The university behind a deadly SARS-CoV-2 hybrid claims it didn’t have to gain clearance from the authorities
The Boston University researchers who developed an unusually deadly strain of the virus that causes Covid-19 did not clear their endeavor with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the agency claimed on Monday, announcing it would be seeking answers as to why it only learned of the experiment through media reports.
The original grant application did not specify that the work might involve gain-of-function-type research, NIAID microbiology and infectious diseases division director Emily Erbelding told STAT News, adding that none of the group’s progress reports mention this crucial detail. NIAID and its parent agency the National Institutes of Health partially funded the study.
Despite multiple NIAID and NIH grants listed in the preprint paper, however, director Ronald Corley of Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories insisted on Tuesday that the school had paid for the research on its own. Corley argued the federal funding had merely gone toward developing a system that would later be used in the controversial work. Besides, he said, the work didn’t qualify as gain of function because the resulting strain had only killed 80% of the infected mice, while the original Wuhan strain of the virus had killed 100% of the mice it was tested on.
READ MORE: US scientists create new lethal Covid variant
The researchers had created a hybrid of the original Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2 with the spike protein from the less-severe Omicron in an effort to discover whether the latter’s spike mutations were responsible for the milder illness experienced by those infected.
A gain-of-function experiment gone awry remains one of the main theories to explain the initial outbreak of Covid-19 in 2019, along with the theory that it originated from a bat at a Wuhan livestock market. However, there still has not been any investigation that would either confirm or deny any of the theories.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said that the treaty provides for various forms of bilateral cooperation.
The comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between Russia and Iran has entered into force, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali told Sputnik.
"It is already binding," Jalali said when asked about the date of entry into force of the agreement, as well as whether Iran had notified Russia of the completion of internal procedures.
He recalled that the treaty was ratified by both chambers of the Russian parliament, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed it. At the same time, the document was ratified by the Iranian parliament, approved by the Guardian Council, and the president issued it as a law.
"Therefore, in both countries it currently has the form of a law and, naturally, has entered into force," Jalali said.
On January 17, Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, met in Moscow to sign the Comprehensive Strategic ...
Defying the United States threats, ministers from more than 30 nations have packed Bogotá’s San Carlos Palace to charge the Israeli regime with genocide over its October 2023-present brutal military assault against the Gaza Strip.
The dramatic display of international solidarity saw dozens of high-ranking officials from across the globe convene inside the stately palace on Tuesday, determined to hold the regime accountable for, what they unequivocally called, a “war of genocide.”
The two-day emergency summit, organized under the auspices of The Hague Group -- a coalition co-chaired by Colombia and South Africa -- had representatives, ranging from such countries as Algeria and Brazil to Pakistan and Spain, in attendance.
The participants described the drive as a coordinated effort to stop the Israeli atrocities.
Behind closed doors, ministers and envoys, meanwhile, engaged in intensive sessions aimed at drafting collective measures to pressure the regime -- steps expected to be unveiled by ...
