This Week in Virology

TWiV 622: Nonhuman primate model for COVID-19 with Emmie de Wit

June 2, 2020

Emmie de Wit joins TWiV to explain her work on the pathogenesis of infection with SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques, including studies on remdesivir and vaccine candidate.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker

Guest: Emmie de Wit

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Download TWiV 622 (41 MB .mp3, 68 min)
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Links for this episode

Respiratory disease in macaques inoculated with SARS-CoV-2 (Nature) 17:48, 28:31
Clinical benefit of remdesivir in SARS-CoV-2 infected macaques (bioRxiv) 43:35
Remdesivir for MERS-CoV infection in macaques (PNAS) 24:30
ChAdOX1 vaccination for SARS-CoV-2 in macaques (bioRxiv) 57:57
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Kiki’s Comments
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 621: An era of COVID-19 poppycock

May 31, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, then we review an Ad5 vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, reports on remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine, a drug repurposing study, why some patients infect many others, reducing viral transmission, and much more, including listener email.

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

Guests: Daniel Griffin and Chuck Knirsch

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Download TWiV 621 (91 MB .mp3, 152 min)
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Safety of Ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine (Lancet) 43:04
Analysis of hydroxychloroquine use (Lancet) 50:14
Remdesivir study (NEJM) 52:55
Ancient COVID-19 history (MMWR) 55:06
Drug repurposing for COVID-19 (bioRxiv) 57:00
Why do few COVID-19 patients infect others? (Science) 1:00:57
Overdispersion in COVID-19 transmission (Wellcome Open Res) 1:05:13
Reducing airborne transmission (Science) 1:06:21
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Letters read on TWiV 621 31:54, 37:38, 41:09. 1:10:28
Kiki’s Comments
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees
Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 620: Antibodies and T cells in COVID-19 patients

May 29, 2020

Jon Yewdell returns to explain studies on detection of antibodies and T cell epitopes in patients who have recovered from COVID-19.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker

Guest: Jon Yewdell

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Download TWiV 620 (67 MB .mp3, 111 min)
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Links for this episode

T cell targets in COVID-19 patients (Cell) 4:42
SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion in humans (Nat Med) 55:36
Convergent antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection (bioRxiv) 1:05:13
Image credit
Kiki’s Comments
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 619: Recombination led to emergence of SARS-CoV-2

May 27, 2020

Raul Rabadan joins TWiV to explain the use of computational biology to demonstrate how recombination and mutation led to emergence of SARS-CoV-2.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker

Guest: Raul Rabadan

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Download TWiV 619 (43 MB .mp3, 72 min)
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Rabadan Laboratory 1:12
Understanding Coronavirus (Amazon) 3:56
Topological Data Analysis for Genomics and Evolution (Amazon) 5:23
Recombination and mutation shaped SARS-CoV-2 (bioRxiv) 29:57
Bat CoV with cleavage site insertion (Curr Biol) 54:19
Kiki’s Comments
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 618: Nipah virus at 20

May 26, 2020

From the Nipah Virus International Conference in Singapore, Vincent speaks with meeting participants about the history of the first Nipah virus outbreak, lessons learned from Hendra virus, surveillance of bats for viruses, and the development of a vaccine.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: John Mackenzie, Jon Epstein, Eun-Chung Park, and Linfa Wang

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Download TWiV 615 (35 MB .mp3, 58 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 617: Coronavirus Times

May 24, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, then we review TETRIS by Paterson NJ, modeling the effects of intervention in the US on cases and deaths, mixing PCR and serology data, and much more, including listener email.

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

Guest: Daniel Griffin

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Download TWiV 617 (91 MB .mp3, 152 min)
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Links for this episode

Playing tennis safely (USTA) 48:03
Scientists denounce end to CoV grant (NY Times) 50:17
ASMBMB denounces end to CoV grant (pdf) 51:01
For TETRIS, turn to Paterson NJ (NY Times) 53:49
NJ Dept of Health (image credit) 55:31
Differential effects of intervention timing (medRxiv and NY Times) 58:50
Texas to stop combining test results (Statesman) 1:02:43
How could CDC make that mistake? (Atlantic) 1:03:22
The Pandemic and Information Network (Columbia Journ Rev) 1:12:21
Helmet and tent (Science) 1:15:24
New song, old melody (Cell Host Microbe) 1:17:43
Letters read on TWiV 617 34:21, 53:27, 1:24:43
Kiki’s Comments
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 616: Singing about coronavirus

May 21, 2020

Vincent, Kathy and Rich discuss COVID-19 research paper overload, Moderna’s mRNA vaccine Phase I results, increase of ACE2 RNA by cigarette smoke, and answer listener questions.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Download TWiV 616 (62 MB .mp3, 103 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 615: Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance

May 19, 2020

Vincent speaks with Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting wildlife and public health from the emergence of disease.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Peter Daszak

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Download TWiV 615 (22 MB .mp3, 36 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 614: COVID Tetris – Test, trace, isolate

May 17, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, then we review results showing requirement for the furin site in the SARS-CoV-2 spike for replication, US state vaccine exemptions, concerns with a rapid diagnostic test, and answers to listener questions.

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

Guest: Daniel Griffin

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Download TWiV 614 (100 MB .mp3, 167 min)
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Links for this episode

Triple therapy for COVID-19 (Lancet) 33:47
Virology podcast goes viral (Thalia Gigerenzer) 45:22
Paul Stays Home (pdf) 48:30
Multibasic cleavage site essential for SARS-CoV-2 infection (Mol Cell) 51:01
Mumbai engulfed by CoV (NY Times) 58:13
All must be vaccinated (Stat) 1:00:23
FDA concerns with Abbott test (FDA) 1:03:11
How US lost 6 weeks (BBC) 1:11:26
Letters read on TWiV 614 26:35, 40:21, 1:12:22
Kiki’s comments
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 613: Jenner, vaccines, and COVID-19

May 14, 2020

Vincent, Kathy and Rich explain the Jenner Institute’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, the NIH decision to stop the Remdesivir study, and answer listener questions.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Download TWiV 613 (63 MB .mp3, 106 min)
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