This Week in Virology

Latest Episodes:

TWiV 299: Rocky Mountain virology Aug 24, 2014

Show notes

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-born flaviviruses, innate immunity, and prion diseases.

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 at YouTube

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TWiV 298: MV-NIS de myelo Aug 17, 2014

Show notes

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

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

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 CollectionKathy - Inside insides Vincent - Going Viral (Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre)

Listener Pick of the Week

Kim - Nobel Prize PodcastsJohnye - The Planet is FineJennie - Counter-Zombie Dominance Plan (pdf)

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TWiV 297: Ebola! Don't panic Aug 10, 2014

Show notes

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.

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 CampbellDavid - PI Predictor (app, article, publication)

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TWiV 296: The real Batman, Linfa Wang Aug 03, 2014

Show notes

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.

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 at YouTube

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

TWiV 295: A nonslip grippe and Lassa's LAMP Jul 27, 2014

Show notes

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.

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 bacteriophageKonrad - Scholarpedia

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

TWiV 294: Smallpox and anthrax and flu, oh my! Jul 20, 2014

Show notes

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.

Links for this episode

Newly discovered smallpox (CDC)
Infectious smallpox in FDA storage (FDA)
Report on potential anthrax exposure (pdf, CDC)
CDC Director on unsafe practices (NY Times)
HIV returns to baby (NY Times)
Original HIV baby cured article (NEJM)
Cambridge Working Group
NSABB members released (ScienceInsider)
Letters read on TWiV 294

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - Optivisor Rich - Noller lab ribosome movies Vincent - Creepy dreadful wonderful parasitesDickson - National Center for Science Education

Listener Pick of the Week

Mark - The Machinery of Life by David GoodsellBasel - iBioEducation

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

TWiV 293: Virology Down Under Jul 13, 2014

Show notes

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.

Links for this episode

Where does HIV hide? (Curr Op HIV AIDS)
Subgenomic flavivirus RNA (Viruses)
Vaginal lactic acid and HIV (J Antimicro Chem)
Koala retroviruses (Retrovirology)
Coming soon - Video of this episode at YouTube

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

TWiV 292: Medimmune goes viral Jul 06, 2014

Show notes

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Wade Blair, Matt Dickson, Nicole Kallewaard-Lelay, and Ken Miller

Vincent visits Medimmune and speaks with Wade, Matt, Nicole, and Ken about why they work in industry and their daily roles in a biotechnology company.

Links for this episode

Medimmune, LLC
Medimmune on Twitter
Medimmune history and products
Video of this episode - view at YouTube

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

TWiV 291: Ft. Collins abuzz with virologists Jun 29, 2014

Show notes

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Guests: Clodagh O'Shea and Ron Fouchier

Vincent, Rich, and Kathy and their guests Clodagh and Ron recorded this episode at the 33rd annual meeting of the American Society for Virology at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Links for this episode