This Week in Virology

TWiV 334: In vino virus

April 26, 2015

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

The TWiVles talk about endogenous viruses in plants, sex and Ebolavirus transmission, an outbreak of canine influenza in the US, Dr. Oz, and doubling the NIH budget.

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This episode is sponsored by SciMed Solutions and ASM Education.

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Weekly Science Picks 1:17:05

Alan – NIH RFI: How do we fix this mess?
Rich – Editing embryos (PopSci, Prot Cell)
Kathy – Creative class presentations (one, two, three, four)
Dickson – The most tornadoes
Vincent – Apollo 13, 45 years later (Ars, IEEE, Farewell)

Listener Pick of the Week

Johnye – Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka

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

TWiV 333: Naturally curious chimeras

April 19, 2015

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Ben Fensterheim, Megan Freeman, Bobak Parang, and Meredith Rogers

Vincent returns to Vanderbilt University and meets up with Ben, Megan, Bobak, and Meredith to learn about life in the Medical Scientist Training Program.

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Links for this episode

MTGR1 and intestinal secretory lineage allocation (Faseb J) 27:50
Coronaviruses induce macropinocytosis (mBio) 36:30
PD-1 and respiratory virus reinfection (J Immunol) 42:50
Vanderbilt MSTP on Facebook
Video of this episode: view above or at YouTube

Timestamps by Jennifer.

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

TWiV 332: Vanderbilt virology

April 12, 2015

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Seth Bordenstein, James Crowe, and Mark Denison

Vincent visits Vanderbilt University and meets up with Seth, Jim, and Mark to talk about their work on a virus of Wolbachia, anti-viral antibodies, and coronaviruses.

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Links for this episode

SARS-CoV error correction (PLoS Path) 19:00
Marburg virus neutralization by a human antibody (Cell one and two) 56:35
Phage WO, Wolbachia and Drosophila (Peer J) 1:02:00
Seth’s blog Symbionticism 1:31:30
Seth on Twitter
Video of this episode: view above or at YouTube

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

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

TWiV 331: Why is this outbreak different from all other outbreaks?

April 5, 2015

Enterovirus D68 by Jason Roberts

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

The TWiV team discusses the possible association of the respiratory pathogen enterovirus D68 with neurological disease.

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Download TWiV 331 (98 MB .mp3, 136 min)
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This episode is sponsored by SciMed Solutions and ASM Education.

Links for this episode

Clusters of AFP associated with enterovirus D68 (Lancet) 31:35
Novel outbreak enterovirus D68 strain (Lancet Inf Dis) 53:00
Enterovirus D68 in Norway (Euro Surveill) 1:12:00
Unknown enemy (Nature) 1:10:40
Enterovirus D68 on TWiV 302
Letters read on TWiV 331 8:00, 1:23:50

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Weekly Science Picks 1:53:50

Alan – OU0POLIO ham radio special event station (on air reports)
Rich – Crane building itself (YouTube)
Kathy – Vaccine heroes LEGO project
Dickson – Life at the limits
Vincent – Emperor of all Maladies film and Conference gender balance

Listener Pick of the Week

Jake – Designing useful microbes

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

TWiV 330: A swinging gate

March 29, 2015

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

The TWiVers explain how a protein platform assists the hepatitis C virus RNA polymerase to begin the task of making viral genomes.

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Links for this episode

NYAS Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program 9:25
Concerns about editing the human germline (Science, Nature) 29:10
Engineering the perfect baby (MIT Tech Rev)
RNA recognition by HCV polymerase (Science) 37:15
Kickstarting an RNA polymerase (Science)
A protein platform for priming (virology blog) 42:00
Apoenzyme and holoenzyme (Wikibooks)
Ebolavirus will not become a respiratory pathogen (virology blog) 1:24:58
Burkholderia pseudomallei (CDC) 1:17:45
Letters read on TWiV 330 3:45 and 1:04:38

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Weekly Science Picks 1:32:25

Alan – X-Flare 2.1 captured
Rich – Volvo ocean race drops research buoys (YouTube)
Kathy – Nature double-blind peer review
Dickson – Largest cave in the world
Vincent – New program for early-career scientists

Listener Pick of the Week

Michael – Space Engine and Kerbal Space Program
Varun CN – Incognito by David Eagleman

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

TWiV 329: Pox in the balance

March 22, 2015

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

The TWiV team reviews identification of immune biomarkers in CFS/ME patients, and how a cell nuclease controls the innate immune response to vaccinia virus infection.

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Download TWiV 329 (79 MB .mp3, 110 min)
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Links for this episode

Immune signatures in ME/CFS (Science Adv) 11:15
Systemic exertion intolerance disease (Lancet) 19:50
Cell nuclease controls anti-viral responses (Cell Host Micr) 25:10
Poxvirus decapping enzymes prevent innate responses (Cell Host Micr) 1:15:40
Caps off to poxviruses (Cell Host Micr)
Drummer Mohr (YouTube) 1:24:05
Bornavirus in squirrel breeders (ProMedMail) 1:28:45
Principles of Microbial Diversity 5:30
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education 1:24:25
Cross-stitch by Anne Marie 1:34:40
Letters read on TWiV 329 1:25:00

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Weekly Science Picks 1:35:10

Alan – NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory video
Rich – Mutagenic chain reaction (Video: Genome editing with CRISPR)
Kathy – Science Ambassadors Program
Dickson – Street Art
Vincent – End Polio Now

Listener Pick of the Week

Ross – Three PhD Comics on Nature vs Science (one, two, three)
Ricardo – Demographic Party Trick

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

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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Download TWiV 328 (67 MB .mp3, 92 min)
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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.