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This Week in Virology

This Week in Virology

By: Vincent Racaniello
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TWiV is a podcast about viruses - the kind that make you sick.Vincent Racaniello 2022 Biological Sciences Nature & Ecology Science
Episodes
  • TWiV 1353: Phage bet-hedging and EBV antibodies

    TWiV 1353: Phage bet-hedging and EBV antibodies
    Aug 30 2026

    TWiV explores how bacteriophages enable bet-hedge against bacterial immune defenses, and how transgenic mice engineered to produce human antibodies yielded potent anti-EBV candidates targeting gp350 and gp42, a promising step toward Epstein-Barr therapeutics.

    Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Brianne Barker, and Jolene Ramsey

    Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email

    Become a patron of TWiV!

    Links for this episode
    • Support science education at MicrobeTV
    • Dolly Parton, and advocate for science (Nature)
    • Phage bet-hedging (Nat Micro)
    • EBV monoclonal antibodies (Cell Rep Med)
    • Letters read on TWiV 1353
    • Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!
    Picks of the Week


    Brianne – Did life on Earth emerge once or twice?
    Rich – Cassini Approaches Saturn (Wiki on Cassini)
    Jolene – Dolly Parton's rewrite of Jolene song for vaccines on CBS news (Youtube)
    Vincent – Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

    Listener Pick

    John – Dolly Parton Sings Vaccine, Vaccine

    Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

    Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.
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    1 hr and 52 mins
  • TWiV 1352: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

    TWiV 1352: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin
    Aug 29 2026
    In his weekly clinical update, Daniel Griffin and Vincent Racaniello are disheartened by the suggested change in federal vaccine recommendations, how Florida rolled back 4 childhood vaccine school requirements, results from a clinical trial suggesting that IPV can be used for outbreak control in IPV only countries, the continued national cyclosporiasis and screwworm outbreaks, size of the Ebola outbreak in the Congo, the death of 2 children in Pennsylvania from measles and the economic cost of the measles outbreak before Dr. Griffin deep dives into the use of monoclonal antibodies and remdesivir to treat Bundibugyo virus infection, measles outbreak, recent statistics RSV, influenza, SARS-CoV-2 infections, access and how pay for Paxlovid, , where to go for answers about long COVID-19, clinical guidelines for treating long COVID, and contacting your federal government representative to stop the assault on science and biomedical research. Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Request for Information: Categories Used in Federal Vaccine Recommendations and the Role of Shared Clinical Decision-Making (Federal Register)HHS Seeks Public Input on Federal Vaccine Recommendation Categories and Shared Clinical Decision-Making (US Department of Health and Human Services)HPV Vaccination and Risk of Head and Neck Cancers: A Large Real-World Cohort Study (International Society for Infectious Diseases) Monkeypox Virus Surveillance — United States, 2024–2025 (CDC: MMWR)Clinical Trials (ClinicalTrials.gov)Effect of inactivated poliovirus vaccine on nasal mucosal immunity and pharyngeal shedding following novel oral poliovirus vaccine type 2 challenge: A randomized, open-label trial (JID)IPOL package insert (FDA)Florida Prepares to Roll Back School Vaccine Requirements (NOTUS)Florida's Department of Health removes 4 vaccines from required list for public schools (CIDRAP) Surveillance of Cyclosporiasis (CDC: Cyclosporiasis)Infectious Disease Outbreaks (Michigan: Health & Human Services)Cyclosporiasis Cases in North Carolina (North Carolina: Division of Public Health)Cyclospora Infection (Cyclosporiasis) (NYC Health) Missouri Communicable Disease Report (2026) (Missouri Health)TWiP 285: Why is cyclospora hard to contain: Parasitologists explain the 2026 US outbreak (microbeTV:TWiP)Dashboard SCREWWORM.Gov (USDA: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service)CDC Activates Emergency Operations Center for New World Screwworm Response (CDC Newroom)Ebola virus (AP News)What to know about the outbreak of a rare kind of Ebola (AP News)Congo's Ebola outbreak is on track to surpass the deadliest one in history, WHO chief says (AP News)A look at major Ebola outbreaks and when the disease was first identified (AP News)Mobile gold miners in eastern Congo complicate health workers' efforts to contain Ebola (AP News)How Congo is battling an Ebola outbreak complicated by aid cuts, armed rebels and anger (AP News)Here's data showing Congo's Ebola outbreak is on track to surpass history's largest (AP News)Ebola dashboard (ebola.fyi) EBOLA: The Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2026 (WHO) Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak Democratic Republic of the Congo (WHO: Democratic Republic of Congo)Ebola Outbreak: Current Situation (CDC:Ebola)A case of Bundibugyo virus disease treated with monoclonal antibodies and remdesivir (Nature Medicine)Post-Exposure Prophylaxis with a monoclonal antibody cocktail Following Bundibugyo Ebolavirus Exposure in Adults and Children (Nature Medicine) Wastewater for measles (WasterWater Scan)Measles cases and outbreaks (CDC Rubeola)Big outbreak, bright lights…Measles Dashboard (South Carolina Department of Public Health)Utah measles outbreak response (Utah Department of Health and Human Services) Utah Measles Dashboard (Utah Department of Health and Human Services)Measles (VDH: Virginia Department of Health)Tracking Measles Cases in the U.S. (Johns Hopkins)Measles vaccine recommendations from NYP (jpg)HAP's Latest News Pa. Launches New Measles Dashboard (Hospital + HealthSystem Association of Pennsylvania) Measles (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)Pennsylvania Department of Health Confirms Two Measles-Associated Deaths (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)Weekly measles and rubella monitoring (Government of Canada)Measles (WHO)Get the FACTS about measles (NY State Department of Health) Measles (CDC Measles (Rubeola))Measles vaccine (CDC Measles (Rubeola)) Presumptive evidence of measles immunity (CDC) Contraindications and precautions to measles vaccination (CDC)Adverse events associated with childhood vaccines: evidence bearing on causality (NLM)Measles Vaccination: Know the Facts (ISDA: Infectious Diseases Society of America)Deaths following vaccination: what does the evidence show (Vaccine)Do vaccinated cases transmit measles? A systematic review and meta-analysis (Expert Review of ...
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    49 mins
  • TWiV 1351: Ebola Virus Brains and Contagious Catfish Cancers

    TWiV 1351: Ebola Virus Brains and Contagious Catfish Cancers
    Aug 23 2026

    TWiV describes a human cerebral organoid model for Ebola virus persistence, and brown bullhead catfish melanoma, a novel transmissible cancer.

    Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

    Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email

    Become a patron of TWiV!

    Links for this episode
    • Support science education at MicrobeTV
    • Revamp of how NIH scores research grant proposals (Nature)
    • Kansas BSL-4 lab faces more delays (Science)
    • Ebola virus persistence in a human cerebral organoid model (Nat Micro)
    • Hidden cost of immune privilege (Nat Micro)
    • Transmissible melanoma of catfish (Nature)
    • Skin cancer spreads between catfish (Nature)
    • Tasmania devil cancer vaccine (Nature)
    • Letters read on TWiV 1351
    • Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!
    Picks of the Week

    Rich – The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey
    Alan – Ingrained, by Callum Robinson
    Vincent – NYC's 5 Broken Skyscrapers — Which One Dies First?

    Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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

    Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 41 mins
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