Virology
TWiV 675: Forget what you’ve herd about immunity
By Vincent Racaniello
Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, then we discuss Bill Foege's letter to CDC director Robert Redfield, the false promise of herd immunity for COVID-19, secret blueprints for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials released, and neuropilin-1 as a possible entry protein for the virus. Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 675 (105 ...
An explanation for the low quality antibodies produced during serious SARS-CoV-2 infection
By Vincent Racaniello
Although we are less than a year into the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, it appears that the antibodies induced by infection are often of poor quality, and B cell memory seems limited. An explanation for this outcome might be a consequence of the loss of germinal centers in COVID-19 patients. Examination of ...
We missed SARS-CoV-2, what other coronaviruses are we ignoring?
By Vincent Racaniello
After SARS-Cov came and went in 2003, we learned that bats in China harbor SARS-like coronaviruses with the capacity to infect human cells. This information was largely ignored, otherwise we would have stopped this pandemic in its tracks. A coronavirus that went from bats to pigs might represent yet another ...
TWiV 672: Black in Microbiology with Ari Kozik and Kishana Taylor
By Vincent Racaniello
Ari and Kishana, two of the founders of Black in Microbiology, join TWiV to discuss the goals of the organization, then we review pauses of J&J and Lilly COVID-19 vaccine trials, preclinical studies of Regeneron's SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody cocktail, reinfection of a patient in Nevada, and listener questions. Click arrow ...
TWiV 671: Prizes, polio, and a pandemic puzzle
By Vincent Racaniello
Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, then Amy joins us to discuss the 2020 Chemistry Nobel Prize for gene editing using CRISPR/Cas9, continuing circulation of poliovirus in Afghanistan, inborn errors of interferon in patients with severe COVID-19, and listener questions. Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 671 (102 MB .mp3, ...