TWiV covers FDA Director overriding scientists on COVID shots, NIH funded science must now be free to read instantly, Trump cuts subscriptions to Springer Nature journals, UK and Gates make up for US money withdrawn from GAVI, US defunding USAID could lead to 14 million deaths by 2030, then reviews research on how host IL1 genetics regulates Epstein-Barr virus reactivation and long COVID, and enhanced antiviral capacity of bat innate immunity.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

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Links for this episode

• Support science education at MicrobeTV
• FDA official overrides scientists on COVID shots (NYTimes)
• NIH funded science must be immediately open access (Nature)
• Trump cuts journal subscriptions for NIH (Science)
• Donors make up GAVI US shortfall (Reuters)
• USAID defunding will lead to 14 million deaths (CIDRAP)
• SARS-CoV-2, IL1, Epstein-Barr virus and long COVID (Cell Rep)
• Bat innate immunity (Nat Comm)
• Letters read on TWiV 1233
• Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Weekly Picks

Rich – Unraveling Mendel’s final mysteries: A genomic retelling of pea genetics (Thanks, Kathy!) (Original article) Alan – Winners of Nature’s 2025 “Scientist at Work” photo competition Vincent – Signs of AI-generated text found in 14% of biomedical abstracts last year

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]

Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.