virology
sa smith | January 21, 2013I love viruses.
And so should you.
:-D
Once again, a BIG THANK YOU to The Thinking Atheist for putting this together and uploading it for us!!!
1-- I never talk more than 30-35 minutes, because that is the extent of my attention-span :-/ Which leaves at least 10 minutes for a Q&A!
2-- They didnt record the Q&A :-/ Which sucks because the audience always has THE BEST QUESTIONS. THE BEST QUESTIONS! Its always my favorite part of any presentation. Laymen never give themselves enough credit-- often prefacing their question with 'This is probably a dumb question...' NO! Theyre always…
sa smith | November 26, 2012Scientists all around the world are creating legions of genetically modified viruses to treat/cure human afflictions, from nicotine addiction to hemophilia (A and B).
One disease a lot of folks are focused on in brain cancer. Certainly not a monolithic entity-- but scientists are working on viruses against them all. One of the viruses on the front lines against cancer is herpes.
Good old fashioned cold sore viruses love to blow up brain cancers.
But while HSV-1 has worked well in cell lines and some animal models, human trials have not worked out as well (sigh, sigh).
WHY???
Maybe this is…
sa smith | October 30, 2012YAY!
Author Carl Zimmer: Our Viral Future from Singularity Institute on FORA.tv
ONE QUIBBLE: Viruses are not 'bad news wrapped in protein'. The vast vast vast majority of the viruses out there want nothing to do with humans at all. Even the ones that do infect humans, lots dont actually cause us any real harm, or when they do, it is by accident (HSV causing cancer). We exist today because of viruses, and they will be saving us from genetic/acquired/pathogenic diseases now and in the future. Even the ones that do harm us can be domesticated for 'good'.
Vilification of all viruses is…
sa smith | October 29, 2012NICE!
Gene therapy of pancreatic cancer targeting the K-Ras oncogene
Cancer sucks, but some kinds of cancers suck worse than others. One that really sucks is pancreatic cancer. From the intro of this paper:
Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer death among men and women, comprising 6% of all cancer-related death. The disease is usually diagnosed at advanced stage as it causes no specific symptoms in the early stages. Thus, the prognosis is very poor and the overall 5-year survival rate is <5%.
And then there is this:
There are several standard approaches to treat…
sa smith | October 16, 2012Its like 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon', except with virophages! And in my case, it seems to be closer to two or three degrees.
Its happened again.
Provirophages and transpovirons as the diverse mobilome of giant viruses
Edited by James L. Van Etten, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Dr. Van Etten is one of my former professors. One of the nicest, most interesting fellows youll ever meet!
He is also one of the discoverers of one of the first giant viruses, PBCV-1 .
The story told in this paper, though, is 'different' (gross understatement).
After investigating the contact lens…
sa smith | October 10, 2012Lets play a game.
Think of a human disease. Any disease. Viral, bacterial, genetic, acquired, anything.
Im pretty sure that no matter what disease you just thought of, there is a scientist, somewhere, trying to use a virus to cure/treat that disease.
As I was doing my rounds on PubMed, looking for cool new research, I stumbled upon this paper:
Canalostomy as a Surgical Approach for Cochlear Gene Therapy in the Rat.
I couldnt find this article online, so I searched PubMed for more info on using GMO viruses to treat deafness.
NOH MAH GAWD. There are SO MANY papers! A handful:
Cochlear…
sa smith | October 3, 2012Orac wrote yesterday about the abominable union between anti-vaxers and anti-GMOers:
“Genetically modified” vaccines and GMOs: Sapping and impurifying all our precious bodily fluids?
My 'message' to these kinds of people? Get over it. Fast. Because you look ridiculous.
Skinner: Im telling you people, the earth revolves around the sun!
Abe: Burn him! [lights the pyre]
Shutton: What a story! [takes a photo]
Abe: [chasing him] Youve stolen my soul!
Average Joes and Janes might, might know a little bit about the Most Famous GMO viruses: Vaccines. And thats all fine and dandy for some of them…
sa smith | October 1, 2012Readers in the US/Europe probably havent heard a whole heck of a lot about alphaviruses.
Mayaro, Chikungunya, Ross River virus-- Though these and other alphaviruses infect humans and our livestock (horses) they dont get much media time around here, because theyre more 'tropical'. Africa, Australia, South America. Thats where alphaviruses prefer to hang out.
Yeah. We used to have that same unconcerned attitude about West Nile Virus.
Now look where we are.
So everyone should be interested in this new virus:
Eilat virus, a unique alphavirus with host range restricted to insects by RNA…
sa smith | September 26, 2012Its like, instead of 'Put a bird on it!', scientists are like 'Put a virus on it!'
Got cancer? Put a virus on it! In constant pain? Put a virus on it! Addicted to cigarettes? Put a virus on it! Genetic disease? Put a virus on it!
Got acne? Put a virus on it!
Propionibacterium acnes Bacteriophages Display Limited Genetic Diversity and Broad Killing Activity against Bacterial Skin Isolates
YAY!!!
Acne, though not life-threatening, sucks.
If you dont have acne, consider yourself lucky. Some people can get it relatively under control with a combination of over the counter meds and…
sa smith | September 17, 2012What happens when the pain gets to be too much? What happens when the drugs stop working? The physicians are giving you as much as you can take without dying, and youre still living with 7, 8, 9 levels of pain, every waking moment? Some of the talk behind physician assisted suicide is to let people decide when enough is enough, and to permanently end their pain-filled hellish existence.
But what if there were options?
What if herpes could bring your pain levels down from 7, 8, 9... to 1-2? What if herpes could take you from 'I want to end my own life' to 'I can handle this'?
What if I…
sa smith | September 4, 2012A new* virus was recently discovered in my parents backyard, so to speak. Pop-sci articles:
Heartland Virus: New Phlebovirus Found in Missouri
Mysterious New 'Heartland Virus' Discovered In Missouri
Actual journal article:
A New Phlebovirus Associated with Severe Febrile Illness in Missouri
... and its NOT MY FAULT. Proof? It is apparently a new phlebovirus, and I know absolutely nothing about these guys.
The phlebovirus genome is made up of three strands of negative sense RNA--- that is its genome is broken up into three parts, and backwards. It has to use a virally encoded RNA-RNA…
sa smith | July 30, 2012I know I give physicians crap sometimes on my blag, but I really do appreciate what they--along with nurses, physical and respiratory therapists, and other health professionals-- do.
They interact with people when they are at their 'worst'-- a normally cheerful, charming person is sick, scared, in pain, frustrated, worried, hurt, angry, drugged up when they are at the hospital. They are not themselves. And when patients are in this 'altered' state, they are helpless, relying on these professionals for help. I dont just mean 'helpless' in the sense most of us have no idea how to remove a…
sa smith | July 23, 2012Domesticating wild organisms-- Whether its domesticating teosinte or aurochs, bending wild organisms to our will is always a game-changing event in human history.
The domestication of viruses is no exception.
We now live in a world where small-pox, a virus that once wiped out entire continents, is now functionally extinct. Generations of people see iron lungs in textbooks, not wrapped around their childhood friends. Diseases that once plagued childhood-- 'chicken pox', 'measles', or 'mumps'-- children today havent even heard those terms before.
Vaccines are a revolution.
But thats not all…
sa smith | July 17, 2012Look, scientists are nuts. Virologists, on the other hand, are certifiably insane. As Hedwig would say, virologists make the strangest things seem suddenly routine. Yesterdays absurd future technology (GENE THERAPY!) is now something as miraculous as curing genetic diseases, and as mundane as an anti-smoking therapy.
Todays insane idea?
Using mouse and rat parvoviruses to treat human cancers.
This is not some lone mad scientists mad idea-- Though this info was news to me, this approach is being explored world-wide, and is already in clinical trials for glioblastoma multiform. Yeah, read…
sa smith | July 10, 2012I used to think gene therapy was an absurd 'solution' for HIV/AIDS. Well, 'absurd' is putting it lightly. I thought gene therapy was a perverted solution-- Even if it 'worked', it would only be available for the richest people in the richest countries, not the millions and millions and millions of individuals living in poverty who need a solution the most (not just the poor abroad, I doubted the poor right here in the USA could get this kind of therapy).
But in the six years Ive been writing at ERV, my stance on gene therapy has changed from 'Thats disgusting, and Im actually kind of angry…
sa smith | June 29, 2012Family Guy, S07E02 'I Dream of Jesus':
Peter: Brian, can I see that paper for a sec?
(Brian gives Peter the paper. Peter peruses the paper.)
Peter: Huh... that's odd... I thought that would big news.
Brian: You thought what would be big news?
Peter: Well there seems to be an absence of a certain ornithological piece: a headline regarding mass awareness of a certain avian variety.
Brian: What are you talking about?
Peter: Oh have you not heard? It was my understanding that everyone had heard...
Brian: Heard what?
Stewie: Brian Don't!
Peter: OH WELL THE BIRD, BIRD, BIRD, BIRD BIRD IS THE WORD.…
sa smith | June 13, 2012Many roads lead to Rome-- there is no one 'right' way to solve an evolutionary hurdle. Viruses encounter the same evolutionary 'problems', but have evolved lots and lots and lots of different solutions to the exact same problems. Random chance of mutations + the bumbling blindness of natural selection ('good enough' is selected, not 'BEST!') means all that bumbling mess leads to different 'solutions'. Some might work better than others, but they all work, and thats good enough.
Its easy to comprehend an RNA virus doing something differently than a very distantly related DNA virus. But…
sa smith | June 8, 2012I first wrote about honey bee colony collapse disorder (CCD) in 2009--
Since ~2006, honey bee colonies in the US have been dropping dead overnight. Literally. They call it ‘colony collapse disorder’. While large populations of organisms dying is disturbing, no matter the species, we need honey bees– they help pollinate so many of our crops. I grew up in the banks of the Missouri River, around apple and peach orchards (who always had their own bee hives, and honey) and hell, I eat everything on that list…
What is killing our bees?
People have accused GMOs and wireless internet and pesticides…
sa smith | June 5, 2012Ive written about noroviruses a few times on ERV. Theyre insidious little bugs that hide on door handles and food utensils (... and food...) and if you ingest them, you poop. A lot. Like I have said before, any time you hear about a ton of people getting sick on a cruise ship, you can bet it was probably because of norovirus.
If you get sick at home, you are pooping into a toilet (obviously). That poop goes into the cities water supply, is treated with various chemicals/UV light/etc to kill viruses/bacteria/etc, then put back into the worlds water supply. That water you drink out of the…
sa smith | May 2, 2012I mentioned this in my interview with Karl, and its a topic Im going to be speaking about at FreeOK2 this year-- hell, its something Ive mentioned over and over and over and over on this blog:
We arent Cave Men dancing around a fire chanting 'OOGA BOOGA VIRUS BAD!'
We are modern humans who can bend viruses to do our bidding, to *save* our lives. Viruses (and bacteria) are not something to be universally 'feared' anymore. We can domesticate and reprogram viruses to whatever we need them to do-- they are *tools*. This isnt maybe-one-day science, we are actually doing this in the lab and in…