What are coronaviruses? How are they structured and what is being done to be more prepared next time another one emerges? This and much more in this new episode of The Viral Talk.

 

Join your usual host Federico and an old friend of the show Bobbie-Anne Turner from the University of Liverpool to hear about the dreaded coronaviruses!

 

Key points:

• The scientific community has known about coronaviruses for a long time. The first coronavirus ever discovered was a poultry coronavirus named Infectious bronchitis virus and was discovered in the 1940s.

• The first human coronaviruses were discovered together in the 60s by the common cold unit in the UK, and were human coronaviruses OC43 and 229E;

• Coronaviruses are very diverse but have roughly the same genome structure. They all possess a set of 14 non-structural genes necessary to make the proteins that allow the virus to make more copies of itself. And they all possess four structural proteins, which make the building blocks of the viral particle (or virion).
• These four proteins, called Spike, Envelope, Membrane and Nucleocapsid all have important functions during infection. Spike is found on the surface of the virus and is the protein that allows it to infect cells. Envelope is thought to have a general role in coordinating the assembly process of the virus inside the cell. The Membrane protein is the physical outer layer of the viral particle, which contains its genome and on which the Spike protein is found, and the Nucleocapsid wraps around the newly made copies of viral genome and packages it inside the virus.
• Different viruses can have a variable number of 'accessory' genes, which help the virus during infection by fighting the host immune response or facilitating spread between cells.

• Coronaviruses are very diverse, there are four different groups called Alpha-, Beta-, Delta- and Gamma-coronaviruses. Alpha and Beta coronaviruses usually infect mammals, Delta and Gamma coronaviruses more often than not infect birds, but this is not an absolute.
• Some coronaviruses are specialists, meaning that they only infect a specific type of host, while others, like SARS-CoV-2, can be quite generalists, and infect a series of animals.
• This characteristic is important for emergence and re-emergence, and it tells us that it is important to be constantly surrounding the environment and both wild animals and human-adjacent animals. The biggest example of this is deer in America and now in Europe, as it seems that SARS-CoV-2 has taken a home in white-tailed deer that might act as a wild reservoir for the virus.
• Apart from the pandemic, the scientific community is very interested in coronaviruses because in the last 20 years there have been three different instances of emergence of highly pathogenic coronaviruses, with SARS-CoV in 2003, MERS-CoV in 2012 and SARS-CoV-2 in 2019.
• There is a lot going on in the scientific community to be prepared for when the next one comes forward. Environmental surveillance is going strong. There are strong efforts to develop a pancoronavirus vaccine to make sure we’d be protected against any coronavirus. There are many international consortia, such as the UK-ICN, the SARS-CoV-2 G2P consortia, and many more, that foster international collaboration, inform governments and integrate lab and social sciences to better tackle the practical problems emerging from pandemics and governance.

For the sciency people

Intro to Coronaviruses: 10.1038/220650b0

History of coronaviruses: 10.33493/scivis.20.01.04

Coronavirus diversity: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.926677

What are the human coronaviruses: 10.1038/220650b0 

 

Relevant links

What’s the UK-ICN? https://uk-icn.co.uk/

What’s the G2P consortium? https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FW005611%2F1

 

Call to actions

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This is ‘Ask a professional’, the format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2, we’re going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research and then we’re going to talk about their career, future prospects and tips for younger generations of future scientists. In this episode Federico interviews Dr Chris Hill, group leader at the Department of Biology of the University of York. In this episode we're gonna talk about discovering that the tooth fairy is not real, looking at single molecules down the microscope and the pervasiveness of Imposter Syndrome among young researchers.

For the sciency people:

How do some viruses manage to pack more information than physically possible - 10.1146/annurev-virology-111821-120646

How viruses hijack our protein production machinery - doi: 10.1083/jcb.200205044

The wonderful bioimaging facilities at the University of York https://www.york.ac.uk/research/themes/technologies-for-the-future/bioimaging/#:~:text=Researchers%20at%20York%20have%20developed,more%20about%20Resonant%20Hyperspectral%20Imaging.

Imposter syndrome and how big of a problem it is - https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/women-and-early-career-academics-experience-imposter-syndrome-fields-emphasise

Who is Chris Hill- https://www.hill-lab.co.uk/pi

Follow Chris on X - https://twitter.com/chillzaa

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This is ‘Ask a professional’, the new format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2, we’re going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research and then we’re going to talk about their career, future prospects and tips for younger generations of future scientists.   Join the host Federico in the second episode of the series interviewing Hannah Burgess, lecturer in the Department of Microbial Sciences at the University of Surrey. In this episode we’re going to cover the role of mRNA modification in infection, changing career without disappointing your parents and the importance of engaging with people at conferences.    For the sciency people:   mRNA modifications as regulators of protein expression - DOI: ⁠10.1080/15476286.2016.1203504⁠ 

What are the general strategies viruses use to manipulate RNA? -

⁠DOI: 10.1101/gad.349276.121⁠    How certain host proteins control mRNA length to control viral infections - DOI: ⁠10.15252/embr.202256327⁠     Dr Hannah Burgess' lab - https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/hannah-burgess#about

Follow Dr Hannah Burgess on X (formerly Twitter) - https://twitter.com/HannahmBurgess 

Follow The Viral Talk on X (formerly Twitter) – https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk   On IG – @the_viral_talk_   On Linkedin –https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/   Leave a Review of the episode on Podchaser.com - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-viral-talk-5094049

This is ‘Ask a professional’, the new format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2, we’re going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research and then we’re going to talk about their career, future prospects and tips for younger generations of future scientists.   Join the host Federico in the first episode of the series interviewing Mark Stenglein, the Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology at Colorado State University. In this episode we’re going to cover Bunyaviruses (vector-borne viruses), non-canonical ways to academia and how to discover what we like to do.    For the sciency people:   Review on bunyaviruses - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8004/   Bunyaviruses reassortment - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682213004509   Virus reassortment in general - https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1004902     Why should we study viruses? Mark’s take on the case of studying more and unknown viruses -  10.1146/annurev-virology-100220-112915   Prof Mark Stenglein lab - https://www.stengleinlab.org/   Follow The Viral Talk on X (formerly Twitter) – https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk   On IG – @the_viral_talk_   On Linkedin –https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/   Leave a Review of the episode on Podchaser.com - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-viral-talk-5094049  

What are the differences between acute and persistent viral infections? How can certain viruses stay with us forever and never be cleared? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk.

 

Key takeaways:

• An acute infection is characterized by a sudden or rapid development of disease, that can either be resolved quickly or lead to death;
• In a persistent infection, the virus is not cleared by our body, and it either becomes latent (e.g Herpes Simplex Virus) or it keeps replicating at low levels for very long periods of time (e.g. Hepatitis B Virus, HIV);
• For a latent infection to become a persistent infection, it needs two characteristics:  persistence and reversibility.
• Reversibility is the ability of a virus to resume active viral replication after undergoing latency, persistence is the ability to stay in our body without being eliminated/cleared for a long period of time.
• A latent virus that lacks a way to be ‘re-activated’ only causes dead-end infections.
• Herpesviruses and Retroviruses are the only known viral families able to undergo latency.
• Latency is a successful survival strategy that allows viruses to avoid being cleared by the host’s defences.
• In addition to latent viral infections, there is another type of infection which is chronic viral infections.
• In chronic infections, the virus keeps replicating inside the host for long periods of time without being cleared, causing low levels of pathology. The best example for this is HIV, followed by Hepatitis B virus.

• Constant rounds of infection by these viruses lead to the onset of the diseases they’re known for, AIDS and hepatitis, respectively.

Articles for the most interested:

General definition of persistent viral infections - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8538/

Common threads in persistent viral infections - https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jvi.01905-09

Retroviruses in the human genome - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02039/full 

How do viruses go latent? - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2914632/#:~:text=In%20latent%20infection%2C%20the%20full,additional%20properties%3A%20persistence%20and%20reversibility.

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How can tiny viruses hijack a cell and make it do their bidding? How can they survive a whole organism trying to get rid of them? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk.

Key takeaways:

• Viruses make three types of proteins. One type to replicate, one type to protect their genome once they're outside of the host, and one to modify the cell they infect at their 'whim'.
• The proteins they use to change the structure of the cell often work through 'mimicry'. They have motifs/domains that resemble cellular proteins, which interact with our proteins to either stop their function or re-direct it.
• Common to most viral infection is a phenomenon called host translation shut off, in which cellular protein production goes down and viral protein production goes up.
• Translation shut off can be achieved by either destroying cellular mRNA or tricking the cellular translation machinery into believing that viral mRNA is in fact cellular mRNA.
• Viruses have also evolved multiple ways to shut down the immune response of cells, through accessory proteins that are not incorporated into the final viral particles but without which they don't fare very well.
• They have also evolved multiple ways to mimic cellular 'messenger molecules', by doing so causing distruptions in the way cells can respond to infection.
• These viral proteins are also very important targets for the development of antiviral drugs.

Articles for the most interested:

• DOI:10.1038/nri980 - Viral mimicry of messenger molecules
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4952 - Influenza mimicry of histone 3
• DOI: 10.1006/viro.2000.0816 - HIV Nef protein and MHC
• DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro267 - Viral Cap snatchin
• https://viralzone.expasy.org/1579#:~:text=Viruses%20have%20evolved%20ways%20of,to%20evade%20host%20immune%20response%20 - Nice resource that lists way in which viruses cause translation shut off.

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How do viruses cause disease? What are the processes that make us sick and what can we do about it? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk.

Takeaways:

• When viruses infect our cells they hijack them and sequester all the resources that the cell might need to stay alive, causing it to malfunction and die.

• Infected cells also recognize that they're infected and 'self-destruct' to stop the infection.
• When cells recognize a virus they release signals that call in the immune system, which leads to inflammation and cell death.
• The virulence of a virus is dependent both on its genomic content and its 'tropism' aka the tissues and cells that it infects.
• Influenza has a preference for cells of the respiratory tract and causes respiratory infections. HIV infects immune cells and therefore causes AIDS.
• Some viruses like Ebolaviruses do not have a preferred cell and are able to infect most of them, causing very severe, generalised infections.
• The type of disease is also due to mutations in our genome, which can make us more or less prone to severe immune responses called 'cytokine storms'.

Links and scientific papers:

What are mRNA vaccines? How do they work and why are they considered revolutionary? This and much more in this episode of the Viral Talk.

Key Takeaways:

• Vaccines work by introducing an element that resembles a pathogen into our body, so that our immune system can learn to counter it without the need to get infected first.
• Vaccination induces our body to produce antibodies, which are tiny proteins that recognise and attach themselves to the pathogen.
• mRNA vaccines are a relatively new technology that inject into our body the instructions (messenger RNA) to produce one or more proteins of the pathogen they target.
• COVID-19 mRNA vaccines give the cell the instructions to produce the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, which is 'used' by the virus to enter inside the cells. In this way, when the virus infects a vaccinated person, antibodies will attach onto the Spike protein of the virus and prevent it from getting inside our cells.
• The mRNA vaccine technology has been in development for more than a decade and was initially thought to vaccinate against cancer.
• mRNA vaccines are faster to produce, more flexible and easier to update compared to other traditional vaccines.
• COVID-19 vaccines do not give people COVID-19, as they do not contain virus particles.
• COVID-19 vaccines were produced so quickly because vast amounts of resources and money were put in their development from the get-go. No corners were cut in the experimental phase and many studies suggest that they provide very high protection against severe COVID-19 disease.
• COVID-19 vaccines do not contain fetal elements, microchips, trackers or other dangerous elements.
• The biggest components of COVID-19 vaccines are water, sugar, lipids and mRNA, in this order.

For your interest:

How do vaccines work?- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SKmAlQtAj8&ab_channel=naturevideo

mRNA vaccines review - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41573-021-00283-5

Efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine - DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2035389

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How many types of viruses are there? How do scientist classify them and why is it important to know? This and much more in this episode of the Viral Talk.

Key takeaways:

• Scientists predict hundreds of millions of different viral species on our planet, but they can all be grouped in 'only' seven different groups.
• These seven groups have been theorized by virologist David Baltimore based on the different types of genomes they can have, and how this affects the way in which they replicate.
• In nature, almost all organisms follow the central dogma of biology: DNA->RNA->Proteins. But not all viruses follow it.
• The seven groups are:

1. double stranded DNA viruses (e.g. herpesviruses)
2. single stranded DNA viruses (e.g. many bacterial viruses)
3. double stranded RNA viruses (e.g. rotaviruses)
4. positive sense single stranded RNA viruses (e.g. coronaviruses)
5. negative sense single stranded RNA viruses (e.g. Influenza virus)
6. double stranded RNA viruses with DNA intermediate (e.g. HIV)
7. double stranded DNA viruses with RNA intermediates (e.g. Hepatitis B virus)

• Knowing how viruses replicate beforehand can give us a heads-up on potential targets for antiviral drug development.
• Examples include antivirals against HIV and other retroviruses.

For people who'd like to know more:

Original paper on Baltimore classification -  DOI: 10.1128/br.35.3.235-241.1971

Success story on antivirals against HIV: DOI: 10.1016/S0166-3542(98)00025-4

Visual explanation of Baltimore classification scheme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2YOZnvgcuk&ab_channel=Shomu%27sBiology

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What are bacteriophages? Are they important for our ecology and what do we know about them? Join the host Federico De Angelis in understanding what these viruses are, what they do and how we can harness their potential.

 

Takeaways:

-      Bacteriophages are bacterial viruses. They only infect bacteria.

-      They are the most abundant biological entity on the planet.

-      Phages are very specific, with one phage species infecting a single bacterial species.

-      Phages have two distinct infectious cycles. The lytic cycle during which they infect bacteria and kill them by bursting out, and the lysogenic cycle, where their genome is integrated in the genome of their host, turning them into prophages.

-       Sometimes lysogenic phages establish symbiotic relationships with their host, for example Vibrio cholera, the bug responsible for Cholera, has a prophage in its genome that encodes for the toxin responsible for the watery diarrhea it causes.

-       Phages can be engineered to target specific virulent bacteria and treat antibiotic resistant infections.

 

Additional info for the most interested:

 

Review on sea phages - https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04160

In-depth article about Vibrio cholera - https://www.nature.com/articles/nrmicro2204

 

Resource on bacteriophages biology - https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/biology-of-viruses/virus-biology/a/bacteriophages

TedX Talk on Phage therapy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPqbcvCTE80&ab_channel=TEDxTalks

 

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What is an emerging virus? How do new viral pathogens emerge, which viruses are the ones on our watchlist and what is being done to prevent a new pandemic from happening? Join the host Federico De Angelis in understanding what are the threats that virologists from all over the world are trying to tame.

Takeaways:

• Emerging viruses are agents responsible for a new or previously non-recognized infection.
• For a new viral pathogen to emerge, it needs the ability to infect a different host from its reservoir, and to diffuse in the new host population. The chances of both these things happening are very slim.
• The WHO has made a list of the viruses to watch in 2015 encompassing: 1) severe emerging coronaviruses SARS and MERS, 2) Filoviruses like Ebola and Marburg virus, 3) Nipah virus, 4) Rift valley virus, 5) Crimean congo haemorragic fever virus and 6) Lassa fever virus. All these viruses are RNA viruses. These viruses have been put on the list based on a series of characteristics. They are all able to infect humans, but not to spread very well human-to-human.
• Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, a great deal of effort has gone into: surveillance, basic lab research for development of antivirals and vaccines, and a lot more effort in the development of infrastructure for better international collaborations, from PPE manufacturing to data sharing.

Additional info for the most interested:

Youtube lecture from Prof. Vincent Racaniello at Columbia University on emerging viral diseases:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZQFy-d7ISk&ab_channel=VincentRacaniello

Review on cross-species transmission of emerging viruses:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110969

Pan-coronavirus vaccine development pipeline:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41573-022-00074-6

What is the Pandemic Preparedness Treaty?

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9550/

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What needs to happen for a virus to successfully infect a host? What is the infectious cycle? Join the host Federico De Angelis in finding out what are all the obstacles that must be overcome by viruses in order to establish an infection, and what happens once viruses manage to get inside a cell.

Takeaways:

• Viruses can only infect us through our openings, such as the mouth, nose, eyes, genitals and scratches or bruises on our skin.

• Once they get inside the host they have to survive a multiple of physical and chemical defenses at each site of entry.
• Viruses have proteins on their surfaces which act as keys to cells. In order to infect us they need to stumble upon the correct cell with the correct 'door lock' (molecule/receptor) on the cell surface.
• When viruses find the right cell and get inside, they have to release their genetic content either in the cytoplasm (if RNA viruses) or in the nucleus (if DNA viruses), but there are exceptions. This allows their genome to be copied in high numbers, and their proteins to be produced.
• Produced viral proteins then hijack the cell in many different ways to transform it in a 'virus factory'.
• When the viral genome has been copied and the viral proteins produced, these then are transported to the surface of the cell, where they can assemble into a mature viral particle and exit the cell to find other cells and re-start the cycle.

Additional sources:

Review on viral entry inside the cell - https://www.nature.com/articles/nrmicro817

Review on the viral life cycle - https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Microbiology/Microbiology_(OpenStax)/06%3A_Acellular_Pathogens/6.02%3A_The_Viral_Life_Cycle

BBC bitesized guide to non specific body defenses - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/znpxwty/revision/2

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This is the first SPECIAL episode of The Viral Talk. It was recorded in Liverpool at the UK-International Coronavirus Network Early Career Researchers symposium.

The Viral Talk team was invited to take part to a fantastic initiative organized by the UK-ICN to encourage young scientists to share knowledge, hopes, dreams and to network in Liverpool on the 1st of March 2024.

Three early career researchers were chosen to come on the show and talk about their experience, their projects, and their hopes for the future. The guests were:

-Bobbie-Anne Turner, a third year PhD student at the University of Liverpool in Prof. Julian Hiscox lab, trying to identify which cellular proteins bind and interact with a specific structural protein of many human coronaviruses.

-Carla Ruiz, a first year PhD student from IRTA CReSA (Barcelona) trying to establish a model organism for 'Long' COVID-19

-Nuno Santos, a postdoc at the Francis Crick Insitute in Dr David Bauer lab studying the evolution of coronaviruses and the way their genetic code (RNA) changes.

What is the UK-ICN?

https://uk-icn.co.uk/

Who are the speakers?

Bobbie-Anne Turner - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bobbie-anne-turner

Carla Ruiz - https://es.linkedin.com/in/carla-ruiz-casas-92a0971a1?trk=people-guest_people_search-card

Nuno Santos - https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/find-a-researcher/nuno-santos

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What does the term 'spillover' mean? How do zoonoses apply to our everyday life? What can we do to reduce the chances of new pandemics happening? Join the host Federico De Angelis to find out.

Takeaways:

• A zoonosis (or zoonotic event) takes place when a pathogen that is adapted at infecting one species (e.g. humans), manages to 'jump' and infect a different one.
• Between 60 and 75% of all human pathogens come from our exposure to animals.
• There are human factors which can increase the chances of zoonosis happening - climate change, deforestation, 'bushmeat' trade.
• It is well within our power to adopt behaviors that decrease the probability of a new pandemic to happen.

David Quammen book 'Spillover' - https://davidquammen.com/spillover

Estimates on human pathogens emergence - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/3367654

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2001.0888

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Coming soon - Join the host Federico De Angelis in discovering the basic biological principles of coronaviruses, their host type, how many they are and the type of infection they cause.

How are viruses transmitted to stay in the population? What can we do to stop them? Join the host Federico De Angelis in finding out about the different types of viral transmission and learn about the behaviors that can stop them.

Takeaways:

· Viruses can be transmitted person-to-person

· Through food and water

· On objects

· Via insects(!)

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Coming Soon...

What does zoonosis mean? What happens when a virus enters in a new host? Listen to the next episode of The Viral Talk to find out!

What are viruses? Are they alive? Should we care? Listen to this episode to discover these tiny organisms and learn more about their biology. 

Takeaways:

 - 1) Viruses are organisms that can spread between individuals; 2) That take the resources to spread and reproduce from other organisms; 3) that must get inside the cells of the organisms they infect to reproduce; 4) That are made of DNA or RNA contained within a coat of proteins. 

- Viruses are fundamentally dead (except when they are intracellular). 

- We should not humanize them. Viruses are passive agents.

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The Viral Talk is a podcast focused on simple and straightforward education on all-things virology, from the basis of infection to the concept of spillover and mRNA vaccines and beyond. 

Join the host Federico De Angelis (B.Sc., M.Res in microbiology) every other week to unravel the mysteries of viruses. 

Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk

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This is ‘Ask a professional’, the format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2, we’re going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research and then we’re going to talk about their career, future prospects and tips for younger generations of future scientists. In this episode Federico interviews Dr Ed Emmot, group leader at the Centre for Proteomics Research at the Universty of Liverpool. In this episode we're gonna talk about proteins that cut other proteins, how viruses can benefit from that and the importance of finding your niche.

For the sciency people:

The role of proteolysis in SARS-CoV-2 infection - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25796-w

Book chapter on the proteomics of viruses - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444519801500173#:~:text=sensitivity%20and%20fidelity.-,Proteomics%20is%20a%20promising%20approach%20for%20the%20study%20of%20viruses,disease%2C%20and%20accelerates%20drug%20development

A simple overview on the concept of proteolysis - https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/An-Overview-of-Proteolysis.aspx

Who is Ed Emmot - https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/systems-molecular-and-integrative-biology/staff/edward-emmott/publications/

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How were viruses discovered? Who are the pioneers behind the establishment of virology as a branch of biology? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk. Key takeaways: - The first virus to ever be observed was the Tobacco Mosaic Virus, and it was discovered thanks the invention of the Chamberland filter. - The first mammal virus to be discovered was the Foot and Mouth Disease virus, which is a very economically important virus that infects cloven-hoofed viruses. It was discovered by two german bacteriologists called Friedrich Loeffler and Paul Frosch. - The first ever human virus to be discovered was Yellow Fever virus, and its history is strongly intertwined with the history of Cuba and the opening of the Panama Canal. - The word 'virus' (from the latin word for 'poison') already existed before the identification of viruses as a biological entities, but it was used to describe any cause of infectious disease. For the most interested: 10.1016/B978-0-12-375156-0.00001-1 - History and Impact of Virology article PMID: 12523707 doi:10.3201/eid1201.050979 The role of microscopy in modern science -  doi: 10.1098/rsob.150019 Follow the Viral Talk on IG - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/ On Twitter - https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk And Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/  

This is ‘Ask a professional’, the format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2, we’re going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research and then we’re going to talk about their career, future prospects and tips for younger generations of future scientists. In this episode Federico interviews Dr Vanessa Herder, pathobiologist at the Centre for Virus Research at the Universty of Glasgow. In this episode we’re going to talk about looking at tissues to understand how viruses can cause disease, having the courage to change career paths and loving what we do.

 

For the sciency people:

SARS-CoV-2 in cats - doi: 10.1002/vetr.247. Epub 2021 Apr 22.

Review on pathology due to virus infection - 10.1016/B978-0-12-375156-0.00007-2

Who si Vanessa? https://www.vanessa-herder.com/ 

What does her work focus on? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lMNfWYs4t4&ab_channel=VanessaHerder

Vanessa's Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessaherder/

Follow The Viral Talk on X (formerly Twitter) – ⁠https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk⁠  

On IG – @the_viral_talk_  

On Linkedin –https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/

Leave a Review of the episode on Podchaser.com - ⁠https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-viral-talk-5094049⁠

What are the ways in which our bodies protect us from viral infections? Is it easy for a virus to establish an infection? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk.

 

Key takeaways:

• There are very few ways in which a virus can manage to infect us, and all of them require to surpass the skin in some way, such as getting through cuts, through the mouth, the nose, the eyes or the reproductive organs;
• There are multiple physical and chemical barriers that prevent viruses from infecting us all the time at each of the vulnerable sites;
• These include pH, presence of mucus to trap invaders, various enzymes that degrade proteins and even our microbiota (aka the bacteria living in us);
• The gut has also regions filled with immune cells that scan the environment and activate the immune response if they detect a viral infection going on;
• In addition, most cells (not just immune cells) are capable of producing a set of molecules called Interferons;
• Interferons are the master molecules that have evolved to specifically counter viral infections, and are produced when a cell recognises that it has been infected;
• Interferons also act as signals that alert other, non-infected cells that there are invaders;
• Interferons also activate the process of inflammation, which brings at the point of infection other immune cells, so that the adaptive immune response can start;

Articles for the most interested:

Physical barriers to infection - https://teachmephysiology.com/immune-system/innate-immune-system/barriers-to-infection/

Review on interferons - https://www.nature.com/articles/nri3787

How does the immune system works? - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zyxg7p3/revision/2

Follow the Viral Talk on IG - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/

On Twitter - https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk

And Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/

 

This is ‘Ask a professional’, the format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2, we’re going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research and then we’re going to talk about their career, future prospects and tips for younger generations of future scientists. In this episode Federico interviews Nerea Irigoyen, Research group leader in the Pathology department of the University of Cambridge. We’re going to talk about Zika virus in pregnancy, the role of climate change for mosquito-borne viruses, and keeping in mind that science is frustrating.

 

For the sciency people:  

What do we know about Zika virus and pregnancy? - https://www.cdc.gov/pregnancy/zika/pregnancy.html

 

Preprint on the identification of novel proteins in Zika virus with a role in neurodegeneration – https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/112904v2

Who’s Nerea Irigoyen (on X) – https://twitter.com/NereaIrigoyen

(Uni of Cambridge) - https://www.path.cam.ac.uk/directory/dr-nerea-irigoyen 

Follow The Viral Talk on X (formerly Twitter) – https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk  

On IG – @the_viral_talk_  

On Linkedin –https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/

Leave a Review of the episode on Podchaser.com - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-viral-talk-5094049

This is ‘Ask a professional’, the new format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2, we’re going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research and then we’re going to talk about their career, future prospects and tips for younger generations of future scientists. In this episode Federico interviews Marcus Blagrove, Senior Lecturer in Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour at the University of Liverpool. In this episode we’re going to talk about AI in virology, pandemic preparedness, being a cycling world champion and the importance of the working environment when you start your PhD.

 

For the sciency people:  

Using AI to predict association between previously non-associated viruses and mammals - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24085-w

Preprint on the role of life expectancy on virus burden in mammals (the one mentioned in the episode) - http://dx.doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2722217/v1

AI to predict new hosts of coronaviruses - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21034-5

Who’s Marcus Blagrove? -  https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/infection-veterinary-and-ecological-sciences/staff/marcus-blagrove/

Follow The Viral Talk on X (formerly Twitter) – https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk/

On IG – @the_viral_talk_  

On Linkedin –https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/

Leave a Review of the episode on Podchaser.com - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-viral-talk-5094049

 

 

This is ‘Ask a professional’, the new format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2, we’re going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research and then we’re going to talk about their career, future prospects and tips for younger generations of future scientists. In this episode Federico interviews Dr Wil Furnon, Post doctoral research associate at the Centre for Virus Research of the University of Glasgow. In this episode we’re going to talk about SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns (or VOCs), virus evolution, deciding that geology has too much math and the importance of handling failure well.

 

For the sciency people:  

A nice review on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-023-00878-2

Tracking and naming the Variants of Concern (VOCs) of SARS-CoV-2 - 10.3390/microorganisms9050926

SARS-CoV-2 Variants and Classification - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant-classifications.html

Follow Dr Wil Furnon on X (formerly Twitter) - https://twitter.com/WFurnon

Follow The Viral Talk on X (formerly Twitter) – https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk/  

On IG – @the_viral_talk_  

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Leave a Review of the episode on Podchaser.com - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-viral-talk-5094049

 

What does the term co-infection mean? What happens when two viruses infect us at the same time and why is it important for our health? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk.

But also, a new host joins the show, episodes take on a new structure, and we answer questions from the audience.

Key takeaways:

- A co-infection occurs when two or more pathogens infect the same host at the same time

- There are multiple types of co-infections, as we can be infected by bacteria, parasites and viruses, and different types of co-infections have different effects on our bodies

- There are multiple types of viral co-infections as well - we can be infected by different strains of the same virus (e.g. Flu), different viruses that infect the same type of cells (e.g. SARS-CoV-2 and RSV) or different viruses that infect different parts of our body (e.g. HIV and HepC)

- For a long time it was assumed that co-infections would worsen the outcome of the individual infections, but researchers have found that this is not necessarily the case

- Vaccines against commonly co-occurring pathogens are being tested.

For the sciency people:

Why won't different strains of flu be friends? - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001941

Hep C and HIV co-infection review - 10.3748/wjg.v8.i4.577

RSV and SARS-CoV-2 in mice - 10.1101/2023.05.24.542043

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Welcome to the 2nd Special Episode of The Viral Talk. In this episode our host Federico interviews Faye Watson, Churchill Fellow and Public Engagement Officer for the School of Medicine and Veterinary medicine at the University of Edinburgh (although not for long!!).

Faye is going to talk to us about her project on improving prevention and outreach for the communities affected by blood-borne viral infections (e.g. HIV and HepC) in Scotland, and how to use Botswana and South Africa as model countries to tackle the inherent challenges of doing this type of work. Join us for a most informative conversation on what needs to be done to tackle these type of infections and also (but not less importantly) on the importance of forming human connections in our fight against infectious diseases.

Link to the youtube interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjSc_Icp7Ww

Bits of info

Who is Faye Watson?

https://www.fayewatson.co.uk/

What is the Churchill Fellowship?

https://www.churchillfellowship.org/

What is Unseen Hands?

https://cvr-engagement.co.uk/unseen-hands

https://foshostudios.com/project/cvr-unseen-hands/

FoSho Studios

https://foshostudios.com/

Welcome to the 2nd season of ‘Ask a professional’, the format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2, we’re going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research and then we’re going to talk about their career, future prospects and tips for younger generations of future scientists.

In this episode Federico interviews Dr Ben Brennan, group leader at the Centre for Virology Research at the University of Glasgow. They're gonna talk about ticks living up to 4 years, reverse engineering viruses to make vaccines and headbutting walls until they fall down.

For the sciency people:

What are bunyaviruses - ⁠https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1879625715001261

Bunyaviruses and climate change - doi: ⁠10.1111/j.1469-0691.2009.02849.x

Oropouche virus in Brazil - doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(24)00672-8

Who is Ben Brennan- https://www.brennanlab.co.uk/

Follow the Viral Talk on IG - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/

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