TWiV 796: The vary hungry spike with Paul and Theodora

Paul and Theodora return to TWiV to explain their research on determining the number of neutralizing epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 spike that are recognized by antibodies, and engineering of a polymutant spike with twenty amino acid changes that demonstrates the high genetic barrier to escape from convalescent serum.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker

Guests: Paul Bieniasz and Theodora Hatiziiouannou

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Links for this episode

• High genetic barrier for SARS-CoV-2 antibody escape (bioRxiv)
• Enhanced antibody one year after COVID-19 (Nature)
• Letters read on TWiV 796
• Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Picks

Dickson – NIF and Photon Science: fusion reaction generates 1.3 MJ Brianne – The PCR Song Rich – 1) How Boston Dynamics’ Spot Robot Works! 2) Inside the lab: How does Atlas work?3) Atlas | Partners in Parkour Theodora – Kevin Parry turning into random objects Vincent – Lex Fridman

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]