#27 – Summer Update: What's Happening in Virology Right Now

A summer update with four current stories from the world of virology. First stop is Switzerland, where thousands of cows fell ill from a newly discovered orthobunyavirus of the Simbu group, closely related to Schmallenberg virus but with little risk to humans. Next comes a sobering update on the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which with over 4,000 cases is now the second-largest in history, though first clinical trials of treatments and vaccines have begun. There's also a new and probably harmless Andes virus case in a traveller in Europe, unrelated to the earlier cruise ship outbreak. And finally the most controversial item: researchers from Stanford and the Arc Institute used artificial intelligence to generate working viruses (harmless bacteriophages), sparking a major debate about biosecurity and the lack of regulation. Informations about the new orthobunyavirus in Switzerland: https://www.ivi.admin.ch/en/neues-orthobunyavirus-der-simbu-serogruppe-bei-rindern-entdeckte Bundibugyo ebola outbreak update: https://www.cdc.gov/ebola/situation-summary/index.html Information about the new Andesvirus case in France/Spain: https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/en/news/andes-hantavirus-implementation-epidemiological-investigations-and-contact-tracing-following Science article about the AI bacteriophage: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec2657 +++++ You can support the podcast via our German Steady page: https://steady.page/virologisch/ Questions, feedback or topic suggestions? Feel free to contact us at: virological@podcastwerkstatt.com +++++ Krammer laboratory information Krammer Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai https://labs.icahn.mssm.edu/krammerlab/ Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Science Outreach and Pandemic Preparedness https://soap.lbg.ac.at/ Ignaz Semmelweis Institute https://semmelweisinstitute.ac.at/ +++++ Conflict of interest statement The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, CastleVax, to commercialize NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and I am named as co-founder and scientific advisory board member of that company. I have previously consulted for Curevac, Merck, Gritstone, Sanofi, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and I am currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures (US) and Avimex (Mexico). My laboratory has been collaborating in the past with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with GlaxoSmithKline and VIR on the development of influenza virus vaccines and therapeutics and we are currently collaborating with Dynavax, Inspirevax and Inimmune on development of influenza virus vaccines. My work in the on immunity and infectious diseases in the US is supported by the National Institutes of Health, but also by FluLab and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In the past I have also received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH and the US Department of Defense. My work in Austria is supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and by the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute through the Medical University of Vienna.