TWiV 199: Of mice, ticks, and pigs

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Created on Sunday, 16 September 2012 13:01

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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

Vincent, Alan, Rich, and Kathy discuss recent outbreaks of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in Yosemite National Park and novel swine-origin influenza in the US midwest, and isolation of the Heartland virus from two patients in Missouri with severe febrile illness.

Right-click to download TWiV 199 (73 MB .mp3, 101 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes, at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Hantavirus outbreak in Yosemite (ProMedMail)
• Hantavirus in Yosemite (CDC)
• CDC page on hantavirus
• Summary of hantavirus outbreak (Avian Flu Diary)
• Swine-origin influenza outbreak in midwest (MMWR)
• Lyn Finelli interview on swine-origin H3N2 (Microbeworld)
• Transmission of vH3N2 in ferrets (PNAS)
• New phlebovirus from Missouri (NEJM)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 199

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - Insane in the Chromatophores (Vimeo)
Rich - Golden Goose Awards
Kathy - Euler's Disk (YouTube)
Vincent - Ignorance: How it Drives Science by Stuart Firestein

Listener Pick of the Week

Adam - Leigh Van Valen

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

 

TWiV 198: Pox has got a squeeze-box, seals are gonna sneeze all night

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Created on Tuesday, 04 September 2012 16:36

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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

Vincent, Alan, Rich, and Kathy review fatal avian influenza virus in harbor seals, and poxvirus deployment of genomic accordions to counter antiviral defenses.

Right-click to download TWiV 198 (71 MB .mp3, 99 minutes).

There once was a virus named pox
Whose genome contained a squeeze-box
When placed under pressure
It expanded its measure
Overcoming the new cellular blocks

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes, at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Avian influenza virus in harbor seals (mBio)
• Poxvirus genomic accordions (Cell)
• Red Queen hypothesis (Wikipedia)
• Squeeze box (The Who)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 198

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - Getting Better: 200 Years of Medicine
Rich - Khan Academy
Kathy - Vi Hart
Vincent - Tweet Keeper

Listener Pick of the Week

Diane - The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe
Stephen - Amateur Micrography

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

 

TWiV 197: Cloning HeLa cells with Professor Philip I. Marcus

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Created on Monday, 27 August 2012 21:23

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Philip I. Marcus

Vincent travels to the University of Connecticut to meet up with Professor Philip I. Marcus to discuss his development of the single cell cloning technique in the early 1950s.

Right-click to download TWiV 197 (51 MB .mp3, 71 minutes).

Watch the Video for TWiV197

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes, at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Cloning with X-irradiated feeder cells (PNAS)
• Philip I. Marcus in the lab (jpg)
• Cloning with capillary tubes (jpg)
• Cloning platform (jpg)
• VRR holding 1950s glass plate of clones (jpg)
• HeLa clones (jpg)
• Cloning cylinder (jpg)
• TWiV on Facebook

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

 

TWiV 196: An arena for snakes

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Created on Monday, 20 August 2012 15:27

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, Dickson Despommier, Kathy Spindler, Mark Stenglein, and Joseph DeRisi

The TWiVites meet with Mark Stenglein and Joseph DeRisi to discuss their discovery of a novel arenavirus in snakes with inclusion body disease.

Right-click to download TWiV 196 (77 MB .mp3,  107 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes, at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Highly divergent arenaviruses in snakes (mBio)
• Taryn's sick snake (NPR)
• Assemblathon
• Faculty position in virology, Columbia U.
• Petridish.org
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 196

Weekly Science Picks

Mark - The Slow Mo Guys (Fly eats fly)
Dickson - I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor by Shel Silverstein
Alan - MMWR: First 30 years online
Rich - Giant python in Everglades and California Academy of Sciences
Kathy - Darwin finch genome sequence
Vincent - Microbiology at Mt. Sinai

Listener Pick of the Week

Renato - Security Now podcast
Robin - The Weather
Chad - Rare protozoan from sludge (ScienceDaily)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

 

TWiV 195: They did it in the hot tub

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Created on Monday, 13 August 2012 02:08

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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

The complete TWiV team meets with Ken Stedman to discuss the discovery in Boiling Spring Lake of a DNA virus with the capsid of an RNA virus.

Right-click to download TWiV 195 (77 MB .mp3, 107 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Novel virus from an extreme environment (Biol Direct, virology blog)
• Lassen Volcanic National Park
• Tombusviridae, Circoviridae (ViralZone)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 195

Weekly Science Picks

Ken - The Edge of Life trailer and Facebook page
Dickson - The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint by Edward Tufte
Alan - SEMs of insects and spiders via Steve Gschmeissner
Rich - Curiosity Has Landed (Wiki mission summary)
Vincent - Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror (YouTube)

Listener Pick of the Week

Lance - The Vaccine Confidence Project and Immune response video (YouTube)
Anat - Beautiful Science

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

TWiV 194: Five postdocs in North America

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Created on Monday, 06 August 2012 03:39

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Matthew Daugherty, Jondavid deJong, Helen Lazear, Stefan Oliver, and Cara Pager.

Vincent returns to Madison, Wisconsin and meets with postdocs to discuss their science and their careers.

Right-click to download TWiV 194 (69 MB .mp3, 94 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• TWiV 189: Five postdocs in Glasgow
• ASM at the USA Science and Engineering Festival
• ASV 2012 at Madison, WI
• Photographs of ASV 2012
• TWiV on Facebook

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

 

TWiV 193: Live at ASV in Madison

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Created on Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:14

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Carolyn Coyne, and Sara Sawyer

Vincent, Rich, Carolyn, and Sara recorded TWiV at the 31st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology in Madison, where they discussed genetic conflict between viral and human genes, and how the placenta protects the fetus against viral infection.

Links for this episode:

• ASV 2012 at Madison, WI
• Photographs of ASV 2012
• Rock band Herpetic Legion plays at ASV 2012
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 193

Weekly Science Picks

Rich - Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
Vincent - Biochemistry Revealed

Listener Pick of the Week

Matlock - The BioDigital Human
Matt - Scientists create jellyfish from rat cells

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

 

TWiV 192: Viral tertulia

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Created on Sunday, 22 July 2012 19:57

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich answer listener email about bioinformatics, insects, influenza, laboratory classes, commensalism, reproducibility of data, and more.

Right-click to download TWiV 192 (84 MB .mp3, 117 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Vaccinia virus sequence from patient with vaccine complication (pdf)
• The evolution of intellectual freedom (thanks, Robin!)
• Free access to British scientific research (Guardian)
• xTAG respiratory viral panel
• Houston rabies case (Statesman)
• Tertulia (Wikipedia)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 192

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - The Microbial Olympics (supplementary information)
Rich - PharmaJet needle free injection system
Vincent - Microbes and Evolution by Roberto Kolter and Stanley Maloy (paperback and Kindle)

Listener Pick of the Week

Varun - Agile Gene by Matt Ridley
Sizun - Plague Inc
Ricardo - TED-ED
Kristopher - Ed Yong on Econtalk

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

 

TWiV 191: When two rights make a wrong

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Created on Sunday, 15 July 2012 17:04

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Nissin Moussatche

Nissin joins the TWiV crew to discuss an outbreak of lethal disease among Cambodian children, and recombination among attenuated herpesvirus vaccines leading to pathogenic viruses.

Right-click to download TWiV 191 (71 MB .mp3, 99 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Outbreak in Cambodia (CNN)
• Pathogen mix in Cambodian illness (ProMedMail)
• Undiagnosed illness in Cambodia (WHO)
• Enterovirus 71 (virology blog)
• Recombination among attenuated vaccines (Science)
• An outbreak of irony (Ed Yong)
• Infectious laryngotracheitis
• Gallid herpesvirus 1 (Wikipedia)
• Iltovirus (ViralZone)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 191

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - H5N1 genetic changes inventory
Rich - Mythbusters: Diet Coke and Mentos (YouTube channel)
Nissin - The Pox and the Covenant by Tony Williams, and Tereza Batista, Tired of War by Jorge Amado
Vincent - FAQ: The 'snake bite' portion of your thesis defense

Listener Pick of the Week

Gopal - All's not fair in science and publishing
Luis - The Origin of AIDS by Jacques Pepin (Nature review)
Sven - Visualizing information flow in science

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

 

TWiV 190: The second ferret of the Apocalypse

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Created on Sunday, 01 July 2012 14:18

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler

Vincent, Alan, and Kathy review selection of influenza H5N1 viruses that can transmit among ferrets by aerosol.

Right-click to download TWiV 188 (63 MB .mp3, 97 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Airborne transmission of H5N1 among ferrets (Science)
• Potential for H5N1 evolution (Science)
• H5N1 (Science)
• The ferrets of fear
• Jim's podcast list (pdf)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 190

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy - Wind map
Vincent - The A-Z of Epidemiology (YouTube)

Listener Pick of the Week

Kristoffer - How to read a paper
Neva - Electricity from viruses

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.