TWiV 136: Exit XMRV

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Created on Monday, 06 June 2011 03:03

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Stephen Goff

Retrovirologist Stephen Goff joins Vincent, Rich, and Alan for a discussion of recent papers on the retrovirus XMRV and its association with chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer.

Right-click to download TWiV #136 (61 MB .mp3, 84 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:

• Recombinant origin of XMRV (Science Express)
• No evidence of gammaretroviruses in XMRV-positive CFS patients (Science Express)
• Editorial expression of concern (Science)
• Absence of XMRV in CFS patients (J Virology)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 136

Weekly Science Picks

Listener Pick of the Week

Raihan  - Bruce Aylward: How we'll stop polio for good (YouTube)

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 135: Live in the Big Easy

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Created on Sunday, 29 May 2011 19:12

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Roger Hendrix, Rachel Katzenellenbogen, and Harmit Malik

Vincent and guests Rachel Katzenellenbogen, Roger Hendrix, and Harmit Malik recorded TWiV #135 live at the 2011 ASM General Meeting in New Orleans, where they discussed transformation and oncogenesis by human papillomaviruses, the amazing collection of bacteriophages on the planet, and the evolution of genetic conflict between virus and host.

Right-click to download TWiV #135 (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:

• Papillomavirus E6 proteins (Virology)
• Diversity of mycobacteriophages (PLoS One)
• Adaptive evolution of tetherin (J Virology)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 135
• Video of this episode - view below

Weekly Science Picks

Listener Pick of the Week

Mark  - Shot by Shot

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 134: Meet Ralph, your cruise director

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Created on Sunday, 22 May 2011 17:33

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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

Vincent, Rich, Alan, and Dickson review noroviruses with Stephanie Karst, PhD.

Right-click to download TWiV #134 (68 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:

• Caliciviruses at ViralZone
• Norovirus page at CDC
• Norovirus infection does not confer protection (J Virology)
• Norovirus vaccine by LigoCyte (pdf)
• The official diarrhea song
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 133

Weekly Science Picks

Listener Pick of the Week

Sophie  - TED talk app for iPad and iPhone

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 133: The HIV hideout

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Created on Sunday, 15 May 2011 20:55

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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

Vincent, Rich, Alan, and Dickson discuss the cellular reservoir of HIV-1 with Kathleen Collins, MD, PhD.

Right-click to download TWiV #133 (42 MB .mp3, 87 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:

• HIV-1 infects multipotent progenitor cells (Nature Medicine)
• CXCR4 is HIV-1 co-receptor in multipotent hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (Cell Host Microbe)
• TWiV and TWiM live at ASM General Meeting, New Orleans
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 133

Weekly Science Picks

Listener Pick of the Week

Chris  - Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams

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 132: Virology 911

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Created on Monday, 09 May 2011 02:56

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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

Vincent, Rich, Alan, and Dickson speak with Alfred Sacchetti, MD, Chief of Emergency Services at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, about viral infections encountered in the emergency room.

Right-click to download TWiV #132 (48 MB .mp3, 100 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:

• Dr. Sacchetti's posts at EM-blog
• Molluscum contagiousum
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 132

Weekly Science Picks

Listener Pick of the Week

Jim  - Extraordinary Measures

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 131: A REOstat for cancer

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Created on Sunday, 01 May 2011 18:48

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Dickson Despommier, and Brad Thompson

Vincent, Alan, and Dickson chat with Brad Thompson, CEO of Oncolytics Biotech, about using reovirus to treat cancer.

Right-click to download TWiV #131 (42 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:

• Patrick Lee's path to reolysin
• Reoviruses commonly infect humans
• Reovirus at ViralZone
• Onyx-411, an anti-tumor adenovirus
• BioVex, developers of OncoVEX GM-CSF
• This Week in Pediatric Oncology - TWiPO (iTunes)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 131

Weekly Science Picks

Listener Pick of the Week

Josh  - Prof. Racaniello's Virology course on iTunes

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 130: Rhino tracking, wrestling pox, and HCV in the crosshairs

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Created on Sunday, 24 April 2011 14:49

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich discuss growth in culture of newly identified rhinovirus C, vaccinia transmission among wrestlers and martial artists, and results of phase III clinical trial of boceprevir, a new inhibitor of hepatitis C virus replication.

Right-click to download TWiV #130 (45 MB .mp3, 93 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:

• Growth of newly identified rhinovirus C (Nature Medicine)
• Global distribution of rhinovirus C (EID)
• Vaccinia transmission among wrestlers (EID)
• Vaccine transmission in a martial arts gym (EID)
• Boceprevir for untreated HCV infection (NEJM)
• Boceprevir for previously treated HCV infection (NEJM)
• HCV antiviral pipeline
• The good viruses (Nat Rev Micro)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 130

Weekly Science Picks

Rich - Rock-paper-scissors vs computer (thanks, Megan!)
Alan - WebCite
Vincent - Edward Jenner Museum (EID)

Listener Pick of the Week

Derek Tolly  - A Paralyzing Fear: The Story of Polio in America (IMDb)

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 129: We've got mail

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Created on Sunday, 17 April 2011 15:51

Written by Vincent Racaniello

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

Vincent, Alan, Dickson and Rich answer listener questions about XMRV, yellow fever vaccine, virus-like particles, West Nile virus, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and human endogenous retroviruses, multiplicity of infection, and how to make a poxvirus.

Right-click to download TWiV #129 (67 MB .mp3, 93 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:

• HTLV-2 sequences in patients with CFIDS
• Self-assembling virus (YouTube)
• BookFinder
• Ilya's photo (jpg)
• Discussion about CROI at ViroBlogy
• Land cover and West Nile virus disease (Am Journ Trop Med Hyg)
• Construction of recombinant poxviruses (Methods Mol Biol)
• Geographic Information System
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 129

Weekly Science Picks

Listener Picks of the Week

Didier  - The Vaccines (MySpace)
/Sven-Urban - The Science of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
Garren - Omega Tau podcast

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 128: Virologists in the mist

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Created on Sunday, 10 April 2011 14:46

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Dickson Despommier, and Welkin Johnson

Vincent, Alan, Dickson and Welkin review how a virus regulates the severity of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, virophage control of antarctic algal host-virus dynamics, and human metapneumovirus infection in gorillas.

Right-click to download TWiV #128 (67 MB .mp3, 92 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:

• Leishmania RNA virus controls severity of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (Science)
• Leishmaniavirus at ViralZone
• Listen to TWiP #14 on Leishmania
• Virophages may control algal virus-host dynamics (PNAS)
• Human metapneumovirus infection of gorillas (EID)
• Reverse zoonoses (virology blog)
• Copy-number variation and co-evolution of viral an primate genomes (PLoS Genetics)
• NIH Study Section rosters
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 128

Weekly Science Picks

Welkin - Walter Reed Collection, University of Virginia
Dickson - Bacteria-phage antagonistic coevolution in soil (Science)
Alan - The Artful Amoeba
Vincent - Potential bacteriophage applications (Microbe)

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 127: Viruses are no joke

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Created on Sunday, 03 April 2011 19:14

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich explore a novel bunyavirus isolated in China, the recent polio outbreak in Republic of the Congo, and cell to cell transmission of a retrovirus by biofilm-like extracellular assemblies.

Right-click to download TWiV #127 (62 MB .mp3, 86 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 bunyavirus isolated in China (NEJM)
• Bunyavirus page at ViralZone
• Polio outbreak, Republic of the Congo (MMWR)
• Poliovirus isolation from Republic of the Congo polio outbreak (Eurosurveillance)
• HTLV-1 transmission by biofilm-like extracellular assemblies (Nature Medicine)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 127

Weekly Science Picks

Rich - Should smallpox be destroyed? (Emerging Infectious Diseases)
Alan - Zoology of the Beagle images
Vincent - Vaccines and Your Child by Paul Offit and Charlotte Moser

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.