TWiV 1039: Landmines for phages, a mouthful of redondoviruses

TWiV describes how a viral capsid protein activates a bacterial innate immune system that interferes with protein synthesis, and human-associated redondoviruses that infect the commensal protozoan Entamoeba gingivalis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Jolene Ramsey

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 1039 (87 MB .mp3, 121 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Weekly Picks 1:44:56

Dickson – “Cosmic Time Machine” Netflix documentary
Kathy – Antarctican accents
Rich – Cymothoa exigua, or the tongue-eating louse, Week of wonder: The case for preserving parasites
Jolene – Perspective article on best practices for improving graduate admissions
Vincent – Why Chandrayaan-3 landed near the moon’s south pole — and why everyone else wants to get there too

Listener Picks

Douglas – On Climate Change and (Active) Climate Management
Matt – This Scientist Tracked Bats for Decades and Solved a Mystery About a Deadly Disease

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 1038: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses modeling poliovirus transmission and responses in New York State, FDA approves first vaccine for pregnant individuals to prevent RSV in infants, prevention and control of seasonal influenza with vaccines: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Nirmatrelvir resistance – de novo E166V/L50V mutations in an immunocompromised patient treated with prolonged nirmatrelvir/ritonavir monotherapy leading to clinical and virological treatment failure, incidence of new-onset hypertension post–COVID-19: comparison with influenza, and post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 at 2 years.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 1038 (19 MB .mp3, 27 min)

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 1037: Antibodies, the good (CoV), the bad (Ad), the beautiful

TWiV reviews evidence that symptomatic adenovirus infection leads to thrombocytopenia, thrombosis, and production of anti-platelet factor 4 antibodies similar to the rare disorder seen after immunization with adenoviral vectored COVID-19 vaccines, and a monoclonal antibody isolated from a SARS survivor, following vaccination with a SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA vaccine, that neutralizes a broad collection of ACE2-binding sarbecoviruses.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 1037 (83 MB .mp3, 116 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Weekly Picks 1:33:48

Dickson – Rho Ophiuchi nebula showing massive star formation. James Webb Space Telescope
Brianne – Question Mark in Space?
Kathy – Quammen interview with Walter Isaacson
Rich – Chrome Music Lab
Vincent – Matters Microbial

Listener Picks

Tom – The (second) deadliest virus
Charles – We Will All Go Together When We Go and So Long Mom (A Song for World War III)
Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 1036: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses Florida local transmission of dengue cases reported in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, infants admitted to US intensive care units for RSV infection during the 2022 seasonal peak, long-term risk of death and readmission after hospital admission with COVID-19 among older adults, safety profile and clinical and virological outcomes of Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir treatment in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and COVID-19, Fluvoxamine vs placebo for outpatients with symptomatic COVID-19, the effect of corticosteroids, antibiotics, and anticoagulants on the development of post-COVID-19 syndrome in COVID-19 hospitalized patients 6 months after discharge, long COVID and significant activity limitation among adults, incidence of diabetes following COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection in Hong Kong, and diabetes following SARS-CoV-2 infection: Incidence, persistence, and implications of COVID-19 vaccination.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 1036 (29 MB .mp3, 40 min)

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 1035: Poxvirus wars, warp speed COVID-19 vaccine rollout

TWiV dissects a study of COVID-19 vaccination which shows that the timing of initial rollout affects disease outcomes more substantially than final coverage or degree of socioeconomic disparity, and discovery of a novel cellular defense comprising a nuclease that is activated by poxvirus infection and cleaves a specific tRNA molecule to inhibit protein synthesis.

.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Alan Dove, and Brianne Barker

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 1035 (87 MB .mp3, 121 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Weekly Picks 1:42:29

Brianne – Project Hail Mary
Rich – Bird Buddy
Alan – Blood, Sweat, and Pixels and Press Reset
Vincent – Are microplastics spreading infectious disease?

Listener Picks

Tom – Henrietta Lacks family settles lawsuit
Kathleen – Why Insect Memories May Not Survive Metamorphosis

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 1034: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses the immunogenicity, safety, and preliminary efficacy evaluation of OVX836, a nucleoprotein-based universal influenza A vaccine candidate, association between nose picking and SARS-CoV-2 incidence, a cohort study in hospital health care workers; effect of COVID-19 vaccination and booster on maternal-fetal outcomes, dynamics of inflammatory responses after SARS-CoV-2 infection by vaccination status in the USA, does monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 impact short and long- term outcomes in a large generalizable population, persistent endothelial dysfunction in post-COVID-19 syndrome and its associations with symptom severity and chronic inflammation, core mitochondrial genes are down-regulated during SARS-CoV-2 infection of rodent and human hosts.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 1034 (27 MB .mp3, 37 min)

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV Special: Toppling the anti-vaxxer pyramid with “flu-shot cheerleader” Desiree Townsend

Vincent speaks with Desirée Townsend about how she felt used and indoctrinated by the anti-vaxx movement, the science surrounding her autoimmune disorder, and why she is no longer the “flu shot cheerleader,” but a cheerleader for flu shots.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Desiree Townsend

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV Special (32 MB .mp3, 45 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 1033: Freediving with nanobodies and interferon

TWiV notes the passing of Harald zur Hausen, dengue breaking records in the Americas, inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection and inflammation by modulation of type I IFN, and an armed nanobody that protects mice against influenza A and B disease.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Kathy Spindler, and Angela Mingarelli

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 1033 (76 MB .mp3, 105 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Weekly Picks 1:28:08

Angela – The Deepest Breath
Kathy – Pink snow
Vincent – Scientist vs PowerPoint

Listener Picks

Fernando – The Enigma of Reason by Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber and Language vs. Reality by Nick Enfield

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 1032: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin discusses predicting COVID-19 incidence using wastewater surveillance data, use of wastewater metrics to track COVID-19 in the US, wastewater-based epidemiology predicts COVID-19-induced weekly new hospital admissions in over 150 USA counties, association between duration of SARS-CoV-2 positivity and long COVID, rapid direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in exhaled breath at the point of care, effectiveness of oral Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir vs. intravenous three-day Remdesivir in preventing progression to severe COVID-19, NIH launching of several phase 2 long-COVID treatment trials.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 1032 (25 MB .mp3, 35 min)

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV 1031: Death on the West Nile

TWiV notes the passing of virologist Michael BA Oldstone, a study to assess the performance of rapid antigen tests to detect symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the presence of antibodies to type I interferons in ~40% of patients with West Nile virus encephalitis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Alan Dove

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 1031 (90 MB .mp3, 125 min)
Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Weekly Picks 1:44:30

Rich – The Final Covid-19 Grand Rounds: What Have We Learned?
Alan – Teaching biology to Tibetan Buddhist monks
Vincent – I got it from Agnes by Tom Lehrer and Why Oppenheimer has important lessons for scientists today

Listener Picks

Ryan – Paul Offit on PBS Newshour to explain RFK Jr.’s Congressional Hearing

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

Questions or comments

twiv@microbe.tv

Contribute

Support our work at Patreon, PayPal, and more

Inside a BSL-4 laboratory

TWiV visits the NEIDL