This Week in Virology

TWiV 761: COVID-19 clinical update #64 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

May 29, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #64, Daniel Griffin covers new guidance from NY on day camps, mitigation and infection rates in schools, testing to sustain in person instruction, Moderna mRNA vaccine highly effective in adolescents, longer storage of Pfizer vaccine, FDA EUA for sotrovimab, and persistent illness in UK children.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 761 (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 760: SARS-CoV-2 origins with Peter Daszak, Thea Kølsen Fischer, Marion Koopmans

May 27, 2021

Peter Daszak, Thea Kølsen Fischer, and Marion Koopmans, members of the WHO team investigating the origins of SARS-CoV-2 join TWiV to explain the work done by the committee during phase one, their conclusions, and the extent of work that remains to be done in phase two.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Guests: Peter Daszak, Thea Kølsen Fischer, and Marion Koopmans

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Links for this episode

Peter on TWiV 615, 623
Thea on TWiV 576
Marion on TWiV 413, 548
WHO report on origins of SARS-CoV-2 2:23
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:17:55

Kathy – My Octopus Teacher
Rich – John Wyndam classic Sci Fi: The Chrysalids, The Day of the Triffids
Vincent – SARS-CoV-2 Phylogeny and Spatiotemporal Spread (paper)

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 759: Pork dogs and an evolutionary pickle

May 23, 2021

TWiV examines spillovers of porcine and canine coronaviruses into humans in Haiti and Malaysia, and how antigenic evolution of measles virus is constrained by multiple co-dominant epitopes on the viral glycoproteins.

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

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Download TWiV 759 (80 MB .mp3, 134 min)
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Links for this episode

ASV vaccine town halls 3:32
Porcine deltacoronavirus in Haitian children (medRxiv) 4:21
Canine coronavirus from Malaysian pneumonia patient (Clin Inf Dis) 30:16
Co-dominant epitopes in measles virus (Cell Reports Medicine) 44:19
No shift, measles (TWiV 340) 46:02
The Cancer Thief (TWiV 395) 1:09:23
Letters read on TWiV 759 1:21:14
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:44:02

Dickson – Ants: workers of the world
Amy – Let The Record Show by Sarah Schulman
Rich – QAnon resembles the games I design
Alan – Librivox
Vincent – Stratechery

Listener Picks

Fernando – The 60-year old scientific screwup that helped COVID kill

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 758: COVID-19 clinical update #63 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

May 22, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #63, Daniel Griffin reviews cases at child care facilities, estimates of mRNA vaccine effectiveness, risk of reinfection in university students, enhanced antibody generation with extended interval of mRNA vaccination, no benefit of convalescent plasma in hospitalized patients, and risk of clinical sequelae after acute infection.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 758 (25 MB .mp3, 41 min)
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Links for this episode

COVID-19 in child care facilities (MMWR) 8:36
mRNA vaccine effectiveness (MMWR) 11:55
Excelsior pass (NYS) 17:43
Risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection in university students (CID) 19:25
Enhanced antibody production with longer mRNA vaccine interval (medRxiv) 22:12
Convalescent plasma trial in hospitalized patients (Lancet) 24:27
Phase 3 data on REGEN-COV (PR Newswire) 29:30
Clinical sequelae after acute COVID-19 (BMJ) 34:53
Letters read on TWiV 758 38:53
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 757: Supershedders and super vaccines

May 20, 2021

TWiV reveals that 2% of SARS-CoV-2−positive individuals carry 90% of the virus circulating in a college campus, and a nanoparticle vaccine that induces cross-reactive immunity against multiple pandemic and pre-emergent coronaviruses.

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

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Download TWiV 757 (58 MB .mp3, 96 min)
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Links for this episode

ASV vaccine town halls 2:14
2% of SARS-CoV-2 positives carry most viral RNA (PNAS) 16:29
Pan-coronavirus nanoparticle vaccine (Nature) 33:07
Why HIV-1 particles have few spikes (PLoS Path) 41:33, 1:09:25
Letters read on TWiV 757 10:50, 1:17:07, 1:58:18
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:47:47

Brianne – Darwin’s Arch Collapses
Kathy – The woman who discovered the first coronavirus
Rich – “Richard Feynman: The pleasure of finding things out”
Vincent – CORONA Project

Listener Picks

JH – Fungus kills cicadas
Alan – Liftoff by Eric Berger

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 756: Precluding problematic polio prophylaxis

May 16, 2021

TWiV returns to the 2012 brouhaha over transmission experiments with avian H5N1 influenza virus, re-examines the claim of SARS-CoV-2 RNA integration into human DNA, and reviews the engineering and testing of a genetically stable version of the attenuated type 2 Sabin poliovirus vaccine.

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

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Download TWiV 756 (80 MB .mp3, 134 min)
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Weekly Picks 1:50:53

Dickson – Five Deeps
Amy – Premonition by Michael Lewis
Alan – The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr
Rich – The Way Ferrofluid Floats Above a Superconductor Is Unreal
Vincent – Threading the NEIDL

Listener Picks

Iradis – SN15 Launch and Landing
Blue Pilgrim – Howland Garden Tools

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 755: COVID-19 clinical update #62 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

May 15, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #62, Daniel Griffin covers outdoor transmission of the virus, safe use of NSAIDS, expansion of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to include 12-15 year olds, post-disease Mucormycosis, and hydroxychloroquine treatment associated with increased mortality.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 755 (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 754: Tuesday two: SARS-CoV-2 and TLR2

May 13, 2021

TWiV discusses the finding that the envelope (E) protein of SARS-CoV-2 is sensed by toll-like receptor 2 on cells, leading to the production of inflammatory cytokines that cause damage to cells and tissues in COVID-19.

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

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Download TWiV 754 (58 MB .mp3, 96 min)
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Links for this episode

ASV vaccine town halls 2:38
Michelson Prizes 5:51
FDA authorizes Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine for adolescents (FDA) 8:09
TLR2 senses SARS-CoV-2 E protein (Nat Imm) 12:19
Review on CoV E protein (Virology J) 34:12
Letters read on TWiV 754 54:56
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:23:21

Brianne – Lab.Hacks Lab Assistant App
Rich – Weird viral DNA spills secrets to biologists; COVAX
Kathy – Planet Earth Now
Vincent – Variants at ViralZone

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 753: The ferret nose where the virus goes

May 9, 2021

TWiV revisits Brazil’s rejection of Sputnik vaccine, examines influenza transmission via the air from the nasal epithelium of ferrets, and a history of accidental releases of polioviruses and their relevance for eradication of poliomyelitis.

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

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Download TWiV 753 (62 MB .mp3, 103 min)
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Links for this episode

ASV vaccine town halls 3:16
Sputnik Light 7:10
Ferret airborne transmission of influenza virus (Nat Comm) 24:07
Facility releases of poliovirus (Emerg Inf Dis) 1:02:07
Polio eradication progress (Polio Erad Init) 1:10:12
Letters read on TWiV 753 6:44, 1:39:25
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:25:27

Dickson – Exotic mantis
Brianne – Types of Scientific Paper
Alan – Rusty Lake Games / Cube Escape Collection
Rich – The Departed Could Soon Become Compost in Colorado; Recompose (wiki)
Vincent – Public Health Image Library

Listener Picks

Ivan – Apollo 11: As They Shot It

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 752: COVID-19 clinical update #61 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

May 8, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #61, Daniel Griffin reviews a modeling of future hospitalizations and deaths by vaccination rates and non pharmaceutical intervention scenarios, performance evaluation of rapid antigen tests, children making up a growing share of new cases, antibody response to mRNA vaccine in solid organ transplant recipients, and outcomes in hospitalized patients treated with tocilizumab.