This Week in Virology

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.

• Viral polymer that inactivates tumor suppressors (Cell)
• Mutations driving airborne transmission of influenza H5N1 virus (Cell)
• Transmission of influenza H7N1 virus in ferrets (J Virol)
• Ron Fouchier on TWiV #177
• Photo credit: Matt Evans
• Thanks to David Quammen for the title
• Video of this episode - view at YouTube

Rich - No sexual transmission of HCV (Am J Gastro)Vincent - Made with code (blog post)Kathy - Beautiful math images (and 50 Visions of Mathematics)

Jon - Advances in Life Sciences winners (YouTube)Dave - Adam Ruben

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Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Janet Butel and Rick Lloyd

Vincent meets up with Janet Butel and Rick Lloyd at Baylor College of Medicine to talk about their work on polyomaviruses and virus induced stress.

• SV40 microRNAs (PLoS Path)
• SV40 seroprevalence (J Infect)
• Viruses and stress granules (PLoS Path)
• Viral inhibition of stress granule formation (Cell Host Micr)
• Video of this episode - view below or at YouTube

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

Vinny and the capsids answer listener questions about the definition of life, state vaccination laws, the basic science funding problem, viral ecology, inactivation of viruses by pressure, and much more.

• Varun's research poll
• Letters read on TWiV 289

Alan - The Science of Good Cooking Vincent - The Shooter Report (pdf)Kathy - Daily overviewDickson - Girl rising

Johnye - Ri channelRicardo - Open spin microscope (Nikon gallery, plans)Chris - The microbiome game

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

The Twivsters discuss how reverse transcriptase encoded in the human genome might produce DNA copies of RNA viruses in infected cells.

• Should variola virus be destroyed? (poll at virology blog)
• DNA complementary to non-retroviral RNA viruses (Sci Rep)
• Integration of arenavirus DNA into cell genome (virology blog)
• Infectious respiratory syncytial DNA (PNAS)
• Tysabri and PML
• JC and PML (J Imm Res)
• Igor Koralnik laboratory
• Jean-Luc Doumont (Kathy's pick, TWiV 268)
• Bullet points kill (TED)
• Letters read on TWiV 288

Rich - LuvalampsAlan - ExperimentVincent - American Society for Virology on FacebookKathy - LEGO female scientistsDickson - The Oldest Living Things in the World by Rachel Sussman

Basel - A Treatise on the small-pox and measles by Abu-Bakr Al-Razi

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Kathy Spindler, and Matt Frieman

Matt updates the TWiV team on MERS-coronavirus, and joins in a discussion of whether we should further regulate research on potentially pandemic pathogens.

• MERS stories at CIDRAP
• MERS at CDC
• MERS in the US (CDC)
• MERS-CoV map
• MERS-CoV infection after camel exposure (EID)
• MERS-CoV in dromedaries from Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia (EID)
• MERS-CoV antivirals (one, two, three, four)
• Experiments with novel potential pathogens (PLoS Med)
• Unacceptable risks (Bull Atom Sci)
• TWiX Bingo (thanks, Mark!)
• Letters read on TWiV 287

Matt - Forgive me, scientistsAlan - Do not linkVincent - bioRxivKathy - Snail photographsDickson - Solar roadways

Daniel - Benz Biome concept car

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Alan Dove

Guests: Julie Pfeiffer and Paul Duprex

Vincent and Alan meet up with Julie and Paul at the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Boston, to talk about their work on the pathogenesis of poliovirus and measles virus.

• Threading the NEIDL (YouTube)
• Transmission of measles virus from macaques (J Gen Virol)
• Tropism of green measles virus in macaques (J Virol)
• Intestinal microbiota promote enteric virus replication (Science)
• Bacterial LPS enhances poliovirus stability (Cell Host Micr)
• Video of this episode - view below or at YouTube

Vincent - ASM Live 2014Alan - I will not follow the herdPaul - Invisible ThreatJulie - The importance of stupidity in biological research

Neil - WEHI movies and VIZBI

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Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: XJ Meng and Sarah McDonald

Vincent meets up with XJ and Sarah at Virginia Tech to talk about their work on viruses of swine and rotaviruses.

• Hepatitis E virus (Int J Env Res Pub Health)
• Porcine and human anelloviruses (J Virol)
• Origin of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in US (mBio)
• Distinguishing rotaviruses (J Virol)
• Molecular epidemiology of rotaviruses (J Virol)
• Core domains in rotavirus polymerase encapsidation (J Gen Virol)

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

The TWiV team discusses how skin scarification promotes a nonspecific immune response, and whether remaining stocks of smallpox virus should be destroyed.

• Skin scarification protects against vaccinia virus disease (J Virol)
• Smallpox research agenda (PLoS Path)
• WHO report on variola research (pdf)
• Review of smallpox research program for WHO (pdf)
• How I record my lectures (virology blog)
• Letters read on TWiV 284

Rich - EPCOTVincent - Medical BiotechnologyKathy - Alan Alda interview and Flame Challenge winnerDickson - NASA live from space

Nicola - 50 cent microscope (be a beta tester)Jon - Camtasia Studio

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

Guest: Jens H. Kuhn

Jens speaks with the TWiV team about filoviruses, including the recent Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea.

• Review of Zanamavir clinical trials (Brit Med J)
• Ebola virus disease in Guinea (NEJM)
• Filovirus nomenclature (virology blog)
• Ebola virus disease, West Africa (ProMedMail)
• How lethal are ebolaviruses? (virology blog)
• Letters read on TWiV 283

Alan - AMNH digital special collectionsVincent - Viral entry into host cells (Stefan Pöhlmann PhD, Graham Simmons PhD, eds)Kathy - Papilloma song lyrics (pdf)Jens - The Logic of Chance by Eugene V. Koonin

Joe - Poor showing of 2012 influenza vaccine (Nature)Phil - Emerging disease or emerging diagnosis? (YouTube)

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

The TWiV team reviews a meta-analysis of clinical trial reports on using Tamiflu for influenza, and suggestions on how to rescue US biomedical research from its systemic flaws.

• World Malaria Day
• Review of oseltamivir clinical trials (Brit Med J)
• Effectiveness of Tamiflu questioned (NHS choices)
• Tamiflu campaign (Brit Med J)
• Rescuing US biomedical research (PNAS)
• Letters read on TWiV 282

Alan - Northampton AirportVincent - Particle FeverKathy - Turn iPhone into microscopeRich - My favorite science gifs

Nathan - The Ascent of Man (YouTube)

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Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Peter L. Salk

Vincent meets up with Peter L. Salk to talk about development of the first poliovaccine, eradication of poliomyelitis, and Jonas Salk's 100th birth anniversary.

• Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation
• The Cutter Incident by Paul Offit
• Splendid Solution by Jeffrey Kluger (review)
• Coming soon: Video of this episode

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

The TWiVmeisters answer listener email about the NEIDL, negative results, patenting MERS-coronavirus, human papillomavirus transmission, canine distemper virus, and much, much more.

• Poxvirus viability in historical relics (EID)
• TWiM 74: It came from the Siberian permafrost
• How to read a scientific paper
• Image credit: Not only quilts
• Letters read on TWiV 280

Alan - Heartbleed explanationVincent - Agriculture science today podcastKathy - Quizlet flashcards (online and iTunes)Rich - Why nothing is truly alive

Lance - Myles Power (YouTube and Facebook)Raihan - Cheap DIY microscopeGerald - DaVinci PressNeal - I'm a virus

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

Vincent, Alan, and Kathy reveal how a retrovirus in the human genome keeps embryonic stem cells in a pluripotent state, from where they can differentiate into all cells of the body.

• Retrovirus needed for stem cell identity (Nat Struc Mol Biol)
• HERV-H is a marker for pluripotency (Retrovirology)
• Letters read on TWiV 279

Alan - HeathkitVincent - How to think about autism risk and Autism prevalenceKathy - Distortions

Joseph - The real process of scienceMarion - ZometoolKevin - Audioimmunity and Emmunity

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

Vincent, Dickson, Alan, and Kathy discuss disruption of the ccr5 gene in lymphocytes of patients infected with HIV-1.

• Gene editing of ccr5 in AIDS patients (NEJM)
• HIV gets the zinc finger (TWiV 144)
• Genome engineering with zinc finger nucleases (Genetics)
• Photo credit: Watty's Wall Stuff
• Mice lie, monkeys exaggerate t-shirt design (thanks, Christophe)
• Letters read on TWiV 278

Alan - Digital scale model of solar systemDickson - Font of knowledgeVincent - Measles outbreaks trends, and NYC measles (one, two)Kathy - Winner, funding basic science to revolutionize medicine

Stephen & Jon - Watty's Wall StuffJohyne - Macro views of snowflakesRicardo & Stephen - Vaccine exemptionsBill - Books by John JanovyMarshall - Animation of DNA replicationSteve - Debunking influenza vaccine myths

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Hosts: Glenn Rall, Ann Skalka, and Vincent Racaniello

Glenn and Ann meet up with Vincent to talk about his career in science and science communication.

Video of this episode - view at YouTube

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Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Susan Baker and Thomas Gallagher

Vincent meets up with Susan Baker and Tom Gallagher at Loyola University to talk about their work on coronaviruses.

• Papain-like viral proteases (Virus Res)
• MERS-CoV papain-like protease (Virology)
• Mouse model for MERS-CoV (PNAS)
• Receptor and MERS-CoV infection (J Virol)
• Letters read on TWiV 276
• Video of this episode - view at YouTube

Vincent - First demonstration of Macintosh, 1984

Lance - The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Guest: Eugene Koonin

Vincent and Rich meet up with Eugene Koonin to talk about the central role of viruses in the evolution of all life.

• Virocentric view of evolution (Curr Op Virol)
• Proposed order Megavirales (Arch Virol)
• Pithovirus (PNAS)
• Selfish virus-like elements (Virol J)
• Pandoraviruses are derived Phycodnaviruses (Biol Direct)
• Video of this episode - view below at YouTube

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

The TWiV team discusses recent cases of polio-like paralysis in California, and the virome of 14th century paleofeces.

• MERS-CoV in dromedary camels (EID)
• Virologist Al Kapikian dies
• Polio-like illness in CA (ProMedMail)
• Acute flaccid paralysis
• AFP in India (EID)
• Enterovirus 68 (MMWR)
• EV 68 CNS infection (Arch Path Lab Med)
• Polio-free does not mean paralysis-free (The Hindu)
• Viruses in 14th century coprolite (AEM)
• Coprolite and paleofeces
• Ancient poxvirus (EID)
• Giant coprolite (WordADay)
• Letters read on TWiV 274

Alan - The science of science communicationRich - Command and Control by Eric SchlosserDickson - Top 10 plant virusesVincent - Is the Nobel Prize good for science?Kathy - Time to rethink graduate and postdoc education (YouTube)

Jon - Lessons from a Kansas graveyardMike - Cross a fashion designer with a microbiologist

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Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: W. Ian Lipkin and Thomas Briese

Vincent meets up with Ian and Thomas to discuss their finding that MERS-coronavirus has been circulating in dromedary camels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since at least 1992.

• MERS-CoV in dromedary camels (mBio)
• TWiV 251: Don't kiss the camel
• TWiV 247: Today's weather in virology
• TWiV 239: Filterable camels

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

The TWiVome dissect the finding that interferon lambda alleles predict the outcome of hepatitis C virus infection.

• Interferon lambda and HCV outcome (Cell Host Micr)
• Laser capture microdissection (Wikipedia)
• HCV dependent fluorescent reporter (Nat Biotech)
• Bats and viruses (PLoS Path)
• White nose syndrome (PLoS Path)
• Mouse phenome database
• Letters read on TWiV 273

Rich - Think like a scientist (one, two); Science controversiesDickson - Visualization challenge 2013Vincent - Orphan BlackKathy - Alberta worm invasion project

Timothy - How do vaccines cause autism?Anne - Luke Jerram's glass virusesJim - NLM Communications Engineering BranchSteve - Synapse by synapseJacob - Tiny technology creates a buzz

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

The TWiV team describes aphid control by using a viral capsid protein to deliver a spider toxin to plants, and a human endogenous retrovirus that enhances expression of a neuronal gene.

• Toxin delivery to plants by viral capsid protein (Nat Biotech)
• Pea enation mosaic virus (ViralZone)
• Image credit: Aphid membrane feeding chamber (Sci Rep)
• Aphid feeding chamber (YouTube)
• Parafilm (Wikipedia)
• Human endogenous retrovirus enhances neural gene (PNAS)
• Flu, common cold, alternative medicine (NCCAM)
• Cold vs flu (CDC)
• Phage hunters
• Bed bugs and infectious disease (PLoS Path)
• Letters read on TWiV 272

Alan - Statistical error (Nature)Rich - 12 oldest animal speciesDickson - When liquids collideVincent - HIV denial and just asking questionsKathy - Sun's canyon of fire

Sandra - Women physicists keep female students psychedJudi - HHMI's BiointeractiveJacob - Influenza virus HA

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Ashlee Bennett

The TWiV crew discusses two reports on viruses that might have crossed kingdoms, from plants to honeybees and from plants to vertebrates.

• Tobacco ringspot virus in honeybees (mBio)
• Plant virus that switched to vertebrates (PNAS)
• CDC influenza activity and surveillance
• With Esmeralda at ASM Biodefense (jpg)
• Image credit: Virginia Tech Learning Resources Center
• Letters read on TWiV 271

Alan - Nagasaki bombing (YouTube)Rich - GoPro Red Bull Stratos (YouTube)Dickson - Solar orbsVincent - Socrative

Basel - Pathology course onlineRussell - Sochi 2014: Encyclopedia of spendingYegor - Visual Science

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Guests: Dennis Hruby and Yoshihiro Kawaoka

Vincent and Rich discuss avian influenza virus and an antiviral drug against smallpox with Dennis and Yoshi at the ASM Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting in Washington, DC.

• ASM Biodefense Meeting
• Influenza H5N1 transmission (Virus Res)
• Aerosol transmission of H5N1 virus in ferrets (Nature)
• Characterization of H7N9 virus from humans (Nature)
• ST-246 efficacy in primates (AAC)
• Antiviral options for biodefense (Curr Op Virol)
• ST-246 safety in humans (Antimicrob Agents Chemother)
• Gain-of-function experiments (Science)
• Letters read on TWiV 270
• Video of this episode - view at Vimeo

Vincent - Quanta MagazineRich - Colour is in the eye of the beholder

Kehau - Beautiful but deadly viruses

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

The complete TWiV team reviews evidence for sensing of herpesviral DNA in the nucleus by the cell protein IFI16.

• IFI16 is a nuclear pathogen sensor (Cell Host Micr)
• Nuclear IFI16 sensing of and antagonism by herpesvirus (PNAS)
• Acetylation regulates IFI16 location (PNAS)
• Letters read on TWiV 269

Kathy - Female conveners and speakersAlan - SandgrainsRich - 2013 Lamborghini AventadorVincent - Happy Birthday Mac and 128K Mac teardownDickson - Farmdominion

Peter - The Microscope and The Next Global KillerRichard - Glass viruses

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Kathy Spindler, and Ashlee Bennett

Vincent, Alan, Kathy, and Ashlee discuss fomites in physicians offices, plant virus factories involved in aphid transmission, and clues from the bat genome about flight and immunity.

• How viruses cause disease (Coursera)
• How clean is your iPad (Which?)
• Meeting announcement: From emerging to pandemic viruses
• CaMV virus factories involved in aphid transmission (J Virol)
• Caulimovirus (ViralZone)
• CaMV responds instantly to vector (eLIFE)
• Aphid acquiring CaMV (J Virol)
• Bat genomes, flight, and immunity (Science)
• Letters read on TWiV 268

Kathy - Jean-Luc Doumont (slides, communicating science, website, Scitable)Alan - Wireless thermometerVincent - LORiOLA viral necklaces

Jessica - Knit icosahedronRobert - Practical computing for biologists by Haddock and DunnStephen - Fourteen years of US weather (YouTube)

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

Vincent, Alan, Rich and Kathy review a protease essential for influenza pathogenesis in mice, and directionality of rhinovirus RNA exit from the capsid.

• Protease essential for influenza pathogenesis in mice (PLoS Path)
• Rhinovirus uncoating is directional (PLoS Path)
• Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
• Capillary electrophoresis (Wiki)
• Letters read on TWiV 267

Kathy - Amazing mapsAlan - Florida to NJ in 156 seconds (YouTube)Rich - Whiteout over Great Lakes from SpaceVincent - LORiOLA viral necklaces

Carol - Knit picornavirusRobert - RNA: Life's Indispensible Molecule by James Darnell,and Biochemical Pathways by Michal and Schomburg

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

Vincent, Alan, and Kathy discuss finding viruses in outer space, varying results obtained from personal genetic testing, and depletion of CD4 cells during HIV infection by pyroptosis.

• We should hunt for viruses in space (New Scientist)
• I had my DNA picture taken (NY Times)
• CD4 cell death by pyroptosis (Nature)
• Abortive HIV infection in lymphoid tissue (Cell)
• IFI16 sensor required for HIV mediated cell death (Science)
• PubMed Commons
• Preferential CTL targeting of Gag (Cell Rep)
• Exonic transcription protein binding (Science)
• Letters read on TWiV 266
• Video of this episode - view at YouTube

Kathy - 17 mundane things, mind blowing viewsAlan - SnowovelVincent - Public's views on human evolution

Emily - Dengue pillow

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

In their final episode of the year, the TWiV team reviews ten compelling virology stories from 2013.

• Antiviral RNAi (TWiV 255, 256, 263)
• MERS-CoV (TWiV 215, 223, 224, 233, 239, 247, 251, 258)
• Placental trophoblasts confer viral resistance (TWiV 241)
• Origin of REV (TWiV 248)
• Phage T7 gets a cat scan (TWiV 220)
• It's a cGAS! (TWiV 222)
• Dual virus-host arms race (TWiV 242)
• Pandoraviruses (TWiV 246, 261)
• CMV based SIV vaccine (TWiV 254)
• Threading the NEIDL
• Letters read on TWiV 265
• Video of this episode - view at YouTube

Kathy - Women in ScienceAlan - ContagiumRich - RC helicopter (demo)Vincent - The athletic power of quadcopters

Lindsay - Alcohol consumption and vaccines (Vaccine)Johnye - The Singing Microbiologist

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

The TWiVites read listener questions and comments about public engagement in science, vaccines, RNAi, reprogramming CD8 cells to treat cancer, rabies, and much more.

• Viral gifts
• Controlling plant viruses by vector control (Ann Rev Phyto)
• Flavivirus RNAi suppressor (J Virol)
• Entre probetas podcast (iTunes)
• Hedgehog central
• Reprogramming T cells for leukemia therapy (NEJM)
• Petri Dish podcast
• On Your Mind podcast
• Letters read on TWiV 264

Kathy - Sorting algorithms visualizedAlan - StratodeanRich - Art in Science by Polyxeni PotterVincent - Pixel Genes

Judi - Olympus BioScapes Winner

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

Ben joins the TWiV team to reveal the winner of his contest in which influenza viruses carrying different interferon-stimulated genes vie against one another in mice.

• Virusninja
• Game of clones (Vax Rep)
• Game of clones bracket
• Letters read on TWiV 263

Kathy - The Brain Scoop, esp. Where My Ladies AtAlan - Say 'hi' to a spaceship (YouTube)Rich - Garmin BlueChart Mobile and Active CaptainVincent - Journal boycott (one, two)Dickson - Futurescape TV show

Luis - Spillover by David QuammenKen - Gravity

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Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Ann Palmenberg

Vincent returns to the University of Wisconsin - Madison to speak with Ann Palmenberg about her career in virology.

• Palmenberg lab website - great resources
• Genome sequences of all rhinoviruses (J All Clin Imm)
• Cardioviral poly(C) tracts (Arch Virol Supp)
• EMCV disruption of nuclear transport (PNAS)
• Picornavirus protease in replicase gene (J Virol)
• Bacteriophage Qbeta replicase (J Virol)
• Thanks to Jordan for the episode title!
• Video of this episode - view at YouTube

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and James Van Etten

Guests: Chantal Abergel and Jean-Michel Claverie

Vincent meets up with Chantal and Jean-Michel at the first International Symposium on Giant Virus Biology in Tegernsee, Germany, to discuss their work on Mimivirus, Megavirus, and Pandoravirus.

• Unanswered giant virus questions (Adv Virus Res)
• Fourth domain of life (Commun Integr Biol)
• Pandoraviruses (Science)
• Phaeocystis globosa virus (PNAS)
• Cafeteria roenbergensis virus (PNAS)
• Symposium group photo (jpg)
• Video of this episode - view at YouTube

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Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Tom Friedrich, Tony Goldberg, and David O'Connor

Vincent visits the University of Wisconsin, Madison and speaks with Tom, Tony, and David about their work on virus discovery at the AIDS Vaccine Research Laboratory.

• A tick in Tony's nose (Am J Trop Med Hyg)
• Two new SIV from colobus monkeys in Uganda (Biomed Cent)
• Pegivirus diversity in Uganda (J Gen Virol)
• Simian hemorrhagic fever virus diversity in African primates (J Virol)
• Video of this episode - coming soon

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Guest: Jaquelin Dudley

Vincent and Rich join Jackie at the University of Texas, Austin to talk about her work on mouse mammary tumor virus.

• Rem signal peptide processing and function (J Virol)
• MMTV null mice and tumorigenesis (J Virol)
• Jackie's publications (PubMed)
• I want my MMTV (TWiV 242)
• Live at ASV in Madison (TWiV 193)
• Symbiotic safecrackers (TWiV 154)

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

Matt joins the TWiV team to discuss the discovery of a SARS-like coronavirus in bats that can infect human cells, and what is going on with MERS-coronavirus.

• SARS-like virus in bats binds ACE2 (Nature)
• Bat SARS-like virus that infects human cells (virology blog)
• Coronavirus infections update (WHO)
• Lack of MERS coronavirus antibodies in humans (EID)
• Mice not susceptible to MERS-CoV (J Gen Virol)
• MERS-CoV case imported into Spain
• MERS-CoV like virus in European hedgehogs (J Virol)
• DPP4 amino acids positively selected in bats (Virol J)
• Image credit: Richie Frieman
• Letters read on TWiV 258

Kathy - Optical illusion (YouTube)Alan - AmboceptorMatt - Reply all by Richie Frieman (audio sample)Vincent - The microbiology of beer

Cassie - NeatoShopPeter - Synapse evolution with Seth Grant (BSP 101)

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

The TWiV team consider how the kinase mTOR modulates the antibody response to provide broad protection against influenza virus, and explore the problems with scientific research.

• Two lives intertwined (Ann Rev Imm)
• John Holland, 83
• Kinase mTOR modulates antibody response (Nat Imm)
• Drug widens immunity to flu (TheScientist)
• Concerto in B (TWiV 161)
• How science goes wrong (Economist)
• Trouble at the lab (Economist)
• Reforming science (TWiV 184)
• Letters read on TWiV 257

Dickson - Tesla Motors superchargerKathy - FASEB contest: Stand out for scienceAlan - Natural History Museum virtual tourRich - Mauna Kea heavensVincent - FAA expands use of electronics on planes

Peter - Score and ignore (pdf)

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

Vincent, Dickson, Alan, Rich, and Kathy review two papers that present evidence for RNA interference as an antiviral immunity mechanism in mammals.

• World Polio Day
• Mole Day
• John Holland's publications
• RNAi is antiviral in mammals (Science)
• Antiviral RNA interference in mammals (Science)
• RNAi, antiviral after all (Science)
• Is RNA interference antiviral in mammals? (Cell Host Microbe)
• Nodamura virus (Nature)
• Ebolavirus proteins suppress RNAi (J Virol)
• Illustrated is an siRNA (orange), dicer (top right), and argonaute (bottom)
• Letters read on TWiV 256

Dickson - Wildlife Photographers of the Year 2013Kathy - John Holland's Emerging Infectious Disease lecture (YouTube)Alan - The worst part is notRich - The Universe in a Single Atom by Dalai Lama (Mind and Life Institute)Vincent - The Truth about T. Rex by Brian Switek

Stephen - International Institute for Species Exploration (Top 10 species choice)

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Guests: Robert Krug and Christopher Sullivan

Vincent and Rich visit the University of Texas at Austin and meet up with Bob and Chris to talk about their work on influenza virus and microRNAs.

• Virus-encoded microRNAs (PLoS Path)
• microRNA targetomes of polyomavirus (J Virol)
• Innate and RNAi reciprocal inhibition (Cell)
• ISG15 pathway (Trends Micro)
• Role of viral NS1 protein (Virology)
• Cap-snatching (Cell)

Rich - Unraveling BoleroVincent - New botulinum toxin, DURC implications, and inconvenient truths

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

Vincent, Dickson, Alan, and Kathy review clearance of simian immunodeficiency virus infection from macaques by immunization with SIV proteins encoded in a rhesus cytomegalovirus vector.

• Immune clearance of SIV infection (Nature)
• Rhesus CMV vectors (Nature Medicine)
• Types of memory T cells (WikiPedia)
• Goldilocks approach to vaccines (Scilogs)
• Chimeric HA influenza vaccine (J Virol)
• Influenza vaccine matched vs mismatched (BMC Medicine)
• Letters read on TWiV 254

Dickson - The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean GionoKathy - A boy and his atom and Moving Atoms (YouTube)Alan - It is pitch dark and Get Lamp (YouTube)Vincent - Who's afraid of peer review? (Science)

Maren - Hello Maestro (episodes on YouTube)Ayesha - Why you don't f****** love scienceJon - A Capella Science (YouTube)

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

In this second consecutive all-email episode, the complete TWiV team reads questions and comments from listeners about systemic antiviral responses, wild type poliovirus in Israel, Turkish scientists, viral symbiotes, and much more.

• One Nation in support of biomedical research?
• Bilim Kazani (The Cauldron of Science)
• Science for Gezi
• State of Turkish Science
• Pathogenesis of feline coronavirus (EID)
• Dinosaurs plagued by infection (PLoS One)
• Dinosaur renaissance (WikiPedia)
• Birds are dinosaurs (AMNH)
• Influenza vaccine enhances disease in pigs (Sci Transl Med)
• Gut microbes influence B-cell development (Nature)
• Circovirus in dogs (EID)
• We the microbiologist
• Letters read on TWiV 251

Dickson - HD slow motion montage (YouTube)Kathy - Damselflies and Eyewitness appAlan - Space weather forecast (YouTube)Rich - 1984 by George Orwell (Doublethink)Vincent - PopSci comments off and Why so few women in science?

Meika - Flip action roll (YouTube)CN - Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm GladwellBernadeta - Higgs Boson wins Nobel Prize

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

The complete TWiV team reads email from listeners about anti-vaccine activists, a career in microbiology, placentas, a virology textbook, the HeLa cell genome, norovirus, and much more.

• Anthropic principle
• 1999 vaccine article by Alan Dove (Nature)
• Image credit: Jason Roberts
• Letters read on TWiV 251

Dickson - A Sand County Almanac by Aldo LeopoldKathy - Noctilucent clouds and aurora over ScotlandAlan - Flu vaccination mapRich - There's a fly in my urinalVincent - Picornaviridae.com

Peter - PDB-101Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

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

The complete TWiV crew reviews work on MERS-coronavirus, including serological studies in camels, production of an infectious DNA clone, and identification of an interferon antagonist.

• Stephan Chron dies (NY Times)
• Philip Marcus dies (NY Times)
• Philip Marcus on TWiV #197
• Ellen Fanning dies (news@Vanderbilt)
• Donald Low dies (CBC News)
• MERS timeline
• MERS-CoV seroepidemiology (Eurosurveillance)
• MERS-CoV neutralizing antibodies in camels (Lancet Inf Dis)
• MERS-CoV vaccine candidate (mBio)
• MERS-CoV infectious DNA (PNAS)
• MERS-CoV protein 4a is IFN antagonist (J Virol)
• Letters read on TWiV 251

Dickson - Scharf PhotoKathy - Blaschka glass models (NY Times, Cornell)Alan - Digital Public Library of AmericaRich - Dengue virus life cycle animationVincent - Creative Live

John - Last person to get smallpox (NPR)Peter - SARS documentary (BBC)

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Robert Garcea

Vincent and Robert recorded this episode at the 53rd ICAAC in Denver, where they talked about polyomaviruses.

• A cornucopia of human polyomaviruses (Nat Rev Micro)
• Polyoma assembly factories in nucleus (PLoS Path)
• Overprinting gene in Merkel cell polyomavirus (PNAS)
• Human JCV as population marker (PLoS One)
• Letters read on TWiV 250
• Video of this episode (YouTube)

Robert - The Panic Virus by Seth MnookinVincent - Aliens chestburster behind the scenes

Adam - Virology Fact of the DayChristophe - dr Karl

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

Vincent, Dickson, Alan and Rich discuss an estimate of the number of different mammalian viruses on Earth.

• Estimate of unknown viral diversity in mammals (mBio)
• How many viruses on Earth? (virology blog)
• Letters read on TWiV 249

Alan - Extreme macrophotographyDickson - Baloney detection kitRich - Mutant silkworms spin colored silk (original article)Vincent - FlightRadar24

Jenn - Ebola by William CloseJenn - Eleven Blue Men by Berton RouecheNissin -Profiles in Science

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Dickson, and Rich reveal how experiments with a malaria parasite lead to the introduction of a mammalian retrovirus into birds.

• Scientists cast doubt on MERS origin (NY Times)
• Animal reservoirs of SARS coronavirus (Virus Res)
• Jo Handelsman in the White House
• Origins of REV (PLoS Biology)
• Inadvertent transfer (virology blog)
• Mongoose, pheasant, pox, retrovirus (PLoS Biol)
• Evolutionary history of REVs
• Amazing story (Ed Yong)
• My wife's P. lophurae paper (Mol Bio Parasitol)
• William Trager's SNV paper (Exp Biol Med)
• EBV detection tests (Clin Diag Lab Immunol)
• Letters read on TWiV 248

Dickson - Google SkyRich - Vanishing of the Bees (see also Bee Apocalypse Now)Vincent - Not Exactly Rocket Science

Saira - Reproducibility Initiative

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

Special guest: Ian Lipkin

Ian joins Vincent, Alan, Rich, and Kathy to describe how his laboratory is searching for the origin of MERS-coronavirus.

• MERS-CoV in bats (EID)
• Mystery virus (NY Times)
• Part of MERS-CoV found in bat (virology blog()
• T. perforatus
• Frag virus (Virol J)
• Even Nature got it wrong! (Nature)
• Bats: Important reservoirs of emerging viruses (Clin Micro Rev)
• Letters read on TWiV 247

Kathy - Rainbows explained (Frazz)Alan - Challenge.govVincent - 23andmeRich - Spot the station

Frank - Pacifier cleaning practices and risk of allergy development (Pediatrics)

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

Vincent, Alan, Rich, and Kathy discuss the huge Pandoravirus, virologists planning H7N9 gain of function experiments, and limited access to the HeLa cell genome sequence.

• Pandoraviruses (Science)
• Unlike anything seen before (virology blog)
• H7N9 gain of function experiments planned (Nature, Science)
• Virologists plan H7N9 gain of function experiments (virology blog)
• Creating a deadly virus? Not!! (USA Today)
• HeLa cell genome sequence (Nature)
• NIH Director explains HeLa agreement (Nature)
• HeLa deal (Nature)
• Biospecimen policy (Nature)
• Sequencing HeLa the right way (turbidplaque)
• Skloot on HeLa deal (The Scientist)
• HeLa deal (NY Times, USA Today)
• Picture on Condit's wall (EID)
• Letters read on TWiV 246
• Video of this episode - view below or at YouTube

Kathy - GeoGuesserAlan - From one, many (YouTube)Vincent - Dave Bhella: The Wildy Award Talk (Microbeworld video)Rich - 1981 primitive internet report (YouTube)

CN - How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

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Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: S. Jane Flint, Lynn Enquist, Glenn Rall, and Ann Skalka

The authors of the popular textbook Principles of Virology discuss how the book was conceived and written.

• Principles of Virology
• Lahiere's
• General Virology by SE Luria

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Alan Dove

Guests: Dan Barouch and Jeff Teigler

This episode of TWiV was recorded before an audience at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where Vincent and Alan spoke with Dan and Jeff about AIDS vaccines.

• Human study of adenovirus 26 HIV-1 envelope vaccine (J Inf Dis)
• Seroepidemiology of adenovirus serotypes (Vaccine)
• SIV infection associated with expansion of gut virome (Cell, TWiV #204)
• Global approach to HIV-1 vaccine development (Immunol Rev)
• Innate cytokine responses to adenoviruses (J Virol)
• microRNAs as mediators of viral evasion (Nat Immunol)
• Letters read on TWiV 244

Jeff - Science in the News; How to succeed in science (part one and part two)Alan - Nanostructure flowersVincent - Scientific culture

Basel - The sequester blues

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Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Guests: Rebecca Dutch and Christiane Wobus

On this episode of TWiV, which was recorded before a large enthusiastic audience at the annual meeting of the American Society for Virology, Vincent, Rich, and Kathy speak with Rebecca and Christiane about their work on metapneumoviruses and noroviruses.

• TWiV 143 with Stephanie Karst
• American Society for Virology
• Mouse model for human norovirus (mBio)
• Paramyxovirus fusion (Viruses)
• Photo credit: Matt Evans

Kathy - Shuffling cardsVincent - Dave Bhella - Electron cryomicroscopyRich - Seven-year postdoc

Judi - Reading for science literacy

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