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We need to be proactive in searching for emerging diseases before they become a global threat. Peter Daszak, who collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, discovered 50 previously unknown Coronaviruses in bats. These Coronaviruses have the potential to jump from wildlife to humans. Our organization works with labs worldwide, subcontracting the work and ensuring we have a country program officer in each location to manage our projects.

Many viruses use a 2-step authentication process to enter cells, involving binding to a receptor and spike protein cleavage. Virologists have been adding furin cleavage sites to viruses since 1992, increasing their virulence. SARS-CoV-2, which likely originated from nature, contains unique furin cleavage site codons not typical in coronaviruses. This suggests a low probability of natural origin.

We isolated coronaviruses from animals in the past to understand their threat to other species by culturing them on different cell types. This process, known as gain of function, involves enriching mutants that can infect new species. The speaker emphasizes that mass vaccination in humans is a significant gain of function experiment, leading to virus evolution. This real-world experiment involves constant virus changes due to human-to-human transmission under vaccine pressure.

Concerning research from China was published last week. Researchers took a virus from pangolins and cultured it in a lab. They then infected mice with this virus, which killed all of them through brain infection. These mice were transgenic, meaning they had human ACE receptor genes. The virus, a coronavirus from pangolins, killed all the infected mice. This kind of experimentation is dangerous and should be banned immediately.

The discussion centers on gain-of-function (GoF) research, its regulation, and the motivations behind it. The first speaker notes the administration’s goal to end GoF research and asks where that stands. The second speaker says progress has been made, and the White House is working on a formal policy. He then defines the issue in stages: what GoF research is, why someone would do it, and how to regulate it to prevent dangerous projects that could catastrophically harm human populations. He clarifies that GoF research is not inherently bad, but dangerous GoF research is. He gives an insulin example: creating bacteria to produce insulin is a legitimate GoF that benefits diabetics. In contrast, taking a virus from bat caves, bringing it to a lab in a densely populated city with weak biosafety, and manipulating it to be more transmissible among humans is a dangerous GoF that should not be supported. The administration’s policy aims to prevent such dangerous work entirely, and the President signed an executive order in April or May endorsing this policy. Next, he discusses implementation: how to create incentives to ensure this research does not recur. He explains that the utopian idea behind such research was to prevent all pandemics by collecting viruses from wild places, testing their potential to infect humans by increasing their pathogenicity, and then preparing countermeasures in advance (vaccines, antivirals) and stockpiling them, even though those countermeasures would not have been tested against humans yet. If a virus did leap to humans, the foreseen countermeasures might prove ineffective because evolution is unpredictable. This “triage” approach—identifying pathogens most likely to leap and preemptively preparing against them—was the rationale for dangerous GoF work, a rationale he characterizes as flawed. He notes that many scientists considered this an effort to do bioweapons research under the guise of safety and defense. The work is dual-use. The U.S. is a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention and does not conduct offensive bio-weapons research, but other countries might. The discussion highlights that the GoF research discussed during the pandemic can backfire and may not align with true biodefense, since countermeasures might not match whatever pathogen actually emerges. The speaker concludes that this agenda—pursuing GoF to prevent pandemics—has drawn substantial support from parts of the Western world and other countries for about two and a half decades, but he implies it is not deserving of continuation.

Animal viruses that jump to humans often struggle to infect effectively due to their evolution in animals. The first SARS virus in 2003 had a 10% mortality rate but only infected 8,000 people because it didn't adapt well to humans. In contrast, COVID-19 attached perfectly to humans, suggesting possible lab manipulation. Researchers used a supercomputer to find that the virus did not attach well to other animals, indicating it was pre-adapted for humans. Evidence points to a 2018 research project that aimed to create a virus similar to COVID-19. Despite this, obtaining records from the Biden administration has been challenging, even with bipartisan support for transparency. The situation remains frustrating, highlighting the need for further investigation.

Scientists analyzed the genetic code of viruses to trace their origins. By studying the molecular clock, they found that SARS-CoV-2 had no posterior diversity, indicating a single source in Wuhan. Research showed hospitals in Wuhan were clustered along a subway line connecting the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the wet market, and the international airport, suggesting a potential route of transmission. The speaker collaborated with the State Department in 2020 to investigate these findings.

The speaker discusses the global wildlife trade and its connection to the emergence of new diseases. They focus on SARS and how it originated from a wildlife market. Through surveillance of bats in Southern China, they have discovered over 100 new SARS-related coronaviruses that pose a threat to humans. Some of these coronaviruses can infect human cells and cause SARS-like disease. The speaker emphasizes the need for continued surveillance and understanding of these spillover events, as any one of them could potentially lead to a pandemic. They also mention the challenges in developing vaccines and antivirals for these diverse coronaviruses.

The coronavirus spike protein's shape before interacting with our cells is key to triggering an antibody response. To study this, we create the spike protein in the lab, maintaining its precise shape. This is achieved using a "clamp"—a small fragment of HIV protein—that holds the spike protein in its natural, pre-interaction conformation. This ensures the lab-made protein accurately reflects the virus's structure, allowing for effective antibody response studies.

We created coronaviruses by assembling a synthetic bat genome with the SARS clone. The genome was split into 5 kilobyte pieces with unique restriction sites to allow directional assembly. Initially, the virus couldn't replicate due to an entry defect, so we replaced the receptor binding domain with one from the human epidemic strain. This modification resulted in a virus that replicated efficiently. The growth curve data supported this success.

We are addressing real and critical threats related to a novel coronavirus called CAPS, which is similar to the viruses that caused the SARS epidemic and MERS outbreaks. We need to be prepared for a fast-moving and highly lethal pandemic of a respiratory pathogen. This disease is more transmissible than SARS or MERS and as contagious as influenza. The virus can be easily transmitted through the air, making everyone susceptible. Asymptomatic individuals can also spread the virus, leading to a severe pandemic that affects people worldwide. Many countries will be affected simultaneously.

In China, a doctor discovers a case of atypical pneumonia, which is unusual. Within 11 days, the first PCR test kits are shipped and gene sequences are published. The World Health Organization accepts a PCR protocol as the gold standard for testing. Clinical symptoms and asymptomatic transmission are also studied and published. However, the speaker believes that all these steps were premeditated and false.

The leaked DEFUSE proposal from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and their American partners reveals their risky research on the parts of COVID-19 that make it highly infectious to humans. Scientists believe this proposal provides a step-by-step guide to creating SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. The proposal's specificity in constructing a virus with all the key hallmarks of SARS-CoV-2 is seen as more than just a coincidence. Researchers, including Shizeng Li and Ben Hu, who is considered a potential patient zero, were involved in this research. Hu's work on genetically engineering coronaviruses from bats and his early COVID-like symptoms further support the possibility of him being patient zero.

Chinese researchers have created a super virus by combining a protein from bats with the SARS virus found in mice. This virus could potentially infect humans, although it is currently only being studied in laboratories. The debate over the risks of this research is not new, with some scientists arguing that the benefits outweigh the potential dangers. However, others are concerned about the possibility of the virus directly infecting humans without an intermediate species. The US government had previously suspended funding for research aiming to make viruses more contagious, but this did not stop the Chinese research on SARS. Some experts believe the chances of the virus spreading to humans are minimal compared to the potential benefits, while others disagree.

Scientists sequence the virus and compare it to known pathogens like SARS. They discovered similar coronaviruses in bats and focused on the spike protein that attaches to cells. Chinese researchers created pseudoparticles with spike proteins from these viruses to test their binding to human cells. Each step of this process helps determine if the virus can become pathogenic in humans. Manipulating the spike protein in the lab is crucial for understanding the zoonotic risk. By obtaining the sequence, scientists can predict the virus's behavior more accurately.

Gain of function research involves modifying a pathogen to increase its transmissibility or pathogenicity. This definition includes making a nonpathogen pathogenic. Regarding the Wuhan Institute, there are questions about whether they conducted gain of function research on coronaviruses. Proponents argue it could lead to vaccines or prevent pandemics, but there is skepticism. To date, gain of function research has not produced any life-saving vaccines or therapeutics, nor has it stopped a pandemic. In fact, it may have contributed to the current pandemic. While supporters of this research are well-intentioned, I personally see no tangible benefits from it.

In 2015, the National Library of Medicine published a study by 15 virologists and medical experts warning that SARS-like bat coronaviruses pose a potential threat to humans. The scientists, with decades of experience in studying coronaviruses, examined how SARS and MERS transmitted among humans. They modified a strain of coronavirus from Chinese horseshoe bats using gain of function technology and injected it into mice spinal cords. This study not only highlights the dangers of coronaviruses in bats but also demonstrates efforts to amplify the virus's contagion ability to better understand and prepare for future outbreaks.

I believe that it is possible that scientific research sponsored in part by the NIH but also lots of other entities including the Chinese government may have been the cause of the pandemic. There's a lot of people who just have fights over this. But I will say is that the kinds of biological exercises people did in order to try to prevent a pandemic, go find viruses in weird bat caves, bring them into city centers, and then augment their capacity to infect humans, The reason why they did that was I think they were arguing that we needed to do that in order to prepare just in case a pandemic happens. But think no matter what you believe about whether the cause of the pandemic was this kind of research, I think everyone can agree that that kind of research is potentially very dangerous.

Evolutionary virologists analyzed viral sequences from the current outbreak and in bats. They determined that the mutations required for the virus to jump from an animal to a human are entirely consistent with its evolutionary path. A paper detailing this research will be made available, although the authors are not currently named.

In South America and Southeast Asia, there are many bat species carrying unknown viruses, making them potential sources of future pandemics. The USAID EPT predict program and NIAID funding allowed researchers to predict and prepare for emergencies like the SARS outbreak. They discovered that SARS-like viruses originate from bats in China, with some being almost identical to SARS. Surveillance of bat hunters and nearby residents revealed the potential for spillover into human populations. While there are no vaccines or antivirals for these diverse coronaviruses, scientists can manipulate them in the lab by studying their spike proteins. This knowledge can aid in the development of better vaccines and therapeutics. However, predicting and anticipating pandemics does not guarantee prevention.

This video discusses the coronavirus and the ongoing research programs to develop vaccines against similar viruses that have previously crossed over from animals to humans. The question is raised whether these viruses can be modified or adapted to combat the current virus. This research is being conducted globally, including in China.

Researchers have discovered various coronaviruses in bats, including ones similar to SARS. They focused on the spike protein, which attaches to cells, and conducted experiments in China. By inserting spike proteins from these viruses into pseudoparticles, they tested their ability to bind to human cells. This process allowed them to understand the potential pathogenicity of the virus in humans.

The speakers discuss the possibility of the Sarscov 2 virus being a laboratory-made chimera. They mention that it is possible to create a virus in the lab that is indistinguishable from a natural one. They also mention a database created by Professor Shi, containing information on over 20,000 bat and rodent viruses. The database included details such as GPS coordinates, virus type, and whether the virus was sequenced or isolated. However, the webpage containing this information was removed from the web in June 2020.

There are ongoing research programs worldwide, including in China, to develop vaccines for coronaviruses. These programs aim to modify existing vaccines or create new ones to combat viruses that have previously jumped from animals to humans. The focus is on understanding how these viruses can be altered or adapted to effectively protect against them.

In the lab, it's easy to manipulate spike proteins, which play a significant role in the zoonotic risk of coronaviruses. By obtaining the sequence and constructing the protein, we collaborated with Ralph Barrick at UNC to insert it into another virus. This allows us to conduct experiments and enhance our ability to predict outcomes based on specific sequences.