TWiV 86: Dark matter with Dr. Eric Delwart

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Created on Sunday, 13 June 2010 14:56

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #86 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent and Rich travel to the Blood Systems Research Institute in San Francisco to speak with Eric Delwart about his work on virus discovery.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Eric Delwart

Links for this episode:

• List of Dr. Delwart's open-access journal articles (pdf) - to find each one, type PMID # into PubMed
• CDC says don't give rotavirus vaccines to infants with SCID
• The Brighton Collaboration
• Product sheet for RotaTeq (pdf - thanks, Sheldon!)
• Letters read on TWiV 86

Weekly science picks:

Rich - Google Crisis Response - Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
Vincent - HHMI resources for teachers and students (thanks, Jim!)
Eric - Vaccine by Arthur Allen

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TWiV #86 (59 MB .mp3, 81 minutes)

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TWiV 85: Hepatitis C virus with Professor Michael Gale

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Created on Sunday, 06 June 2010 15:36

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #85 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent and Michael Gale discuss the origin, pathogenesis, prevention, of hepatitis C virus, and how it evades innate immune responses.

Host links Vincent Racaniello and Michael Gale

Links for this episode:

• The Gale Laboratory at the University of Washington
• Incredible view from the Gale laboratory (jpg)
• Evasion and disruption of innate immune signalling by hepatitis C and West Nile viruses (review)
• New potent HCV inhibitor
• HCV virion and genome structures at ViralZone

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TWiV #85 (40 MB .mp3, 56 minutes)

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TWiV 84: Gators go viral

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Created on Monday, 31 May 2010 02:50

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #84 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent and Rich spoke with Dave Bloom and Grant McFadden about their work on herpesviruses and poxviruses in this episode recorded before an audience at the University of Florida, Gainesville - home of the Gators.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Dave Bloom, and Grant McFadden

Links for this episode:

• Epigenetic modulation of herpes simplex virus gene expression (thanks, Matthew!)
• The Red Queen and Tierra virtual environment: article one, two, three (thanks, Jesper!)
• Hand-held HIV detector (thanks, Jim!)
• Anti-angiogenic cancer therapy combined with oncolytic virotherapy (thanks, Bill!)
• TWiV at UF Gainesville (jpg)
• Letters read on TWiV 84

Weekly science picks:

Rich - Charles F. Littlewood photographs
Vincent - Not so humble pie (thanks, Sophie!)
Grant - The Strangest Man by Graham Farmelo
David - Is Parkinson's Disease a prion disorder?

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TWiV #84 (71 MB .mp3, 99 minutes)

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TWiV 83: An hour with Dr. Kiki

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Created on Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:06

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #83 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, Rich, and special guest Dr. Kirsten Sanford talk about her career in science media, then consider whether smallpox eradication led to the AIDS pandemic, high fidelity RNA synthesis, and a new Ebola virus vaccine.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kirsten Sanford

Links for this episode:

• Does smallpox vaccine protect against HIV? (thanks, Srinivas; Washington Post and BMC Immunology)
• Was the deltaCRR5 mutation fixed in the human population by smallpox?
• A proofreader in the SARS coronavirus genome
• New ebola vaccine protects monkeys
• House of Numbers trailer, website, Wikipedia article (thanks, Levi!)
• Letters read on TWiV 83

Weekly science picks:

Alan - Evernote
Rich - The Knife Man by Wendy Moore
Vincent - The Pump Handle

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TWiV #83 (66 MB .mp3, 91 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code TWIVPOD to receive $75-500 off a Drobo.

TWiV 82: Immunology in silico

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Created on Sunday, 16 May 2010 22:11

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #82 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent and Rich talk about how thymic selection of T cells might lead to better control of HIV-1 infection, and a mouse model for severe antibody-induced dengue virus disease.

Host links Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Links for this episode:

• Effect of thymic selection of T-cells on control of AIDS
• Mouse model of antibody-induced severe dengue virus disease
• Natural antibody protects against viral infection
• Kary Mullis idea for fighting infections (thanks, Erik!)
• 40 nm resolution of fluorescence photoactivation localization microscopy (thanks, José)
• Letters read on TWiV 82

Weekly science picks:

Rich The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle by Eric Lax
Vincent Proteopedia (thanks, Erik!)

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

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code TWIVPOD to receive $75-500 off a Drobo.

TWiV 81: Be a virus, see the world

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Created on Sunday, 09 May 2010 14:16

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #81 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent and Rich answer listener questions on viruses and gluten allergy, RNA silencing, influenza virus, herpes simplex virus, HIV/AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, manicure salons, and the koala tea of Marseilles.

Host links Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Links for this episode:

• Virus infections and gluten intolerance on TWiS (thanks Jesper!)
• Viral small RNAs in PLoS Pathogens (thanks Jason!)
• Canadian Summit Awards (thanks Jim!)
• Experimenting with phage at home (thanks Richard!)
• CRISPR discovered by a dairy company (thanks Joel!)
• Expedition to New Guinea to sample bird viruses - movie and blog entry (thanks Henrik!)
• Preventing herpes with arginine and lysine - pdf (thanks Anthony!)
• Chronic fatigue donors face rejection (thanks James!)
• The Koala tea of Marseilles is not strained (thanks Stephen!)
• The other Larson virus cartoon (jpg)
• Letters read on TWiV 81

Weekly science picks:

Rich Google Chrome browser 'speed test' (and how it was made)
Vincent Inside the Outbreaks by Mark Pendergrast

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TWiV #81 (68 MB .mp3, 94 minutes)

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TWiV 80: How much X could a woodchuck chuck?

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Created on Monday, 03 May 2010 00:46

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #80 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Rich speak with Michael Bouchard about hepatitis B virus discovery, replication, and pathogenesis.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Michael Bouchard

Links for this episode:

• The enigmatic X gene of hepatitis B virus
• Tableau public (thanks Ricardo!)
• Molecular phylogeny of Archaea from soil (thanks Etienne!)
• Habitats of Archaea (thanks Cedric!)
• Timer remote controls (thanks Bill!)
• Letters read in episode 80

Weekly science picks:

Rich PBS Frontline: The Vaccine War
Alan Readability
Vincent Starswarm by Jerry Pournelle

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

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code TWIVPOD to receive $75-500 off a Drobo.

TWiV 79: Red hot chili viruses

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Created on Sunday, 25 April 2010 16:03

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #79 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent and Alan converse about making published science accessible to everyone, global eradication of poliomyelitis, and whether a plant virus can cause disease in humans.

Host links Vincent Racaniello and Alan Dove

Links for this episode:

• Making published science accessible to everyone (Nature News)
• Federal Research Public Access Act
• Is disease eradication a waste of money?
• Do we have an ethical obligation to eradicate polio?
• Signs of progress in polio eradication (NY Times)
• Polio eradication: Harder than it looks (Fortner)
• Gates rethinks his war on polio (WSJ)
• Asymptomatic wild-type poliovirus infection in immune children (J Inf Dis)
• Can a plant virus cause disease in humans? (PLoS One)
• Replication of tomato spotted wilt virus in HeLa cells (PNAS)
• Glycine detected in comet (thanks Vincent!)
• Letters read on TWiV 79

Weekly science picks:

Alan Data.gov
Vincent foldit

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TWiV #79 (51 MB .mp3, 71 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code TWIVPOD to receive $75-500 off a Drobo.

TWiV 78: Darwin gets weird

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Created on Sunday, 18 April 2010 17:01

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #78 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, Dickson, and Rich talk about treating arthritis with a tanapox virus protein, Darwinian evolution of prions in cell culture, and the connection between cold weather fronts and outbreaks of avian H5N1 influenza in Europe.

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

Links for this episode:

• Treating arthritis with a tanapox virus protein that antagonizes TNF (press release and research article)
• Darwinian evolution of prions in cell culture (abstract)
• Simple diagram of prion propagation (Wikipedia)
• Thoughts on the pursuit of success in science by Charles Weissmann
• Cold fronts linked to European H5N1 outbreaks (PLoS Pathogens)
• Simon Singh's website and letter of support (thanks, Mary!)
• The importance of stupidity in scientific research (thanks, Mary!)
• Sustainable energy - without the hot air (thanks, Bernhard!)
• World Community Grid (thanks Dave!)
• Pre-order The Vertical Farm by Dickson Despommier
• Letters read on TWiV 78

Weekly science picks:

Dickson Medical News Today: Infectious Diseases and Eaarth by Bill McKibben
Rich U can with Beakman and Jax by Jok Church
Alan UnderwaterTimes
Vincent The Reef Tank

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TWiV #78 (53 MB .mp3, 73 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code TWIVPOD to receive $75-500 off a Drobo.

TWiV 77: Non-nuclear proliferation

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Created on Sunday, 11 April 2010 14:44

Written by Vincent Racaniello

On episode #77 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Rich revisit circovirus contamination of Rotarix, then discuss poxvirus-like replication of mimivirus in the cell cytoplasm, and whether seasonal influenza immunization increases the risk of infection with the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus.

Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Links for this episode:

• Contamination of Rotarix vaccine with porcine circovirus 1 DNA
• Do you want to know what is in your vaccines? Take the poll
• Mimivirus replicates in the cell cytoplasm like poxviruses
• mRNA capping and virus evolution
• Association between the 2008-09 seasonal influenza vaccine and pandemic H1N1 illness (commentary)
• Doane paper goes viral
• Energetics of genome ejection from bacteriophage (thanks Gary!)
• Five strategies for behavioral adaptation to pathogens and parasites (excerpt; thanks Wladimir!)
• Letters read on TWiV 77

Weekly science picks:

Rich The Way We Work by David Macaulay
Alan DimDim
Vincent Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky

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TWiV #77 (60 MB .mp3, 83 minutes)

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This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code TWIVPOD to receive $75-500 off a Drobo.