I have a soft spot in my heart for Lassa virus: a non-fictional account of its discovery in Africa in 1969 inspired me to become a virologist. Hence papers on this virus always catch my attention, such as one describing its origin and evolution. Lassa virus, a member of the Arenavirus family, is very different ...

In midsummer 1986, five years after starting my poliovirus laboratory at Columbia University, I received a letter from Frederick L. Schaffer, a virologist at the University of California, Berkeley, asking if I would like to have his collection of poliovirus stocks. He was retiring and the samples needed a home, ...

On episode #349 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan and Rich explain how to make a functional ribosome with tethered subunits, and review the results of a phase III VSV-vectored Ebolavirus vaccine trial in Guinea. You can find TWiV #349 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.

An Ebolavirus vaccine has shown promising results in a clinical trial in Guinea. This vaccine has been in development since 2004 and was made possible by advances in basic virology of the past 40 years. The ability to produce the Ebolavirus vaccine, called rVSV-EBOV, originates in the 1970s with the discovery of the enzyme ...

On episode #348 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent and Rich discuss fruit fly viruses, one year without polio in Nigeria, and a permissive Marek's disease viral vaccine that allows transmission of virulent viruses. You can find TWiV #348 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.