TWiV 50: XMRV

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Created on Sunday, 20 September 2009 14:09

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Jason Rodriguez

Vincent and Jason review influenza 2009 H1N1 vaccine trials and protection against the virus conferred by the 1976 swine flu vaccine, then move on to a virus called XMRV and its possible role in prostate cancer.

TWiV 49: Viral genomes

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Created on Sunday, 13 September 2009 18:51

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier

Vincent and Dick continue Virology 101 with a discussion of the seven different types of viral genomes, and how to use the pathway to mRNA to understand viral replication.

Links for this episode:

• Dick talks about hookworm on Radio Lab
• Dick's video page at BigThink
• The seven types of viral genome
• Animation of HIV replication (thanks axiomatically atypical!)
• Changes in transcript abundance relating to colony collapse disorder in honey bee (thanks Judi!)

Weekly Science Picks

Dick Discovery Channel: Planet Green
Vincent Influenza videos at BigThink: one, two, three, four, five, six

Contact

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 leave voicemail at Skype : twivpodcast. You can also send articles that you would like us to discuss to delicious and tagging them with to:twivpodcast.

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TWiV #49 (58 MB .mp3, 62 minutes)

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TWiV 48: Outbreaks near you

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Created on Sunday, 06 September 2009 16:12

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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

Vincent, Dick, Alan and Rich revisit a vaccinia virus lab accident and viral vaccines produced in plants, then talk about an iPhone app to track infectious diseases, flying foxes, and an inhaled measles vaccine.

Links for this episode:

• Laboratory acquired vaccinia infection
• Medicago (investor presentation, pdf) and Fraunhofer produce vaccines in plants
• iPhone app Outbreaks near me
• No culling of flying foxes in Australia
• Inhaled powdered measles virus vaccine
• Herpesvirus latency confers symbiotic protection from bacterial infection (thanks Juliet!)
• Porcine circovirus vaccine
• Swine flu vaccine and Guillain-Barré (thanks Tom!)
• The Great Flu and blog post (thanks Swiss compass and Allison!)
• Building semiconductors with DNA (thanks Duncan!)
• Email on viral classification (thanks Rodney and Eliot!)

Weekly Science Picks

Rich Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Dick Eliot Porter at the Carter Museum and bookstore at Amazon
Alan Dr. Clarke's H1N1 rap at the HHS sponsored YouTube contest
Vincent Coast to Coast Bio Podcast

Contact

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 leave voicemail at Skype : twivpodcast. You can also send articles that you would like us to discuss to delicious and tagging them with to:twivpodcast.

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TWiV #48 (58 MB .mp3, 79 minutes)

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TWiV 47: Vertical vaccine farm

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Created on Sunday, 30 August 2009 15:08

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts : Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier

Vincent and Dick discuss influenza virus-like particle vaccines produced in insect and plant cells, rapid sharing of influenza research, and answer listener questions about cytomegalovirus, viral evolution and symbiosis and much more.

Links for this episode:

• A Farm on Every Floor
• Influenza virus-like particles in insect and plant cells
• PLoS Currents: Influenza
• Transmission of 2009 H1N1 influenza virus to turkeys [Thanks Debbie!]
• Baxter produces Vero cell H1N1 vaccine [Thanks Peter!]
• Boundaries of Darwinism podcast [Thanks David!]
• Phages in human intestine: papers one, two, three [Thanks Terry!]
• Post-exposure varicella vaccine [Thanks Patricia!]
• Open science movement here, here, here, and here [Thanks Jim!]
• Graduate programs in virology [Thanks Greggory and Blake!]
• Post-exposure Marburg and Ebola vaccines [Thanks John!]
• Vaccinia infection in the laboratory [Thanks Russ!]
• Animations of bacteriophage T4 life cycle [Thanks Jim!]

Weekly Science Picks

Vincent Bionumbers
Dick Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas by Sylvia A. Earle, Linda K. Glover

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TWiV #47 (51 MB .mp3, 71 minutes)

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TWiV 46: Virus entry into cells

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Created on Sunday, 23 August 2009 15:19

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts : Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier

Vincent and Dick continue virology 101 with a discussion of virus entry into cells, then answer reader email on colony collapse disorder and viruses that confer a benefit to their host.

Links for this episode:

• Illustrations of virus entry into cells
• Nice reference for biological items (thanks Jim!)
• Colony collapse disorder: PBS program,  descriptive study, metagenomic study, genetic analysis (thanks Swiss compass!)
• Potato virus Y and Alzheimer's disease (thanks Jennifer!)
• A virus in a fungus in a plant (thanks Jennifer!)

Weekly Science Picks

Vincent PLoS Pearls
Dick West Nile virus website at CDC

Contact

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TWiV #46 (59 MB .mp3, 86 minutes)

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TWiV 45: Hendra and polio are back

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Created on Sunday, 16 August 2009 13:56

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts : Vincent Racaniello , Dick Despommier , Alan Dove , and Jennifer Drahos

Vincent, Dick, Alan, and Jennifer Drahos tackle the Hendra virus disease outbreak in Australia, AIDS-like disease in wild chimps, return of polio type 2 in Nigeria, the influenza pandemic wave, and rabies in three countries.

Links for this episode:

• Hendra virus killing horses in Australia
• AIDS-like disease in wild chimps [ NY Times ]
• Polio type 2 returns in Nigeria
• Influenza pandemic wave [Branswell ]
• Rabies in Ukraine , South Africa , and USA
• Cell phones turned into fluorescent microscopes [Thanks, Jim!]
• HIV-1 vaccine trial in South Africa [Thanks Duncan!]
• Forum discussion on flu vaccine [Thanks James!]
• The Brain Science Podcast [Thanks Jim!]
• WHO note on H1N1 vaccine safety
• CDC information on H1N1 vaccines
• Hans Christian Orsted

Weekly Science Picks

Jennifer Art of Science 2009
Vincent Nobel Intent
Dick Diversity of Life by EO Wilson
Alan MediaWiki (install tips )

Contact

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TWiV #45 (59 MB .mp3, 86 minutes)

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TWiV 44: No hysteria

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Created on Sunday, 09 August 2009 14:16

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dick Despommier, Alan Dove, and Jennifer Drahos

Vincent, Dick, Alan, and Jennifer Drahos consider Marburg virus in Egyptian fruit bats, bacterial citrus pathogen found in shipping facility, canine parvovirus in Michigan, Relenza-resistant influenza virus, new HIV from gorillas, and public engagement on H1N1 immunization program.

Links for this episode:

• Isolation of Marburg virus from Egyptian fruit bats
• Inspectors find bacterial citrus pathogen in California
• Parvovirus killing hundreds of dogs in Michigan
• Relenza-resistant H1N1 identified in Australia (press and journal article)
• New HIV from gorilla
• CDC wants public comment on H1N1 vaccination
• Original antigenic sin (article 1 and article 2)
• Dr. Stanley Plotkin on Meet the Scientist (thanks Peter!)
• audioBoo (iPhone app - thanks Jim!)
• Audio clips (first and second) from the podcast No Agenda (thanks peripatetic apoplectic!)

Weekly Science Picks

Jennifer Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD Comics)
Vincent Giant Microbes (thanks Stephen!)
Dick Virology in the 21st Century
Alan Annals of the Former World by John McPhee

Contact

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TWiV #44 (54 MB .mp3, 78 minutes)

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TWiV 43: Virus classification

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Created on Monday, 03 August 2009 17:44

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier

Vincent and Dick explain virus classification, and revisit the 1976 swine flu immunization campaign and Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Links for this episode:

• International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV)
• CBS 60 Minutes on 1976 swine flu vaccine (thanks Gus and Swiss compass!)
• Vaccines and Guillain-Barré
• NINDS Guillain-Barré Information
• Reflections on the 1976 swine flu vaccination program
• Swine influenza outbreak at Fort Dix, 1976

Weekly Science Picks

Dick Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth by Lynn Margulis and Karlene V. Schwartz
Vincent A Genetic Switch by Mark Ptashne

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TWiV #43 (32 MB .mp3, 46 minutes)

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TWiV 42: Bats and ticks

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Created on Tuesday, 28 July 2009 18:28

Written by Vincent Racaniello

HostsVincent Racaniello, Dick Despommier, Alan Dove, and Delthia Ricks

Vincent, Dick, Alan, and Delthia Ricks discuss a new influenza virus-like particle vaccine, dog flu, ultrasensitive pen-sized virus detector, imported rabies in the US, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and next season’s flu vaccines.

Links for this episode:

• Trivalent virus-like particle vaccine
• Canine flu virus vaccine
• Ultrasensitive virus detector
• Rabies imported into the US
• Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Kazakhstan
• FDA approves seasonal flu vaccine for fall
• Yields of 2009 H1N1 vaccine are low
• FDA may fast-track approval of 2009 H1N1 vaccine

Weekly Science Picks

Delthia 100 questions and answers about influenza by Delthia Ricks
Alan Tinychat
Dick Mythbusters
Vincent Effect Measure

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TWiV #42 (40 MB .mp3, 58 minutes)

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TWiV 41: Fish flu

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Created on Monday, 20 July 2009 15:49

Written by Vincent Racaniello

In episode 41 of "This Week in Virology", Vincent Racaniello, Dick Despommier, Alan Dove and Rich Condit chat about infectious salmon anemia virus, virus-resistant grapevines, virulence of pandemic H1N1 influenza virus, origin of 1918 influenza virus, holy water ban to halt influenza, frequency of human WU and KI polyomavirus infection, rabies in China, and host species of sin nombre virus.

Links for this episode

• Wal-Mart stops buying Chile salmon on virus outbreak
• Virus-resistant grapevines
• Virulence of H1N1 pandemic influenza virus in animal models
• Did 1918 influenza virus originate in birds or not?
• Holy water ban to halt swine flu
• Frequent Human Infection with WU and KI Polyomaviruses
• Rabies in China
• Increased Host Species Diversity and Decreased Prevalence of Sin Nombre Virus
• Fast, cheap PCR for crime scenes (thanks Jim!)

Weekly Science Picks

Alan For Love of Insects by Thomas Eisner
Rich Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
Dick Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Vincent Gallileoscope (thanks Zach!)

Contact

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Subscribe to TWiV for free in iTunes, by the RSS feed with a podcast aggregator, or by email

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