Shawn writes:

Hi Vincent,

Love the podcast. Writing in from sunny San Diego. Just wanted to send in a comment that to my understanding using fetal tissue for research has not been outright banned in the country yet. The NIH is not allowed to directly use fetal tissue and therefore direct contracts such as the one they had with UCSF have ended. Also, future grant funding and I’m assuming renewals as well will have additional ‘ethics’ processes. So right now labs that have funding are allowed to continue their research. 

Thanks!

Anthony writes:

Pinterest to direct vaccine searches to health sites https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49506011  

Wissam writes:

Hello TWIV professors

I am an infectious diseases physician at the University of Kansas Medical Center who has been enjoying your TWIX podcasts for few years now while commuting and I definitely like the Journal Club type analysis, similar to what we do for medical articles with ours fellows.

One of my main interest clinically is virology and HIV so I’d like your input on 3 questions related to that:

  1. Do we know if “new world monkeys” also harbor SIV? Those let’s say in the Amazon jungle.
  2. Do gorillas get sick with their own SIVgor? Do they develop a simian AIDS like Chimpanzees with their SIVcpz?
  3. About HIV mechanism of entry into cells: is it a clathrin-mediated endocytosis process (like it says on viralzone), or just fusion at the surface membrane like every textbook illustration shows, including the viralzone HIV cycle illustration?

Thanks for all what you do for teaching the public about science.

Hopefully, we’ll see an HIV vaccine in the coming few years

It’s a sunny day in Kansas City with clear blue sky, temperature is 29C, the high will be 37C, humidity 63%, wind ssw 13 mph, visibility 10 miles, UV index 3, air quality good, and I will be off to Mexico city tomorrow for the IAS meeting, where apparently there’s a rainy season.

Wissam el Atrouni, MD, MSc

Associate professor of medicine

University of Kansas Medical Center

Richard writes:

Many thanks for another interesting talk. One quote attributed to Rosalind Franklin when she moved to Birkbeck was she went “from the palace of Kings to the slums of Birkbeck” – but she was happy working with J.D. Bernal and Aaron Klug. As an aside the senior British science award is the Copley medal and has gone to such august scientists as Ben Franklin (1753), Charles Darwin (1864) and Einstein (1925), but it has only ever gone to one woman, Dorothy Hodgkin, which feels wrong, given the contributions of Marie Curie, Esther Lederberg and Barbara McClintock among many others…

Ken writes:

All these episode titles are very clever, but they do nothing to help me find a topic I’m interested in listening to again.

Justin writes:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/08/uc-faculty-members-quit-cell-press-editorial-boards-over-impasse-publisher

Any idea how much of a big deal this is? How much pressure this applies or doesn’t.

Anthony writes:

Virology news not far from home

I’ve found that raccoons here in Jersey City can at times be very bold without appearing to be ill.  So, the old rule of wildlife not be scared of people as a sign of Rabies is no longer true. Sick animals become harder to detect.

AO

# # #

10 raccoons test positive for rabies in N.J. town. Cops had to shoot 1 after it charged at man walking his dog.

https://www.nj.com/morris/2019/09/10-raccoons-test-positive-for-rabies-in-nj-town-cops-had-to-shoot-1-after-it-charged-at-man-walking-his-dog.html

Health officials in a Morris County town are warning residents after 10 rabid raccoons have been captured and two other clearly sick raccoons have had to be euthanized in recent weeks, officials said.

The raccoons have been spotted during the day in Denville throughout the 12-square mile township and are not just confined to one area, animal control officer Meredith Petrillo said Friday.

On Sep. 6, a raccoon charged at a man walking his dog in the Rock Ridge section of town, Petrillo said. Later that day, Petrillo went to look for the raccoon and it ran at both her and a police officer before the cop was forced to shoot the animal.

Anthony writes:

The surprising role of viruses in evolution with Eugene Koonin.

Paul writes:

To the Twivlers (original cherry flavored)

I think you will appreciate Malcom Gladwell’s take on the path to retroviruses.

http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/40-the-obscure-virus-club

It would be great to hear your thoughts on what he gets right and wrong.