The Viral Talk

Federico De Angelis, Bobbie-Anne Turner
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  • LIFE SCIENCES
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What is a virus? What does spillover mean? How can viruses infect humans? If these are things that you would like to know but lack the time or energy to research them, then welcome to The Viral Talk, the show which gives brief, direct and easy-to-understand answers to the big questions in virology. I am your host Federico De Angelis, a PhD student studying SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses at the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh. Join me every other week to discover all the aspects of these obscure but fascinating organisms. Join in and Let's Go Viral.

  1. JAN 22

    Ask a Professional - Digardians of the Galaxy with Matt Turnbull

    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 on the PEOPLE behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza, here is where we interview experts from the UK and the world on their research, career, aspirations and on how to prepare the next generation of scientists. In this episode, Federico interviews a Dr Matt Turnbull, a researcher at the Centre for Virus Research in Glasgow, and fellow Digardian of the Galaxy. They're gonna talk about inspiring childhood figures, common PhD experiences and Flu being a bird virus. For the sciency people: Bird flu resists high temperatures in mammals to better replicate - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq4691 Review on bird flu - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6553608/ Call to actions: Follow the Viral Talk on IG - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/ Follow us on X - https://x.com/The_Viral_Talk Leave review on podchaser.com - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-viral-talk-5094049

    26 min

  2. JAN 15

    S2 Episode 3 - What is the adaptive immune system?

    How do our bodies remember a virus they haven't seen in a decade? What exactly makes the "adaptive" part of our immune system so much more specialized than our innate defenses? This and much more in this new episode of The Viral Talk. Key takeaways: - The adaptive immune response kicks in later compared to the innate immune response. - Its main actors are B and T cells. - B cells produce antibodies against the pathogens. - Antibodies are small proteins that target very specific bits on the surface of pathogens called antigens. - Antigens are like the fingerprints of the pathogens. Each virus/bug/yeast has unique antigens, which are only recognised by some antibodies. - T cells divide into three types of cells: T-regs, T-killer and T-memory cells. - Killer T cells (Cytotoxic T cells) are the front-line soldiers that identify and destroy your own cells that have been hijacked by viruses or have become cancerous. - Memory T cells serve as a long-term surveillance team, "remembering" the specific signature of a pathogen so the body can launch a near-instant and more powerful defense if that same invader ever returns. - Helper T cells sense threats and release chemical signals called cytokines to coordinate the entire immune response, including the activation of B cells. - Antibodies are generated fresh after each infection via multiple rounds genetic recombination within B cells. For the sciency folk: A short review on the adaptive immune response - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21070/ Adaptive immunity for dummies - https://www.dummies.com/article/academics-the-arts/science/biology/adaptive-immunity-168885/ Review article on adaptive immunity and vaccinology - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-00479-7 Timestamps: Core episode start - 1.48 News of the day - 18.27 Viral question - 39.00 Call to actions: Follow us on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6dLMIpVOO1F0rn8REUbymv?si=94900fda0c884465 Follow us on IG - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/ Follow us on X - https://x.com/The_Viral_Talk Leave a review on Podchaser.com - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-viral-talk-5094049

    48 min

  3. 08/18/2025

    S2 Episode 2 - What is the innate immune system?

    What do scientists mean when they talk about the innate immune system? What are the differences between innate and adaptive immunity? What is the immune system composed of? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk. Key takeaways: - Our immune system can be divided in 'innate' and 'adaptive'. - The innate immune system is quick and acts broadly. The adaptive immune system takes longer to kick in, but it is much more effective. - The innate immune system is composed of multiple layers. Physical barriers like the skin, mucosal barriers like mucus and saliva, and chemical barriers like our stomach pH protect us from the vast majority of pathogens. - Sometimes these are not enough, so most cells in our body have sentinels on their outside and inside that look for signs of infection and activate a general, quick immune response, leading to activation of some of our white blood cells, as well inflammation, swelling and increase in temperature. -The masterminds for the activation of our innate antiviral response are the interferon genes. There are multiple types of interferons, and they act as signaling molecules that induce an antiviral state inside the cell. For the sciency people: Book chapter on innate immunity - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459455/ Explanation on interferon - https://www.dummies.com/article/academics-the-arts/science/biology/innate-immunity-built-in-defenses-169110/ Timestamps: Core episode start - 1.24Viral News of the day -13.50Ask a virologist section - 36.30 Calls to Action Follow the Viral Talk on IG - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/ On X - https://x.com/the_viral_talk

    44 min

  4. 07/27/2025

    Ask a Professional - Intracellular investigators with Dr Valerie Odon

    This is 'Ask a professional', the format of the Viral Talk where the focus is on the science but most importantly on the PERSON behind the science. From insect-borne viruses to SARS-CoV-2 and vaccines, we're going to interview experts from the UK and the world on their research, career, future prospects and tips for the younger generations of scientists. In this episode Federico interviews Dr Valerie Odon, newly appointed group leader at the University of Strathclyde in virology. In this episode we're gonna talk about cells investigating intruders (viruses), the wisdom of mothers and the challenges that come with becoming your own boss. For the sciency people: How a cellular protein recognises viral RNA and stops virus replication - DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz581 How that same protein differs in humans and birds and this leads to differences in immunity - doi: 10.1261/rna.079102.122 Who is Valerie Odon? - https://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/odonvaleriedr/ Follow The Viral Talk on IG - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/ Follow us on X - @The_Viral_Talk

    20 min
  5. S2 Episode 1 - What are co-infections?

    03/06/2025

    S2 Episode 1 - What are co-infections?

    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 Follow the viral talk on IG - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/ On X (Twitter) - https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk And linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/

    57 min

  6. 12/06/2024

    Special Episode - Building resilient communities for people affected by blood-borne viral infections with Faye Watson

    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/

    1h 6m

  7. 11/27/2024

    Ask a Professional - Tick-borne viruses with Ben Brennan

    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_/ On Twitter - https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk And Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/

    25 min

  8. 10/24/2024

    Those dreaded Coronas with Bobbie Anne Turner

    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 IG profile: https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/ X profile: https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk Podcaser.com - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-viral-talk-5094049

    38 min
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About

What is a virus? What does spillover mean? How can viruses infect humans? If these are things that you would like to know but lack the time or energy to research them, then welcome to The Viral Talk, the show which gives brief, direct and easy-to-understand answers to the big questions in virology. I am your host Federico De Angelis, a PhD student studying SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses at the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh. Join me every other week to discover all the aspects of these obscure but fascinating organisms. Join in and Let's Go Viral.

Information

  • Creator
    Federico De Angelis, Bobbie-Anne Turner
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Federico De Angelis, Bobbie-Anne Turner
  • Show Website
    The Viral Talk