This Week in Virology

TWiV 740: Complementation will get you everywhere

April 8, 2021

The Guardians of the TWiV-o-verse discuss the process of codon deoptimization for the production of experimental infectious attenuated viral vaccines, and how a respiratory syncytial virus with 619 base changes was rescued by genomes with very large internal deletions.

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

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Links for this episode

NIDO 2021 Symposium 2:04
ASV hosts free COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Halls (register here) 2:33
Research position in Spindler laboratory 3:43
Attenuation of poliovirus by codon deoptimization (Science) 8:00
Rescue of codon-deoptimized RSV by large deletions (PNAS) 6:12
Letters read on TWiV 740 57:08
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:20:38

Dickson – Let us now praise tiny ants
Brianne – Small-school science
Rich – Smallpox ‘virus squads’ and the mandatory vaccinations upheld by the Supreme Court
Kathy – The Transcontinental Burrito Tunnel
Vincent – Glass music by Robert Tiso

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 739: COVID-19 convalescent plasma with Arturo Casadevall

April 4, 2021

Arturo Casadevall joins TWiV to discuss the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19, including a history of the process, how plasma is prepared and tested, why it is difficult to conduct randomized clinical trials, how this treatment has fared and his hopes for the future.

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

Guest: Arturo Casadevall

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Download TWiV 739 (68 MB .mp3, 113 min)
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Links for this episode

Victory for Scientific Pragmatism (New Atlantis) 50:11
Convalescent plasma levels and risk of COVID-19 death (NEJM) 15:29, 23:08
COVID-19 convalescent plasma safety indicators (JCI)
COVID-19 convalescent plasma reduces mortality (medRxiv) 39:11
Pfizer mRNA vaccine in 12-15 year olds (Pfizer) 1:10:12
NIDO 2021 Symposium 1:07:11
ASV hosts free COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Halls (register here) 1:07:33
Lab tech position in Kathy Spindler’s lab (on ASV jobs site) 1:09:16
Letters read on TWiV 739
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:42:35

Brianne – The Ocean’s Youngest Monsters Are Ready for Glamour Shots
Alan – 7 Billion Humans
Rich – 15 Fascinating Animal X-Rays From the Oregon Zoo
Vincent – Respiratory pathogen trends

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 738: COVID-19 clinical update #56 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

April 3, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #56, Daniel Griffin notes increasing hospitalization in children and young adults, Pfizer vaccine efficacy results in 12-15 year olds, rapid self administered nucleic acid and antigen tests, mRNA vaccine efficacy in real world conditions, and improvement of long COVID after vaccination.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 738 (21 MB .mp3, 35 min)
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Links for this episode

Pfizer mRNA vaccine is 100% effective in 12-15 year olds (Pfizer) 5:32
Cue at-home PCR test receives FDA EUA (Cue) 8:11
DxTerity COVID-19 saliva nucleic acid at-home test (Amazon) 9:42
T-Detect T cell test (T-Detect) 10:09
GSK submits EUA for VIR-7831 (GSK) 17:26
Letters read on TWiV 738 25:54
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 737: SARS-CoV-2 in NYC wastewater

April 1, 2021

John, Monica, and Davida join TWiV to discuss development of a method to detect SARS-CoV-2 in raw sewage from all 14 of New York City’s treatment plants, and its use to determine the presence of the genome throughout the pandemic and detection of genome mutations from variants of concern.

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

Guest: John Dennehy, Davida Smyth, and Monica Trujillo

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Download TWiV 737 (69 MB .mp3, 115 min)
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Links for this episode

Protocol for detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater (medRxiv) 23:34, 1:03:42
Mutations from VOC in NYC wastewater (medRxiv) 50:42, 1:03:50
WHO report on COVID-19 origins (pdf) 1:04:05
Effectiveness of mRNA vaccines at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection (MMWR) 1:28:07
Prothrombic thrombocytopenic disorder after AZ vaccine (Res Square) 1:32:56
NIDO 2021 Symposium 1:01:38
Postdoctoral position at Towson University
ASV hosts free COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Halls (register here) 1:02:14
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:45:00

Dickson – 250,000 Dominoes
Brianne – Using RT-PCR in COVID-19 Testing
Rich – Beaded Lacewings Can Take Down Six Termites With A Single Fart
Kathy – Tracking the COVID code
Vincent – Administering vaccines to adults

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 736: Rhapsody in T with Alessandro Sette

March 28, 2021

Alessandro Sette joins TWiV to discuss the role of T cells in COVID-19, the finding that amino acid changes in SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern have a negligible impact on T cell reactivity in convalescent patients and vaccinees, and whether a next generation vaccine should include more viral proteins than spike.

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

Guest: Alessandro Sette

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Download TWiV 736 (73 MB .mp3, 122 min)
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Links for this episode

Little impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants on T cell reactivity (bioRxiv) 6:28, 25:13
NIDO 2021 Symposium 1:12:02
Postdoctoral position at Towson University 1:15:08
ASV hosts free COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Halls (register here) 1:12:38
Letters read on TWiV 736 1:30:06
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:46:29

Alan – The Disinformation Dozen report
Rich – No needle, but the damage was done
Kathy – Zinn art David Zinn
Vincent – Clueless Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Endorses PACE as “Prevailing View” Among Docs

Listener Picks

Justin – Finnish astrophotographer spends 12 years creating a Milky Way mosaic

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 735: COVID-19 clinical update #55 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

March 27, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #55, Daniel Griffin reviews recommendations for keeping transmission low in school settings, optimal testing strategies for schools and businesses, impact of vaccines on asymptomatic infections, vaccine safety in PASC patients, and early use of aspirin associated with decreased mortality.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 735 (24 MB .mp3, 40 min)
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Links for this episode

COVID-19 in primary and secondary schools (MMWR) 3:37
Low transmission in elementary schools (MMWR) 6:16
COVID-19 testing guidance (CDC) 7:45
COVID-19 vaccines and asymptomatic infections (Clin Inf Dis) 15:29
Vaccine safety in long COVID (medRxiv) 17:48
Phase 3 results of antibody cocktail (Regeneron) 22:56
Aspirin associated with decreased mortality (Anesth Analg) 24:40
Post-acute long COVID-19 syndrome (Nat Med) 26:31
Timing, duration, health impact of PASC (medRxiv) 27:30
Persistent neurologic and cognitive dysfunction in PASC (Ann Clin Trans Neurol) 30:07
Letters read on TWiV 735 32:36
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 734: Weiss hath no furin like a virus scorned

March 21, 2021

Susan Weiss returns to TWiV to discuss coronavirus entry into cells and the role of spike protein cleavage by proteases, why lab escaped hypotheses for SARS-CoV-2 are unlikely, and modulation of innate immune responses during infection.

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

Guest: Susan Weiss

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Download TWiV 734 (79 MB .mp3, 131 min)
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Links for this episode

ASV hosts free COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Halls (register here) 3:21
CoV pathogenesis in CNS (J Neuro Pharm)
SARS-CoV-2 induces dsRNA-mediated innate responses (bioRxiv) 47:30
Screen of FDA-approved drugs (J Viral) 58:14
Letters read on TWiV 734 1:09:27
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:55:18

Brianne – Tiktok of How mRNA Vaccines Work
Alan – Dark
Rich – Unmixing Color Machine (Ultra Laminar Reversible Flow) – Smarter Every Day 217
Amy – MOMA Calder exhibit, reviewed in NYTimes
Vincent – Ripple Training (free YouTube channel)

Listener Picks

Ruth – 100 million year old seafloor bacteria resuscitated
Iradis – Linda Zall, CIA spy for science

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 733: COVID-19 clinical update #54 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

March 20, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #54, Daniel Griffin covers effectiveness of 3 vs 6 ft physical distancing, effectiveness of masks, physical distancing, and eye shields, second vaccine dose completion, alleviation of COVID-19 symptoms after vaccination, vaccine trials in children, and IDSA approval of a mAb cocktail.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 733 (27 MB .mp3, 45 min)
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Links for this episode

Effectiveness of 3 ft vs 6 ft (CID) 3:56
Effect of physical distancing, masks, eye protection (Lancet) 9:40
Vaccine second dose completion (MMWR) 14:59
IDSA mAb recommendations (IDSA) 19:58
Letters read on TWiV 733 24:04
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 732: Citizen science with Forest Rohwer and Maria-Isabel Rojas

March 18, 2021

Forest and Maria-Isabel join TWiV to discuss their their project to engage thousands of citizens to swab inanimate surfaces in the San Diego area, then send the samples to the Rohwer Lab for nucleic acid analysis.

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

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Download TWiV 732 (67 MB .mp3, 112 min)
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Links for this episode

Forest on TWiV 391 3:03
CoVID-19 Citizen Scientists website 7:11
Swabbing surfaces in San Diego (10News) 10:55
Nido21 meeting 58:59
Molnupiravir in phase 2a (Fierce Biotech) 1:19:08
Letters read on TWiV 732 1:00:17, 1:44:50
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:34:05

Dickson – 10 amazing science tricks with liquids
Brianne – How Do Blind Worms See the Color Blue?
Rich – Statewide Study Shows Evidence Of Significant COVID-19 Antibodies In Children
Kathy – Dark side of the moon as it crosses Earth
Vincent – Wasdkeyboards and Novelkeys

Listener Pick

Bronwen – COVID Performance Index

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 731: The kids aren’t alright

March 14, 2021

On a TWiV tetramer, we review the ongoing outbreaks of Ebolavirus disease in DRC and Guinea, evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infections in children are far more prevalent than are being detected, and recent long COVID estimates from the UK.