This Week in Virology

Latest Episodes:

TWiV 339: Herpes and the sashimi plot May 31, 2015

Show notes

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

Tre TWiV amici present three snippets and a side of sashimi: how herpesvirus inhibits host cell gene expression by disrupting transcription termination.

Links for this episode

Searching for Steamer in the oceans
Lassa fever death in NJ (CDC and NYTimes)
Transgenic mouse model for MERS-CoV (J Virol)
First West Nile virus disease case in Texas
Herpesvirus disrupts host transcription termination (Nat Comm)
Sashimi plots
Broad benefits of measles virus immunization (TWiM #104)
Avian influenza outbreak (NPR)
The virome in health and disease (Immunity)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 339

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - Fooling millions into thinking chocolate helps weight lossKathy - Approaching Pluto Vincent - ASM Agar art contest

Listener Pick of the Week

Daniel - FB pages you need to stop sharing from (one and two)Ken - Bird box science (canceled)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

TWiV 338: Coyotes have sushi May 24, 2015

Show notes

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Kathy Spindler

Guest: Laura Newcomb

Vincent and Kathy visit Laura Newcomb at California State University San Bernardino, where they talk about Laura's viral tatoos, and a protein that protects the mosquito brain from lethal flavivirus infection.

Links for this episode

Neuron-specific mosquito antiviral mechanism (PLoS Path)
Letters read on TWiV 338
Photos of our visit
Video of this episode - view at YouTube

Weekly Science Picks

Laura - NP siRNA inhibits different influenza viruses (Antiviral Res)Kathy - Time-lapse mining Vincent - Does the public trust science?

Listener Pick of the Week

Paul - Degree-Off XKCDPeter - Ebola containment, Hans Rosling, eLife podcast, Naked Scientists

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

TWiV 337: Steamer May 17, 2015

Show notes

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Michael Metzger and Steve Goff

Vincent meets up with Michael and Steve to discuss their finding of a transmissible tumor in soft shell clams associated with a retrovirus-like element in the clam genome.

Links for this episode

Hemocytic leukemia in soft shell clam (Sci Total Environ)
Activation of Steamer in neoplastic hemocytes (PNAS)
Transmission of clonal cancer cells in clams (Cell)
Steve Goff on TWiV #76
Image credit

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

TWiV 336: Brought to you by the letters H, N, P, and Eye May 10, 2015

Show notes

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

The TWiVsters explore mutations in the interferon pathway associated with severe influenza in a child, outbreaks of avian influenza in North American poultry farms, Ebolavirus infection of the eye weeks after recovery, and Ebolavirus stability on surfaces and fluids.

This episode is sponsored by @ASM Conferences and ASM Microbe

Links for this episode

Life threatening influenza and IRF7 deficiency (Science)
Whole exome sequencing (Wikipedia)
Herpes encephalitis in children with Trif deficiency (TWiV 175)
Avian influenza in the US (USDA, ProMedMail, CDC)
Ebola eye (NEJM, NYTimes)
Viral persistence (Virology lectures, pdf)
Uveitis (National Eye Institute)
Image credit
Stability of Ebolavirus on surfaces (EID)
Ignorance with Stuart Firestein (TWiV Special)
Letters read on TWiV

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - Winogradsky time-lapse Rich - Missing link in evolution of complex cellsKathy - Grantome Dickson - National Geographic Landscape Photo of the Day Vincent - PyMol and Chimera

Listener Pick of the Week

Mauricio - Vax!

TWiV 335: Ebola lite May 03, 2015

Show notes

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

The TWiVumvirate discusses a whole Ebolavirus vaccine that protects primates, the finding that Ebolavirus is not undergoing rapid evolution, and a proposal to increase the pool of life science researchers by cutting money and time from grants.

This episode is sponsored by ASM Microbe and ICAAC/ICC

Links for this episode

Possible sexual transmission of Ebolavirus (MMWR)
Ebolavirus whole-virus vaccine protects primates (Science)
Biologically contained Ebolaviruses (PNAS)
Ebolavirus is evolving but not changing (Virology)
Ebolavirus not undergoing rapid evolution (Science)
Letters read on TWiV 335

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - Pinboard Rich - Academic medicine investment in medical researchKathy - Tissue paper stop motion animation Dickson - Do peer review panels select best science proposals?Vincent - MMR and autism: Still no association

Listener Pick of the Week

Ramon - Autism by MMR vaccine statusMehul - Ebolavirus disease courseJustin - Molecular Biology of Bacterial Viruses by Gunther S. Stent

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

TWiV 334: In vino virus Apr 26, 2015

Show notes

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

The TWiVles talk about endogenous viruses in plants, sex and Ebolavirus transmission, an outbreak of canine influenza in the US, Dr. Oz, and doubling the NIH budget.

This episode is sponsored by SciMed Solutions and ASM Education.

Links for this episode

Pinot noir and viruses (Wine Spectator) 35:00
Endogenous florendoviruses (Nat Commun) 35:30
Sex and Ebolavirus transmission (WHO, CDC, NYTimes) 54:10
Ebolavirus waiting (NYTimes) 57:35
Canine influenza outbreak (ProMed, NorthStarVets) 1:01:10
Dr. Oz under fire (NYTimes) 1:06:20
TV doctors (Brit Med J) 1:09:50
Double the NIH budget (NYTimes) 1:11:45
Image credit: Grapes and Caulimovirus
Letters read on TWiV 334 6:10

Timestamps by Jennifer. Thank you!

Weekly Science Picks 1:17:05

Alan - NIH RFI: How do we fix this mess?Rich - Editing embryos (PopSci, Prot Cell)Kathy - Creative class presentations (one, two, three, four)Dickson - The most tornadoes Vincent - Apollo 13, 45 years later (Ars, IEEE, Farewell)

Listener Pick of the Week

Johnye - Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

TWiV 333: Naturally curious chimeras Apr 19, 2015

Show notes

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Ben Fensterheim, Megan Freeman, Bobak Parang, and Meredith Rogers

Vincent returns to Vanderbilt University and meets up with Ben, Megan, Bobak, and Meredith to learn about life in the Medical Scientist Training Program.

Links for this episode

MTGR1 and intestinal secretory lineage allocation (Faseb J)
Coronaviruses induce macropinocytosis (mBio)
PD-1 and respiratory virus reinfection (J Immunol)
Vanderbilt MSTP on Facebook
Video of this episode: view at YouTube

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

TWiV 332: Vanderbilt virology Apr 12, 2015

Show notes

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Seth Bordenstein, James Crowe, and Mark Denison

Vincent visits Vanderbilt University and meets up with Seth, Jim, and Mark to talk about their work on a virus of Wolbachia, anti-viral antibodies, and coronaviruses.

Links for this episode