This Week in Virology

TWiV 128: Virologists in the mist

April 10, 2011

gorilla Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Dickson Despommier, and Welkin Johnson

Vincent, Alan, Dickson and Welkin review how a virus regulates the severity of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, virophage control of antarctic algal host-virus dynamics, and human metapneumovirus infection in gorillas.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #128 (67 MB .mp3, 92 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

Leishmania RNA virus controls severity of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (Science)
Leishmaniavirus at ViralZone
Listen to TWiP #14 on Leishmania
Virophages may control algal virus-host dynamics (PNAS)
Human metapneumovirus infection of gorillas (EID)
Reverse zoonoses (virology blog)
Copy-number variation and co-evolution of viral an primate genomes (PLoS Genetics)
NIH Study Section rosters
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 128

Weekly Science Picks

Welkin – Walter Reed Collection, University of Virginia
Dickson – Bacteria-phage antagonistic coevolution in soil (Science)
Alan – The Artful Amoeba
Vincent – Potential bacteriophage applications (Microbe)

Send your virology questions and commentsto twiv@microbe.tv.

TWiV 127: Viruses are no joke

April 3, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich explore a novel bunyavirus isolated in China, the recent polio outbreak in Republic of the Congo, and cell to cell transmission of a retrovirus by biofilm-like extracellular assemblies.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #127 (62 MB .mp3, 86 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

Novel bunyavirus isolated in China (NEJM)
Bunyavirus page at ViralZone
Polio outbreak, Republic of the Congo (MMWR)
Poliovirus isolation from Republic of the Congo polio outbreak (Eurosurveillance)
HTLV-1 transmission by biofilm-like extracellular assemblies (Nature Medicine)
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 127

Weekly Science Picks

Rich – Should smallpox be destroyed? (Emerging Infectious Diseases)
Alan – Zoology of the Beagle images
Vincent – Vaccines and Your Child by Paul Offit and Charlotte Moser

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv.

TWiV 126: Wart’s up, doc?

March 27, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Michelle Ozbun

Virologist Michelle Ozbun and the TWiV team review the biology of human papillomaviruses.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #126 (69 MB .mp3, 96 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

Human papillomavirus page at CDC
Human papillomavirus vaccines page at CDC
A better test for HPV (pdf)
Human papillomaviruses and malignancy (review)
Should smallpox stocks be destroyed? (poll at virology blog)
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 126

Weekly Science Picks

Michelle – HIV-1 utilizes chemokine receptor CXCR4 to enter stem cells (PubMed)
Dickson – Bengladesh bans sale of palm sap (NY Times)
Rich – The Medusa and the Snail by Lewis Thomas (“On Warts” – pdf)
Alan – Planting Science – students, teachers, and scientists collaborate on botany experiments
Vincent – CIDRAP – Center for Disease Research and Policy

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv.

TWiV 125: TWiV infects FiB

March 20, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Marc Pelletier

This Week in Virology and Futures in Biotech join together in a science mashup to talk about a virophage at the origin of DNA transposons, and unintended spread of a recombinant retrovirus.

Click the arrow above to play, or right click to download TWiV #125 (59 MB .mp3, 81 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

A virophage at the origin of large DNA transposons (Science)
EurekAlert! on virophage
Sputnik, the first virophage (Nature)
Unintended spread of BSL2 recombinant retrovirus (Retrovirology)
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 125
Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube

Weekly Science Picks

Marc – JotNot
Dickson – New bunyavirus in China (NEJM)
Rich – Listening to the Deep Ocean Environment (LIDO) recording of the Hatsushima earthquake (ScienceDaily article) – thanks Bridget!
Alan –Walter and Ina: A Story of Love, War, and Science
Vincent – Icosahedral light fixture (thanks, Eric!)

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv.

icosahedron light

TWiV 124: Viruses that make you better

March 13, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Grant McFadden

Vincent, Dickson, Alan, Rich, and Grant discuss a tanapoxvirus protein that inhibits tumor necrosis factor, purging tumors with myxoma virus, and destruction of the last known stocks of smallpox virus.

Click the arrow above to play, or rightight click to download TWiV #124 (74 MB .mp3, 103 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

Interaction of tumor necrosis factor with tanapox virus protein
Viron Therapeutics Inc
Oncolytic viral purging with myxoma virus
Why not destroy remaining smallpox stocks? (editorial)
US should agree to destroy smallpox stocks (CIDRAP)
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 124

Weekly Science Picks

Grant – A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Dickson – An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae by Edward Jenner
Rich – Selinah (Topsy Foundation) thanks Meghan!
Alan – Draft report (pdf) on WHO’s H1N1 response and NY Times summary
Vincent – 10 stunning science visualizations

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv.

TWiV 123: Contaminated prostates, absolute truth, and bleached worms

March 6, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich talk about XMRV integration sites in prostate tumor DNA, the decline effect and scientific method, and the first virus of Caenorhabditis nematodes.

Click the arrow above to play, or rightight click to download TWiV #123 (67 MB .mp3, 93 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

Analysis of XMRV integration sites from human prostate cancer (Retrovirology)
Integration site preference of XMRV (J Virology)
The Decline Effect and the Scientific Method by Jonathan Lehrer (New Yorker)
Why most published research findings are false (PLoS Medicine)
Cochrane Reviews
Richard Feynman’s 1974 Caltech Commencement Address (pdf) (thanks, Bill!)
First virus of Caenorhabditis (PLoS Biology)
Nodaviruses at ViralZone
Spandrels (thanks, Welkin!)
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 123

Weekly Science Picks

Rich – Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute)
Alan – Hi-definition microscopy movies in 3D
Vincent – Stan Maloy interview with Beatrice Hahn on the origins of HIV and malaria

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv.

TWiV 122: More fun than a monkey full of viruses

February 27, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Welkin Johnson

The complete TWiV crew teams up with Welkin Johnson to explore the other AIDS epidemic, infection of monkeys with simian immunodeficiency virus, and its restriction by the cellular protein TRIM5.

Click the arrow above to play, or right click to download TWiV #122 (77 MB .mp3, 147 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

Edwin Kilbourne, MD, 1920-2011
Evolution of TRIM5-CypA in Old World monkeys (PLoS Pathogens)
Balancing selection and evolution of Old World TRIM5 (PNAS)
TRIM5 and cross-species transmission of a primate retrovirus (PLoS Biology)
Infectious retrovirus in pet vaccines (J Virology)
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 122

Weekly Science Picks

Welkin – Supramap
Dickson – Science issue on visualizing data
Rich – Doonesbury weighs in on vaccines and autism
Alan – US National Vaccine Plan
Vincent – US Supreme Court decision on vaccine litigation (NY Times)

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv.

TWiV 121: Huskies go viral

February 20, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Katze, Michael Gale, Deborah Fuller, and Shawn Iadonato

A conversation about careers in virology, systems biology, innate immunity, and antiviral research recorded at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Click the arrow above to play, or right click to download TWiV #121 (65 MB .mp3, 90 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

A systems biology approach to infectious disease research (mBio)
Infectious Curiosity (thanks, Gopal!)
Astronomy Cast (thanks, Jacob!)
The Journal of Negative Results (thanks, Patricia!)
Scientist Solutions (thanks, Patricia!)
Bacteriophage as antibacterial solution (thanks, Peter!)
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 121
Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube

Weekly Science Picks

Michael K – Pasteur Museum
Deborah – Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambros
Michael G – The Eighth Day of Creation by Horace Freeland Judson
Vincent – The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv.

viral huskies

TWiV 120: Ed Niles, a Km Vmax kind of guy

February 13, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Ed Niles

Vincent, Rich, and Ed discuss the transition from academic scientist to government work, the general program of drug and vaccine development in the biodefense world and at BARDA, and career opportunities for scientists in government.

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Links for this episode:

ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine
Bavarian Nordic’s smallpox vaccine Imvamune and phase II trial
Rich and Ed’s paper on bacteriophage T7 mRNAs
Quandaries of dengue vaccine development
Tetravalent dengue vaccine
VIVA – virology at Vassar
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 120

Weekly Science Picks

Rich – Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes
Ed – Tenth anniversary of the human genome at Science Magazine
Vincent – Poliovirus fights back

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv.

TWiV 119: Science and journalism with David Tuller

February 6, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and David Tuller

Vincent and journalist David Tuller converse about the state of science reporting by the press.

Click the arrow above to play, or right click to download TWiV #119 (43 MB .mp3, 60 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

The four XMRV papers in Retrovirology (one, two, three, four) and a commentary
David’s recent coverage of ME/CFS in the NY Times (July 2010, August 2010, January 2011)
MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus): The press’ mea culpa
TWiV on Facebook