This Week in Virology

TWiV 302: The sky is falling

September 14, 2014

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

The TWiVers discuss the growing Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, and an epidemic of respiratory disease in the US caused by enterovirus D68.

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Download TWiV 302 (82 MB .mp3, 113 min)
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Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Index to creationist claims
Rich – Wild Kratts
Kathy – Worn away
Dickson – Iceland volcano eruption
Vincent – Immune Quest

Listener Pick of the Week

Kay – Landes Bioscience open access books

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

TWiV 301: Marine viruses and insect defense

September 7, 2014

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Carla Saleh and Curtis Suttle

At the International Congress of Virology in Montreal, Vincent speaks with Carla and Curtis about their work on RNA interference and antiviral defense in fruit flies, and viruses in the sea, the greatest biodiversity on Earth.

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Download TWiV 301 (60 MB .mp3, 84 min)
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Links for this episode

Greatest biodiversity on Earth (Genome)
Cafeteria roenbergensis virus (PNAS)
Marine viruses (Nat Rev Micro)
RNAi and reverse transcription is antiviral in flies (Nat Imm)
Friendly persistent infections (Curr Op Micro)
RNAi and antiviral defense in Drosophila (Dev Comp Imm)
Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube

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

TWiV 301

TWiV 300: So happy together

August 31, 2014

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

Recording together for the first time, the TWiV team celebrates their 300th podcast at the American Society for Microbiology headquarters in Washington, DC, where Vincent speaks with Dickson, Alan, Rich, and Kathy about their careers in science.

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Download TWiV 300 (67 MB .mp3, 93 min)
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Links for this episode

So Happy Together (The Turtles)
Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Consortium
Support Kenema VHFC program
Letters read on TWiV 300
Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – The Internet’s Original Sin
Dickson – Placidcoyote
Rich – Scientific Method, Grail Style
Kathy – Viruses Throughout Life and Time
Vincent – ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Listener Pick of the Week

Jim – iBiology
Victoria – Images of Science
Mehul/Walt – Calling the Shots

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

TWiV Legos

TWiV 299: Rocky Mountain virology

August 24, 2014

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Marshall Bloom, Sonja Best, and Byron Caughey

Vincent visits the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana and speaks with Marshall, Sonja, and Byron about their work on tick-borne flaviviruses, innate immunity, and prion diseases.

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Download TWiV 299 (63 MB .mp3, 87 min)
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Links for this episode

Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH
Flavivirus persistence (Path Dis)
Flaviviruses antagonize IRF1 (J Imm)
Prion test using nasal brushings (NEJM)
Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube

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

TWiV 299

TWiV 298: MV-NIS de myelo

August 17, 2014

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

The TWiV gang answers follow-up questions about the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, then discuss treatment of disseminated multiple myeloma with oncolytic measles virus.

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Download TWiV 298 (76 MB .mp3, 106 min)
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Links for this episode

Use of unregistered interventions for Ebola virus disease (WHO)
Response to anthrax and H5N1 incidents (CDC)
Remission of disseminated cancer after treatment with oncolytic measles virus (Mayo Clin Proc)
New viruses for cancer therapy (Nat Rev Micro)
Cattaneo on TWiV
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 298

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – WTF, Evolution?! by Mara Grunbaum
Rich – Cold Spring Harbor Oral History Collection
Kathy – Inside insides
Vincent – Going Viral (Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre)

Listener Pick of the Week

Kim – Nobel Prize Podcasts
Johnye – The Planet is Fine
Jennie – Counter-Zombie Dominance Plan (pdf)

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

TWiV 297: Ebola! Don’t panic

August 10, 2014

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

The TWiVites present an all-ebolavirus episode, tackling virology, epidemiology, and approaches to prevention and cure that are in the pipeline.

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Download TWiV 297 (83 MB .mp3, 115 min)
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Links for this episode

Risks and benefits of gain-of-function experiments (mBio)
Scientists for Science
US Policy for oversight of DURC (pdf)
US framework for guiding H5N1 transmission expts (pdf)
Extra oversight for H7N9 experiments (Science)
TWiV 283: No Reston for the weary
Is it Ebolavirus or Ebola virus? (virology blog)
Ebola virus disease update (WHO)
Ebola virus disease FAQ (WHO)
Ebola hemorrhagic fever (CDC)
Ebola virus disease: ecology meets economy (PLoS NTD)
2014 Ebola virus outbreak (J Gen Virol)
2014 Ebola virus outbreak (MMWR)
If Ebola virus came to the US (Vox)
Zaire ebolavirus in West Africa (interview with Tom Solomon)
Why Ebola patients were brought to US (Wash Post)
Experimental treatment and vaccines for Ebola (CDC)
Aerosol transmission of Reston virus (Sci Rep)
Ebola – A growing threat? (NEJM)
On the cusp of Ebola vaccine (Know)
Ebolavirus vaccines and antivirals (virology blog)
Immune responses to Ebolavirus infection (Exp Rev Clin Imm)
Antibody therapy for Ebola (Hum Vacc Immunother)
Plant derived monoclonals protect macaques from Ebolavirus (PNAS)
Anti-ebolavirus monoclonal cocktail (Sci Trans Med)
ZMapp info sheet (pdf)
ZMapp PR (pdf)
High tech treatment for Ebola (ArsTechnica)
ZMapp protects macaques (Sci Rep)
Letters read on TWiV 297

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Historical perspective on Ebola (Tara C Smith)
Rich – Tell the negative committee to shut up (Fanuel Muindi)
Kathy – Art of Night (Vimeo)
Vincent – Is Ebola virus going to kill me? (John Skylar)

Listener Pick of the Week

Peter – Dr. Michael Saag interview by Dr. Virginia Campbell
David – PI Predictor (app, article, publication)

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

TWiV 296: The real Batman, Linfa Wang

August 3, 2014

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Linfa Wang

Vincent visits the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong, Australia and speaks with Linfa about his work on bats and bat viruses.

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Download TWiV 296 (45 MB .mp3, 62 min)
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Links for this episode

Hendra virus vaccine (Emer Inf Dis)
Comparison of bat genomes (Science)
Endogenous retroviruses in bats (Retrovirol)
The Bat Pack
Bats in Geelong (YouTube)
Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube

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

Linfa Wang

TWiV 295: A nonslip grippe and Lassa’s LAMP

July 27, 2014

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

The TWiVome discusses an miRNA based strategy to mitigate risk of gain of function studies, and identification of a second receptor required for Lassa virus entry.

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Download TWiV 295 (78 MB .mp3, 108 min)
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Links for this episode

miRNA strategy to minimize risk (Nat BioT)
NIH Office of Science Policy
NIH recombinant DNA guidelines
Second receptor for Lassa virus entry (Science)
Lassa fever (Wikipedia)
Fever! The discovery of Lassa virus (TWiV 9)
Letters read on TWiV 294

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Nicky Bay macrophotography (Flickr)
Rich – FASEB Third annual BioArt competition
Vincent – Up Close podcast (vrr episode)
Dickson – Science fun (YouTube)

Listener Pick of the Week

Mark Martin – Average bacteriophage
Konrad – Scholarpedia

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

TWiV 294: Smallpox and anthrax and flu, oh my!

July 20, 2014

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

The TWiV team reviews the discovery of old vials of smallpox virus at NIH, anthrax and influenza mishaps at CDC, the baby who was not cured of HIV, Cambridge Working Group, and sacking of NSABB members.

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Download TWiV 294 (72 MB .mp3, 99 min)
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Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Optivisor
Rich – Noller lab ribosome movies
Vincent – Creepy dreadful wonderful parasites
Dickson – National Center for Science Education

Listener Pick of the Week

Mark – The Machinery of Life by David Goodsell
Basel – iBioEducation

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

TWiV 293: Virology Down Under

July 13, 2014

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Melissa Churchill, Alex Khromykh, Gilda Tachedjian, and Paul Young

Vincent visits Melbourne, Australia and speaks with Melissa, Alex, Gilda, and Paul about their work on HIV infection of the central nervous system, West Nile virus, microbicides for HIV, and the Koala retrovirus.