MicrobeWorld

On episode #89 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent and Alan review recent findings on the association of the retrovirus XMRV with ME/CFS, reassortment of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in swine,... Read More

The finding of viral nucleic acid sequences in illegally imported wildlife products has attracted the attention of the New York Times, which published an article entitled From the jungle to J.F.K., viruses cross borders in monkey meat. Read More

The American Society for Microbiology Committee on K-12 Education publishes peer-reviewed resources that convey important scientific concepts from the microbial world, such as microbial processes, methods used to study microorganisms and other general science topics. The activities are student-c... Read More

Recent research has suggested a new method of flu prevention and treatment: the administration of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) to the lungs of mice significantly reduced flu symptoms and prevented mortality after a lethal dose of influenza virus. GM-CSF helps the bod... Read More

Sharon writes:

Hello fellow virus lovers,

I first want to comment about Vincent's pick of the week a few weeks back, the book "Polio" by David Oshinsky. I am currently studying poliovirus in Julie Pfeiffer's lab (as you revealed many moons ago with a previous ... Read More

El podcast del Microbio Nº206 is dedicated to the recent discovery of stromatolites in deep of Antartic lake Untersee. El p... Read More

A laboratory in the Netherlands has identified a lethal influenza H5N1 virus strain that is transmitted among ferrets. These findings are under review by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) to ensure that they do not constitute a threat to human health. Meanwhile both the... Read More

Peter writes:

Dear TWiM Team

I see that some action is now being taken in America against the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics as livestock growth promoters:

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This is a great article by Carl Zimmer in the NY Times (@carlzimmer on Twitter) about the evolution process of viruses.

"Some viruses use DNA, like we do, to encode their genes. Others, like the influenza virus, use single-strand RNA. But viruses all have one thing in common, said Roland Wolk... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier,  Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Read More

Australian virologist Frank Fenner, MD was born in Ballarat, Victoria in 1914. He earned a Doctor of Medicine in 1942 at the University of Adelaide, and from 1940 – 1946 he worked on the malaria parasite in Egypt and Papua New Guinea as an officer in the Australian Army Medical Corps. He subsequ... Read More

Aaron J. Shatkin was well known for his work on reoviruses beginning in the 1960s in his laboratory at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in Nutley, NJ and then at Rutgers University. He was among the first to appreciate that virus particles contained many different enzymes, such as RNA po... Read More

According to the New York Times (Why Science Majors Change Their Minds), the decline in the number of science majors in the United States has come about in part because the subject matter is too difficult. If this explanation is true, then we have not properly prepared these students in grades K... Read More

Howie writes:

Twivers,

Great podcast!!!

A while ago, Dick made a comment along the lines that Sir... Read More

When I drafted my article for TakePart (Don’t Panic – Ebola Isn’t Heading For You), I used the term ‘ebolavirus’ throughout, but the editors changed every instance to ‘Ebola virus’. Understanding which term is correct is far more complicated than you might imagine. Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Mass... Read More

Steve writes:

As a microbiologist I enjoy listening to your broadcasts.  However, I was very disappointed on the one about Salomonella in cantaloupe and E. coli O157:H7 in Lebanon bologna.  Many incorrect statements were made, such as "Salmonella enteritidis is th... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Matthew Daugherty, Jondavid deJong, Hel... Read More

Certain viral infections are known to increase or decrease HIV-1 replication or viral load, perhaps by competing with the same receptors, or via immune and other effects.Many autoantibodies in HIV-1 infection also target the immune network and this may well contribute to pathology. Read More