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Between October 14 and October 19, there was no device activity in the area around the laboratory at all, and between October 7 and October 24, there was no activity within the facility itself.
WIV researchers have engineered chimeric viruses where the gene for the cell entry protein (S protein receptor-binding domain) from one virus is replaced by that of another virus.
The goal of these experiments has been to identify what determines a virus' ability to enter into a human cell.
However all this may be, I totally agree with the title of another linked article: "Bioweapon Labs Must Be Shut Down and Scientists Prosecuted".
Gain-of-function (GOF) research involves experimentation that aims or is expected to (and/or, perhaps, actually does) increase the transmissibility and/or virulence of pathogens.
Fauci: ‘No doubt’ Trump will face surprise infectious disease outbreak
In December 2017, the U.S. government lifted a temporary ban implemented in 2014 that banned federal funding for any new "gain-of-function" experiments that enhance pathogens "such as Avian influenza, SARS and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS viruses
I believed research that confirmed that SARS-CoV-2 was of natural origin
Here, we extended our previous study to ACE2 molecules from seven additional bat species and tested their interactions with human SARS-CoV spike protein using both HIV-based pseudotype and live SARS-CoV infection assays.
Chinese horseshoe bats are natural reservoirs of SARS-CoV, and that intermediate hosts may not be necessary for direct human infection by some bat SL-CoVs.
Here we examine the disease potential of a SARS-like virus, SHC014-CoV, which is currently circulating in Chinese horseshoe bat populations… we generated and characterized a chimeric virus expressing the spike of bat coronavirus SHC014 in a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone. The results indicate that… a wild-type backbone can efficiently use multiple orthologs of the SARS receptor human angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2), replicate efficiently in primary human airway cells and achieve in vitro titers equivalent to epidemic strains of SARS-CoV.
An experiment that created a hybrid version of a bat coronavirus — one related to the virus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) — has triggered renewed debate over whether engineering lab variants of viruses with possible pandemic potential is worth the risks. The researchers created a chimaeric virus, made up of… the backbone of a SARS virus that had been adapted to grow in mice and to mimic human disease. The chimaera infected human airway cells. If the virus escaped, nobody could predict the trajectory.
we report the identification and characterization of a new coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which caused an epidemic of acute respiratory syndrome in humans in Wuhan, China. The sequences are almost identical and share 79.6% sequence identity to SARS-CoV… we show that 2019-nCoV is 96% identical at the whole-genome level to a bat coronavirus. Notably, we confirmed that 2019-nCoV uses the same cell entry …(ACE2)—as SARS-CoV.
Oh, and by the way, I do not only advocate prosecuting Chinese scientists, but people everywhere who are trying to create harmful viruses artificially.
Chloroquine is a potent inhibitor of SARS coronavirus infection and spread