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bacteriophage

TWiV 47: Vertical vaccine farm

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twiv-200Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier

On episode #47 of the podcast “This Week in Virology”, Vincent and Dick discuss influenza virus-like particle vaccines produced in insect and plant cells, rapid sharing of influenza research, and answer listener questions about cytomegalovirus, viral evolution and symbiosis and much more.

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Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #47 (51 MB .mp3, 71 minutes)

Subscribe to TWiV in iTunes, by the RSS feed, or by email

Links for this episode:
A Farm on Every Floor
Influenza virus-like particles in insect and plant cells
PLoS Currents: Influenza
Transmission of 2009 H1N1 influenza virus to turkeys [Thanks Debbie!]
Baxter produces Vero cell H1N1 vaccine [Thanks Peter!]
Boundaries of Darwinism podcast [Thanks David!]
Phages in human intestine: papers one, two, three [Thanks Terry!]
Post-exposure varicella vaccine [Thanks Patricia!]
Open science movement here, here, here, and here [Thanks Jim!]
Graduate programs in virology [Thanks Greggory and Blake!]
Post-exposure Marburg and Ebola vaccines [Thanks John!]
Vaccinia infection in the laboratory [Thanks Russ!]
Animations of bacteriophage T4 life cycle [Thanks Jim!]

Weekly Science Picks
Vincent Bionumbers
Dick Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas by Sylvia A. Earle, Linda K. Glover

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@microbe.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast

TWiV #28: SARS

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twiv_aa_2001On episode #28 of the podcast “This Week in Virology”, Vincent, Dick, Alan, and Eric F. Donaldson discuss a new test for influenza H5N1, poliovirus in Minnesota, Koala retrovirus, batteries made from viruses, and SARS.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #28 or subscribe in iTunes or by email.

TWiV #24: Viroids

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twiv_aa_2001In episode #24 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Hamish Young discuss bacteriophages in viral vaccines, enteroviruses and diabetes, inhibition of Hendra and Nipah virus replication by the malaria drug chloroquine, and viroids.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #24 or subscribe in iTunes or by email.

Bacteriophages in viral vaccines

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bacteriophage-sockWhen live, attenuated poliovirus vaccine was used in the US, its production and testing was regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Guidelines for preparing and testing the vaccine can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations – the codification of the rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. While reading the 1991 regulations for OPV, I came across the following curious statement:

Each seed virus used for vaccine manufacture shall be prepared from an acceptable strain in monkey kidney cell cultures, derived from animals…or in a cell culture of a type determined to be suitable by the Director…The seed virus used in vaccine manufactures shall be demonstrated to be free of extraneous microbial agents except for the unavoidable bacteriophage.

Some live human virus vaccines have been shown to contain bacterial viruses. Why would there be ‘unavoidable bacteriophage’ in seed virus and vaccines? If you know the answer, post it in the comments section, and I’ll explain fully tomorrow. I’ll also tell you why this has been an all-poliovirus week at virology blog.

TWiV #21: Viruses of bacteria

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twiv_aa_2001In episode #21 of This Week in Virology, Vincent, Dick, and Alan are joined by Max Gottesman, who has researched viruses of bacteria – bacteriophages – for many years. They discuss an unusual wasp-virus symbiosis, influenza transmission and absolute humidity, how mosquitoes survive Dengue virus infection, and bacteriophages.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #21.