccinia virus strains in Dryvax vaccine (J Virol)
Vaccinia DNA polymerase and recombination (J Virol)
Picornavirus hijacks cell membrane (Nature)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 234: Live in Denver

May 26, 2013

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Kathy Spindler

Guests: Nels Elde and Tom Shenk

Vincent and Kathy recorded this episode before an audience at the 2013 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Denver, Colorado, where they spoke with Nels and Tom about their work on the evolution of virus-host conflict and how viruses influence the cell metabolome.

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Download TWiV 234 (58 MB .mp3, 81 min)
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Links for this episode:

TWiV 234 behind the scenes photos
A cross-species view on viruses (Curr Op Virol)
Pox has got a squeeze box (TWiV 198)
Saturated fatty acids needed for CMV (PLoS Path)
CMV and HSV metabolomes differ (PLoS Path)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 233: We’re surrounded

May 19, 2013

TWiV drawing Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

Vincent, Rich, Alan and Kathy review aerosol transmission studies of influenza H1N1 x H5N1 reassortants, H7N9 infections in China, and the MERS coronavirus.

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Download TWiV 233 (71 MB .mp3, 98 min)
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Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Space Oddity (YouTube)
Rich – Walk through giant colon
Vincent – Transport proteins
Kathy – Vomiting Larry (YouTube)

Listener Pick of the Week

Tom – US patent system is broken (DailyTech)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 232: Gophers go viral

May 12, 2013

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Roberto Cattaneo, Reuben Harris, Lou Mansky, and Leslie Schiff

Vincent meets up with Roberto, Reuben, Lou, and Leslie at the University of Minnesota to talk about their work on HIV-1, APOBEC proteins, measles virus, and teaching virology to undergraduates.