This Week in Virology

TWiV 328: Lariat tricks in 3D

March 15, 2015

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

The TWiVocateurs discuss how the RNA polymerase of enteroviruses binds a component of the splicing machinery and inhibits mRNA processing.

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Links for this episode

Viral polymerase binds Prp8 to inhibit mRNA splicing (PLoS Path)
Prp8 protein of the spliceosome (RNA)
Nuclear entry of poliovirus RdRp (Virol)
RNA processing (TWiV 216)
Measles in USA (CDC)
Principles of Microbial Diversity
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Letters read on TWiV 328

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Positively Negative (PLoS One)
Rich – ISS assembly (YouTube)
Kathy – Ancient trees
Dickson – Carolyn Porco
Vincent – Tony Fauci on Ebola outbreak (YouTube)

Listener Pick of the Week

David – Shot by Shot
Judi – The Power of Herd Immunity

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 327: Does a gorilla shift in the woods?

March 8, 2015

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

The eTWiVicators review evidence that the HIV-1 group O epidemic began with a single cross-species transmission of virus from western lowland gorillas.

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Links for this episode

Traces of ATCV-1 associated with laboratory contamination (PNAS)
ATCV-1 findings not explained by contamination (PNAS)
Origin of HIV-1 group O epidemic in western lowland gorillas (PNAS)
INNO-LIA
Principles of Microbial Diversity
Image credit: John
Letters read on TWiV 327

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – California bill to eliminate personal vaccine exemptions
Rich – Kepler observatory (Kepler-186f)
Kathy – USGS disease map
Dickson – Philosphy of Microbiology by Maureen O’Malley
Vincent – Nautilus

Listener Pick of the Week

Ken – Life in our phage world (online, book party); All about that base
Neal – Gilles van Cutsem at CROI
Ricardo – Flow hive

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 326: Giving HIV a flat tyr

March 1, 2015

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

The sternutating TWiVers discuss preventing infection of cells and animals by a soluble CD4-CCR5 molecule that binds to HIV-1 virus particles.

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Links for this episode

Dif-tor heh smusma (NY Times)
Immunization preterm premature infants (Thanks, Johnye!)
HIV and SHIV protection conferred by eCD4-Ig (Nature)
Tyrosine sulfation (Wikipedia)
GBV-C and Ebolavirus infection (J Virol)
Letters read on TWiV 326

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Toms River by Dan Fagin
Rich – Spin by Robert Charles
Vincent – FCC votes for net neutrality (ArsTechnica)

Listener Pick of the Week

Neal – Why doesn’t everyone get the flu vaccine?
Fernando – Zombie Jonas Salk hunts idiots
Neva – Physicists in biology

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 325: Wildcats go viral

February 22, 2015

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Rollie Clem and Lorena Passarelli

Vincent visits the ‘Little Apple’ and speaks with Rollie and Lorena about their work on mosquito-born viruses and baculoviruses.

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TWiV 325

TWiV 324: Viruses in the miR may appear more numerous

February 15, 2015

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

Guest: Lee Feinman

Lee joins the TWiV team to discuss the value of post-doctoral training, and how a cellular microRNA assists in the replication of hepatitis C virus.

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Links for this episode

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
Immunization of preterm infants (Dev Period Med)
miR-122 alters HCV translation-replication balance (Cell Host Micr)
Holding a miR to HCV (TWiV 180)
Treating hepatitis C by blocking miR-122 (virology blog)
Click chemistry (Wikipedia)
Image credit
Ebolavirus sitrep (WHO)
Letters read on TWiV 324

Weekly Science Picks

Lee – Furthering America’s Research and Upgoer five and six
Alan – Best snow shovel
Rich – Ripple tank
Kathy – Fractals
Dickson – World Press Photo Contest 2015
Vincent – What to do about antivax politicians and physicians

Listener Pick of the Week

Patricia – Future of Bioscience Graduate & Postdoc training
Paul – This is my son Griffin, and he may have measles

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 323: A skid loader full of viromes

February 8, 2015

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

The family TWiVidae discuss changes in the human fecal virome associated with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

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Links for this episode

Enteric virome changes in inflammatory bowel disease (Cell)
Gov. Christie stumbles on vaccination (NY Times)
Anti-vax psychology (NPR)
Vaccine skeptic changes her mind (NPR)
Ebolavirus sitrep (WHO)
Letters read on TWiV 323

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Sitesucker
Rich – Snake picked wrong dinner
Dickson – Sapporo Snow Festival
Vincent – Mapping NYC subway DNA

Listener Pick of the Week

Gretchen – Scientific way to cut a cake
Leslie – Principles of Virology, Second Edition

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 322: Postcards from the edge of the membrane

February 1, 2015

infectious inbox Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

The TWiVodes answer listener email about hantaviruses, antivirals, H1N1 vaccine and narcolepsy, credibility of peer review, Bourbon virus, influenza vaccine, careers in virology, and much more.

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Links for this episode

Bourbon virus (NY Times)
Thogotovirus (ViralZone)
Drug induced apoptosis and HIV infection (PLoS One)
Mumps cases and outbreaks (CDC)
Opossums as pets? (doc)
Cat found
Letters read on TWiV 322

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Boom by Tony Horowitz
Kathy – Octopus supermom
Dickson – Macrophotography
Vincent – Virology lectures 2015 (virology blog and YouTube)

Listener Pick of the Week

Paul – Illsville: Fight the Disease
Ramon – Vaccinate! Do it for the testicles
Sandra – Who can you trust?

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 321: aTRIP and a pause

January 25, 2015

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

Guest: Paul Duprex

Paul joins the TWiV team to discuss the current moratorium on viral research to alter transmission, range and resistance, infectivity and immunity, and pathogenesis.

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Links for this episode

Wain-Hobson objects (one, two, three, four)
Influenza H7N1 transmission experiments (J Virol)
Epistemological perspective on aTRIP experiments (mBio)
Limited scientific value and risk (mBio)
Reply to limited scientific value (mBio)
Risks and benefits of aTRIP experiments (mBio)
Apocalypse as rhetorical device in aTRIP debate (mBio)
Moratorium on aTRIP experiments
Moratorium on aTRIP research (mBio)
Risks of influenza virus transmission experiments (mBio)
Reply to risks of influenza virus transmission experiments (mBio)
Vagueness of moratorium on aTRIP experiments (mBio)
Role of aTRIP experiments in vaccine recommendation (mBio)
Use of aTRIP data for surveillance and preparedness (mBio)
aTRIP towards lexiconic precision (mBio)
October 2014 NSABB meeting on aTRIP
NAS aTRIP meeting (YouTube)
MERS-CoV aTRIP experiments exempted (ScienceInsider)
aTRIP: time for a debate (Nat Rev Micro)
Effect of aTRIP moratorium on trainee plans (mBio)
Make the moratorium permanent (Sci Am)
Image credit: John Morris
Letters read on TWiV 321

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Paul – Saving the lives of our dogs (blog post)
Kathy – New all-female Lego set
Dickson – Female storm-chaser
Vincent – Despommier Photo Art

Listener Pick of the Week

Jacob – Exaggeration in news and press releases (BMJ)
Peter – Quartet game (photos: one, two, three, four, five)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 320: Retroviruses and cranberries

January 18, 2015

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: John Coffin

Vincent speaks with John Coffin about his career studying retroviruses, including working with Howard Temin, endogenous retroviruses, XMRV, chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer, HIV/AIDS, and his interest in growing cranberries.