Thread by @capitolsheila

This Nov. 2015 interview of UNC’s Ralph Baric = wild & eery. At min23 says how he got MERS GOF Fauci waiver (right away?), & min26 how he didn’t need waiver for some bat virus research cause it didn’t replicate /“hadn’t gained” microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-364/
h/t @Greg21143362

Baric ends round min33, but not before saying how important it is to have, make, & study really dangerous (my description) viruses to make vaccines and therapeutics against really dangerous viruses.

At min 18 interviewer says, some say these (pathogenic) viruses you are studying in lab could leak out. Ralph Baric says it’s “very unlikely”

FWIW I learned this week viruses are sent around the world on filter paper. Leaking isn’t always overflowing beakers…

Baric talks about making chimeras, combining different bat viruses, cleavage sites, RBDs, spike, etc. Vineet after Baric talks bout their (along w/ WIV’s Shi’s) SARS-like covid research and their paper. Could use some scientist ears on this one.

Someone needs to listen to Vineet at min 53 talking about protease cleavage sites and swapping RBD’s and human airways, and see if that 2015 conversation means anything to 2021 discussion. Seems like all the buzz words, but I defer to you all to explain if anything here.

Baric says he got MERS GOF waiver at Christmas sounds like 2015, but interview is Nov 2015, so that doesn’t make sense. GOF pause started Oct 2014, so guessing he meant or unclearly says Christmas 2014-aka right away.

The pause loopholes were kinda big at Fauci’s shop.

Kudos to @Greg21143362 for digging this interview up first:

https://mobile.twitter.com/Greg21143362/status/1441291753768636423?s=20

UNC Ralph Baric’s and Vineet’s 2015 interview on bat coronaviruses may be big window into what they were doing: microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-364/ @BillyBostickson @ico_dna @MonaRahalkar @CharlesRixey @Ayjchan @jhas5 @ydeigin @mrandersoninneo @Daoyu15

h/t @Greg21143362

@BillyBostickson @ico_dna @MonaRahalkar @CharlesRixey @Ayjchan @jhas5 @ydeigin @mrandersoninneo @Daoyu15 @Greg21143362 Trying to tweet this in a couple places, the Baric 2015 transcript is now up:

https://mobile.twitter.com/capitolsheila/status/1445011903563116548

Vineet Menacher, Baric’s co-author on 2015 UNC/WIV bat virus paper, at 52:17 of 2015 interview. (Important to keep in mind, Baric’s lab later created a “humanized mouse,” they published about in 2019, which included human fetal lungs to better test viruses on human airways.)🤔

Baric/Shi/Menacher 2015 bat virus paper nature.com/articles/nm.39…

Baric lab 2019 paper on humanized mouse
nature.com/articles/s4158…