This Week in Virology

TWiV 668: Mice, bats, and coronaviruses with Tony Schountz

October 1, 2020

Tony Schountz joins TWiV to explain the work of his laboratory showing that deer mice can be infected with and transmit SARS-CoV-2, and how his colony of Jamaican fruit bats is being used to understand their response to virus infections.

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

Guest: Tony Schountz

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Download TWiV 668 (64 MB .mp3, 106 min)
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Links for this episode

SARS-CoV-2 infection of deer mice (bioRxiv) 9:56
Infection of Jamaican fruit bats with MERS-CoV (Sci Rep) 47,:28, 55:59
Immunological control of virus infections in bats (Front Immunol) 56:42
Transmission of bat influenza viruses in bats (Nat Micro) 47:32
Letters read on TWiV 668 1:05:06
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:36:20

Brianne – Virus Masks
Kathy – UV in the vineyards (video)
Rich – Great White Shark Attack
Vincent – Smart WiFi garage door opener

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 667: Building a better virus trap

September 27, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, review of the phase I and II trials of the Russian prime-boost vaccine, a mouse model that recapitulates age-dependent severe disease, and listener questions.

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

Guest: Daniel Griffin

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Download TWiV 667 (99 MB .mp3, 165 min)
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Links for this episode

Safety and immunogenicity of Russian COVID-19 vaccine (Lancet) 46:15
‘Questionable’ data in Russian vaccine results (Nature) 1:12:46
Mouse model for SARS-CoV-2 ALI and mortality (Cell) 1:15:06
Letters read on TWiV 667 33:47, 1:59:49
Letters to Humans 2:07:54
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 2:28:50

Dickson – Rewilding Europe
Alan – How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Rich – Gene drive engineered mosquitoes
Vincent – TWiEVO 60 with 12 guests!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 666: A far-UVC light bulb went off for David Brenner

September 24, 2020

David Brenner joins TWiV to explain how far-UVC lights could provide protection from SARS-CoV-2 and other airborne viruses in public places, solutions to face mask fogging, transmission during airplane flights, and listener questions.

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

Guest: David Brenner

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Download TWiV 666 (78 MB .mp3, 129 min)
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Links for this episode

Far-UVC light inactivates viruses (paper one and two) 6:14
Tips to avoid mask fogging (YouTube, article one and two) 1:06:02
Funding for virus hunting 1:08:14
Jonna Mazet interview (YouTube) 1:10:19
Pandemic fake news (NY Times) 1:11:16
Airplane SARS-CoV-2 infections (summary, article one, two, three) 1:14:21
COVID-19: Wrong moves in wrong places (Science) 1:26:49
Das coronavirus bullet points
SARS-CoV-2 was not made in a lab (YouTube) 1:42:09
Letters read on TWiV 666 1:36:23
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy – Comedy wildlife photo awards and ISS transits Mars

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 665: This half-week in coronavirology

September 20, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, superspreading potential of SARS-CoV-2 in Hong Kong, structure of virion glycoprotein of a commmon cold coronavirus reveals changes driven by prolonged circulation in humans, and listener email.

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

Guest: Daniel Griffin

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Increased risk for COVID-19 during pregnancy (MMWR) 8:57
COVID-19 and community and close contact exposures (MMWR) 16:25
COVID-19 clusters in Japan (Emerg Inf Dis) 19:36
Eyeglass use associated with less COVID-19 (JAMA Ophthal) 22:28
Superspreading of SARS-CoV-2 in Hong Kong (Nat Med) 53:04
HKU1 HE structure and evolution (Nat Comm) 1:32:34
Das Coronavirus summaries 1:50:58
TWiVerse
Letters read on TWiV 665 29:11, 1:52:34
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 664: TWiV is for the dogs

September 17, 2020

On this mid-week edition, does it matter that SARS-CoV-2 is mutating, seasonal coronavirus immunity is short-lived, another bogus claim that the virus was produced in a laboratory (it came from Nature), and answers to listener questions.

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

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Download TWiV 664 (73 MB .mp3, 122 min)
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Links for this episode

Coronavirus is mutating (Nature) 9:29
Seasonal CoV immunity is short (Nat Med) 18:16
Sorry, no link to the fake science document! 40:44
Letters read on TWiV 664 1:08:02
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 663: The joy of vax

September 13, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, including vaccines, Alan summarizes a vaccine webinar on the most advanced US trials, a nidovirus from snapping turtles, longevity of memory B cells in recovered patients, and listener email.

The British people can face any misfortune with fortitude & buoyancy as long as they are convinced that those in charge of their affairs are not deceiving them, or are not dwelling in a fool’s paradise.
— Winston Churchill

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

Guest: Daniel Griffin

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Download TWiV 663 (94 MB .mp3, 157 min)
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Links for this episode

Young adults with COVID-19 (JAMA) 8:21
Letter from Stanford professors on Atlas (pdf) 53:54
National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit 1:00:21
Bugger, even the snapping turtles! (PLoS One) 1:44:41
Memory B cell longevity in COVID-19 (medRxiv) 2:00:28
Letters read on TWiV 663 41:58, 1:43:58, 2:06:22
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 662: Principals of Principles, Fifth Edition

September 11, 2020

The authors of the textbook Principles of Virology gather to reveal new additions to the fifth edition, including a new author, study questions, and a chapter on therapeutic viruses.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Jane Flint, Anna Marie Skalka, Glenn F. Rall, and Theodora Hatziioannou

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Download TWiV 662 (31 MB .mp3, 52 min)
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Links for this episode

Purchase PoV 5e Volumes 1 + 2 (link)
Purchase PoV 5e Volume 1 (link)
Purchase PoV 5e Volume 2 (link)

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 661: SWAG with Ralph Baric

September 10, 2020

Ralph Baric returns to TWiV to provide an update on the COVID-19 resurgence in the US, monoclonal antibodies, antiviral drugs, vaccines, immunity and reinfection, reopening schools, and what will happen this fall.

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

Guest: Ralph Baric

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Download TWiV 661 (70 MB .mp3, 116 min)
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Links for this episode

Broadly neutralizing sarbecovirus mAbs (bioRxiv) 15:33
Evaluation of mRNA-1273 in nonhuman primates (NEJM) 26:55
Bioavailable broad-spectrum antiviral inhibits SARS-CoV-2 (bioRxiv) 22:27
Mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 (bioRxiv) 50:12
READDI 56:15
Das Coronavirus summaries in English 1:04:57
ChAdOx1 vaccine trial halted (NY Times) 1:09:05
Impact of high frequency screening (medRxiv) 1:11:45
Letters read on TWiV 661 1:18:18
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 660: In case of emergency finish the trial

September 6, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, then we discuss decline of virus-specific bone marrow B cells within a year after influenza vaccination, the push to release SARS-CoV-2 vaccines before completion of phase 3 trials, and absence of evidence for infectious virus in aerosols.

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

Guest: Daniel Griffin

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Download TWiV 660 (95 MB .mp3, 159 min)
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Links for this episode

Convalescent plasma RCT (medRxiv) 18:15
Multicenter RCTs on corticosteroids for COVID-19 (JAMA) 19:24
Decline of influenza B cells a year after vaccine (Science) 54:55
Be ready to distribute vaccines 1 Nov (WPRI and NYTimes) 1:23:17
EUA during COVID-19: lessons (JAMA) 1:25:15
Not evidence for aerosol transmission (one and two) 1:43:16
Letters read on TWiV 660 35:43, 48:09, 1:50:13
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 659: Sloppy coronavirus immunity with Christian Drosten

September 3, 2020

Christian Drosten returns to TWiV to provide an update on the COVID-19 situation in Germany, and general thoughts on testing, immunity, vaccines, therapeutics, epidemiology, reopening schools, and what will happen this fall.