This Week in Virology

TWiV 747: COVID-19 clinical update #59 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

April 24, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #59, Daniel Griffin discusses a front-line health care worker survey, pre-exposure seropositivity and subsequent infection in healthy young adults, fitted filtration efficiency of double masking, BinaxNow rapid in-home antigen test, postvaccination infections in a nursing facility, safety of mRNA vaccine in pregnant women, case control study of Bamlanivimab, no evidence for brain infection in patients with neurolgical symptoms, and mortality among US patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Healthcare worker survey (KFF) 2:22
Seropositivity and infection risk in young adults (Lancet) 4:51
Efficiency of double masking (JAMA) 10:15
BinaxNow antigen test (Abbott) 14:24
mRNA vaccine safety in pregnant persons (NEJM) 19:19
Bamlanivimab case control study (CID) 24:13
COVID-19 neuropathology (Brain) 28:19
Mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients (JAMA) 31:41
Letters read on TWiV 747 34:04
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 746: Encephalitis viruses dine on caveolae

April 22, 2021

Team TWiV explains how alphaviruses like Western equine encephalitis virus cross into the brain from capillaries by caveolin-mediated transcytosis, and reveal scientists’ incentives and attitudes towards public communication.

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

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Viral brain entry by transcytosis across endothelial cells (mBio) 4:18
Scientists attitudes towards public communication (PNAS) 46:00
Letters read on TWiV 746 1:14:05
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:39:42

Dickson – NASA ingenuity helicopter ride
Brianne – Vaccine Efficacy Animation
Kathy – Airglow over the Azores
Vincent – Gisaid

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 745: Gorilla COVID with Nadine Lamberski

April 18, 2021

Nadine Lamberski joins TWiV to discuss an outbreak of COVID-19 among gorillas at the San Diego Zoo, and the use of a spike protein-based vaccine to immunize the animals.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

Guest: Nadine Lamberski

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Gorillas receive COVID-19 vaccine (Nat Geo) 23:00
COVID-19 vaccine for great apes and mink (Zoetis) 36:26
Letters read on TWiV 745 1:05:36
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:37:12

Brianne – The Dream Vaccine
Alan – Taking vaccines to Smith Island
Kathy – Daily Overviews Subscribe Tulips
Vincent – Nextstrain

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 744: COVID-19 clinical update #58 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

April 17, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #58, Daniel Griffin provides the latest update on the J&J vaccine pause, healthcare worker deaths, children and COVID, physical inactivity associated with higher risk, using monoclonal antibodies for prophylaxis, and shows us how to properly wear a face mask.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 744 (27 MB .mp3, 45 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 743: Shape-shifting viruses

April 15, 2021

The TWiVsters explain how the shape of pleomorphic virus particles – spherical or filamentous – determines the probability of virus attachment and fusion, and resistance to selective pressure such as antibodies that block cell entry.

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

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Links for this episode

Pleomorphic virus particles and cell entry (Nat Micro) 3:14
Letters read on TWiV 743 1:11:21
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:44:48

Dickson – A tiny particle’s wobble could upend the laws of physics
Rich – COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2: Viruses, Vaccines & Variants Made Easy
Amy – Vaccine Anthems
Vincent – DarkNet Diaries Ep. 86

Listener Picks

Steve – Cover Your Freakin’ Face

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 742: De-fusing COVID-19

April 11, 2021

TWiV reviews a drug screen for inhibitors of syncytium formation, the fusing of cells caused by SARS-CoV-2, which reveals that the process is regulated by a calcium-activated ion channel and scramblase that is inhibited by the anti-parasite drug Niclosamide.

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

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Download TWiV 742 (65 MB .mp3, 108 min)
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Links for this episode

TMEM16 inhibitors block SARS-CoV-2 driven syncytium formation (Nature) 4:13
Letters read on TWiV 742 52:24
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:33:41

Brianne – COVID-19: a disaster five years in the making
Alan – The Tyranny of Merit
Rich – Racism Makes Me Question Everything. I Got the Vaccine Anyway
Kathy – The Transcontinental Burrito Tunnel
Vincent – Trudy Rey’s YouTube Channel

Listener Picks

Jeff – Rebecca Lee Smith on Left Right and Center
Ryan – Perfect Strangers (clip)

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 741: COVID-19 clinical update #57 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

April 10, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #57, Daniel Griffin covers children and MIS-C, school opening plans, transmission event with masks, fomite transmission, diagnostic test performance, AZ vaccine and blood clots, and long COVID and the effect of vaccines.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 741 (26 MB .mp3, 43 min)
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Children with MIS-C (JAMA) 5:35
Transmission with masks (Op For Inf Dis) 11:27
Accuracy of diagnostic tests (J Clin Micro) 17:10
Long COVID in hospitalized patients (BMJ) 27:23
Neurological and psychiatric outcomes of COVID-19 (medRxiv) 28:52
Letters read on TWiV 741 34:03
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

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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Download TWiV 740 (58 MB .mp3, 97 min)
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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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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.