TWiV 76: XMRV with Professor Stephen Goff

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Created on Monday, 05 April 2010 01:00

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #76 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent speaks with Stephen Goff about the origin of the retrovirus XMRV and its association with prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Host links Vincent Racaniello and Stephen Goff

Links for this episode:

• Discovery of XMRV in prostate tumors
• Association of XMRV with chronic fatigue syndrome
• Enhanced infection of prostate cells by XMRV
• XMRV and xenotransplantation

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TWiV #76 (40 MB .mp3, 55 minutes)

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TWiV 75: Rabies rampant

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Created on Sunday, 28 March 2010 13:23

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #75 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Matt review contamination of Rotarix with circovirus DNA, antigenic similarity between 1918 and 2009 H1N1 influenza, a collection of rabies reports, and chicken pox mistaken for smallpox in Uganda.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Matthew Frieman

Links for this episode:

• Contamination of Rotarix vaccine with porcine circovirus 1 DNA
• Beak and feather disease circovirus (BFDV) threatens parrots
• Antigenic similarity between 1918 and 2009 H1N1 influenza
• Presumptive abortive human rabies in Texas
• Rabies rampant: feline, immunization change, Indonesia, wolf, Texas bat, US equine (thanks, Lenn!)
• Austin free tailed bats emerging at dusk
• Suspected smallpox in Uganda
• T-cell receptor therapy for AIDS (thanks Dorian!)

Weekly science picks:

Matt Bitesize Bio
Alan Free printable graph paper (see also doane paper)
Vincent Avian Flu Diary

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TWiV #75 (57 MB .mp3, 79 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

TWiV 74: Influenza with Professor Adolfo Garcia-Sastre

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Created on Monday, 22 March 2010 01:17

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #74 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent speaks with Adolfo Garcia-Sastre about the origin, pathogenesis, and prevention of the 2009 pandemic influenza H1N1 virus.

Host links Vincent Racaniello and Adolfo Garcia-Sastre

Links for this episode:

• Influenza virus receptor specificity and disease
• PB1-F2 expression by 2009 H1N1 strain does not increase virulence
• Protection against 2009 H1N1 infection by immunization with older strains
• Passage in eggs changes influenza receptor specificity
• Association between D222G mutation and virulence

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TWiV #74 (34 MB .mp3, 47 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

TWiV 73: Entering the ends

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Created on Sunday, 14 March 2010 20:59

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #73 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Dickson, and Rich discuss multipotent progenitor bone marrow cells as a reservoir of HIV-1, integration of HHV-6 into telomeres, and dispersal of West Nile virus across the US by mosquitoes.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Rich Condit

Links for this episode:

• HIV-1 infects multipotent progenitor cells
• HHV-6 genome integrates into telomeres
• A role for mosquito-mediated dispersal of West Nile virus across the US
• Using tobacco mosaic virus to produce synthetic photovoltaic cells (thanks Nissin!)
• Animation of HIV replication cycle (thanks Ilya!)
• Can computer viruses evolve? (thanks Norman!)
• Mumps outbreak in Israel (one and two) (thanks Ariel!)
• Bocavirus infections in children (thanks Tyler!)

Weekly science picks:

Dickson Whole-Genome Sequencing in a Patient with Charcot–Marie–Tooth Neuropathy (NEJM and NY Times)
Rich Invisible Frontiers: The Race to Synthesize a Human Gene by Stephen Hall
Vincent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections - videocasts

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TWiV #73 (63 MB .mp3, 87 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

TWiV 72: Bucket of bolts

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Created on Monday, 08 March 2010 02:35

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #72 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Dickson, Alan and Rich explain CRISPR/Cas, the immune system of bacteria and archaea, how novel viruses are discovered by deep sequencing of small RNAs, and the relationship between dry weather and outbreaks of West Nile virus infection.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Links for this episode:

• Review on the CRISPR/cas system of bacteria and archaea
• Virus discovery by sequencing small virus-derived RNAs (paper one and two)
• Dry weather induces outbreaks of West Nile virus infection (paper and comment form)
• Vaccine needle size matters
• Participate in the Personal Genome Project

Weekly science picks:

Dickson Scientist as Chef by Dickson Despommier (pdf)
Alan Networked Organisms and Habitats (NOAH) iPhone app
Rich Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
Vincent The Dish

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TWiV #72 (62 MB .mp3, 85 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

TWiV 71: Please Mr. Postman

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Created on Monday, 01 March 2010 01:04

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #71 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Dickson, Alan and Rich answer listener questions about maternal infection and fetal injury, viral gene therapy, eyeglasses and influenza, filtering prions from blood, eradication of rinderpest, Tamiflu resistance of H1N1 influenza, bacteriophages and the human microbiome, H1N1 vaccine recalls, human tumor viruses, RNA interference, and junk DNA.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Links for this episode:

• Maternal infection and fetal neurological injury
• Filtering prions from blood (prion capture technology)
• Eradication of rinderpest (Merck veterinary manual)
• Podcasts from Life in the Universe course
• Immune Attack video game
• H1N1 review article and Holmes on genetic hijacking
• Podcast on Merck vaccines
• Ft. Lee NJ snowed in (jpg)

Weekly science picks:

Dickson and Alan NSF/AAAS Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge
Rich Foundation by Issac Asimov
Vincent Natural Obsessions by Natalie Angier

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TWiV #71 (63 MB .mp3, 88 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

TWiV 70: Hacking aphid behavior

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Created on Monday, 22 February 2010 02:45

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #70 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Dickson, and Alan consider a broad spectrum antiviral against enveloped viruses, how a plant virus induces chemical signals in the host to maximize its spread, a new way to preserve viral vaccines at tropical temperatures, and the continuing story of XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Alan Dove

Links for this episode:

• Broad spectrum antiviral against enveloped viruses
• Chemical signals induced by a plant virus attract insect vectors to inferior hosts
• New vaccine technology to make viral vaccines stable at tropical temperatures
• Second UK study fails to find XMRV in chronic fatigue syndrome patients (pdf)
• Nature podcast with Simon Singh and petition (thanks André!)
• Letter on Wolbachia and bees (thanks Tom!)
• Dickson fishing in Argentina (jpg)

Weekly science picks:

Dickson Chemical Ecology - edited by Thomas Eisner and Jerrold Meinwald
Alan Scripps Center for Mass Spectrometry
Vincent Folding@home (thanks Jesper!)

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TWiV #70 (56 MB .mp3, 77 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

TWiV 69: They're all safecrackers

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Created on Monday, 08 February 2010 17:01

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #69 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Rich review recent outbreaks of mumps in the UK, US, and Israel, protection of mice against 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus by 1918-like and classical swine H1N1 vaccines, and a virus-like particle vaccine for chikungunya virus.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Links for this episode:

• Mumps outbreak in Israel (ProMedMail and Eurosurveillance; thanks Lenn!) and Iowa
• Retraction of Wakefield vaccines- autism study
• Immunization with 1918-like and classical swine H1N1 influenza viruses protects against 2009 H1N1 strain
• Virus-like particle vaccine for chikungunya virus
• Image: antigenic differences in HA structures of 1918, Cal/09 and Bris/59/07 viruses
• Paul Ewald articles (thanks Atila!): one, two, and three, and a recent review of the hypothesis

Weekly science picks:

Rich John Moran Florida Nature Photography
Alan Periodic Table of Videos
Vincent The Protein Databank Educational Resources

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TWiV #69 (59 MB .mp3, 82 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

TWiV 68: Ode to a plaque

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Created on Monday, 01 February 2010 13:24

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #68 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Rich are enthralled by movies of vaccinia virus plaque formation, then consider how repulsion of superinfection virions leads to rapid virus spread, and a therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Links for this episode:

• Rapid virus spread by repulsion of superinfection virions
• Movie of vaccinia virus plaque formation (.mov)
• Movie of GFP-vaccinia virus plaque formation (.mov)
• More amazing vaccinia virus movies
• Prostate cancer vaccine (Reuters article, original research)

Weekly science picks:

Rich Foundations of Virology - PowerPoint by Frederick A. Murphy (bio/interview pdf)
Alan Spoonful of Medicine - Nature Medicine blog
Vincent The Feynman Lectures (thanks Ilya!)

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TWiV #68 (58 MB .mp3, 80 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

TWiV 67: Wasting deer and the Hulk rabbit

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Created on Sunday, 24 January 2010 14:56

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #67 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Marc Pelletier talk about chronic wasting disease of deer caused by prions, blocking the semen-derived enhancer of HIV infection with surfen, and making green transgenic rabbits using a lentiviral vector.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Marc Pelletier

Links for this episode:

• Chronic wasting disease in West Virginia
• Chronic wasting disease alliance and CDC webpage
• Semen-derived inhibitor of viral infection (SEVI)
• Surfen inhibits the action of SEVI
• Making green transgenic rabbits using simian immunodeficiency virus vector
• Science comedy (thanks Lucky Fractal!)

Weekly science picks:

Contact

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TWiV #67 (64 MB .mp3, 88 minutes)

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.