Author name: Vincent Racaniello

I'm Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University in New York. I run a research lab where we study poliovirus, rhinovirus, and other RNA viruses. I also love teaching about viruses - check out virology.ws, microbe.tv, or iTunes University for some of my offerings. I want to be Earth's virology professor.

Phages corkscrew along bacterial flagella

Viruses that infect eukaryotic cells typically bind to a plasma membrane receptor to initiate the reproduction cycle. Attachment of bacteriophages to bacterial cells is more diverse. Some attach to bacterial outer membrane proteins, while others attach to appendages such as pili or flagella. How viruses move from the flagella to the bacterial cell surface is …

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TWiV 571: Piwi koalas

The League of Extraordinary Virologists celebrate the eradication of wild poliovirus type 3, and consider the effectiveness of an influenza vaccine produced in insect cells, and how small RNAs are protecting the Koala germline from retroviral invasion. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 571 (64 MB .mp3, 105 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes …

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Neurotropism of enterovirus D68 is not a recently acquired property

with Amy Rosenfeld Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) was first isolated from children with respiratory disease in 1962. No outbreaks of infection were detected until the late summer and early fall of 2014, and then in 2016 and 2018. During these epidemics of respiratory disease, some children developed polio-like paralysis. We have recently published a paper showing …

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Wild poliovirus type 3 declared eradicated

Today, on World Polio Day, wild poliovirus type 3 has been declared eradicated by a commission of the World Health Organization. The last case of type 3 poliomyelitis was recorded in 2012 in Nigeria. Because wild poliovirus type 2 was declared eradicated in 2015, now only wild poliovirus type 1 continues to circulate, causing paralysis …

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TWiV 570: Aarhus viral

At Aarhus University in Denmark, Vincent speaks with Trine Mogensen, Søren Paludan, Ole Søgaard, and Madalina Carter-Timofte about their careers and their work on sensing herpesviral DNA, immunodeficiencies that predispose to severe viral infections, and the path to a cure for HIV/AIDS. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 570 (61 MB .mp3, 101 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email …

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