This Week in Virology

TWiV 38: Measles

June 28, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Glenn Rall

Vincent and Glenn Rall chat about koi herpesvirus, H1N1 influenza vaccine produced in insect cells, attack by a rabid raccoon, and measles.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #38 (63 MB .mp3, 91 minutes)

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Links for this episode:

Virus suspected in carp die-off: koi herpesvirus
H1N1 influenza vaccine produced in insect cells with baculovirus vectors
Outbreak of measles in Wales
Production of influenza vaccines in cell cultures: MDCK, Vero, PER.C6, EB66, insect (thanks Peter!)

Weekly Science Picks

Glenn Riddled with Life by Marlene Zuk
Vincent All the Virology on the WWW

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TWiV 37: Open access

June 21, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Eric O. Freed

Vincent, Alan, and Eric Freed talk about vesivirus contamination of bioreactors, pandemic influenza, maximizing the effect of vaccination by targeting children, chikungunya virus, and open access scientific journals.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #37 (51 MB .mp3, 74 minutes)

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Links for this episode:

Genzyme shuts down manufacturing of two enzyme drugs because of vesivirus contamination
Brazilian H1N1 isolate is not novel
WHO interactive H1N1 map
Targeting children maximizes the effect of vaccination
Chikungunya virus and Aedes mosquitoes
Viruses, an open-access virology journal
iBioSeminars
A field study of virus removal in septic tank drainfields

Weekly Science Picks

Alan Forrest Mims (website)
Vincent The Machinery of Life by David S. Goodsell

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

TWiV 36: Pandemic

June 15, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Dick Despommier, and Hamish Young

Vincent, Alan, Dick, and Hamish Young discuss the 2009 influenza pandemic, first 2009 H1N1 vaccine, hunting mosquitoes with midges, vaccine-associated polio in India, and adenoviruses.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #36 (64 MB .mp3, 93 minutes)

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Links for this episode:

WHO calls it a pandemic
Novartis produces test run of H1N1 vaccine
Midge keeps invasive mosquito in check
Two cases of vaccine-associated polio in India
BBC interactive map of influenza cases
Outbreak of adenovirus type 14

Weekly Science Picks

Dick The World’s Water by Peter H. Gleick
Hamish Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond; Complications by Atul Gawande
Alan Eurekalert
Vincent Respectful Insolence

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

TWiV 35: Much achoo about nothing

June 7, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Dick Despommier, and Richard Kessin

Vincent, Alan, Dick, and Richard Kessin talk about Lujo virus, a new arenavirus, influenza, WHO rewriting pandemic rules, adjuvants, and a brief history of microbiology.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #35 (57 MB .mp3, 82 minutes)

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Links for this episode:

Lujo virus, a new arenavirus
Is CDC too optimistic about influenza?
WHO to rewrite pandemic rules
Adjuvant at wikipedia
Avery, MacLeod, McCarty 50th anniversary (pdf)
Pasteur’s swan-neck flask

pasteur-swan-neck-flask

Broth was placed in a flask, boiled, and the neck was heated and drawn out. The broth was open to the air, but remained sterile as long as microbe-containing dust collected in the neck and did not reach the liquid.

Weekly Science Picks

Dick Three papers on origins of infectious diseases (one, two, three)
Rich An Imperfect Lens by Anne Roiphe
Alan Zotero, a FireFox plugin
Vincent e! Science News

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

TWiV 34: Arsenic and facemasks

May 31, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Stephen Morse

Vincent, Alan, and Stephen Morse discuss progressive vaccinia in a smallpox vaccinee, arsenic and influenza in mice, facemasks and flu transmission, and antigenic and genetic analyses of the new H1N1 influenza virus.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #34 (54 MB .mp3, 78 minutes)

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Links for this episode:

Progressive vaccinia in a military smallpox vaccinee
Arsenic compromises the immune response to influenza in mice
Facemasks prevent flu transmission in a mathematical model
Serum cross-reactive antibody response to the new H1N1 influenza virus
Antigenic and genetic characteristics of the new H1N1 influenza viruses
Preparation of influenza virus vaccine seeds
Paul Ewald on the evolution of virulence

Weekly Science Picks

Alan Org-Mode
Vincent Human/Swine A/H1N1 Influenza Origins and Evolution
Stephen The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 33: Live in Philly

May 24, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Dick Despommier, and Raul Andino

Vincent, Alan, Dick, and Raul Andino recorded TWiV live at the ASM General Meeting in Philadelphia, where they discussed increased arterial blood pressure caused by cytomegalovirus infection, restriction of influenza replication at low temperature by the avian viral glycoproteins, first isolation of West Nile virus in Pennsylvania, and current status of influenza.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #33 (51 MB .mp3, 74 minutes)

Links for this episode:

Cytomegalovirus infection causes an increase of arterial blood pressure
Avian influenza virus glycoproteins restrict virus replication at low temperature
First West Nile virus isolation of the year in PA
CDC press release of 18 May 2009
Glaxo’s influenza vaccine with adjuvant
NY Times article on Guillain-Barré and a more scientific view
Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube

Weekly Science Picks

Dick – National Museum of the History of Science and Medicine, Leiden
Alan – Beginning Mac OS X Programming
Vincent – Vaccinated by Paul Offit
Raul – HubbleSite

Thanks to Chris Condayan and ASM for making TWiV live possible. Recorded and edited by Chris Condayan and Ray Ortega.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 32: Influenza in silico

May 17, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Raul Rabadan

Vincent, Alan, and Raul Rabadan converse about polio survivors in iron lungs, bocavirus, structure of mimivirus, and genome sequence analysis of influenza H1N1 viruses.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #32 (51 MB .mp3, 73 minutes)

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Links for this episode:

Death of Marsha Mason, who lived 60 years in an iron lung
First discovery of bocavirus in human stool
Structural studies of the giant mimivirus
Pandemic potential of H1N1 influenza virus
Was swine flu a lab accident? Bloomberg and NY Times articles
Hong Kong virologist says new H1N1 strain is ‘unstable’
Article by John Barry on site of origin of 1918 influenza

Weekly Science Picks

Alan The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia
Vincent Pi Cubed for iPhone/iPod Touch (Sunset Lake Software, $9.99)
Raul Science and New England Journal articles on H1N1 influenza

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 31: Fever plus cough or sore throat

May 10, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dick Despommier, Alan Dove, and Marc Pelletier

Vincent, Dick, Alan, and Marc Pelletier summarize the past week’s influenza H1N1 activity, and discuss parvovirus infection of dogs and humans.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #31 (51 MB .mp3, 73 minutes)

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Links for this episode:

CDC and WHO web pages on the new influenza strain
MMWR update on influenza
Excellent influenza vaccine timeline at USA Today
Sequences of influenza isolates are at NCBI and GISAID (registration required)
Euthanizing dogs due to canine parvovirus
Novel bocavirus associated with acute gastroenteritis in Australian children
Viral genes that confer transmission of avian influenza virus through the air – PNAS
Influenza in feral pigs (J Wildlife Dis)

Weekly Science Picks

Marc Celestia, an application
Dick US Geological Survey website
Alan Society for Amateur Scientists website
Vincent Sneeze, an online game

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV Special: Dr. Peter Palese

May 6, 2009

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Dr. Peter Palese

On this special episode of TWiV, Vincent and Dr. Peter Palese, noted influenza expert, discuss the origin and pandemic potential of the new H1N1 influenza virus.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV Special (27 MB .mp3, 40 minutes)

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Episode transcript (download pdf)

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 30: A/Mexico/4108/2009 (H1N1)

May 3, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dick Despommier, Alan Dove, and Hamish Young

Vincent, Dick, Alan, and Hamish Young focus on the new H1N1 influenza virus, which originated in swine and is likely to be the next pandemic strain.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #30 (47 MB .mp3, 67 minutes)

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Links for this episode:

Original CDC report of California and Texas outbreak; recent updates here
Science interview with CDC’s Ruben Donis
CDC webpage on US status of influenza
WHO webpage on international status of influenza
Learn more about the outbreak an influenza virus biology at virology blog

Science blog of the week: GermBlog by Dr. Harley Rotbart
Science podcast pick of the week: Science and the City
Science book of the week: The Swine Flu Affair: Decision-making on a Slippery Disease by by Richard E. Neustadt, Harvey V. Fineberg

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]