This Week in Virology

TWiV reviews a drug screen for inhibitors of syncytium formation, the fusing of cells caused by SARS-CoV-2, which reveals that the process is regulated by a calcium-activated ion channel and scramblase that is inhibited by the anti-parasite drug Niclosamide. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode TMEM16 inhibitors block SARS-CoV-2 driven syncytium formation (Nature) Letters read on TWiV 742 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – COVID-19: a disaster five years in the making Alan – The Tyranny of Merit Rich – Racism Makes Me Question Everything. I Got the Vaccine Anyway Kathy – The Transcontinental Burrito Tunnel Vincent – Trudy Rey's YouTube Channel Listener Picks Jeff – Rebecca Lee Smith on Left Right and Center Ryan – Perfect Strangers (clip) Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In COVID-19 clinical update #57, Daniel Griffin covers children and MIS-C, school opening plans, transmission event with masks, fomite transmission, diagnostic test performance, AZ vaccine and blood clots, and long COVID and the effect of vaccines. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Children with MIS-C (JAMA) Transmission with masks (Op For Inf Dis) Accuracy of diagnostic tests (J Clin Micro) Long COVID in hospitalized patients (BMJ) Neurological and psychiatric outcomes of COVID-19 (medRxiv) Letters read on TWiV 741 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

The Guardians of the TWiV-o-verse discuss the process of codon deoptimization for the production of experimental infectious attenuated viral vaccines, and how a respiratory syncytial virus with 619 base changes was rescued by genomes with very large internal deletions. 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 NIDO 2021 Symposium ASV hosts free COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Halls (register here) Research position in Spindler laboratory Attenuation of poliovirus by codon deoptimization (Science) Rescue of codon-deoptimized RSV by large deletions (PNAS) Letters read on TWiV 740 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Dickson – Let us now praise tiny ants Brianne – Small-school science Rich – Smallpox 'virus squads' and the mandatory vaccinations upheld by the Supreme Court Kathy – The Transcontinental Burrito Tunnel Vincent – Glass music by Robert Tiso Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

Arturo Casadevall joins TWiV to discuss the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19, including a history of the process, how plasma is prepared and tested, why it is difficult to conduct randomized clinical trials, how this treatment has fared and his hopes for the future. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker Guest: Arturo Casadevall Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Victory for Scientific Pragmatism (New Atlantis) Convalescent plasma levels and risk of COVID-19 death (NEJM) COVID-19 convalescent plasma safety indicators (JCI) COVID-19 convalescent plasma reduces mortality (medRxiv) Pfizer mRNA vaccine in 12-15 year olds (Pfizer) NIDO 2021 Symposium ASV hosts free COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Halls (register here) Letters read on TWiV 739 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – The Ocean's Youngest Monsters Are Ready for Glamour Shots Alan – 7 Billion Humans Rich – 15 Fascinating Animal X-Rays From the Oregon Zoo Vincent – Respiratory pathogen trends Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In COVID-19 clinical update #56, Daniel Griffin note increasing hospitalization in children and young adults, Pfizer vaccine efficacy results in 12-15 year olds, rapid self administered nucleic acid and antigen tests, mRNA vaccine efficacy in real world conditions, and improvement of long COVID after vaccination. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Pfizer mRNA vaccine is 100% effective in 12-15 year olds (Pfizer) Cue at-home PCR test receives FDA EUA (Cue) DxTerity COVID-19 saliva nucleic acid at-home test (Amazon) T-Detect T cell test (T-Detect) GSK submits EUA for VIR-7831 (GSK) Letters read on TWiV 738 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

John, Monica, and Davida join TWiV to discuss development of a method to detect SARS-CoV-2 in raw sewage from all 14 of New York City's treatment plants, and its use to determine the presence of the genome throughout the pandemic and detection of genome mutations from variants of concern. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler Guest: John Dennehy, Davida Smyth, and Monica Trujillo Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Protocol for detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater (medRxiv) Mutations from VOC in NYC wastewater (medRxiv) WHO report on COVID-19 origins (pdf) Effectiveness of mRNA vaccines at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection (MMWR) Prothrombic thrombocytopenic disorder after AZ vaccine (Res Square) NIDO 2021 Symposium 1:12:02 Postdoctoral position at Towson University 1:15:08 ASV hosts free COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Halls (register here) Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Dickson – 250,000 Dominoes Brianne – Using RT-PCR in COVID-19 Testing Rich – Beaded Lacewings Can Take Down Six Termites With A Single Fart Kathy – Tracking the COVID code Vincent – Administering vaccines to adults Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

Alessandro Sette joins TWiV to discuss the role of T cells in COVID-19, the finding that amino acid changes in SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern have a negligible impact on T cell reactivity in convalescent patients and vaccinees, and whether a next generation vaccine should include more viral proteins than spike. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler Guest: Alessandro Sette Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Little impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants on T cell reactivity (bioRxiv) NIDO 2021 Symposium Postdoctoral position at Towson University ASV hosts free COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Halls (register here) Letters read on TWiV 736 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Alan – The Disinformation Dozen report Rich – No needle, but the damage was done Kathy – Zinn art David Zinn Vincent – Clueless Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Endorses PACE as "Prevailing View" Among Docs Listener Picks Justin – Finnish astrophotographer spends 12 years creating a Milky Way mosaic Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In COVID-19 clinical update #55, Daniel Griffin reviews recommendations for keeping transmission low in school settings, optimal testing strategies for schools and businesses, impact of vaccines on asymptomatic infections, vaccine safety in PASC patients, and early use of aspirin associated with decreased mortality. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode COVID-19 in primary and secondary schools (MMWR) Low transmission in elementary schools (MMWR) COVID-19 testing guidance (CDC) COVID-19 vaccines and asymptomatic infections (Clin Inf Dis) Vaccine safety in long COVID (medRxiv) Phase 3 results of antibody cocktail (Regeneron) Aspirin associated with decreased mortality (Anesth Analg) Post-acute long COVID-19 syndrome (Nat Med) Timing, duration, health impact of PASC (medRxiv) Persistent neurologic and cognitive dysfunction in PASC (Ann Clin Trans Neurol) Letters read on TWiV 735 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv

Susan Weiss returns to TWiV to discuss coronavirus entry into cells and the role of spike protein cleavage by proteases, why lab escaped hypotheses for SARS-CoV-2 are unlikely, and modulation of innate immune responses during infection. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Alan Dove, Brianne Barker, and Amy Rosenfeld Guest: Susan Weiss Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode CoV pathogenesis in CNS (J Neuro Pharm) SARS-CoV-2 induces dsRNA-mediated innate responses (bioRxiv) Screen of FDA-approved drugs (J Viral) Letters read on TWiV 735 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – Tiktok of How mRNA Vaccines Work Alan – Dark Rich – Unmixing Color Machine (Ultra Laminar Reversible Flow) – Smarter Every Day 217 Amy – MOMA Calder exhibit, reviewed in NYTimes Vincent – Ripple Training (free YouTube channel) Listener Picks Ruth – 100 million year old seafloor bacteria resuscitated Iradis – Linda Zall, CIA spy for science Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

In COVID-19 clinical update #54, Daniel Griffin covers effectiveness of 3 vs 6 ft physical distancing, effectiveness of masks, physical distancing, and eye shields, second vaccine dose completion, alleviation of COVID-19 symptoms after vaccination, vaccine trials in children, and IDSA approval of a mAb cocktail. Hosts: Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Effectiveness of 3 ft vs 6 ft (CID) Effect of physical distancing, masks, eye protection (Lancet) Vaccine second dose completion (MMWR) IDSA mAb recommendations (IDSA) Letters read on TWiV 733 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv