This Week in Virology

TWiV 419: The selfless gene

December 11, 2016

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

The TWiVrific gang reveal how integration of a virophage into the nuclear genome of a marine protozoan enhances host survival after infection with a giant virus.

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Microcephaly associated with Zika virus infection in Colombia (MMWR) 17:45
Virophage genome integration and activation by superinfection (Nature) 20:00
Don Nelson interview (pdf) 51:26
Page view and h index for paper rank (PLoS One) 1:11:25
Credit for image of C. roenbergensis
Letters read on TWiV 419 7:30, 47:35, 51:05

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.

Weekly Science Picks 1:26:00

Alan – Lab Wars
Dickson – Star in a Jar Fusion Reactor
Rich –You’re a Bee. This is What it Feels Like.
Kathy – List of Potential Predatory Journals
Vincent – CRISPR Patent Trial Begins

Listener Pick

Drake – Spinzall
Katreya – Periodic Videos
Pritesh – Smallpox in mummy

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 418: Of mice and MERS

December 4, 2016

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

The TWiVsters describe a new animal model for MERS coronavirus-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome, produced by CRISPR/Cas9 editing of the mouse gene encoding an ortholog of the virus receptor.

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New mouse model for MERS (Nat Micro) 10:15
RNA-guided genome engineering (Science) 23:50
Photo by Finny
Letters read on TWiV 418 3:40, 47:10

This show is sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable , yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. This Holiday season give someone a Drobo to keep all their files and memories safe forever. TWiV listeners can save 20% or more off of their purchase of a Drobo 5D, Drobo 5Dt, Drobo 5N, or any 8-drive or 12-drive system at www.drobostore.com by December 31, 2016 using discount code MICROBE20. 0:50, 1:06:20

Weekly Science Picks 42:25, 1:29:20

Alan – Human population through time
Dickson – Every Orbit Cassini Has Taken
Rich – OK GO: Walk Her Walk
Kathy – Medieval Bestiary Online
Vincent – Can You Out-Science an Eighth Grader? and Stitchen Pox (jpg)

Listener Pick

Hannah – Bioart and Bacteria

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV Special: Gary Nabel on World AIDS Day 2016

December 1, 2016

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Gary Nabel

Vincent speaks with Gary Nabel, Chief Scientific Officer at Sanofi and former Director of the Vaccine Research Institute of NIAID, about his career and his work on HIV vaccines.

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World AIDS Day
Video of this interview (YouTube)

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 417: O is the loneliest letter

November 27, 2016

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

The Fellowship of the Virus trace the early history of HIV in North America, based on genome sequences obtained from late 1970s archival sera, which also reveal that Gaetan Dugas was not Patient Zero.

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WHO: Zika virus is no longer a PHEIC 6:00
World AIDS Day 5:30
Early HIV/AIDS history in North America (Nature) 14:50
Dugas was not AIDS patient zero (virology blog) 24:45
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 417 30:15

Check out the graduate and postdoctoral programs at the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Deadline for applying to the graduate program is 1 December 2016. For more information about the Department, please visit http://bit.ly/micromssm 4:30

Weekly Science Picks 1:35:50

Alan – VP8SGI
Dickson – New leaf-shaped spider discovered
Rich – Dance of Earth and Venus About the Sun
Kathy – Cultivar Series, Mutatoes, Uli Westphal site
Vincent – Kung Fu Mantis vs Jumping Spider

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 416: Scattered seeds dormant

November 20, 2016

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

The multi-dimensional TWiV-brane brings you the entries in the haiku/limerick contest, and explain how a giant virus infects a host within another host (it has to do with predators!).

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Predators allow virus infection of endosymbiont (PNAS) 39:45
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 416 34:55, 59:55

Weekly Science Picks 1:51:00

Alan – Cubes in Space
Dickson – The Architecture of Eden by H. Pearlman and A. Whalley
Rich – Studying the building blocks of life in stereo (original paper)
Kathy – Ancient bottom wipes yield evidence of diseases (original paper)
Vincent – Iguana vs snakes

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 415: Ebola pipettors and the philosopher’s clone

November 13, 2016

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

Guests: Jeremy Luban, Aaron Lin, and Ted Diehl

Jeremy, Aaron, and Ted join the TWiV team to discuss their work on identifying a single amino acid change in the Ebola virus glycoprotein from the West African outbreak that increases infectivity in human cells.

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Ebola virus glycoprotein with increased infectivity (Cell) 6:45
Effect in cells of Ebola virus mutations from West African outbreak (Cell) 57:40, 1:05:00, 1:18:25
Ebola virus in semen for over 500 days (Clin Inf Dis) 1:02:20
Puzzling origins of 2014 Ebola virus outbreak (J Virol)
Mutant Ebola virus may have caused explosive outbreak (Goats and Soda)
Virus Genomics and Evolution website 1:34:00

Weekly Science Picks 1:36:30

Jeremy – Real time tracking of Ebola virus evolution
Ted – The Brain Scoop
Aaron – Kate Rubins sequencing DNA on ISS (video)
Alan – A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
Rich – Vendee Globe
Kathy – Axios
Vincent – Vendors from above by Loes Heerinck

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 414: Zika in the guys with Diamond

November 6, 2016

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Michael Diamond

Michael Diamond visits the TWiV studio to talk about chikungunya virus and his laboratory’s work on a mouse model of Zika virus, including the recent finding of testicular damage caused by viral replication.

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Chikungunya virus chronic joint disease caused by adaptive response (J Virol) 11:55
Mouse model of Zika virus pathogenesis (Cell Host Micr) 37:50
Zika virus infection during mouse pregnancy (Cell) 36:20
Zika virus infection damages mouse testes (Nature) 40:25
Uveitis and Zika virus in tears in mice (Cell Rep) 59:45

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 413: Partnerships not parachutes

October 30, 2016

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Paul Duprex

Guests: Ralph Baric, Felix Drexler, Marion Koopmans, and Stacey Schultz-Cherry

From the EIDA2Z conference at Boston University, Vincent, Alan and Paul meet up with Ralph Baric, Felix Drexler, Marion Koopmans, and Stacey Schultz-Cherry to talk about discovering, understanding, protecting, and collaborating on emerging infectious diseases.

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EIDA2Z meeting 2:25
MERS-CoV infection of Alpaca (EID) 46:55
Origins of HAV in small mammals (PNAS) 34:30
WHO recommendations on influenza vaccine composition 21:45, 33:45
Collaborative Cross mice 58:35
Video of this episode at YouTube

This episode is also brought to you by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more. Listeners can save $100 on a Drobo system at drobostore.com by using the discount code Microbe100. 55:10

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 412: WO, open the borders and rig the infection

October 23, 2016

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

Guest: Mark Fuccio

The TWiVome reveal the first eukaryotic genes found in a bacteriophage of Wolbachia, and how DNA tumor virus oncogenes antagonize sensing of cytoplasmic DNA by the cell.

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Links for this episode

Zika virus in vaginal secretions (EID) 20:20
Zika virus in semen (EID) 23:45
Eukaryotic genes in a bacteriophage (Nat Commun) 29:35
Seth Bordenstein on TWiV 332 29:55
DNA tumor virus oncogenes antagonize cGAS-STING (Science) 47:15
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 412 1:19:10

Weekly Science Picks 1:47:35

Mark – EFN Enterprise Futures Network and Mission Log Podcast
Alan – 2016 Wildlife Comedy Photography
Rich – ZuTA, portable robotic printer
Kathy – How LEGO help blind people see
Vincent – Airplane photos of Mike Kelley

Listener Pick

Hannah – Frozen Flow Glass (Instagram)

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 411: Chicken runs

October 16, 2016

Drawing by Strummer

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

The TWiVeroos examine a reverse spillover of Newcastle disease virus vaccines into wild birds, and identification of a protein cell receptor for murine noroviruses.