This Week in Virology

TWiV 428: Lyse globally, protect locally

February 12, 2017

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

The TWiVsters explain how superspreader bacteriophages release intact DNA from infected cells, and the role of astrocytes in protecting the cerebellum from virus infection.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 428 (65 MB .mp3, 108 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Links for this episode

Nido2017 Meeting 5:05
Superspreader bacteriophages (mBio) 13:00
Astrocytes, interferon, and viral infection (JCI) 33:30
Viral disruption of blood brain barrier (Trends Micro)
On Warts by Lewis Thomas (pdf) 1:24:00
Letters read on TWiV 428 7:40, 1:17:55

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twiv 0:25, 30:55

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:29:45

Alan – Skulls Unlimited
Rich – Bernard Moss Reflection
Kathy – Why vaccines don’t cause autism
Dickson – Honomobo
Vincent – Trump vs FDA

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV Special: Vincent Munster on MERS-coronavirus and Ebolavirus

February 8, 2017

NIAID’s Vincent Munster, Ph.D., during a MERS-CoV field study in Jordan, August 2013.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Vincent Munster

At the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana, Vincent speaks with Vincent Munster about the work of his laboratory on MERS-coronavirus and Ebolaviruses.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV Special (34 MB .mp3, 56 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Links for this episode

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 427: It was a DURC and UV light

February 5, 2017

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

The TWiVoids discuss the March for Science, the GOF moratorium, and a classic virology paper on mapping the gene order for vesicular stomatitis virus.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 427 (59 MB .mp3, 98 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Links for this episode

ASM 2017 election is now open – VOTE HERE 3:50
ASM Election questions:
Scientists’ march is bad idea (NY Times) 19:40
GOF moratorium lifted (Archived White House) 23:30
VSV gene order (PNAS) 39:00
VSV gene order later (PNAS) 1:17:25
Letters read on TWiV 427 6:35, 1:19:15

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twiv 0:25, 35:20

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:24:50

Alan – Good Omen miniseries (book)
Kathy – How to cure earworms
Dickson – Exoplanets orbits
Vincent – Outbreak News Today

Listener Pick

Tom – The Smartest Protester

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 426: I’m Axl, and I’ll be your cervid today

January 29, 2017

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

The sages of TWiV explain how chronic wasting disease of cervids could be caused by spontaneous misfolding of prion protein, and the role of the membrane protein Axl in Zika virus entry into cells.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 426 (66 MB .mp3, 110 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Links for this episode

Register for ASV 2017 4:15
ASM 2017 election is now open – VOTE HERE 5:35
ASM Election questions:
Scientists March on Washington 7:25
Spontaneous generation of unique cervid strain (mSphere) 11:25
Zika virus entry into human glial cells via Axl (Cell Rep) 29:05
Article collections: PNAS, Cell, Nature, Virology 1:09:35
Letters read on TWiV 426 3:00, 7:25, 56:15

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twiv. 0:25, 25:40

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:26:55

Alan – Deerland by Al Cambronne
Kathy – You can’t unring a bell #1 and #2
Rich – Extra letters added to life’s genetic code (source) and The Doomsday Clock (wiki)
Vincent – Trump Science Advisors, National Parks Won’t Be Silenced

Listener Pick

Stefan – The Vital Question by Nick Lane
Kevin – Scientists March on Washington?
Dennis – Fractal Tree of Life

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 425: All picornaviruses, all the time

January 22, 2017

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

The TWiVaniellos discuss a thermostable poliovirus empty capsid vaccine, and two cell genes that act as a switch between entry and clearance of picornavirus infection.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 425 (65 MB .mp3, 107 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Links for this episode

Register for ASV 2017 5:30
ASM-ASV Conference on Interplay of Viral and Bacterial Pathogens 8:05
XKCD #242 35:45
Thermostable poliovirus empty capsid vaccine (PLoS Path) 19:55
Switch between viral entry and clearance (Nature) 42:40
Glass poliovirus by Jason Roberts
Letters read on TWiV 425 9:50, 1:08:05

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twiv. 0:25, 36:25

Weekly Science Picks 4:29:10

Alan – Medical lab whirligig
Dickson – Antarctica’s Colorful Underwater World
Kathy – Prince Rupert’s drops #1 and #2
Rich – Dylan’s 30th – Eric Clapton –Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration)
Vincent – Saving climate data and Public Good and Public Funding of Science

Listener Pick

Suellen – For the anti-vaccine people

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 424: FLERVergnügen

January 15, 2017

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

Guest: Trudy Rey

Trudy joins the the TWiVlords to discuss new tests for detecting prions in the blood, and evidence showing that foamy retroviruses originated in the seas with their jawed vertebrate hosts at least 450 million years ago.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 424 (67 MB .mp3, 111 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Links for this episode

Welcome omega tau to MicrobeTV 7:00
Register for ASV 2017 8:00
Oliver Smithies dies 11:35
Assays for prions in the blood (one, two) 23:40
Biosafety working on prions (Michigan State) 31:40
Marine origin of retroviruses in Palaeozoic era (Nature Comm) 47:50
Cancer Virus by Dorothy Crawford 1:09:55
Adenovirus and obesity (Int J Chronic Dis) 1:12:55
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 424 1:06:40

Weekly Science Picks 1:31:20

Trudy – Artist Jenni Viljaniemi
Alan – Radio Garden
Dickson – World’s First Green Energy Boat
Kathy – mSphereDirect video and web
Rich – Deathworld Trilogy by Harry Harrison
Vincent – Trump’s Vaccine Panel (NYTimes), Offit’s Response (Daily Beast), ASM Letter

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 423: Dry, well formed, and light brown

January 8, 2017

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

Guest: Jared Rice

The TWiV academia discuss induction of diarrhea by the capsid protein of an astrovirus, and association of a fungal RNA virus with white-nose syndrome of North American bats.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 423 (66 MB .mp3, 110 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Links for this episode

Register for ASV 2017 4:45
ASM-ASV Conference on Interplay of Viral and Bacterial Pathogens 6:55
Astrovirus capsid protein induces diarrhea (mBio) 15:55
Fungal virus associated with white-nose syndrome (PLoS Path) 37:35
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 423 8:05, 1:02:10

Weekly Science Picks 1:21:05

Alan – GPS visualizer
Dickson – James Webb Space Telescope and The Vertical Farm
Kathy – First Snowflake Photos (One and Two)
Rich – Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Vincent – Carrie Fisher Fought for the Rebel Alliance and Mental Health Awareness

Listener Pick

Ken – The Abate Lab
Sean – The Death of Expertise

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 422: Watching the icosahedron drop

January 1, 2017

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

The TWiVestigators wrap up 2016 with a discussion of the year’s ten compelling virology stories.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 422 (71 MB .mp3, 117 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiV!

Should auld infections be forgot
And never T-cells primed?
Will cross-reacting antigens
Protect the host next time?

Links for this episode

Register for ASV 2017 4:25
ASM-ASV Conference on Interplay of Viral and Bacterial Pathogens
Ten virology stories from 2016
- Zika virus (first covered in 2015, TWiV 368) 33:10
- Ebolavirus 44:45
- Eukaryotic genes in Wolbachia phage (TWiV 412) 54:40
- Harold “400” Varmus (TWiV 400) and many other guests 56:35
- Vaccines 59:15
- Mutualism 1:01:10
- Mosquitoes and viruses 1:05:35
- Vector victorious (TWiV 401) 1:07:55
- Animal models of virus infections 1:10:10
- Virus evolution 1:16:55
Current Zika virus infections (ECDC) 36:25
Early Zika virus infections in Hawaii (PLoS NTD) 39:00
Zika virus vaccine for whom? (NYTimes) 41:10
Final results for Ebola virus vaccine (Lancet) 48:25
Photo from Mohammad
Letters read on TWiV 422 6:00, 1:21:30

This episode is brought to you by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and nonfiction series from the world’s best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. 0:40, 1:19:45

Weekly Science Picks 1:41:15

Alan – North America’s Lost Medieval City
Dickson – New Views of Pillars of Creation
Kathy – Reilly Top Ten
Rich – Everyday Einstein
Vincent – Naples’ Sleeping Volcano Might Be Waking Up

Listener Pick

John – RadioLab: The Times They Are a-Changin’

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 421: Like flies on shot

December 25, 2016

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

Guest: Nathan Letts

The TWiVnauts present another example of an infectious but replication incompetent vaccine, an insect specific arborvirus bearing chikungunya virus structural proteins.