This Week in Virology

TWiV 634: 1000 hours of the sunlight of TWiV

July 2, 2020

TWiV reviews a new H1N1 swine influenza virus from China with pandemic potential, Ad5 vectored SARS-CoV-2 oral vaccine candidate, Operation Warp Speed vaccine candidates, FDA guidance on vaccine approval, and answer listener email.

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

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New swine flu with pandemic potential (BBC, PNAS) 12:18
Oral SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate (ClinicalOmics) 24:19
Operation Warp Speed (HHS) 31:24
ACTIV (NIH) 38:04
Development and licensure of COVID-19 vaccines (FDA) 41:39
Letters read on TWiV 634 53:45
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 633: Singapore viral

June 30, 2020

From DukeNUS Medical School, Vincent speaks with Ashley, Sheemei, Eng Eong and Dahai about their careers and their research on flaviviruses and sensing of viral RNA.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Sheemei Lok, Dahai Luo, Eng Eong Ooi, and Ashley St. John

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Dengue virus and endothelial permeability (J Clin Invest) 25:04, 36:30
Dengue virus morphological switch (PLoS Path) 49:27
Symptomatic yellow fever vaccine infections (Nat Med) 1:03:28
RNA recognition by RIG-I and MDA5 (Nucl Acids Res) 1:17:34
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 632: Countering a miasma of anti-think

June 28, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, then we review SARS-CoV-2 infections in non-humans, vesicular stomatitis in Kansas horses, and answer listener questions.

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

Guests: Daniel Griffin and Chuck Knirsch

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Download TWiV 632 (87 MB .mp3, 144 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 631: Lots of eggs in the spike basket

June 25, 2020

Vincent, Rich, and Brianne discuss a study estimating the fraction of symptoms and severe disease after SARS- CoV-2 infection, cellular immune responses without seroconversion during interfamilial infections, and answer listener email.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker

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Download TWiV 631 (72 MB .mp3, 119 min)
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Paul Offit interview (Human Vaccines Proj) 4:03
SARS-CoV-2 vaccine graphic (Milken Institute) 7:48
Probability of symptoms and severe COVID-19 (aRxiv) 29:44
Cellular immune response without seroconversion (medRxiv) 10:09
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 631 49:00
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 630: Singapore Environmental Health Institute

June 24, 2020

From the Environmental Health Institute in Singapore, Vincent speaks with Director Lee Ching Ng about their work to control viral infectious diseases, including the controlled release of mosquitoes containing Wolbachia endosymbionts to inhibit viral transmission.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Lee Ching Ng

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Download TWiV 630 (29 MB .mp3, 49 min)

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TWiV 629: Coronavirus update, pandemic sitrep

June 21, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, including analysis of the dexamethasone trial, and then we discuss two Ebolavirus outbreaks in DRC, clinical and virological aspects of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections, age-dependent effects on transmission, and answer listener email.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Alan Dove

Guests: Daniel Griffin and Chuck Knirsch

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Download TWiV 629 (95 MB .mp3, 158 min)
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Dexamethasone reduces COVID-19 deaths (U Oxford) 12:42
Assessment of asymptomatic COVID-19 (Nature Med) 58:20
Age-dependent effects on SARS-CoV-2 transmission (Nature Med) 1:08:08
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 629 33:21, 1:19:49
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 628: Physical distance for COVID-19

June 18, 2020

Vincent and Rich discuss the SARS-CoV-2 D614G amino acid change in the spike glyprotein, duration of infectious virus shedding from patients, virus transmission among hamsters infected in the laboratory, and tackle listener email.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

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Download TWiV 628 (68 MB .mp3, 113 min)

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 627: Singapore National Centre for Infectious Diseases

June 17, 2020

Vincent visits the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and speaks with Executive Director Leo Yee-Sin and Consultant Nancy Tee about the main hub for both clinical treatment of infectious diseases and outbreak management in Singapore.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Leo Yee-Sin and Nancy Tee

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Download TWiV 627 (54 MB .mp3, 91 min)
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Links for this episode

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 626: Ralph Baric and fancy ferrets

June 14, 2020

MicrobeTV condemns violence of any kind and will commit resources as an educational platform to support the African American community and people of color worldwide. Black Lives Matter, and our hearts, our support and our solidarity are with everyone who suffers from racial injustice. Human dignity starts with the singular premise that we are all the same, no matter our skin color, religion, sex, gender, or where we live. At all times and in all circumstances, people are entitled to respect, and humane treatment especially by those in position of authority. MicrobeTV says “no more” racism and we will work with educators, scientists and civil society globally to do what is in our power to end social injustice in all its forms.

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, then Ralph Baric joins TWiV to discuss SARS-CoV-2 transmission, vaccines, diagnostic tests, and a new animal model from his laboratory that does not use transgenic mice.

Note: Daniel’s update is in the audio only version of this episode.

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

Guests: Daniel Griffin, Chuck Knirsch, and Ralph Baric

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Download TWiV 626 (98 MB .mp3, 163 min)
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Links for this episode

Mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 model (bioRxiv) 1:14:36
SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine (bioRxiv) 1:32:36
ASM resources for #shutdownstem 1:55:38
President Obama on sustaining momentum for change (Facebook) 1:56:52
America After the Civil War (PBS) 1:59:09
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 626 25:09, 1:41:07, 2:02:35
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 625: Fred Murphy, virologist for all seasons

June 11, 2020

Vincent and Rich visit Fred Murphy to hear about his wide-ranging career in virology, spanning many institutions, involving dangerous viruses like rabies virus, Ebolavirus (he took that famous iconic image), Marburg virus, Lassa virus, coronaviruses, and later writing a history of the field.