This Week in Virology

Rich reviews the history of smallpox and the discovery of variola viral genomes in ancient DNA from human remains throughout Northern Europe, which pushes back the earliest date of smallpox virus infection to ~600–1050 CE, overlapping the Viking Age. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Variola virus genomes from Viking era (Science) Hidden history of ancient plagues (Nature) Was smallpox a mild disease? (Science) Smallpox: Ten years gone (Am J Pub Health) Myth of the milkmaid (NEJM) Interview with DA Henderson (ASM) Letters read on TWiV 822 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – The Animal Kingdom is Full of Genetic Screwballs Kathy – Science dresses, accessories from Svaha and Rosalind Franklin's DNA diffraction dress Rich – The Saxon Stories Alan – Cincinnati's "Old Cunny," and audiobook version Vincent – Infectious QBeta viral DNA Listener Picks Jeff – The unvaccinated may not be who you think Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

A TWiV trio reveal the isolation of novel paramyxoviruses from rodents and bats in Arizona, and isolation of naive B cells from seronegative donors that produce germline encoded antibodies which engage the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2, variants of concern, and related sarbecoviruses from bats. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Bat and rodent paramyxoviruses from Arizona (J Viral) Naive B cells engage SARS-CoV-2 RBD (Science Immunol) Vincent interviews Philip Sharp (ASM) Letters read on TWiV 821 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – Apod: The Dolphin Head Nebula Rich – The Tree That Could Help Stop The Pandemic; Elucidating the Mechanisms of Action of Saponin-Derived Adjuvants Vincent – Discovery of RNA splicing in Sharp and Roberts laboratories Listener Picks Jason – Home Assistant Alena – VirusCraft Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In COVID-19 clinical update #85, Dr. Griffin reviews cases and deaths by vaccination status, mRNA vaccine effectiveness in 12-18 year olds, standard and extended dosing of mRNA vaccines, immune responses after vaccination, Moderna booster dose approved, giving monoclonals at home, no benefit from colchicine, and IFN does not help remdesivir. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Guidelines on COVID-19 drugs (WHO) Holiday celebrations (CDC) COVID-19 cases and deaths by vaccination status (CDC) Effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA Vaccination 12-18 years (MMWR) Rollout of vaccines for 5-11 year olds (WaPo) Standard and extended dosing mRNA vaccine (Cell) Differential kinetics immune responses after vaccination (NEJM) Moderna booster dose approved (FDA) Vertically transferred maternal immune cells (Nat Comm) Giving monoclonals at home (JAMA) No benefit from colchicine (Lancet) IFN does not help remdesivir (Lancet) Letters read on TWiV 820 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

TWiV explains how remdesivir inhibits the SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase: the drug is incorporated into the growing RNA chain and causes synthesis to stall when the drug clashes with an amino acid in the active site. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode How remdesivir stalls the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase (Nat Comm) Movie of polymerase stalling (Nat Comm) Second mechanism of remdesivir inhibition (J Biol Chem) Watson Crick molecular model (Science Museum Group) Letters read on TWiV 819 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Kathy – Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland Rich – How to Temporarily Disable Your Keyboard with a Keyboard Shortcut in Windows Alan – How to Make a Slave and Other Essays by Jerald Walker Vincent – A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid Listener Picks Steve – How the immune system actually works Lise – Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

The TWiVers review phase 3 efficacy and safety results for the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, effects on the neonatal immune system caused by maternal infection with SARS-CoV-2, and NHC, the metabolite of molnupiravir, causes mutations in cellular DNA. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Efficacy and safety of Novavax vaccine (medRxiv) A floret of spikes with Matt Frieman (TWiV 729) Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection affects neonatal immunity (Nat Immunol) NHC is mutagenic in mammalian cells (J Inf Dis) Coding for catastrophe (Nat Struct Mol Biol) Molnupiravir development (Nature) Letters read on TWiV 818 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Dickson – John Clease Brianne – Astronomy Picture of the Day: Swirl in the Southern Sky Kathy – Lise Meitner Statue is at the Humboldt University Rich – Google has the cleanest cloud. Now it's helping other companies go green Vincent – Discovery of reverse transcriptase by Baltimore and Temin Listener Picks Sam – Air Travel Packing List Justin – PFAS: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and EPA targets greenhouse emissions Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In COVID-19 clinical update #84, Dr. Griffin discusses childrens' antibody response to vaccination, phase 3 results of Novavax vaccine, heterologous vaccination, antithrombotic therapy, EUA for molnupiravir, phase 3 results of AZD7442, serum ferritin levels and outcomes, heparin therapy, and WHO strategy for global vaccination. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Antibody profiles after mRNA vaccination in children (bioRxiv) Novavax vaccine phase 3 results (medRxiv) Heterologous vaccine boosters (medRxiv) Antithrombotic therapy outcomes (JAMA) Molnupiravir EUA submitted (Merck) AZD7442 phase 3 results (AstraZeneca) Serum ferritin levels and disease outcome (JAMA) Heparin efficacy (JAMA) WHO strategy to vaccinate world (WHO) Letters read on TWiV 817 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

David Tuller returns to TWiV to revisit his work to expose the methodological and ethical problems with the PACE trial, and the post-acute sequelae to SARS-CoV-2 infection, also known as long COVID. Host: Vincent Racaniello Guest: David Tuller Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Call me David Tuller (TWiV Special) David writes at virology blog Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

Moshe and Ivet join TWiV to discuss their finding that MIS-C is a consequence of a superantigen in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 that causes activation of a skewed population of T cell receptor bearing lymphocytes, leading to hyperinflammation. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit and Kathy Spindler Guests: Moshe Arditi and Ivet Behar Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode MIS-C in US children (NEJM) Superantigen in spike and T cell skewing in MIS-C (PNAS) MIS-C mimics toxic shock syndrome (J Allergy Clin Immunol) Antibody against bacterial superantigen blocks SARS-CoV-2 entry (Structure) Autoimmune signature of MIS-C in children (J Clin Invest) HLA1 associated T cell expansion in MIS-C (J Clin Invest) Passing of Bill Wold (one, two) Letters read on TWiV 815 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Dickson – Mel Brooks Kathy – Dickson's art show at Fordham Rich – Saildrone captures footage from inside Hurricane Sam Vincent – A Shot to Save the World: The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine by Gregory Zuckerman Listener Picks Kathryn – Project Drawdown and the book Charles – Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In COVID-19 clinical update #83, Daniel Griffin discusses upcoming FDA discussions on vaccines, strategies to prevent transmission at youth camps, outbreaks at summer camps, impact of vaccination on transmission, AZD7442 request for EUA filed, EUA issued for home antigen test, phase 3 data on AZD1222 vaccine, 6 month effectiveness of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, estimates of durability of immunity against reinfection, Molnupiravir interim results, optimal time for monoclonal antibody infusion, IVIG plus Infliximab for MIS-C, and effect of vaccination on long COVID. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Preventing transmission at camps (MMWR) Outbreaks at summer camps (MMWR) Impact of vaccination on transmission (medRxiv) AZD7442 request for FDA EUA (AstraZeneca) FDA EUA for home antigen test (FDA) Phase 3 results AZD1222 vaccine (NEJM) 6 month effectiveness BNT1`62b2 vaccine (Lancet) Durability of immunity vs reinfection (Lancet) Molnupiravir interim results (Merck) Optimal time for mAb therapy (Inf Dis Advisor) IVIG plus Infliximab for MIS-C (Pediatrics) Effect of vaccination on long COVID (Lancet preprint) Letters read on TWiV 814 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

From the 2021 online meeting of the European Society for Clinical Virology, Vincent speaks with meeting speakers on COVID-19 vaccines, immunity, how countries responded to the pandemic, and how to prepare for the next one. Host: Vincent Racaniello Guests: Sarah Gilbert, Florian Krammer, Fausto Baldanti, Thea Fischer, Ron Fouchier, and Catherine Moore Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Correlate of protection needed for COVID-19 vaccines (Nat Med) Simian adenoviruses as vaccine vectors (Future Viral) Early SARS-CoV-2 spread in Lombardy (Nat Comm) SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Denmark (Clin Micro Inf) SARS-CoV-2 testing in an academic center (Nat Biotech) Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv