Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit
Vincent, Alan, and Rich review concern over an influenza H5N1 transmission experiment, and a new host defense protein against RNA viruses.
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Links for this episode:
- Concern over H5N1 transmission experiment (CIDRAP)
- Information on NSABB
- Enserink’s overstated story (Science)
- New cell defense protein against RNA viruses (Nature Chem Biol)
- Uta Schwedler obituary (jpg)
- TWiV on Facebook
- Letters read on TWiV 159
Weekly Science Picks
Rich – Livescribe Smartpen
Alan – Royal Society journal archive
Vincent – Chronic fatigue syndrome and the CDC by Dave Tuller
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Judi – Top 7 in Microbiology
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Comments on this entry are closed.
That method CIDRAP report is concerned about of making a microorganism more virulent (works for mortality and for transmission, depending on selection criteria) is not news. It has been publicly published to the general public twice before. Without a report of concern, the paper would have passed unnoticed, most likely.
Alibek published it in Biohazard.
Laurie Garrett published it. I believe it was in Collapse of Global Public Health.
Yes. It works. It works well. Nothing to be gained by putting one’s head in the sand.
What about this paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21825167 published in August this year. Here they identified the gene (specifically, the activity of NA) responsible for H1N1 transmissibility in ferrets. Although this is in a different – and less dangerous – strain, I don’t remember this kind of media attention revolving around this paper, which essentially deals with the same problem and could be used by hypothetical molecular biologist/bioterrorists.
We should now also take bets on what gene(s) it turns out to be.
twiv159.mp3 ,
2:00 basements,humour
4:00 listener servey, 10000 regular listeners (!! surprise), 400 surveys so
far
6:00 letter,CIDRAP,Fouchier et.al.
9:00 questioning H2H of H5N1
9:30 probably around for decades,centuries
10:20 assumes alpha2-3–>alpha2-6
5 mutations(no mention of 2aa)
11:50 engineered mutations , not transmissable
12:50 retains lethality
13:20 Fouchier called ferret-passage “stupid experiment”
14:40 attenuate it by passage
16:30 should be published*3
17:00 animal model completely inappropriate (Kawaoke 2009)
18:00 computer-security
21:00 pro transparency
22:30 nature is better in making deadly viruses *3
26:00 Congress shouldn’t decide about this regulation but rather scientific
regulation boards
28:00 shouldn’t be done (if you think it makes a dangerous virus),
[which obviously the 3 discussants here don’t think. As the accompanying
sensationalism
was inappropriate,partially wrong they conclude that there is no reason for
the whole concern
in the first place]
33:00 funding should already regulate it
37:00 no response from Palese (yet)
———————————————————————-
38:00 NS1 RADD1(?) (pronounced redone)
———————————————————————–
58:00 Uta Schwedler
———————————
1:00:15 pox lollipop
—————————-
1:02:30 chicungunya
—————————
1:05,1:07,1:08herpesB,1:11,1:14
1:14 Royal Society makes articles free philosophical transactions
<1940 (1918flu?searchable?)
1:16
1:17
still nothing from Palese ?
OK, some comments from
Roth,Lowen,Palese,Perez,Racaniello, Webby, (general research)
are here
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/dec2311ferrets-jw.html