Richard H. Ebright Profile picture
Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology @RutgersU @BiosafetyNow
74 subscribers
Dec 9 5 tweets 1 min read
"Hundreds of vials containing live viruses have gone missing from a lab…in Australia, sparking an investigation…323 samples of live viruses—including Hendra virus, Lyssavirus and Hantavirus—went missing…in a 'serious breach of biosecurity protocols.'"

newsweek.com/deadly-virus-m… "The breach was discovered in August 2023, with nearly 100 of the missing vials containing Hendra virus, which is deadly. Two of the vials contained hantavirus, while 223 vials contained samples of lyssavirus."
Oct 28 13 tweets 2 min read
"While we may not be aware of all the instances in which Fauci funded gain-of-function experiments despite the ban, we do know of at least one hugely significant case, as it ultimately led to the creation of Covid."

truthovernews.org/p/obama-fauci-… "In 2016, Eric Stemmy, a program officer in Fauci’s NIAID found out that the experiments funded by Fauci at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, through a shady organization called EcoHealth Alliance, were creating viruses that were significantly more dangerous than…natural viruses"
Oct 17 7 tweets 1 min read
"[H]umanity will…need new governance mechanisms…to prevent the deliberate use of biological pathogens and minimize their unintentional release…They will also need to create more robust mechanisms to reduce the risks of catastrophic accidents."

carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/… "Two immediate priorities stand out. The first is strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention...The second priority is managing the biosafety and biosecurity risks of the democratization of biotechnology."
Oct 16 13 tweets 3 min read
GARDP/WHO report:

[T]he clinical pipeline for new antibacterials remains inadequate for current and future needs

[R]eturns on investment for new ‘reserve’ antibiotics do not cover research, development, registration, manufacturing, and distribution cost

cdn.who.int/media/docs/def…Image "Antimicrobial resistance remains one of the top 10 global health threats, linked to 4.95 million deaths in 2019—surpassing those from HIV or malaria. Recent global estimates suggest that resistant bacterial infections will cause 39 million deaths by 2050." Image
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Oct 2 4 tweets 1 min read
"The WHO has acknowledged 'there is no viable market for novel antibiotics,' adding that 'the return on investment for new 'reserve' antibiotics does not cover the costs of development, manufacturing, and distribution.'"
Image "Developing a new antibiotic typically takes 10 to 15 years...Even if a product makes it to market, it is rarely profitable as these drugs are meant to be reserved as a last resort."
Sep 29 7 tweets 2 min read
"Boris Johnson: "The awful thing about the whole Covid catastrophe is that it appears to have been entirely man-made in all its aspects…It now looks overwhelmingly likely that the mutation was the result of [a] botched experiment in a Chinese lab."

inews.co.uk/opinion/boris-…
Image "The…case…has grown steadily stronger with each crumb of evidence. There was always valid suspicion over a pandemic erupting in…city that is home to the world’s foremost research lab for Sars…viruses, especially when it was found to have known concerns over safety practices."
Sep 25 28 tweets 4 min read
"The Wuhan Institute of Virology’s chief American collaborator leveraged connections in Anthony Fauci’s inner circle to survive federal scrutiny and keep millions in public funding flowing without turning over key data, new records show."

usrtk.org/covid-19-origi… "Hundreds of documents—emails obtained under FOIA lawsuits or congressional subpoena, as well as congressional interview transcripts—show Fauci’s institute protected EcoHealth Alliance, which collaborated on novel coronavirus discovery and engineering projects with the Wuhan lab"
Sep 19 4 tweets 1 min read
Letter to Cell: "Crits-Christoph et al. 2024 has unsound premises, has unsound conclusions, and may be a product of scientific misconduct. We urge Cell to issue an Expression of Editorial Concern for this paper and to initiate…investigation of this paper for possible retraction" Image Link for full text of letter to Cell:
biosafetynow.substack.com/p/crits-christ…
Sep 14 23 tweets 4 min read
""We may never know the full story of the pandemic's origin. But if this were a bureaucratic whodunit, the most likely suspect would be Fauci. COVID-19 was Fauci's pandemic."

reason.com/2024/09/14/fau… "The evidence is not fully conclusive. But it seems…likely…Fauci pushed for what his peers repeatedly said was dangerous research, that some of that dangerous research produced a deadly viral pathogen that escaped the lab, and that Fauci helped cover up…its origins."
Sep 10 17 tweets 3 min read
There is now no doubt that Covid leaked from a lab

spiked-online.com/2024/09/10/the… "[W]hat happened in Wuhan, China was worse than a thousand Bhopals. It killed around 28million people – and was by far the most lethal industrial or scientific accident that has ever occurred."
Sep 6 11 tweets 2 min read
WHO, 09/04/24: "Timely investigations into pathogen…origins are critical for preventing and containing global health crises. The…findings provide the basis for...halting transmission chains...They can also confirm…the possibility of a...breach in…biosafety and biosecurity." Image "There are a number of tools available for investigating infectious disease outbreaks, but there is not a unified, structured approach to investigating the origins of a novel pathogen’s initial emergence or re-emergence."
Sep 4 10 tweets 2 min read
"The pipeline of new antibiotics is insufficient to keep pace with the growing global burden of drug-resistant infections. Substantial economic challenges discourage private investment in antibiotic research and development"

nature.com/articles/s4159… "In 2019, there were 4.95 M deaths associated with drug-resistant infections, including 1.27 M directly attributable deaths. Data...indicate...life expectancy globally will be reduced by 1.8 years over the next decade without specific action to address antimicrobial resistance"
Aug 20 7 tweets 2 min read
"[R]esearchers have developed sophisticated understandings of…biology, allowing for…development of remarkably deadly…pathogens…They have learned how to evolve existing viruses to spread more easily…and…to engineer viruses to make them more deadly."
foreignaffairs.com/world/new-biow… "It remains unclear whether COVID-19 arose from such activities or entered the human population via interaction with wildlife. Either way, it is clear that biological technology, now boosted by artificial intelligence, has made it simpler than ever to produce diseases."
Aug 8 4 tweets 2 min read
Structural basis of RfaH-dependent transcription-translation coupling termination

(Collaboration between our laboratory and laboratories of Gregor Blaha and Chengyuan Wang.)

nature.com/articles/s4159… "Here we report cryo-EM structures of transcription‑translation complexes (TTCs) containing RfaH. The results show that RfaH bridges RNAP and the ribosome, with the RfaH N-terminal domain interacting with RNAP, and with the RfaH C-terminal domain interacting with the ribosome." Image
Jul 30 5 tweets 1 min read
"Fauci...lied to Congress last month when he claimed he never used private email to conduct official business"

nypost.com/2024/07/29/us-…
Image "Fauci, 83, told a journalist in October 2021 that he would reach out to them through his private email address during a public-relations firestorm...records...show"
Jul 25 6 tweets 2 min read
House E&C Committee letter to NIH:

"NIAID cannot be trusted to oversee its own research of pathogens or determine whether an experiment poses enhanced risks of a potential pandemic or other serious public health outbreak."

d1dth6e84htgma.cloudfront.net/07_25_24_Follo…

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"NIAID's lack of candor to this point suggests that it cannot be trusted to oversee the research projects that it funds. Therefore, this Committee will explore policy options to address this inherent conflict of interest and lack of transparency."
Jul 24 4 tweets 1 min read
Antibacterial agents: O-alkyl-deuterated pyronins

Patent CN112118837B (issued 07/09/2024)
patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/dd/48/49/e7993…
Image Newly issued patent on novel class of antibacterial agents effective against Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Haemophilus, Moraxella, Legionella, Chalmydia, Mycoplasma, Burkholderia, and Acinetobacter spp.--including drug-resistance and multidrug-resistant strains.
Jul 23 5 tweets 1 min read
"Blood…cultures from an injured service member from Ukraine grew Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecium, and 3 distinct Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains."

Six Extensively Drug-Resistant Bacteria in an Injured Soldier, Ukraine wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29…
Image "The K. pneumoniae isolate, designated MRSN 110821, was nonsusceptible to every antibiotic tested...Testing identified 24 antimicrobial resistance genes, including the carbapenemases blaNDM-1 and blaOXA-48, the RMTase armA, and the ESBL blaCTX-M-15"
Jul 23 9 tweets 2 min read
Could a Conflict-Borne Superbug Bring on Our Next Pandemic? rollingstone.com/politics/polit… "Injured soldiers all over the world are increasingly fighting a deadly, invisible enemy: drug-resistant bacteria, or so-called superbugs, which can spread like wildfire in conflict zones."
Jul 23 5 tweets 1 min read
"An open discussion of the laboratory theory not only would have posed uncomfortable questions to the authorities in China. It would also have drawn early attention to Fauci himself."

spiegel.de/ausland/corona… "The former NIAID chief had been a champion  of so-called 'gain of function' research for years. This high-risk work on viruses and has long been controversial. But, in Fauci, it had an influential advocate."
Jul 20 17 tweets 3 min read
"The new White House policy, if implemented, will increase the likelihood of research-related pandemics."

"The new White House policy permits funding for dangerous projects without clear benefits, increasing the risk of accidents"

nypost.com/2024/07/20/opi… "First, the new policy is a White House policy 'statement,' not formal federal regulation. Such statements are mere recommendations without legal enforcement.