‘This Week in Virology’ podcast to be hosted and recorded at KU

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Center for Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease (CBID) will host Vincent Racaniello this week, who will record an episode of his podcast, “This Week in Virology.”

The recording and panel will take place at 3 p.m. April 3 in 1005 Haworth Hall.

Racaniello is the Higgins Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine of CUNY. He studies picornaviruses, RNA-containing viruses that cause a variety of human diseases including paralysis (e.g., poliomyelitis), myocarditis, conjunctivitis and the common cold, with special focus on the interaction of viruses with the innate immune system, viral pathogenesis and viral discovery in wild animals.

Seeing a way to boost scientific communication, Racaniello entered the world of social media in 2004 with virology blog and headlines numerous podcasts.

He is the host of the “This Week in Virology,” a “podcast about viruses ... the kind that make you sick.” The goal of TWiV is to have informal yet informative conversations about viruses that are accessible to everyone, no matter their science background.

The TWiV podcast is being hosted and recorded at KU as part of a seminar series shared between the Center for Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease (KU) and National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Disease (KSU). Racaniello will interview a panel of KU and KSU virologists about their research and addressing some questions from the audience.

The panel will consist of CBID Center affiliates Robin Orozco, Anthony Fehr, Rob Unckless and Jürgen Richt. Orozco, Fehr and Unckless are faculty members in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at KU. Richt is a faculty member from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University and director of the COBRE Center on Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.

Research topics discussed during the podcast will include coronaviruses, viral immune responses, novel fly viruses, influenza virus and other emerging pathogens.

“We are thrilled to host Dr. Racaniello and showcase his podcast at KU. His podcast is a well renowned and engaging media for the public to learn from many diverse experts as they discuss recent and important scientific topics. We are especially excited for our outstanding KU and KSU panel scientists to highlight their innovative research, much of which is performed by undergraduate and graduate students as key components of their education and professional development,” said Scott Hefty, chair of KU’s Department of Molecular Biosciences and director of CBID.