This Week in Virology

TWiV 351: The dengue code

August 23, 2015

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

The Masters of the ScienTWIVic Universe discuss a novel poxvirus isolate from an immunosuppressed patient, H1N1 and the gain-of-function debate, and attenuation of dengue virus by recoding the genome.

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Links for this episode

Paula Pitha-Rowe (Balt Sun) 9:45
Novel poxvirus (CID) 10:15
H1N1 and gain-of-function debate (mBio) 20:20
Recoding dengue virus genome (PNAS) 27:30
Attenuation by dinucleotide frequency change (PNAS) 1:01:35
Codon pair and dinucleotide bias not distinguished (PNAS) 1:04:30
Codon pair deoptimization artefact of CG/UA change (eLife) 1:03:45
Can engineering subdue viral vaccine reversion? (Virus Evol) 1:15:50
Attenuation by a thousand cuts (NEJM)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 351 4:30, 1:16:55

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:29:35

Alan – Genetic roulette
Rich – The Huntington
Kathy – Simulated vomiting machine (video)
Dickson – Last Cassini Saturn flyby
Vincent – Decaying Still Life (YouTube)

Listener Pick of the Week

Ken – Cave meterology (Times, Nature)

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiV 350: Viral gene therapy with Katherine High

August 16, 2015

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Katherine A. High

Vincent speaks with Katherine High about her career and her work on using viral gene therapy to treat inherited disorders.

This episode is drawn from one of twenty-six video interviews with leading scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of virology, part of the new edition of the textbook Principles of Virology.

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Links for this episode

Katherine A. High, MD
Spark Therapeutics
AAV gene therapy for congenital blindness (Sci Trans Med)
Gene therapy for hemophilia (Hematol)
AAV capsid decoys (Sci Trans Med)
Video of this episode – view below or at YouTube

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 349: One ring to vaccinate them all

August 9, 2015

vsv plate Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan and Rich explain how to make a functional ribosome with tethered subunits, and review the results of a phase III VSV-vectored Ebolavirus vaccine trial in Guinea.

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Links for this episode

Social media specialist position at ASM 6:10
WHO dismisses Catholic church on vaccine safety 13:40
U of T Dean resigns over anti-vaccine course (Tor Star) 21:30
Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) 24:35
Countering anti-vaccination attitudes (PNAS) 15:55
Designer ribosome (Nature) 27:20
rVSV-EBOV preliminary report (NEJM) 51:55
rVSV-EBOV phase III interim report (pdf, Lancet) 42:45
World on verge of Ebolavirus vaccine (WHO)
Ebolavirus vaccine in Africa (virology blog)
Letters read on TWiV 349 7:50, 1:18:15

This episode is sponsored by ASM GAP 3:25

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:40:35

Alan – Above and Beyond
Rich – DSCOVR (Dark moon side crossing Earth)
Vincent – Stuxnet virus (Wired, YouTube)

Listener Pick of the Week

Konrad – Stated Clearly

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 348: Chicken shift

August 2, 2015

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Vincent and Rich discuss fruit fly viruses, one year without polio in Nigeria, and a permissive Marek’s disease viral vaccine that allows transmission of virulent viruses.

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This episode is sponsored by ASM GAP 7:30

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:34:00

Rich – Swan-Ganz catheter (Wiki, video)
Vincent – Mobile DNA III

Listener Pick of the Week

Kevin – Synthetic prions

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 347: Rose rosette and squirrel roulette

July 26, 2015

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich discuss the virus behind rose rosette disease, and fatal human encephalitis caused by a variegated squirrel bornavirus.

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Links for this episode

Virology tenure-track position at NIH (pdf) 7:00
Voinnet investigation is a Swiss Federal secret (twitter) 12:25
Rose rosette disease in Ft. Worth (Star Telegram) 29:35
Rose rosette virus discovered (J Gen Virol) 34:25
Emeravirus (ViralZone) 33:55
Eriophyid mites (MI Botanical Garden) 32:40
Mite vector of rose rosette disease (U Florida) 34:55
Image credit
Squirrel bornavirus associated with human encephalitis (NEJM) 38:40
Poll: How do you consume podcasts? 1:21:40
Letters read on TWiV 347 8:10, 59:40

This episode is sponsored by ASM GAP and ICAAC/ICC

Time stamps by Jennifer. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks 1:17:05

Alan – National Immunization Awareness Month (Twitter campaign)
Rich – Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
Vincent – iPhone owns podcasts (9to5Mac)

Listener Pick of the Week

Sandra – World Zoonoses Day graphic
Peter – Mammal-carnivorous plant mutualism (bat and shrew)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 346: A double helical career

July 19, 2015

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Guest: Joan Steitz

This episode was recorded at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology, where Vincent, Rich, and Kathy spoke with Joan Steitz, a tireless promoter of women in science and one of the greatest scientists of our generation.

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Links for this episode

ASV annual meeting, Western University
Steitz Laboratory at Yale University
Steitz Laboratory on Twitter
Panoramic photo of ASV TWiV by Matt Evans
Photos of ASV2015 (Facebook)
Video of this episode – above or at YouTube

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy – Charity Hall
Rich – Ribosome binding sites of phage R17 mRNA
Vincent – Pluto flyby

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Photo credit: Matt Evans (click for a big view)

TWiV 345: How a vaccine got the nod

July 11, 2015

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

The TWiVonauts review how the weather affects West Nile virus disease in the US, benefit of B cell depletion for ME/CFS patients, and an autoimmune reaction induced by influenza virus vaccine that leads to narcolepsy.

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Links for this episode

Virology faculty position, University of Toledo
Weather and West Nile virus disease (AJTMH)
B cell depletion benefits ME/CFS patients (PLoS One)
Antibodies to influenza nucleoprotein cause narcolepsy (Science Transl Med)
Letters read on TWiV 345

This episode is sponsored by ASM GAP – turn your science into a company

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson – Algal DMS releasing enzyme
Alan – Science of beer aging
Kathy – The Art of Science winners
Vincent – The future of Lego plastics

Listener Pick of the Week

Eric – Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazzilit
Stephen – The Martian by Andy Weir (audiobook)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 344: Glasgwegians go viral

July 5, 2015

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Ruth Jarrett, Glen Nemerow, and Esther Schnettler

At the Glasgow Science Festival microTALKS, Vincent speaks with Ruth, Glen, and Esther about their research on viruses and Hodgkin lymphoma, adenovirus structure and entry into cells, and interactions between arthropod borne viruses and their hosts.

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Links for this episode

Glasgow Science Festival microTALKS
Hodgkin lymphoma (Histopath) 8:00
HHV-6 and Hodgkin lymphoma (PLoS One) 18:45
Adenovirus entry (PLoS Path) 35:30
Adenovirus membrane penetration (Virology) 41:40
Mosquito pathways that limit CHIK replication (PLoS Negl Trop Dis) 25:45
Tick antiviral RNAi (Nucl Acids Res)
Video of this episode – view below or at YouTube

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 343: The silence of the turnips

June 28, 2015

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

The TWiVerinoes discuss the potential for prion spread by plants, global circulation patterns of influenza virus, and the roles of Argonautes and a viral protein in RNA silencing in plants.

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Download TWiV 343 (85 MB .mp3, 118 min)
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Links for this episode

Prions in plants (Cell Rep) 11:35
Global influenza virus circulation (Nature) 20:40
Rough patch for plant RNA silencing (Lab Times) 29:50
Role of Argonaute proteins in plant viral defense (PLoS Path) 32:15
Rub-inoculation (YouTube) 42:45
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 343 4:00, 1:11:45

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Weekly Science Picks 1:41:45

Dickson – Global rainfall and snowfall map and A Week in the Life of Rain
Alan – Automated patch clamp
Kathy – More Women in Science mini Legos
Rich – The Martian trailer
Vincent – It’s a bug’s life

Listener Pick of the Week

May – p53 by Sue Armstrong

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiV 342: Public epitope #1

June 21, 2015

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

The TWiVniks discuss the structure of a virus that reproduces in an extreme environment, long-term consequences of Ebolavirus infection, and VirScan, a method to identify the different virus infections you have had in your lifetime.