TWiV explains why the concept of herd immunity might not apply to COVID-19, and the observation that smallpox vaccination causes an increase in skin bacteria that promote pathology and influence the immune response.
TWiV reviews the vials labeled smallpox that were not, re-emergence of enterovirus D68 in Europe, efficacy of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and cellular correlates of protection for an oral influenza virus vaccine.
From the NIH campus (recorded February 2019) Vincent and Rich meet with Bernie Moss to hear about his training and his remarkable 50-year-plus career working on poxviruses
The TWiV team notes the passing of Tom Steitz, an outbreak of acute flaccid myelitis in the US, a continuing Ebola virus outbreak in DRC, respiratory vaccinia due to inhalation of ground up rabbit skin, and how a human papillomavirus capsid protein directs virus-containing endosomes towards the nucleus.
The TWiV team discuss the biology of Ebola viruses, and how localization of the membrane proteins of vaccinia virus drive function: the fusion machinery sits at the tips of virions, and binding proteins are at the sides.
The TWiV team explains how infectious horsepox virus – likely the ancestor of smallpox vaccines – was recovered from chemically synthesized DNA fragments.
Nels joins the TWiV team to talk about his work on genomic accordions in vaccinia virus, hepatitis B virus in a 439 year old mummy, and viral induction of energy synthesis by a long noncoding RNA.
The TWiV team reviews identification of immune biomarkers in CFS/ME patients, and how a cell nuclease controls the innate immune response to vaccinia virus infection.
The TWiV team discusses how skin scarification promotes a nonspecific immune response, and whether remaining stocks of smallpox virus should be destroyed.
Vincent and Rich meet up with Mark Challberg to talk about his scientific career studying viral DNA replication, and his transition to an NIH Program Officer.