This Week in Virology

TWiV 381: Add viruses and Zimmer

March 20, 2016

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

Carl Zimmer joins the TWiV team to talk about his career in science writing, the real meaning of copy-paste, science publishing, the value of Twitter, preprint servers, his thoughts on science outreach, and much more.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 381 (86 MB .mp3, 119 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

This episode is sponsored by ASV 2016 and ASM Agar Art Contest 5:20, 1:45:55

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:47:15

Carl – Surprising benefit of viral DNA
Alan – Global ship traffic
Dickson – Music with 2000 marbles
Vincent – The whiteboard revolution
Kathy – How to interpret UK and American advisors
Rich – Carina Storrs, science writer

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 380: Viruses visible in le microscope photonique

March 13, 2016

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

The TWiVeroos deliver the weekly Zika Report, then talk about a cryoEM structure of a plant virus that reveals how the RNA genome is packaged in the capsid, and MIMIVIRE, a CRISPR-like defense system in giant eukaryotic viruses.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 380 (80 MB .mp3, 110 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode

First worms, then viruses, now dormant cyber pathogens (Zdziarski blog) 9:40
Guillain-Barré with Zika virus in urine (Eurosurveillance) 13:35
Zika virus in urine, Brazil (J Clin Virol) 17:00
Zika in pregnant women in Rio (NEJM) 20:40
Issues with NEJM pregnant women study (Epi-Ramble) 25:20
Zika virus and meningoencephalitis (NEJM) 26:50
Zika virus and acute myelitis (Lancet) 28:50
Person to person transmission of Zika virus (MMWR) 31:45
Pyrethroids and mouse microcephaly 34:35
Zika virus illustrations (Visual Science) 38:55
Cowpea mosaic virus at high resolution (Nat Comm) 40:10
MIMIVIRE confers resistance to virophage (Nature) 56:55
CRISPR in a phage (TWiM 56) 1:11:45
National Academy of Sciences GoFoc meeting
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 380 5:35, 1:20:35

This episode is sponsored by ASM Agar Art Contest and Microbe Magazine Podcast 3:10, 1:18:30

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:29:40

Alan – Progression of Evolution
Dickson – Toddler dies of meningitis
Vincent – Gardasil ideology, not science
Kathy – The Noun Project
Rich – Physics Girl

Listener Pick

Mark – MyRadar app (iOS, Android)

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 379: A mouse divided

March 6, 2016

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

Guest: Scott Tibbetts

Scott Tibbetts joins the TWiVists to describe his work on the role of a herpesviral nocoding RNA in establishment of peripheral latency, and then we visit two last minute additions to the Zika virus literature.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 379 (85 MB .mp3, 115 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode

Noncoding RNA required for establishment of latency (mSphere) 17:20
Lessons learned from in vivo studies of a viral noncoding RNA (mSphere) 1:05:05
Zika virus in pregnant women in Rio de Janeiro (NEJM) 1:06:10
Zika virus infects cortical neural progenitors (Cell Stem Cell) 1:12:00
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 379 1:15:10

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

This episode is sponsored by 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium and Microbe Magazine Podcast 4:15, 1:05:25

Weekly Science Picks 1:42:45

Alan – Okeanos Explorer
Dickson – Rome Reborn
Vincent – Twitter Missing Manual
Scott – Best Science Images of 2015
Kathy – Space Travel Posters
Rich – GoISSWatch

Listener Pick

Peter – Antibiotics and the Problem of the Broken Market

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 378: Herpes plays DUBstep

February 28, 2016

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

Guests: Greg Smith and Mark Fuccio

Greg Smith joins the TWiVirate to reveal how his lab discovered a switch that controls herpesvirus neuroinvasion, and then we visit the week’s news about Zika virus.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 378 (87 MB .mp3, 119 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode

Dynamic ubiquitination drives herpesvirus neuroinvasion (PNAS) 10:40
Poliovirus fidelity and virulence (Andino, Kirkegaard)
Releasing Zika virus data in real time (Nature) 1:20:35
Zika virus infection and stillbirths (PLoS NTD) 1:27:50
Zika virus infection, imported, Italy (Eurosurveillance) 1:29:45
Letters read on TWiV 378 1:14:00

This episode is sponsored by 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium and Microbe Magazine Podcast 4:30, 1:13:00

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:42:10

Alan – Science byline counting project
Dickson – Bill Nye on climate change
Vincent – Zdziarski’s blog of things (Apple’s motion to vacate)
Greg – Atlas, the next generation
Kathy – Sources of Chaco wood
Mark – How Dogs Love Us by Gregory Berns

Listener Pick

Bohdan – The real reason for brains

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 377: Chicken with a side of Zika

February 21, 2016

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

The TWiVniks review the past week’s findings on Zika virus and microcephaly, and reveal a chicken protein that provides insight on the restriction of transmission of avian influenza viruses to humans.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 377 (70 MB .mp3, 95 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode

Larvicide not involved in microcephaly (CBS News) 9:35
Obama seeks $1.8b for Zika virus (Guardian) 13:40
Zika virus in Puerto Rico (MMWR) 22:20
Zika virus in semen (EID) 26:10
Zika virus in Indonesia (EID) 28:35
Phylogeny of Zika virus (EID) 30:15
Zika virus may cause mental disease (NYTimes) 32:35
Zika virus from amniotic fluid (Lancet) 35:00
Host protein underlies avian influenza host restriction (Nature) 40:40
Wendy Barclay on TWiV 177 41:10
Home to roost (Cell)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 377 4:55, 1:07:05

This episode is sponsored by 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium and Microbe Magazine Podcast

Weekly Science Picks 1:17:15

Alan – CDC vaccine quiz
Dickson – A telescope so powerful
Vincent – Virology Lectures 2016 (virology blog, iTunes U)
Rich – Ion propulsion (Wiki)
Kathy – Spurious Correlations

Listener Pick

Johnye – Magellan telescope and van Egmond photograpy at Kids Should See This

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 376: The flavi of the month is Zika

February 14, 2016

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

Guest: Jeremy Luban

The TWiV team discusses the latest data on Zika virus, including ocular defects in infants with microcephaly, and isolation of the entire viral genome from fetal brain tissue.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 376 (80 MB .mp3, 109 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode

Ocular findings in infants with microcephaly (JAMA and Arq Bras Oft) 14:45
Evidence of Zika virus infection in brain and placenta (MMWR) 27:10
Zika virus associated with microcephaly (NEJM) 33:55
Hard-core sequencing (Science) 42:30
Zika virus and microcephaly (virology blog) 1:06:25
Zika virus in the Americas (NEJM) 1:04:40
JEV and WNV transplacental infections 1:06:25
Rubella virus facts (WHO) 1:05:20
Share your Zika virus reagents (virology blog) 55:35
No link between anencephaly and Cache Valley Virus (EID) 1:16:35
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 376 6:45, 1:14:00

This episode is sponsored by 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium and ASM Microbe 2016 5:15, 1:12:35

Weekly Science Picks 1:33:00

Alan – PhD Comics on gravitational waves
Dickson – 25 years of Hubble
Vincent – Amazon AWS TOS and Confirming Einstein
Rich – Mosquito mass production
Kathy – TileApp
Jeremy – IL17A and autism and The Perfect Theory by Pedro Ferreira

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 375: Zika and you will find

February 7, 2016

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

Guests: Carolyn Coyne, Helen Lazear, and Jeremy Luban

The TWiVziks present everything you want to know about Zika virus, including association of infection with microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome, transmission, epidemiology, and much more.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 375 (92 MB .mp3, 125 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode

Zika outbreak in Brazil (EID) 13:40
Zika summary (ProMedMail) 19:30
Zika and microcephaly (MMWR) 27:30
Facts about microcephaly (CDC)
Brazil Ministry of Health microcephaly numbers
Zika spread in Americas (MMWR)
Deu Zica 42:30
Microcephaly in Brazil (Lancet) 46:10
GM mosquitoes did not start Zika outbreak (Discover) 1:31:30
Debunking myths around Zika (Mad Virologist)
Sexual transmission vs sexually transmissible (virology blog) 1:22:10
CDC Zika travel guidance 1:15:45
CDC on Zika and sex 1:17:10
Image credit: Esper Kallas, University of Sao Paulo
Letters read on TWiV 375

This episode is sponsored by 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium and ASM Grant Writing Webinar 7:50, 1:49:50

Weekly Science Picks 1:50:45

Alan – Jetstream Online School for Weather
Vincent – New virus watercolors from Michele Banks (one, two)
Rich – The Mad Virologist (Facebook, blog)
Kathy – Orcas in Antarctica
Jeremy – Pardis Sabeti on TED
Helen – Science Valentines
Carolyn – Three letter word missing from Zika warnings

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

Photos below from Esper Kallas, University of Sao Paulo, mentioned in this episode.

TWiV 374: Discordance in B

January 31, 2016

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

The TWiVniks consider the role of a cell enzyme that removes a protein linked to the 5′-end of the picornavirus genome, and the connection between malaria, Epstein-Barr virus, and endemic Burkitt’s lymphoma.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 374 (84 MB .mp3, 104 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode

Divergent requirements for removing VPg (mBio) 12:10
Bond, covalent bond (TWiV 210) 13:45
Link between malaria and endemic Burkitt’s lymphoma (PLoS Path) 36:50
Multifactorial role of malaria in Burkitt’s lymphoma (PLoS Path) 47:30
Plasmodium infection promotes AID-dependent B cell lymphoma (Cell) 55:55
Children’s cancer dependent on climatic factors (Nature) 38:30
Denis Burkitt (Wikipedia) 38:20
Request for PACE trial data (virology blog)
Letters read on TWiV 374 1:09:30

This episode is sponsored by 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium and ASM Grant Writing Webinar 4:50, 1:08:10

Weekly Science Picks 1:33:15

Alan – Indoor skydiving
Vincent – Cancer Virus by Crawford, Johannessen, and Rickinson
Rich – Wit
Kathy – The Only Woman in the Room by Eileen Pollack
Dickson – Show everyone your clinical data

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 373: The distinguished virology career of Julius S. Youngner

January 24, 2016

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Julius S. Youngner

Vincent speaks with Julius about his long career in virology, including his crucial work as part of the team at the University of Pittsburgh that developed the Salk inactivated poliovirus vaccine.

Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 373 (59 MB .mp3, 80 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email

Links for this episode

Trypsin for cell cultures (Proc Soc Exp Biol Med)
Interferon induction by nonviral stimuli (J Gen Physiol)
Interferons of different molecular weight (Proc Soc Exp Biol Med)
Poliovirus thermal mutants (J Bacteriol)
Combination of different cells in culture (Science)
Equine influenza vaccine (Eq Vet J)
Youngner role in Salk vaccine (interview, amednews)
Cutter Incident (JRSM)
Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 372: Latent viral tendencies

January 17, 2016

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

The TWiV-osphere introduces influenza D virus, virus-like particles encoded in the wasp genome which protect its eggs from caterpillar immunity, and a cytomegalovirus protein that counters a host restriction protein which prevents establishment of latency.