This Week in Virology

TWiV 638: Do, there is no try

July 12, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, then Viviana Simon joins to review serological assays developed at Mt. Sinai for SARS-CoV-2 infection, tracking the outbreak in NYC, and listener questions.

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

Guests: Viviana Simon, Daniel Griffin and Chuck Knirsch

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Download TWiV 638 (99 MB .mp3, 164 min)
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Links for this episode

Serological assay for SARS-CoV-2 infection (Nat Med) 44:29
Early spread of SARS-CoV-2 in NYC (Science) 56:42
Seroconversion of a city (medRxiv) 55:08
Immune response and PCR positivity of NYC cohort (medRxiv) 52:48
Letters read on TWiV 638 25:53, 1:29:53
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!
Kiki’s Comments

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 637: Clearing the fog of ignorance

July 9, 2020

In this episode, approval of an Ad5 vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for the military in China, description and clinical trials of a Novavax vaccine joining Operation Warp Speed, prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Spain, shedding and transmissibility of the virus, and listener email.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Download TWiV 637 (66 MB .mp3, 109 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 636: Georgia State viral

July 7, 2020

From Georgia State University, Vincent speaks with Chris, Andrew, Priya, and Richard about their careers and their work on Ebolaviruses, rotavirus, and antiviral drug development.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Chris Basler, Andrew Gewirtz, Priya Luthra, and Richard Plemper

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Download TWiV 636 (68 MB .mp3, 113 min)
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Mutant Ebolavirus lacks virulence (Cell Rep) 23:55
Blocking Ebolavirus replication by depleting nucleoside pools (Antiviral Res) 35:19
Herd immunity against bad actor molecules (PloS Path) 1:00:17
Bacteria prevent and cure rotavirus infection (Cell) 1:24:09
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 635: Mask hysteria

July 5, 2020

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, then we review SARS-CoV-2 shedding in children, how to resume school safely, the need for widespread testing and wearing face masks, and much more, including listener email.

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

Guests: Daniel Griffin and Chuck Knirsch

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Download TWiV 635 (92 MB .mp3, 153 min)
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Links for this episode

Understanding Coronavirus by Raul Rabadan (Amazon) 42:47
Infectious SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharynx of youth (Emerg Inf Dis) 57:17
SARS-CoV-2 viral load by patient age (Hosp Charité) 1:02:37
Viral load in children with COVID-19 (Emerg Inf Dis) 55:17
Role of children in SARS-CoV-2 transmission (virology blog) 55:02
Letters read on TWiV 635 27:37, 53:12, 1:20:10
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

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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Download TWiV 634 (72 MB .mp3, 120 min)
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Links for this episode

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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Download TWiV 633 (56 MB .mp3, 93 min)
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Links for this episode

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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Links for this episode

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.