This Week in Virology

TWiV 811: COVID-19 clinical update #82 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

October 2, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #82, Daniel Griffin reviews vaccines for 5-12 years old, safety of a third vaccine dose, Oklahoma reinfection data, Regencov outcomes, Pfizer protease inhibitor, impact of Tocilizumab, and incidence of long COVID.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 811 (24 MB .mp3, 40 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 810: Opening Pandora’s box

September 30, 2021

TWiV reviews how a novel technology enabled development of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, and discovery of a proton gradient and an incomplete TCA cycle in a giant. virus.

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

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Download TWiV 810 (70 MB .mp3, 117 min)
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Links for this episode

mRNA vaccines, a novel technology (Cell) 11:55
Proton gradient in giant virus (ISME J) 34:24
Tomograms of Pandoravirus massiliensis 1:17:38
Pandoraviruses are not alive (virology blog) 1:15:56
Letters read on TWiV 810 1:22:19
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:45:22

Brianne – PhD Comics: Words Said By No Academic Ever
Kathy – Bach Cello Suite #1 visualization
Rich – Hypnagogia
Vincent – Landsat 9 and Wiki

Listener Picks

Lori – Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Kevin – Oak Savannahs

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 809: Vampire vax

September 26, 2021

TWiV reveals isolation from bats in Laos of a SARS-CoV-2 like virus with a spike protein that allows entry into human cells, and exploration of a herpesvirus vector for immunization of vampire bats against rabies virus.

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

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Download TWiV 809 (70 MB .mp3, 117 min)
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Links for this episode

SARS-CoV-2 like viruses from Laotian bats (Res Sq) 1:44
Herpesvirus in rabies endemic vampire bats (Nat Comm) 37:04
Letters read on TWiV 809 1:33:52
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:19:48

Dickson – George Carlin: “Stuff”
Amy – The best of me by David Sedaris
Rich – You could have a secret twin (but not the way you think)
Alan – Nuclear powered Gameboy
Vincent – No, Vaccinated People Are Not ‘Just as Likely’ to Spread the Coronavirus as Unvaccinated People by Craig Spencer

Listener Picks

Michael – The tangled history mRNA vaccines
Fernando – 1493 by Charles Mann

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 808: COVID-19 clinical update #81 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

September 25, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #81, Daniel Griffin discusses vaccine boosters, vaccination during pregnancy, mRNA vaccine comparison, J&J vaccine booster, EUA expansion for Lilly monoclonals, remdesivir reduces risk of hospitalization, and anticoagulation regimens.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 808 (31 MB .mp3, 52 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 807: The shot yearned ’round the world with Chadi Saad-Roy and Caroline Wagner

September 19, 2021

Chadi and Caroline join TWiV to describe the potential epidemiological and evolutionary impacts of vaccine nationalism, and their modeling which emphasizes the importance of rapid equitable vaccine distribution for global control of the pandemic.

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

Guests: Chadi Saad-Roy and Caroline Wagner

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Download TWiV 807 (70 MB .mp3, 117 min)
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Links for this episode

Vaccine nationalism and control of the pandemic (Science) 9:51
Vaccine sharing app
Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 simulation
Dynamics of vaccination simulation
Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization (MMWR) 54:41, 58:01
Letters read on TWiV 807 1:02:55
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:24:28

Dickson – Ernie Kovaks-Nairobi Trio
Brianne – XKCD Summarizes this Episode
Rich – Texas Coronavirus Antibody REsponse Survey (CARES) (Dashboard)
Vincent – Elmer Pfefferkorn

Listener Picks

Catherine – A Life on Our Planet
Attila – How to improve your chances of nudging the vaccine hesitant away from hesitancy and toward vaccination

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 806: COVID-19 clinical update #80 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

September 18, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #80, Daniel Griffin reviews infections in children, masking, testing to limit transmission, high barrier for monoclonal antibody escape, are boosters needed, use of steroids, grants for long COVID, and how the pandemic unfolds in Africa.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 806 (25 MB .mp3, 41 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 805: Delta and boosters

September 16, 2021

The TWiVotopes review current evidence which does not show the need for widespread COVID-19 booster vaccination, and results of experiments to examine the replication and immune evasion of the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant.

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

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Download TWiV 805 (57 MB .mp3, 94 min)
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Links for this episode

ASV Vaccine Town Halls 1:46
Vaccine boosters not needed (Lancet) 1:53
Delta variant replication and immune evasion (Nature) 27:48
Epidemiologically linked COVID-19 outbreaks (MMWR) 1:12:29
Letters read on TWiV 805 1:05:23
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:19:27

Brianne – Sloan Foundation Theater
Kathy – COVID vaccines work, even if you don’t have side effects lay article primary article
Rich – Science Alone Can’t Heal a Sick Society by Jay S. Kaufman
Vincent – Sandra Black SciArt

Listener Pick

Ruth – Radio Lento podcast

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 804: A tangled web of viruses with Mya Breitbart

September 12, 2021

Virus hunter Mya Breitbart joins TWiV to describe her laboratory’s work on viruses in spiders, insects, millipedes, freshwater springs, seawater, plants, human feces and much more.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Dickson Despommier

Guest: Mya Breitbart

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Download TWiV 804 (70 MB .mp3, 117 min)
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Weekly Picks 1:32:29

Dickson – Official-Droodles-Home
Alan – The 31st First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony video (and the text version)
Vincent – Biden’s federal and business vaccine mandates

Listener Pick

Anonymous – The Ivermectin Episode – Behind the Bastards

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 803: COVID-19 clinical update #79 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

September 11, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #79, Daniel Griffin discusses clinical management guidelines, ER visits and hospitalization among children, infection and vaccine induced seroprevalence in the US, antibodies in Kenyan blood donors, infections after vaccination, anticoagulation for thromboprophylaxis, baracitinib efficacy, long-term symptoms in adults, and sustained symptoms after severe disease.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 803 (25 MB .mp3, 41 min)
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Links for this episode

Overlooked shortcomings of observational studies (Op For Inf Dis) 2:24
Guidelines for clinical management (Op For Inf Dis) 5:57
ER visits and hospitalization among children (MMWR) 9:08
Hospitalization of adolescents (MMWR) 10:15
Seroprevalence in the US (JAMA) 12:50
Seroprevalence in Kenya (JAMA) 14:40
Infections after vaccine (medRxiv) 18:02
Israel data dashboard 18:18
Guidelines on anticoagulation for thromboprophylaxis (Blood Adv) 22:30
Baricitinib efficacy (Lancet) 24:24
Long term symptoms, US adults (MMWR) 27:28
Severe disease associated with long term symptoms (medRxiv) 28:40
Letters read on TWiV 803 32:12
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 802: Another epitope with Shane Crotty

September 9, 2021

Shane Crotty returns to TWiV to review the immunology of COVID-19, including differences between infection and vaccination, increased breadth of antibodies after infection followed by vaccination, the roles of T cells, and whether booster vaccinations are needed.