The Viral Talk

Federico De Angelis
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  • LIFE SCIENCES
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
The Viral Talk

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. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 05/09/2024

    Ask a Professional - Protein expression with Dr Chris Hill

    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 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

  5. 03/28/2024

    SPECIAL: UK-International Coronavirus Network symposium

    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 Follow the viral talk on X - https://twitter.com/The_Viral_Talk On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/ On Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-viral-talk/

    29 min

  6. 03/07/2024

    Ask a professional - Proteomics with Dr Ed Emmot

    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/ 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/

    12 min

  7. 02/15/2024

    Episode 13 - The history of virology

    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/

    27 min

  8. 02/01/2024

    Ask a professional - Pathobiology with Dr Vanessa Herder

    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

    18 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
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2024
  • Episodes
    26
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Federico De Angelis
  • Show Website
    The Viral Talk

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