This Week in Virology

On episode #93 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Rich answer listener questions about lab procedures, prokaryotes, endogenous retroviruses, the iPad and teaching, prions, mimivirus, splitting water with viruses, and the polio outbreak in Tajikistan. Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit Links for this episode: Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) SIGA responds to BARDA request for smallpox antiviral BARDA contract for filovirus vaccine What is a Ph.D? (pdf) HHMI resources for early career scientists Pace article on abandoning prokaryote (Nature) Three domains of life (Forterre article) Mechanoenzymatic cleavage of Von Willebrand's factor (Science) Splitting water with viruses WHO coverage on Tajikstan polio outbreak Wild type polio infection in immunized Indian children (JID) Letters read on TWiV 93 Weekly science picks: Alan - Southern Fried Science Rich - Tree of Life web project Vincent - Dickson Despommier at Big Think

Vincent, Rich, Karla, and Marilyn recorded TWiV at the 29th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology in Bozeman, where they discussed plant viruses and how they make plants resistant to adverse conditions, and identification of dominant negative drug targets. Host links Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Karla Kirkegaard, and Marilyn Roosinck Links for this episode: Lifestyles of plant viruses Using pyrosequencing to understand virus ecology A virus in a fungus in a plant Trans-dominant inhibition of RNA viral replication Resistance is futile Announcement of TWiV at ASV (pdf) Photographs of TWiV at ASV Letters read on TWiV 92 Weekly science picks: Marilyn - Viruses in the faecal microbiota of monozygotic twins and their mothers (Nature) Rich - The Known Universe by the American Museum of Natural History Vincent - The Red Queen by Matt Ridley (thanks, Jesper!)

On episode #91 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Dickson, Alan, Rich and Welkin discuss the nature, origin, and evolution of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), and the recent finding of endogenous filovirus genomes in mammals. Host links Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Welkin Johnson Links for this episode: Welkin blogs at Small Things Considered Constructing primate phylogenies from ancient retrovirus sequences (PNAS) Filoviruses are ancient and integrated into mammalian genomes (BMC Evol Biol) Synthetic cells: Momentous breakthrough or ethical morass? (To The Point) Creation of a bacterial cell (Science) Comments on the synthetic cell (Small Things Considered) TWiV rap: T-Number Index by G-Unit (mp3) and Vincent (mp3) (thanks, Darrick and Scott!) Letters read on TWiV 91 Weekly science picks: Welkin - Advice for a Young Investigator by Santiago Ramon y Cajal Rich - How microbes define and defend us Dickson - H1N1 virus lacks 1918 virus killer protein Alan - The Xtal Set Society Vincent - Antibodies and the quest for an AIDS vaccine

On episode #90 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, Rich and Eric discuss identification of viruses in Northeastern American bats, vaccinia virus infection after sexual contact with a military vaccinee, and identification of a new flavivirus from an Old World bat in Bangladesh. Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Eric F. Donaldson Links for this episode: Vaccinia virus infection after sexual contact with vaccinee Smallpox vaccination overview Smallpox vaccine lesions (jpg) Smallpox hospital, Roosevelt Island, NY (photo 1, photo 2) Isolation of a flavivirus from bats in Bangladesh (PLoS Pathogens) Review on hepatitis G virus Dickson has been teaching at Singularity University and fishing in Bozeman MT (jpg) Letters read on TWiV 90 Weekly science picks: Eric - Year of Darwin by Sean Carroll Rich - March of the Penguins Alan - Standing-height desks Vincent - DengueWatch (thanks Richard!)

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, and where influenza viruses travel in the off-season. Host links Vincent Racaniello and Alan Dove Links for this episode: Conflicting XMRV papers on hold Leak of PNAS paper CDC study on XMRV in CFS patients (Retrovirology) and Science update Where influenza viruses travel in the off season (EurekaAlert! and PLoS Pathogens) NPR article on Ebola siRNA treatment (thanks, Andreas!) Priming mechanism for reovirus entry (thanks, Agyeman-Badu!) Wired article on science PR (thanks, Dan!) Letters read on TWiV 89 Weekly science picks: Alan - Tree of Life graphic Vincent - TEDx Oil Spill

On episode #88 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Marc discuss using a virus for beetle control, RNA based gene therapy for AIDS, and reconstitution of a endogenous human retrovirus. Host links Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Marc Pelletier Links for this episode: Controlling the palm rhinoceros beetle with a virus The virologist in the Hawaiian shirt Information on Orcytes rhinocerus nudivirus (one, two, three) RNA based gene therapy for AIDS Reconstitution of an infectious human retrovirus (PLoS Pathogens) Letters read on TWiV 88 Weekly science picks: Marc - Apple iPad as a tool for writing, with Papers, Pages, and GoodReader Alan - The Bacterium and the Bacteriophage Vincent - Naturally Obsessed (thanks, Sharon!)

On episode #87 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Rich hear from Professor Graham Hatfull how students in the Phage Hunters Integrating Research and Education (PHIRE) program learn about scientific inquiry by doing research on bacteriophages. Host links Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Alan Dove, and Graham Hatfull Links for this episode: Bacteriophage Research: Gateway to learning science Mycobacterium smegmatis at NCBI Prof. Steve Cresawn Scientist infected with computer virus (thanks, Jason!) The Invisible ABCs Letters read on TWiV 87 Weekly science picks: Rich - CDC Public Health Image LibraryVincent - March of the Microbes by John L. IngrahamAlan – Great Microbiologists – A Lego MovieGraham – Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas by Forest Rohwer

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

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

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?