TWiV 833: Grand theft kinesin

TWiV reviews Michael Worobey’s dissection of the early COVID-19 cases in Wuhan, and the discovery that herpesviruses assimilate cellular kinesin to produce motorized virus particles.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

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Weekly Picks 1:21:41

Kathy – Power of poop
Alan – Under the Sky We Make, by Kimberly Nicholas
Vincent – Enzymatic amplification of beta-globing sequences

Listener Picks

Paula – Reasons to be Cheerful and The Night Witches by Bruce Myles
Grant – George Carlin – Germs, Immune System

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 832: Heavy metal flu fighters

TWiV reviews the vials labeled smallpox that were not, re-emergence of enterovirus D68 in Europe, efficacy of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and cellular correlates of protection for an oral influenza virus vaccine.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, and Amy Rosenfeld

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Weekly Picks 1:30:40

Dickson – Rodney Dangerfield
Amy – Calder at MoMA
Rich – ‘Useless Specks of Dust’ Turn Out to Be Building Blocks of All Vertebrate Genomes
Vincent – Structure of small viruses

Listener Picks

Charles – It is raining you lied to me
Dave – A Whole New Ball Game

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 831: COVID-19 clinical update #89 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In COVID-19 clinical update #89, Dr. Griffin reviews upcoming meeting on FDA emergency use authorization for molnupiravir, 25% of US cases in children, reinfection associates with presence of antibodies, national surveillance for acute flaccid myelitis in the US, and monoclonal antibody treatment of infection in vaccinated, high-risk individuals.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to [email protected]

TWiV 830: A culture of resistance

TWiV explains that a recent report suggesting that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein inhibits V(D)J recombination in vitro would not impact immunity after infection or vaccination, and describes the isolation of remdesivir resistant mutants in cells in culture, and the emergence of amino acid changes in the spike protein identical to those in variants of concern, in the absence of immune selection.

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

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Weekly Picks 1:44:00

Kathy – When do we get back to normal? Maybe now.
Rich – The Covid-19 Pandemic
Alan – Yaupon Brothers American tea
Vincent – Cracking the genetic code (and Niremberg’s account)

Listener Picks

Justin – Partisan vaccination
Lisa – The Red Flag

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 829: Antiviral and cytotoxically empowered for COVID-19

A TWiV duo reviews how SARS-CoV-2 attacks the olfactory mucosa but spares the olfactory bulb, vaccination with BNT162b2 induces virus-specific stem cell memory T cells, and development of an oral protease inhibitor for the treatment of COVID-19.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Brianne Barker

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Weekly Picks 1:29:29

Brianne – Coronavirus Neutralizing Antibodies and mRNA Vaccine Video
Vincent – MHC restriction of cytotoxic T cell lysis (Nobel description)

Listener Picks

Lisa – Shall Furnish Medicine
Bistra – Saving the World by Julia Alvarez

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 828: COVID-19 clinical update #88 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In COVID-19 clinical update #88, Dr. Griffin covers vaccine protection among US veterans, absence of long COVID in vaccinated who are infected, single dose of REGEN-COV monoclonal antibody cocktail provides long term protection, and Pfizer protease inhibitor Paxlovid is 89% effective in preventing hospitalization or death.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to [email protected]

TWiV 827: A shot to save the world with Greg Zuckerman

Greg Zuckerman joins TWiV to discuss his book that explores the race to produce COVID-19 vaccines, with insights into the companies, scientists, and executives involved and the rivalries, ambitions, ego, and a desire to save the world.

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

Guest: Greg Zuckerman

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Weekly Picks 1:20:30

Dickson – Michael Palin
Kathy – Science News Centennial
Rich – Diverse variola virus (smallpox) strains were widespread in northern Europe in the Viking Age
Vincent – Evidence for somatic rearrangement of immunoglobulin genes (and commentary)

Listener Picks

Matt – Clinical evidence that the pandemic from 1889 to 1891 commonly called the Russian flu might have been an earlier coronavirus pandemic
Brigitte – The Obscure Virus Club
Justin – Eddie Holmes wins Prime Minister’s Prize for Science

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 826: COVID-19 clinical update #87 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In COVID-19 clinical update #87, Dr. Griffin reviews PCR cycle threshold and RNA copy number, rapid antigen tests, hospitalization rate after infection or vaccination, allergies and vaccination, community transmission and viral RNA load, early treatment with sotrovimab, meta-analysis of tocilizumab treatment, antibiotic overuse, and guidelines on the use of anticoagulation for thromboprophylaxis.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 826 (28 MB .mp3, 47 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to [email protected]

TWiV 824: Immunogoblins in the nose and lungs

TWiV explores the properties of the spike glycoproteins of an influenza B virus discovered in the Wuhan spiny eel, and protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection one year after mRNA-1273 vaccination of nonhuman primates.

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

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Download TWiV 824 (76 MB .mp3, 127 min)
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Weekly Picks 1:46:41

Dickson – Best of Gilda Radner
Brianne – This polio survivor is one of the last still relying on an iron lung
Rich – WHO Announces Proposed Members of its Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO); (members)
Vincent – Discovery of mRNA (paper one and two)

Listener Picks

Doris – History of smallpox and smallpox vaccine
Judith – How the immune system works

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

The Hosts of TWiV

Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D.


Brianne Barker, Ph.D.


Rich Condit, Ph.D.


Alan Dove, Ph.D.


Daniel Griffin, M.D.,
Ph.D., CTropMed CTH


Angela Mingarelli, DVM


Jolene Ramsey, Ph.D.


Kathy Spindler, Ph.D.


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