Thread by @R_H_Ebright

"Scientists working under..NIH grant to..study bat coronaviruses combined..genetic material from a 'parent'..virus..with other viruses. They twice submitted summaries..that showed..three altered..viruses..reproduced far more quickly than..original virus"

interc.pt/3Ccridd

"The Intercept consulted 11 scientists who are virologists or work in adjacent fields and hold a range of views on both the ethics of gain-of-function research and the Covid-19 origins search."

"All but two of the scientists consulted agreed that, whatever title it is given, the newly public experiment raised serious concerns about the safety and oversight of federally funded research"

"Jesse Bloom: "As a virologist, I personally think creating chimeras of SARS-related bat coronaviruses that are thought to pose high risk to humans entails unacceptable risks""

Jacques van Helden: "The real question is whether or not research has the potential to create or facilitate the selection of viruses that might infect humans. The experiments described in the proposal clearly do have that potential"

Vincent Racaniello: "There’s no question..From the weight loss, it’s gain of function. Tony Fauci is wrong saying it’s not."

"Inside the lungs of the humanized mice, however, the novel viruses..reproduced far more quickly than the original virus that was used to create them..The viral load in the lung tissue of the mice was, at certain points, up to 10,000 times higher..with the altered viruses"

"Another figure in the documents suggests that at least one of the altered viruses not only enhanced viral reproduction, but also caused the humanized mice to lose more weight than those exposed to the original virus — a measure of the severity of illness."

"[T]he Notice of Award the agency issued..said..[i]f any..chimeras show..enhanced virus growth greater than 1 log..the researchers were..to stop all experiments..The enhanced growth of the chimeric..viruses..was..4 log greater..But there are no indications..research was stopped."

"In fact, the bat coronavirus grant was renewed for a five-year period in 2019"

"[T]he documents do not prove Paul’s claim that Fauci was lying, as they do not make clear whether Fauci read them"

"What is clear is that program officers at NIAID, the agency that Fauci oversees, did know about the research."

"A paragraph describing the research, as well as two figures illustrating its results, were included in both a 2018 progress report on the bat coronavirus grant and an application for its 2019 renewal. And NIH confirmed that it reviewed them."

If NIH Director Francis Collins has an interest in self-preservation, he will announce: (1) after re-reviewing documents, he has concluded the grant supported gain of function, (2) his staff failed to note this previously, and (3) measures will be taken to prevent future failures