Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Dickson Despommier

Vincent, Rich, and Dickson review a meta-analysis on influenza vaccine, a killer virus in fungi that selects against RNAi, and the use of armed and targeted poxviruses for oncolytic virotherapy.

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Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV 156 (57 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:

• Efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccine (Lancet)
• Flu vaccine not as effective as thought (MPRNews)
• Blog posts on flu vaccine meta-analysis (virology blog, alandove, viva)
• Killer virus explains RNAi deficient fungi (Science)
• Poxvirus-based oncotherapy (Nature)
• Jennerex
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 156

Weekly Science Picks

Rich – Google’s self-driving car (story one and two)
Dickson – Wild Russia and Wild China TV series
Vincent – Baculovirus molecular biology by George Rohrmann (free)

Listener Pick of the Week

Jim – Lee Cronin: Making matter come alive (TED)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv, 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.

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.

Click the arrow above to play, or 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

Al – The Physics of Superheroes and NKT Watch
Dickson - Fibonacci Fun by Trudi Hammel Garland and Rachel Gage
Rich – Retraction Watch
Alan – Neil deGrasse’s comments on UFOs, argument from ignorance, and scientific method (YouTube)
Destanie – Microcosm by Carl Zimmer
Vincent – The intestinal microbiota and viral susceptibility

Listener Pick of the Week

Jim  - Extraordinary Measures

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv, 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.

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.

Click the arrow above to play, or 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

Rich – Polyxeni Potter and EID covers
Dickson – American Museum of Natural History
Alan – Moon Trees (EurekAlert! article)
Vincent – Infection Landscapes

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 twiv@twiv.tv, 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.

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

Vincent, Dickson, Alan, Rich, and Grant discuss a tanapoxvirus protein that inhibits tumor necrosis factor, purging tumors with myxoma virus, and destruction of the last known stocks of smallpox virus.

Click the arrow above to play, or rightight click to download TWiV #124 (74 MB .mp3, 103 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:

• Interaction of tumor necrosis factor with tanapox virus protein
• Viron Therapeutics Inc
• Oncolytic viral purging with myxoma virus
• Why not destroy remaining smallpox stocks? (editorial)
• US should agree to destroy smallpox stocks (CIDRAP)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 124

Weekly Science Picks

Grant – A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Dickson – An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae by Edward Jenner
Rich – Selinah (Topsy Foundation) thanks Meghan!
Alan – Draft report (pdf) on WHO’s H1N1 response and NY Times summary
Vincent – 10 stunning science visualizations

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv, 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.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Ed Niles

Vincent, Rich, and Ed discuss the transition from academic scientist to government work, the general program of drug and vaccine development in the biodefense world and at BARDA, and career opportunities for scientists in government.

Click the arrow above to play, or right click to download TWiV #120 (77 MB .mp3, 147 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine
• Bavarian Nordic’s smallpox vaccine Imvamune and phase II trial
• Rich and Ed’s paper on bacteriophage T7 mRNAs
• Quandaries of dengue vaccine development
• Tetravalent dengue vaccine
• VIVA – virology at Vassar
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 120

Weekly Science Picks

Rich – Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes
Ed – Tenth anniversary of the human genome at Science Magazine
Vincent – Poliovirus fights back

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv, 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.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich review the making of a virulent poxvirus by insertion of the gene encoding IL-4, and severe 2009 H1N1 influenza due to pathogenic immune complexes.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #112 (71 MB .mp3, 98 minutes). To download, right-click or control-click on the link, then select save as.

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email, or listen on your mobile device with Stitcher Radio.

Links for this episode:

• Expression of IL-4 makes a killer poxvirus
• Additional studies on poxvirus-IL-4 recombinants
• Creation of killer poxvirus could have been predicted
• Interleukin regulation of Th responses
• Severe pandemic H1N1 disease due to immune complexes
• Unusually high influenza mortality in 18-65 years old
• The complement system
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 112

Weekly Science Picks

Rich – The Scientist’s Top 10 Innovations 2010
Alan – Avian Vocalizations Center
Vincent – Microbial soap from Cleaner Science (thanks, Nadia!)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

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

Vincent, Alan, Rich, and Dickson discuss bacteria that can utilize arsenic in place of phosphorus, the passing of Frank Fenner, polio outbreak in The Congo, solving criminal cases of HIV transmission, and classifying viruses by capsid structure.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #110 (68 MB .mp3, 93 minutes). To download, right-click or control-click on the link, then select save as.

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email, or listen on your mobile device with Stitcher Radio.

Links for this episode:

• Bacteria that utilize arsenic (Ed Yong’s view)
• Frank Fenner passes away
• Smallpox and its eradication – the ‘red book’ (pdf)
• Polio outbreak in The Congo (virus isolation)
• Solving criminal cases with HIV evolution (press release)
• Definition of paraphyly
• Order to the viral universe
• International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV)
• TWiV on Facebook
• Letters read on TWiV 110

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson – CDC’s West Nile virus case count for 2010
Rich – The red bees of Red Hook
Alan – Arsenic-based life at XKCD
Vincent – PLoS iPad app

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Dickson, and Rich continue Virology 101 with a second installment of their discussion of how viruses with DNA genomes replicate their genetic information.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #106 (69 MB .mp3, 95 minutes)

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email, or listen on your mobile device with Stitcher Radio.

Links for this episode:

• Figures for this episode (pdf)
• Letters read on TWiV 106
• Video of this episode – download .mov or .wmv or view below

Weekly Science Picks

Rich – Google Health
Dickson – The Neandertal genome
Vincent – Lab techniques videos (thanks, Erik!)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Dave Bloom, and Grant McFadden

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.

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

Win a free Drobo S! Contest rules here.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #84 (71 MB .mp3, 99 minutes)

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email, or listen on your mobile device with Stitcher Radio.

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?

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

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.

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

Win a free Drobo S! Contest rules here.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #77 (60 MB .mp3, 83 minutes)

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email.

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

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.