This Week in Virology

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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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Download TWiV #120 (77 MB .mp3, 147 minutes)
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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 [email protected].

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).

Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

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

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected].

TWiV 118: The virus always rings twice

January 30, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich answer listener questions about vaccinia virus, fungal viruses, synthetic viruses, influenza vaccine, HeLa cells, multiplicity of infection, and much more.

Click the arrow above to play, or right click to download TWiV #118 (68 MB .mp3, 94 minutes).

Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode:

Distribution of glycoproteins on virion surface (paper 1, paper 2) – thanks, Conor!
Susceptibility of cancer cell lines to tanapox (thanks, Cheryl!)
Poxvirus family tree
Sugar, the bitter truth (YouTube) – thanks, Mary!
BBC podcast: Artificial life (thanks, Sam!)
Arthritis and influenza at CDC
Multiplicity of infection at virology blog
Virus-like particle vaccines (thanks, Sheldon!)
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 118

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – What you need to know about infectious disease
Rich – Bad Project (YouTube)
Vincent – Federal research center will help develop medicines

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected].

TWiV 117: The Panic Virus with Seth Mnookin

January 23, 2011

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Seth Mnookin

Vincent and Rich converse with Seth Mnookin, author of The Panic Virus, about vaccines, autism, thimerosal, and a contagion of human unreason run wild.

Click the arrow above to play, or right click to download TWiV #117 (69 MB .mp3, 96 minutes).

Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode:

Functional HERV-K envelope protein (thanks, Jamie!)
Reverse zoonoses
Dog influenza at CDC
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 117

Weekly Science Picks

Rich and Vincent – The Panic Virus by Seth Mnookin

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected].

TWiV 116: Cocaine, colonies, and chickens

January 16, 2011

<p”>Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Dickson, Alan, and Rich review an adenovirus-based vaccine strategy against drug addiction, a field trial of RNAi to prevent Israeli acute paralysis virus infection in honeybees, and suppression of avian influenza transmission in transgenic chickens.