This Week in Virology

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello , Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove ,  Rich Condit , and Kathy Spindler The Masters of the ScienTWIVic Universe discuss a novel poxvirus isolate from an immunosuppressed patient, H1N1 and the gain-of-function debate, and attenuation of dengue virus by recoding the genome. Links for this episode Paula Pitha-Rowe (Balt Sun) Novel poxvirus (CID) H1N1 and gain-of-function deba...

Host:  Vincent Racaniello Guest:  Katherine A. High Vincent speaks with Katherine High about her career and her work on using viral gene therapy to treat inherited disorders. This episode is drawn from one of twenty-six video interviews with leading scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of virology, part of the new edition of the textbook  Principles of Virology .   Links...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Alan Dove , and  Rich Condit Vincent, Alan and Rich explain how to make a functional ribosome with tethered subunits, and review the results of a phase III VSV-vectored Ebolavirus vaccine trial in Guinea.   Links for this episode Social media specialist  position at ASM WHO dismisses Catholic church on  vaccine safety U of T Dean resigns over  anti-vaccine course  (To...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Rich Condit Vincent and Rich discuss fruit fly viruses, one year without polio in Nigeria, and a permissive Marek's disease viral vaccine that allows transmission of virulent viruses.   Links for this episode Virology  tenure-track position  at NCI (pdf) ASM Agar Art Contest Nigeria on brink of  polio eradication  (Nature) Dengue in Africa  (Tyler Sharp) Permissive...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Alan Dove , and  Rich Condit Vincent, Alan, and Rich discuss the virus behind rose rosette disease, and fatal human encephalitis caused by a variegated squirrel bornavirus. Links for this episode Virology  tenure-track position  at NIH (pdf) 7:00 Voinnet investigation is a  Swiss Federal secret  (twitter) 12:25 Rose rosette disease  in Ft. Worth (Star Telegram) 29:35...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Rich Condit , and  Kathy Spindler Guest:  Joan Steitz This episode was recorded at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology, where Vincent, Rich, and Kathy spoke with Joan Steitz, a tireless promoter of women in science and one of the greatest scientists of our generation. Links for this episode ASV annual meeting , Western University Steitz Labora...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove , and  Kathy Spindler The TWiVonauts review how the weather affects West Nile virus disease in the US, benefit of B cell depletion for ME/CFS patients, and an autoimmune reaction induced by influenza virus vaccine that leads to narcolepsy. Links for this episode Virology faculty position,  University of Toledo Weather  and West Nile vir...

Host:  Vincent Racaniello Guests:  Ruth Jarrett ,  Glen Nemerow , and  Esther Schnettler At the Glasgow Science Festival microTALKS, Vincent speaks with Ruth, Glen, and Esther about their research on viruses and Hodgkin lymphoma, adenovirus structure and entry into cells, and interactions between arthropod borne viruses and their hosts. Links for this episode Glasgow Science Festival  microTALKS H...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove ,  Rich Condit , and  Kathy Spindler The TWiVerinoes discuss the potential for prion spread by plants, global circulation patterns of influenza virus, and the roles of Argonautes and a viral protein in RNA silencing in plants. Links for this episode Prions in  plants  (Cell Rep) 11:35 Global influenza virus  circulation  (Nature) 20:40...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove ,  Rich Condit , and  Kathy Spindler The TWiVniks discuss the structure of a virus that reproduces in an extreme environment, long-term consequences of Ebolavirus infection, and VirScan, a method to identify the different virus infections you have had in your lifetime. Links for this episode Virus with  A-form DNA  (Science) Viruses in...

Host:  Vincent Racaniello Guests:  Adam Kucharski ,  Gillian Slack , and  Emma Thomson Vincent returns to the University of Glasgow MRC-Center for Virus Research and speaks with Emma, Gillian, and Adam about their ebolavirus experiences: caring for an infected patient, working in an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone, and making epidemiological predictions about the outbreak in west Africa. Li...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove ,  Rich Condit , and  Kathy Spindler The TWiV teams reviews a MERS-coronavirus serosurvey and an outbreak in South Korea, and constraints on measles virus antigenic variation. Links for this episode Richard Elliott on  TWiV 177 MERS-CoV outbreak , South Korea (ProMedMail) MERS-CoV  serosurvey  (Lancet Inf Dis) Biolabs in your backyard  ...

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  disea...

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 ou...

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  clona...

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  @AS...

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...

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...

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  resp...

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 SARS-CoV  error correction  (PLoS Path) 19:00 Marburg virus neutralization by a human antibody (Cell  one  and  two ) 5...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove ,  Rich Condit , and  Kathy Spindler The TWiV team discusses the possible association of the respiratory pathogen enterovirus D68 with neurological disease. This episode is sponsored by  SciMed Solutions  and  ASM Education . Links for this episode Clusters of AFP associated with  enterovirus D68  (Lancet) 31:35 Novel outbreak  enterovi...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove ,  Rich Condit , and  Kathy Spindler The TWiVers explain how a protein platform assists the hepatitis C virus RNA polymerase to begin the task of making viral genomes. Links for this episode NYAS  Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program Concerns about editing the human germline ( Science ,  Nature ) Engineering the  perfect baby  (MIT Tech R...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove ,  Rich Condit , and  Kathy Spindler 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. Links for this episode Immune signatures  in ME/CFS (Science Adv) 11:15 Systemic exertion intolerance disease  (Lancet) 19:50 Cell nuc...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove ,  Rich Condit , and  Kathy Spindler The TWiVocateurs discuss how the RNA polymerase of enteroviruses binds a component of the splicing machinery and inhibits mRNA processing.   Links for this episode Viral polymerase binds Prp8 to  inhibit mRNA splicing  (PLoS Path) Prp8 protein of the  spliceosome  (RNA) Nuclear entry  of poliovirus R...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Dickson Despommier ,  Alan Dove ,  Rich Condit , and  Kathy Spindler The eTWiVicators review evidence that the HIV-1 group O epidemic began with a single cross-species transmission of virus from western lowland gorillas. Links for this episode Traces of ATCV-1 associated with  laboratory contamination  (PNAS) ATCV-1 findings  not explained  by contamination (PNAS) Ori...