This Week in Virology

TWiV 723: COVID-19 palliative care with Ginger Campbell, MD

February 25, 2021

Ginger Campbell joins TWiV to discuss palliative care for COVID-19 patients, and how to approach the disease from a goals of care perspective.

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

Guest: Ginger Campbell, MD

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Download TWiV 723 (65 MB .mp3, 108 min)
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Links for this episode

Brain Science Podcast 5:59
Dr. Campbell’s video on palliative care (YouTube)
Resources on palliative care (WHO) 16:07
Interviews with Paul Offit (one, two) 58:55
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande 28:31
Letters read on TWiV 723 1:03:40
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:34:15

Dickson – Soapbox Gallery
Brianne – Cell Picture Show
Rich – Perseverance Rover’s Descent and Touchdown on Mars (Official NASA Video)
Vincent – Our World in Data (see COVID-19 vaccinations)

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 722: More coronaviruses in the pipeline

February 21, 2021

The entire TWiV team assembles to discuss resurgence of COVID-19 in Manaus, Brazil, discovery of SARS-CoV-2 related viruses in bats in Southeast Asia, and increased Ct values after administration of mRNA vaccine.

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

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Download TWiV 722 (73 MB .mp3, 122 min)
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Links for this episode

Resurgence of COVID-19 in Manaus (Lancet) 3:55
SARS-CoV-2 related viruses in Southeast Asian bats (Nat Comm) 19:17
Increased Ct following COVID-19 vaccination (medRxiv) 53:34
Letters read on TWiV 722 1:09:58
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:42:45

Dickson – What is the polar vortex?
Brianne – Cloning of the black-footed ferret
Alan – Explaining mRNA vaccines with Star Wars
Rich – Brighton Collaboration (BRAVATO); Ad26 vector template
Kathy – Target public health ads to zipcodes
Vincent – And Then the Gorillas Started Coughing

Listener Pick

Kim – Virus getting the shot (jpg)

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 721: COVID-19 clinical update #50 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

February 20, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #50, Daniel Griffin discusses CDC guidance on school opening, decreased viral load after vaccination, randomized clinical trial of vitamin D treatment, a study of zinc plus vitamin C, anticoagulation therapy effect on mortality, and multi system inflammatory phase in children.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 721 (18 MB .mp3, 30 min)
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Links for this episode

Guidance on school openings (CDC) 1:41
Calcifediol Treatment and COVID-19 (Lancet preprints) 6:24
Zinc and vitamin C for COVID-19 (JAMA) 9:22
Early anticoagulant therapy (BMJ) 10:45
Multisystem inflammatory phase in children (CDC) 15:49
Letters read on TWiV 721 20:20
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 720: With vaccines, Offit is on it

February 14, 2021

Paul Offit joins TWiV to discuss all things vaccine, including how COVID-19 vaccine development was accelerated, whether the vaccines are safe and efficacious, the difference between an EUA and a licensed vaccine, sterilizing immunity, herd immunity, and much more.

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

Guest: Paul Offit

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Download TWiV 720 (73 MB .mp3, 121 min)
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Links for this episode

Vaccine education center 5:37
Letters read on TWiV 720 1:00:27
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:43:17

Dickson – Life in a Day 2020
Brianne – Microcosms in Glass
Alan – NEJM article on promoting vaccination, interview with lead author
Rich – The Microbescope
Vincent – Autism’s False Prophets by Paul Offit

Listener Pick

Earl – Science is Real Pins

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 719: COVID-19 clinical update #49 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

February 13, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #49, Daniel Griffin discusses CDC guidelines on mask use, drop in test frequency in the US, resurgence of COVID-19 in Brazil, possible impact of Pfizer vaccine on viral load, EUA for bamlanivimab and etesevimab administered together, and preliminary results of Tocilizumab in hospitalized patients.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 719 (17 MB .mp3, 28 min)
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Links for this episode

Resurgence of COVID-19 in Brazil (Lancet) 7:41
Pfizer vaccine reduces viral load (medRxiv) 10:34
EUA for bamlanivimab plus etesevimab (pdf) 12:58
Tocilizumab in hospitalized patients (medRxiv) 14:54
Bacterial superinfections in COVID-19 (Open For Inf Dis) 17:08
Letters read on TWiV 719 21:16
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 718: Recombining vaccine schedules

February 11, 2021

TWiV explores single dose administration and timing of second dose of AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine, safety and efficacy of Sputnik V, and control of coronavirus recombination by a viral proofreading exonuclease.

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

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Download TWiV 718 (67 MB .mp3, 112 min)
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Links for this episode

AZD1222 single dose efficacy and booster timing (Lancet preprint) 2:17
Safety and efficacy of Sputnik V vaccine (Lancet) 26:14
Proofreading exonuclease regulates CoV recombination (PLoS Path) 39:20
Letters read on TWiV 718 1:08:13
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:38:56

Brianne – Do scientists read enough fiction?
Rich – Insects in flight; Insect flight|Capturing takeoff
Kathy – Badger seal
Vincent – MicrobeTV merchandise

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 717: Paul and Theodora, pandemic explorers

February 7, 2021

Theodora and Paul return to TWiV to explain how they quickly pivoted their retrovirus laboratories towards SARS-CoV-2, their work on the antibody response to infection and its durability, and the emergence of variants with increased resistance to neutralization.

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

Guests: Paul Bieniasz and Theodora Hatziioannou

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Download TWiV 717 (70 MB .mp3, 117 min)
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Links for this episode

Evolution of antibody immunity to SARS-CoV-2 (bioRxiv) 48:43
mRNA vaccine elicited antibody to variants (bioRxiv) 1:01:54
Escape from neutralizing antibodies by SARS-CoV-2 variants (eLife) 55:53
Musings of an anonymous, pissed off virologist (virology blog) 1:34:05
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:46:30

Dickson – Mars Perseverance Rover
Alan – The Outlaw Ocean
Rich – Anand Varma Photography
Vincent – Virology Lectures 2021

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 716: COVID-19 clinical update #48 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

February 6, 2021

In COVID-19 clinical update #48, Daniel Griffin reviews effect of spike amino acid changes on neutralization with monoclonal antibodies, Sputnik V safety and efficacy results, increased reactogenicity after a single vaccine dose in seropositive individuals, single dose vaccination in seropositive health care workers, and results of three clinical trials on the use of anticoagulants.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Download TWiV 716 (31 MB .mp3, 52 min)
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Links for this episode

Resistance of variants to mAb neutralization (bioRxiv) 14:45
Safety and efficacy of Sputnik V (Lancet) 19:00
Increased vaccine reactogenicity in seropositives (medRxiv) 23:05
Single dose vaccination in seropositive health care workers (medRxiv) 24:18
Update on vaccine intervals (CDC) 25:48
Single dose AZD1222 results (Lancet preprints) 34:02
Three RCT on anticoagulants (NIH) 34:44
Letters read on TWiV 716 44:48
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

TWiV 715: Fauci ouchy

February 4, 2021

TWiV explains why hydroxychloroquine failed in humans despite showing antiviral effects in cells, and reviews the published data on the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine.

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

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Download TWiV 715 (66 MB .mp3, 110 min)
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Links for this episode

TMPRSS2 is why hydroxychloroquine failed (PLoS Path) 3:58
Safety and efficacy of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (NEJM) 39:48
Letters read on TWiV 715 1:05:10
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:35:57

Brianne – How the Body Reacts to Viruses
Rich – How do wombats poop cubes?
Kathy – The Verse by the Side of the Road
Vincent – Janet Iwasa’s SARS-CoV-2 entry animation

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 714: The shape of spike with Jason McLellan

January 31, 2021

Jason McLellan joins TWiV to reveal all we know about the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, followed by Novavax and J&S phase 3 results and a discussion of variants of concern: neutralization by vaccine-induced antibodies, transmission, and virulence.