TWiV 424: FLERVergnügen

Jan. 15, 2017

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Guest: Trudy Rey

Trudy joins the the TWiVlords to discuss new tests for detecting prions in the blood, and evidence showing that foamy retroviruses originated in the seas with their jawed vertebrate hosts at least 450 million years ago.

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Links for this episode

• Welcome omega tau to MicrobeTV
• Register for ASV 2017
• Oliver Smithies dies
• Assays for prions in the blood (one, two)
• Biosafety working on prions (Michigan State)
• Marine origin of retroviruses in Palaeozoic era (Nature Comm)
• Cancer Virus by Dorothy Crawford
• Adenovirus and obesity (Int J Chronic Dis)
• Image credit
• Letters read on TWiV 424

Weekly Science Picks

Trudy - Artist Jenni Viljaniemi
Alan - Radio Garden
Dickson - World's First Green Energy Boat
Kathy - mSphereDirect video and web
Rich - Deathworld Trilogy by Harry Harrison
Vincent - Trump's Vaccine Panel (NYTimes), Offit's Response (Daily Beast), ASM Letter

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]