This Week in Virology

TWiV 528: Our annual recapsidation

January 6, 2019

In the first episode for 2019, the TWiV team reviews the amazing virology stories of the past year.

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

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Download TWiV 528 (77 MB .mp3, 128 min)
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Links for this episode

Please take the TWiV listener survey 4:40
ASV 2019 Satellite Symposia
Crowdfunding for EV-D68 research 10:37
TWiV World Tour 2018 t-shirt (Amazon) 20:58
Cool virology from 2018 22:42
- Viruses behind AD? TWiV 505, TWiV 519, clinical trial one and two 22:52
- Wolbachia-mosquito release halts dengue (TWiV 506); World Mosquito Program 27:53
- Evolutionary history of RNA viruses: TWiV 491 and TWiV 526 32:43
- Horsepox as ancestral smallpox vaccine, including synthesis: TWiV 478 35:47
- Ebola continues: TWiV 494, TWiV 495, TWiV 505, TWiV 507, TWiV 515, TWiV 482 40:42
- Clues to many mysteries: TWiV 481, TWiV 484, TWiV 493, TWiV 515, TWiV 522 52:49
- Pro-vaccination: TWiV 500, TWiV 496, TWiV Special; measles in Ukraine and Europe 59:54
- Outbreak influence: TWiV 501, TWiV 527, TWiV 520, TWiV 507, TWiV 504 1:07:20
- Insect viruses and immunity: TWiV 525, TWiV 524, TWiV 522, TWiV 495, TWiV 485, TWiV 482, TWiV 479 1:09:32
- Big RNA virus genomes (TWiV 509) and Giant viruses: TWiV 490, TWiV 506, TWiV 521, TWiV 484 1:16:32
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 528 1:25:14
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:39:10

Alan – Pandemic Trail game
Rich – On a Bat’s Wing and a Prayer
Dickson – Decoding Watson
Kathy – Phenotypic variation in outbred and inbred mice
Vincent – Trump County Confronts the Administration Amid Rash of Child Cancers

Listener Pick

Anne – Peter Hotez interview
Islam – Letter from Crick to Watson (pdf)

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 527: City mouse, country mouse

December 30, 2018

The TWiV team summarizes the discovery of Sin Nombre virus, and presents evidence that neurotropic flaviviruses can cause intestinal dysmotility syndromes after systemic infection of mice.

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

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Download TWiV 527 (53 MB .mp3, 87 min)
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Links for this episode

Please take the TWiV listener survey 2:02
ASV 2019 Satellite Symposia 3:24
Crowdfunding for EV-D68 research 5:10
Outbreak (exhibit, TWiV 501) 7:50
Four Corners hantavirus outbreak (Wikipedia) 8:49
Death at the Corner (Atlantic) 13:50
Hantavirus infection by US state (CDC) 18:45
Hantavirus US cases and mortality (CDC)
Hantavirus international cases (CDC) 19:42
Belmont hantavirus death (NYTimes) 21:33
Intestinal dysmotility following flavivirus infection of mice (Cell) 28:34
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 527 7:09, 1:02:51
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:09:58

Alan – Zooming in to Sagittarius A, ESO video
Rich – Orbits and Ice Ages: A History of Climate
Dickson – National Geographic Best Photos 2018
Kathy – HealthMap Vaccine Finder
Vincent – Taylor Custom

Listener Pick

Neal – The Yoda of Silicon Valley

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 526: In the beginning there was pol

December 23, 2018

The TWiV hosts discuss the distribution of prions in the eyes of patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, and the origins and evolution of RNA viruses.

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

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Download TWiV 526 (63 MB .mp3, 104 min)
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Weekly Science Picks 1:32:39

Alan – Population mountains to visualize cities
Rich – A Neanderthal Perspective on Human Origins with Svante Pääbo
Kathy – NASA Space Mission posters
Vincent – Package Thief vs Glitter Bomb Trap

Listener Pick

Neal – Was a Scientist Jailed?

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV Special: Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism

December 19, 2018

Vaccine scientist, pediatrician, and autism dad Peter Hotez talks about his new book, Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Peter Hotez

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Download TWiV Special (12 MB .mp3, 19 min)
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Links for this episode

Peter Hotez at Baylor College of Medicine 00:35
Peter Hotez on Twitter 18:21
Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism (Amazon) 00:50
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 525: The A Bee Cs of bee viruses

December 16, 2018

Bee research in the Flenniken lab. MSU photo by Kelly Gorham

Michelle Flenniken joins TWiV to talk about honeybees and the work of her laboratory on honeybee viruses.

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

Guest: Michelle Flenniken

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Download TWiV 525 (60 MB .mp3, 99 min)
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Links for this episode

MSU Pollinator Health Center 3:18
Honeybee antiviral defenses (Sci Rep) 54:19
The buzz about honeybee viruses (PLoS Path)
Recently identified bee viruses (Curr Op Insect Sci) 51:54
Videos on honey bee research at MSU, honey bee pathogens, honey bee pathogen detection (YouTube) 1:20:57
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:23:35

Michelle – First 21 days of a bee’s life; NPR’s Hidden Brain; Varroa destructor triggers deformed wing virus in bees
Brianne – Flu Near You
Alan – Skype a Scientist program
Rich – NASA’s Voyager 2 Probe Enters Interstellar Space
Kathy – Which ones are bees? And What it feels like to be a bee
Vincent – Fecal sequencing and Vaccines did not cause Rachel’s autism by Peter Hotez

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

Photos of Bee Research in the Flenniken Lab

MSU photos by Kelly Gorham

TWiV 524: Slicing and dicing with Raul

December 12, 2018

Raul Andino joins Vincent and Amy to talk about the finding that a cricket paralysis virus protein restricts RNA-based immunity in insects by regulating the activity and stability of the Argonaute protein.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Amy Rosenfeld

Guest: Raul Andino

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Download TWiV 524 (46 MB .mp3, 76 min)
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Links for this episode

TWiV 138: RISCy business with Raul Andino 1:26
TWiV 33: Live in Philly 1:11
Viral protein restricts insect immunity (Cell Host Micr) 15:21, 27:14
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:06:28

Amy – Insectropolis
Vincent – Genome-edited baby

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 523: Virology in Zürich

December 9, 2018

At the University of Zürich, Vincent speaks with virologists Cornel Fraefel, Urs Greber, and Silke Stertz about their careers and their work on AAV2, adenovirus entry, and influenza virus.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Cornel Fraefel, Urs Greber, and Silke Stertz

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Download TWiV 523 (47 MB .mp3, 77 min)
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Links for this episode

AAV2 and HSV1 co-infections (J Virol) 19:36
Movies of HeLa Fucci cells (J Virol) 19:55
Cathepsin W and influenza virus entry (mBio) 37:28
Plaque 2.0 (PLoS One) 1:01:49
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 522: Readers of the lost ORF

December 2, 2018

The TWiVsters review isolation of a naturally occurring DNA virus from fruit flies, and the cell-type specific function of a small transmembrane protein encoded in an open reading frame upstream of the enterovirus polyprotein.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Download TWiV 522 (65 MB .mp3, 107 min)
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Links for this episode

Genome-edited babies (Nature) 6:25
Second CRISPR pregnancy? (MIT Tech Rev) 17:34
Naturally occurring DNA virus of Drosophila (PLoS Path) 24:47
Upstream protein coding region in enterovirus genome (Nat Micro) 50:58
We missed it in 1988! (J Virol) 1:11:36
Letters read on TWiV 522 20:46, 1:18:39
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:32:20

Alan – $40 internationally standard cup of tea
Rich – Mars InSight Mission
Dickson – New York Botanical Garden Train Show (his photos here)
Kathy – Comedy wildlife photo awards finalists
Vincent – Senator Gillibrand calls for funding AFM research and our Crowdsourcing of EV-D68 research

Listener Pick

Fernando – Pathfinders by Felipe Fernández-Armesto; Erebus by Michael Palin

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 521: Spitting in the Allee

November 25, 2018

Team TWiV cover the discovery of another giant virus from 30,000 year old Siberian permafrost, and how viral aggregation accelerates the production of new infectious viruses and increases fitness, demonstrating an Allee effect.

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

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Download TWiV 521 (69 MB .mp3, 114 min)
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Links for this episode

PhD and postdoctoral programs at Dept of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 3:00
30,000 year old Mollivirus sibericum (PNAS) 21:00
Aggregating viruses promotes early replication (Curr Biol) 57:13
Letters read on TWiV 521 4:29
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:28:08

Brianne – Why don’t we have vaccines against everything?
Rich – Golden Globe Race
Dickson – The Anatomy of Figure Drawing by Robert Demarest and Warder Clyde Allee
Kathy – Orientation of the moon’s appearance, Southern Hemisphere
Vincent – Paul has Measles in English and Spanish

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 520: This old mouse

November 18, 2018

The TWiVidae review universal influenza vaccines that are in clinical trials, and discovery of an atypical parvovirus that causes chronic kidney disease in middle aged, immunocompromised laboratory mice.

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

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Download TWiV 520 (70 MB .mp3, 116 min)
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Become a patron of TWiV!

Links for this episode

PhD and postdoctoral programs at Dept of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 4:47
MSc program Molecular Biology and Pathology of Viruses, Univ College London 6:04
Virology Comics on sale (Amazon) 7:15
Outbreak at the Smithsonian 19:53
NIAID strategic plan for universal influenza vaccine 22:39
Fauci article on universal influenza vaccine (J Inf Dis) 22:51
Severe 2017-18 flu season (CDC) 24:04
Progress on universal influenza vaccine (The Scientist) 25:51
Influenza vaccine is safe for those with egg allergies (virology blog) 38:01
Atypical parvovirus drives mouse kidney disease (Cell) 51:16
Contagious Thinking: Visible Viruses AR app 1:31:15
Letters read on TWiV 520 10:10, 51:18, 1:24:25
Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!