This Week in Virology

TWiV 703: Does dose matter?

January 7, 2021

On this episode, a discussion of why modifying the dose schedule of the mRNA vaccines in the US is not a good idea, evidence that lower Ct values on hospital admission is associated with higher mortality, and dose-dependent response to SARS-CoV-2 infection of ferrets.

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

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Weekly Picks 1:54:00

Brianne – Linsey Marr on masks
Kathy – Striped Martian Sand Dunes and
Rich – How Microwaving Grapes Makes Plasma
Vincent – Musings of an anonymous, pissed off virologist

Listener Pick

Laura – Auld Lang Syne follow-up

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 702: Year of the Pandemic

January 3, 2021

For this first episode of 2021, the complete TWiV team reviews compelling virology stories of 2020, and thanks the multitude of guests who have helped us to navigate the pandemic, and our many listeners who turn to us for scientific facts.

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

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Poems are at Twiverse 1:17:48
This little virus went to market (TWiV 581) 5:39, 14:46
Host genetics initiative TWiV 628 27:29
Inborn errors of immunity & serious COVID TWiV 671 28:04
Lisa Gralinski TWiV 674 29:20
Tragic gene flow from Neanderthals TWiV 676 30:05
Ivermectin and COVID-19 (TWiV 599) 32:40
DC and Galveston road trips: TWiV 625, 643, 646, 589, 580, 583, 587) 5:48, 36:28
Fauci and Hotez interviews (TWiV 641, 687) 43:09
Long-haul COVID, pro-thrombotic autoantibodies (TWiV 680, 683) 49:09
Minority health and disparities (TWiV 655) 58:49
Diversity in science (TWiV 672, 670) 59:29
SeXX matters (TWiV 624) 1:00:00
Kate Rubins (TWiV 682) 1:08:11
Laura Splan (TWiV 691) 1:11:58
Protective immune responses (TWiV 693, 685, 683) 1:13:50
Immune memory/cross-reactivity (TWiV 684, 681, 650, 631) 1:14:23
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 1:20:04

Dickson – Best of 2020 by NASA and The Plague Year
Brianne – Where Year Two of the Pandemic Will Take Us
Alan – Japan’s distinct form of vaccine hesitancy
Kathy – Paul Offit updates on the vaccine rollout and Choral Scholars of University College Dublin (John Greene’s videoessay on the song)
Rich – Do You Love Me?
Vincent – Story on Katalin Kariko’s career

Listener Pick

Louise – Virus socks

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 701: COVID-19 clinical update #43 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

January 1, 2021

In Daniel Griffin’s final clinical report for 2020, he summarizes what we have learned about the clinical management of COVID-19 patients in the past year.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Links for this episode

Attributes and predictors of long COVID-19 (medRxiv) 28:18
Letters read on TWiV 701 30:16
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 700: ‘Twas COVID and the aerosols

December 31, 2020

TWiV reviews additional data on the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2, the distinct variant spreading in South Africa, association of afucosylated antiviral IgG with severe COVID-19, approval of AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK, and winners of the pandemic poem contest.

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

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Download TWiV 700 (82 MB .mp3, 136 min)
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Weekly Picks 1:57:24

Brianne – Ready Player Two
Kathy – Bert Hubert’s Reverse Engineering of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
Rich – Boston Dynamics running robots
Vincent – Fever by John Fuller

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 699: Arboviruses at ASTMH

December 27, 2020

From the 2020 online meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Vincent speaks with Jonathan Auguste, Carol Blair, Desiree LaBeaud, Louis Lambrechts, and Mauricio Nogueira about their careers and their research on arthropod-borne viruses.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Jonathan Auguste, Carol Blair, Desiree LaBeaud, Louis Lambrechts, and Mauricio Nogueira

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Links for this episode

RNAi in arbovirus-vector interactions (Viruses) 41:07
Arbovirus emergence via bridge vectors (Sci Rep) 1:00:35
Rift Valley fever (Trop Med Inf Dis) 49:56
Flavivirus infection and cerebrovascular events (Viruses) 1:12:43
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 698: COVID-19 clinical update #42 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

December 26, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides his weekly clinical report on COVID-19, including his own experience with vaccination, guidelines for vaccine distribution, reasons for under-utilization of monoclonal antibody therapy, and much more.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Links for this episode

Phased allocation of COVID-19 vaccines (ACIP slides) 19:57
How CDC is making COVID-19 vaccine recommendations (CDC) 20:37
Letters read on TWiV 698 32:58
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 697: The sky is NOT falling

December 24, 2020

TWiV reviews the latest data on the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2, including some properties of the variant and why it is being closely studied, development of liver cancer in a participant in a adenovirus-associated virus gene therapy trial, and answers to listener questions.

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

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Links for this episode

BSL-3 Assistant Manager position 2:24
NERVTAG meeting minutes (pdf) 6:41
NERVTAG 5:55, 36:59
Preliminary genomic characterization of UK variant (virological.org) 37:11
PHE investigation of UK variant (pdf) 37:55
N501Y does not affect antibody neutralization (Science, eLife) 47:52
WHO notice on UK variant (WHO) 1:10:30
Liver tumor during AAV gene therapy (Science) 1:13:02
Letters read on TWiV 697 1:18:29
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks 2:03:01

Brianne – EM Rap Podcast COVID update
Kathy – Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn and Tony Fauci vaccinated Santa Claus
Rich – Chicken LIttle (wiki)
Vincent – virological.org

Listener Pick

Greg – Someone who wants to make a difference
Uli – XKCD on statistics

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 696: Tear down that SARS-CoV-2 manuscript

December 20, 2020

TWiV explains that COVID-19 is not harmless for young adults, FAA approval for Pfizer mRNA vaccine, lack of justification for the claim of reverse transcription of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and integration into the human genome, and lack of evidence for increased transmission by new variants in the UK.

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

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Weekly Science Picks 1:55:44

Dickson – 2020 Audubon Photography Winners
Brianne – COVID-19 Changed Science Forever
Alan – Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
Rich – Lie of the Year: Coronavirus downplay and denial; John 18:38
Vincent – How New York City Vaccinated 6 Million People in Less Than a Month (my article from 2009)

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 695: COVID-19 clinical update #41 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

December 18, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides his weekly clinical report on COVID-19, including thoughts on the first immunizations with Pfizer mRNA vaccine, the anticipated EUA for the Moderna vaccine, whether the vaccine prevents infection, not just disease, monoclonal antibody therapy, and much more.

Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello

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Links for this episode

FDA EUA for Pfizer mRNA vaccine (FDA) 26:33
Ellume at-home SARS-CoV-2 antigen test (Ellume) 10:07
Pre-K through grade 12 COVID-19 mitigation costs (MMWR) 11:46
Letters read on TWiV 695 37:45
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 694: Mitigating COVID-19

December 17, 2020

On this episode, TWiV makes Bloomberg Business News 2020 Jealousy List, crushing of CDC revealed by insiders, seasonal influenza during the COVID-19 pandemic, FDA briefing documents from Moderna, and three-quarters attack rate of SARS-CoV-2 during an unmitigated epidemic in Brazil.