TWIV (This Week in Virology) Live at The University of Texas at Austin

Podcast Guest

Jason McLellan researches viral and bacterial proteins, and his work to understand how these proteins are structured and how they function has factored into the development of vaccines and potential treatments for deadly pathogens that have impacted the lives of billions of people. He is one of the inventors of a way to engineer a key protein in coronaviruses for use in vaccines. The technology his team developed can be found in many leading vaccines against COVID-19 (Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax). McLellan and his colleagues also designed key proteins that form the basis of several vaccines now in clinical trials against the coronavirus, as well as separate proteins used in vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a virus especially dangerous for young children and seniors. He is the winner of multiple scientific awards, including the Building the Foundation Award from Research!America, which he receives this week.

Podcast Hosts

Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D. is Higgins Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Columbia University Medical Center. He has been studying viruses for over 40 years. He teaches virology to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as medical, dental, and nursing students. His lectures are available online at iTunes University, YouTube, and Coursera.

Richard Condit is a Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Florida. Dr. Condit conducted his undergraduate work in biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz and completed a PhD in molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University.