TWiV 20: Hepatitis C virus

February 14, 2009

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dick Despommier, Alan Dove, and Matt Evans

Vincent, Dick, Alan, and Matt Evans converse about TED, the Wakefield autism controversy, 99 rhinovirus sequences, Marburg in the USA, and hepatitis C virus.

Play

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #20 (46 MB .mp3, 66 minutes)

Links for this episode:

  • A photographer catches Bill Gates’ mosquitoes
  • Joe DeRisi at TED
  • Dengue virus entry movie
  • Sequencing of 99 rhinovirus serotype genomes
  • Two views of the Wakefield autism controversy here and here
  • Marburg virus comes to the USA
  • Human occludin is a hepatitis C virus entry factor required for infection of mouse cells

Science blog of the week: Not exactly rocket science by Ed Yong
Science podcast pick of the week: Neuropod
Science book of the week: Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology Edited by John Cairns, Guther S. Stent, and James D. Watson

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@twiv.tv.

Subscribe to TWiV in iTunes, by the RSS feed, or by email.

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  • Irene Bosch

    Great Program #20.
    Dear Vincent and DIck,

    Thanks for talking about the movie I produced with the fantastic skills from xvivo, Digizyme, data from Yorgo Modis.
    I can give you a copy of the movie to post in your blog. It can also be downloadable if you like.
    NIAID gave me some money to do that a year ago, and the version at http://www.teachersdomain.org was a winner of a Golden Cine award this year. It was made for science teachers and K-12 students
    The proper list is contributers is posted at the end of the movie.
    Again, may thanks for noticing the movie. I would like to produce the sequel video, now, WHERE DO WE GET THE FUNDING TO DO THAT?? Any ideas are welcome.
    Great to hear Matt Evans talk about his recent findings!!

    Irene Bosch.
    irene.bosch@umassmed.edu

  • http://www.virology.ws profvrr

    Hi Irene,
    Thanks for providing information about the movie that we omitted from TWiV – including the fact that you are the producer! Sorry for the omission.

    Please send me a link (twiv@twiv.tv) to the version of the movie you would like posted – I'd be happy to share it with our readers and listeners. It's too bad the animations are too expensive – I'd love to make them a regular feature of TWiV. Perhaps we can continue this conversation by email.

    Vincent

  • Dr. Rick Bennett

    Doctors, I was enjoying your program, until you walked into the world of tabloid broadcasting.. You openly rumored and speculated about Dr. Wakefied and you have only wild speculation. It was NOT the rigorous analysis I expect of professional scientists. If you had done a little home work you would have seen that this so called journalist works for a tabloid in London and was paid to write dirt on Wakefield.
    I good friend of mine was at a DAN (Defeat Autism Now) conference and was verbally attacked by this so called reporter as she knows Wakefield and is very aware of, and supports his data. Have you read his papers?
    There well may be a subset of kids that have very poorly developed TH 1 responses and unable to process MLV's as most of us do. This subset could easily be buried in or simply missed in the studies on MLV and Autism conducted to date. But then again we know of the CDC's view on vaccine safety. Their expert panel did express grave concerns. The transcripts of the meeting are now public, if you care to look. Just the same the CDC is only concerned about “Herd Health”. Since I have experience in Veterinary Epidemiology and livestock economics this view applied to humans is frightening to say the least.
    The new UC Davis study on Autism clearly shows a real increase in the attack rate and it is not a matter of enhanced diagnosis.
    Those of you with ties to virus and vaccine research cannot pretend to be impartial.
    I for one still wait for vaccinology to mature and maybe some day we will be able to understand how each works or does not. But for now the business and the science is driven by profitability and academia is not immune (sic)

    Stick to Virology and the data.

    Sincerely

    RH Bennett PhD

  • Dr. Rick Bennett

    Doctors, I was enjoying your program, until you walked into the world of tabloid broadcasting.. You openly rumored and speculated about Dr. Wakefied and you have only wild speculation. It was NOT the rigorous analysis I expect of professional scientists. If you had done a little home work you would have seen that this so called journalist works for a tabloid in London and was paid to write dirt on Wakefield.
    I good friend of mine was at a DAN (Defeat Autism Now) conference and was verbally attacked by this so called reporter as she knows Wakefield and is very aware of, and supports his data. Have you read his papers?
    There well may be a subset of kids that have very poorly developed TH 1 responses and unable to process MLV's as most of us do. This subset could easily be buried in or simply missed in the studies on MLV and Autism conducted to date. But then again we know of the CDC's view on vaccine safety. Their expert panel did express grave concerns. The transcripts of the meeting are now public, if you care to look. Just the same the CDC is only concerned about “Herd Health”. Since I have experience in Veterinary Epidemiology and livestock economics this view applied to humans is frightening to say the least.
    The new UC Davis study on Autism clearly shows a real increase in the attack rate and it is not a matter of enhanced diagnosis.
    Those of you with ties to virus and vaccine research cannot pretend to be impartial.
    I for one still wait for vaccinology to mature and maybe some day we will be able to understand how each works or does not. But for now the business and the science is driven by profitability and academia is not immune (sic)

    Stick to Virology and the data.

    Sincerely

    RH Bennett PhD