As a virologist I tend to think researchers on X don't look nearly enough at the biology. Maybe they don't trust the peer-reviewed research? Imo usually the research is pretty sound but biases against the #lableak appear routinely in the conclusions.....
In the spike of #SC2 all the AA changes it has that are not found in other related CoVs (S50, A372 and H519) also happen to be known contributors to the structural integrity of the spike in bat CoVs. @SolidEvidence did not elaborate on these...
properties in his preprints (that I can find) but the bottom line is that these changes in the SC2 spike make it less stable but in the case of A372 and H519 (and, my speculation, S50 too), more able to bind ACE2. ACE2 is less abundant in lungs than gut....
The Future of the lab leak theory, a Twitter/X thread about #COVID19 and the origin of #SARS-COV-2
1/ Many people on Twitter are, like Nicholas Wade, wondering if the latest DEFUSE revelations from @emilyakopp and @USRTK are maybe the last word on the great #covidorigin #lableak debate. They are not. usrtk.org/wp-content/upl…
2/ Why? Because they only deepen the mystery. The short answer is that six hallmark sites of reverse engineering identified by Brutttel et al () only explain 0.1% or less of the #SARS-CoV-2 genome.biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
There is a fatal flaw in the Huanan market #originofcovid theory.
How and why scientists at #NIDO2023, the coronavirus conference, spied on me, stole from me, and censored me. #CovidOrigins.
In 2 words: "Raccoon dogs" independentsciencenews.org/commentaries/t…
This article describes my incredible experiences at three European #Virology conferences in April and May: The #PathogensProject, #ECV2023, and #NIDO2023. That trip exposed a new nexus of scientists working to fix the facts around the #OriginOfCovid and the market origin.
1/few. Attendees of #Nido2023 may be wondering why I am not being allowed to ask questions of the speakers. Attendees should know too that I was denied the right to share our printed scientific articles. No reason given so far except the "instructions of @ProfVolkerThiel" ...
3/few.
questions, thus exposing his research program as not a fair-minded and objective enquiry into #Covidorigins but a veiled defence of the zoonotic origin.
Here is a link to our discussion:
1/3 My experience of #Nido2023 (the coronavirus meeting in Montreux) so far 1) The organisers refused to let me share the materials I bought. That is, two articles, one on #Ebola2014 and our proposed origin of SARS-CoV-2
This is under the instruction of Swiss virologist Volker Thiel.
They have also been removing ones I have left around while I have been attending the talks. T
They also stopped me asking my question to ZLS.
See next tweet below:
At the conclusion of Shi Zhengli's talk the microphone person went over to hand me the microphone but the podium stopped them and sent them to another questioner.
Then I put my hand up again and a different microphone person came over to me....
1/7:
Last week at the European Congress of Virology in Gdansk #ECV2023 I deep-sixed the raccoon dog market theory of #Covidorigins by questioning Martin Beer, senior author about their key paper (Freuling et al. 2020)
2/7 I asked why they tested a more transmissible G614 strain and not the original D614 strain, which would have supported or eliminated raccoon dogs as a potential intermediate host.
His answer was not "thanks, good idea we'll jump to it". He stumbled a bit and then, incredibly.
He said: I paraphrase slightly: "he didnt know whether D614 or G614 came first"
This is an astonishing answer on many levels.
Absolutely no one thinks that D614 came after G614. Because: 1) D614 was detected first 2) G614 displaced D614 as the pandemic progressed 3) See below...