This Week in Virology

TWiV 785: COVID-19 Q&A with Dr. Daniel Griffin

July 28, 2021

In this special episode, Daniel Griffin answers listener questions on COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine misinformation, long COVID, masking and distancing, school safety, and much more.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 785 (28 MB .mp3, 44 min)
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Letters read on TWiV 785 1:18
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 784: Virtually live from ASV

July 25, 2021

Moriah and Joseph join the nearly complete TWiV team to discuss their work on genetic variation and adaptability in herpes simplex virus, and how rotavirus infection disrupts intracellular calcium homeostasis. Live streamed during the 2021 annual meeting of the American Society for Virology.

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

Guests: Joseph Hyzer and Moriah Szpara

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Download TWiV 784 (48 MB .mp3, 80 min)
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Diversity of HSV2 in neonates (mSphere) 14:03
Genome of HSV1 from multiple sites in one person (J Inf Dis) 29:37
Rotavirus disrupts calcium homeostasis (mBio) 48:20
Rotavirus protein activates calcium sensor (J Virol)
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:06:41

Dickson – Inside of Mars is not like Earth
Brianne – AlphaFold
Rich – Tesla motors
Alan – Diving for antique beer
Vincent – Dolly Parton Tried. But Tennessee Is Squandering a Miracle

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 783: COVID-19 clinical update #72 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

July 23, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #72, Daniel Griffin covers long term symptoms in children, outcomes for MIS-C, recent guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, a large well traced outbreak of delta variant, low dose mRNA vaccination generates durable T cell memory and antibodies, protective immunity in recovered patients, assessment of BinaxNOW, no effect of oral azithromycin, post-discharge symptoms in Nigeria, and therapeutics for low and middle income countries.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 783 (28 MB .mp3, 44 min)
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Long COVID in children (JAMA) 8:44
Outcomes after MIS-C (Pediatrics) 12:23
Guidance for school opening (Amer Acad Ped) 14:04
Infection in well traced delta outbreak (medRxiv) 17:09
Immune memory 8 months post-infection (Science) 26:07
Low dose mRNA vaccine enhances T cells (medRxiv) 27:05
Protection after infection (Lancet) 27:58
Assessment of BinaxNOW (Sci Rep) 32:04
Rapid POC antigen tests (Cochrane Rev) 35:26
Oral azithromycin ineffective (JAMA) 36:16
Post discharge symptoms in Nigeria (AJTMH) 37:16
Therapeutics for low and middle income countries (AJTMH) 37:48
Letters read on TWiV 783 39:57
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 782: An antibody for all sarbecoviruses

July 22, 2021

On this episode, broadening of immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 after mRNA vaccine booster to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, five-fold underestimation of the number of cases in the US during the first six months of the pandemic, and a monoclonal antibody that broadly neutralizes many different sarbecoviruses.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Amy Rosenfeld

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Download TWiV 782 (38 MB .mp3, 63 min)
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Links for this episode

Immune responses after heterologous COVID-19 vaccine boost (Nat Med) 4:58
Undiagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections in US (Sci Transl Med) 21:28
Broadly neutralizing sarbecovirus antibody (Nature) 35:53
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 781: My genome is left to tell the tale

July 18, 2021

The Team with Invincible Values discusses whether dogs or cats passively carry SARS-CoV-2 on hair and foot pads, maternal to fetal transfer of antibodies in infected or vaccinated pregnant women, and evidence that retroviruses infected cetaceans before and after they moved into the oceans.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Brianne Barker

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Download TWiV 781 (64 MB .mp3, 107 min)
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Links for this episode

SARS-CoV-2 on dogs and cats (Viruses) 9:52
Maternal to neonatal transfer of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (J Clin Investîmes) 22:48
Retroviral evolution in cetaceans and their ancestors (Plos Path) 37:53
Letters read on TWiV 781 1:09:15
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:30:44

Dickson – Current Map | U.S. Drought Monitor
Brianne – A comic strip about immune responses
Alan – Superliminal game
Vincent – Birds are dying in NJ

Listener Picks

2listening1 – Renewal
Em – Cognitive Surplus

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 780: COVID-19 clinical update #71 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

July 17, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #71, Daniel Griffin reviews updated school and child care guidance from CDC, transmission in schools, accuracy of lateral flow assays, update to J&J/Janssen vaccine EUA to include GBS, interim immunogenicity of Ad.26.CoV2.s, effectiveness of mRNA vaccines to prevent hospitalization, Bamlanivimab plus Etesevimab for mild or moderate disease, and a meta-analysis of ivermectin results.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 780 (22 MB .mp3, 37 min)
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School and child care guidance (CDC) 6:59
Transmission in schools (CDC) 11:32
Accuracy of lateral flow diagnostics (Lancet) 18:07
GBS with Ad.26.CoV2.s vaccine (FDA) 21:31
Ad.26.CoV2.s interim immunogenicity (NEJM) 23:01
mRNA vaccine effectiveness to prevent hospitalization (medRxiv) 24:51
Bamlanivimab plus Etesevimab (NEJM) 27:18
Meta-analysis of ivermectin studies (Clin Inf Dis) 29:29
Letters read on TWiV 780 34:37
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 779: Evolving boosterism

July 11, 2021

TWiV reviews evidence that COVID-19 mRNA vaccination of both uninfected and previously infected persons elicits cross-variant neutralizing antibodies, and directed evolution of a bacterial protein to form a virus-like capsid that specifically packages its encoding mRNA.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Brianne Barker

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Links for this episode

mRNA vaccine boosts cross-variant neutralizing Ab (Science) 4:18
mRNA vaccine boosts variant B and T cell responses (Science) 22:13
Directed evolution of virus-like nucleocapsid (Science) 34:46
Letters read on TWiV 779 59:30
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:18:36

Brianne – The Science of Chocolate Chip Cookies
Alan – Keeping Black students in STEM
Vincent – Antiviral Program for Pandemics

Listener Pick

Mark – Curator on the Loose, Classic Airliners and Vintage Pop Culture, Flying Men, Flying Machines, Thai Flying Club

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 778: COVID-19 clinical update #70 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

July 10, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #70, Daniel Griffin discusses efficacy of portable air cleaners, vaccine induced serum neutralizing antibodies against variants, prevention and attenuation of disease with mRNA vaccines, ivermectin to prevent hospitalization, IL-6 antagonists and mortality, and impact of vaccination on long COVID.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 778 (22 MB .mp3, 37 min)
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Links for this episode

Efficacy of portable air cleaners (MMWR) 5:14
Ad26.COV2.S elicited neutralization of variants (bioRxiv) 8:40
Prevention of COVID-19 with mRNA vaccines (NEJM) 11:29
Ivermectin to prevent hospitalization (BMC Inf Dis) 17:12
IL-6 antagonists and mortality (JAMA) 20:05
Impact of vaccination on long COVID (Lancet) 22:40
Letters read on TWiV 778 26:53
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 777: SARS-CoV-2 fitness with Ron Fouchier

July 8, 2021

Ron Fouchier explains why increased transmission of SARS-CoV-2-variants has not been demonstrated, and their ability to displace ancestral variants is due to greater fitness, much like influenza virus antigenic variation leads to better fitness and replacement of previously circulating variants.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

Guest: Ron Fouchier

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Download TWiV 777 (63 MB .mp3, 104 min)
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Links for this episode

Ron Fouchier on TWiV 177, 291, 557 1:08
Mutations driving H5N1 airborne transmission in ferrets (Cell) 2:37
SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 transmission among ferrets (Nat Comm) 7:15
Avian influenza virus transmission among seals (Cell Host Micr) 4:05
Letters read on TWiV 777 1:02:45
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:29:02

Brianne – The Science News Cycle
Kathy – mRNA Day Kariko & Weissman lectures and Q&A
Vincent – Just Planes

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 776: Yes! We have no pangolins

July 4, 2021

TWiV reviews an analysis of animal sales from Wuhan wet markets before the COVID-19 pandemic, control of dengue by release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes, and fatal dengue acquired in Florida.