This Week in Virology

TWiV 424: FLERVergnügen

January 15, 2017

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Links for this episode

Register for ASV 2017 8:25
ASM-ASV Conference on Interplay of Viral and Bacterial Pathogens 10:25
Chikungunya virus vaccine using insect virus platform (Nat Med) 26:50
Ebola vaccine results (NYTimes, paper) 58:15
Letters read on TWiV 421 13:20, 1:05:00

Weekly Science Picks 1:33:10

Alan – Open Access Button
Dickson – National Geographic Photographs
Kathy – World’s Tiniest Radio Receiver
Nathan – Mutter Museum, Philadelphia
Vincent – How Rogue One is Connected to the Mac

Listener Pick

Sam – Cell Lab: Evolution Sandbox
Hannelore – Congressional Dish
Johnye – The Fungi in Your Future
Brendan – Zimmer on Longform podcast

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 420: Orthogonal vectors

December 18, 2016

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

The TWiV gurus describe how to use an orthogonal translation system to produce infectious but replication-incompetent influenza vaccines.

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Links for this episode

Register for ASV 2017 3:50
Local Zika virus transmission in Texas 21:05
Texaszika.org 21:40
Local dengue virus transmission in Texas (EID) 22:55
No more Zika virus transmission in Florida (FL DOH) 24:30
Dengue virus antibodies enhance Zika virus infection (Clin Trans Imm) 26:30
Infectious, replication incompetent influenza virus vaccine (Science) 27:25
Pyrrolysl-tRNA synthetase (Biochem Biophys Acta)
History of nonsense suppression (Stan Maloy) 36:00
Suppression of poliovirus amber mutant (Cell) 34:20, 36:35
Remembering mumps (PLoS Path) 1:21:40
Letters read on TWiV 420 7:10, 1:06:05

Weekly Science Picks 1:38:35

Alan – Superbugs game
Dickson – Dinosaur tail trapped in amber
Rich – Earth’s Rotation is Slowing (original article)
Kathy – Lithium Ion batteries (one and two)
Vincent – Truth and Lies in the Age of Trump (virology blog) and self driving Uber car

Listener Pick

Steve – New York City Street Tree Map
Justin – Transmissible vaccines?

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

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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Links for this episode

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

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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Links for this episode

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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Links for this episode

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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Download TWiV 417 (67 MB .mp3, 111 min)
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Links for this episode

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!).