The institute has conducted gain-of-function research on bat-borne coronaviruses, according to a journal article co-authored by Chinese researchers there. EcoHealth’s president, Peter Daszak, has also publicly denied that his organization participated in gain-of-function research in Wuhan. Paul Keim, a Northern Arizona University geneticist who was then chairman of the NIH biosecurity board, recalled that his colleagues were concerned about the risk of publishing. At Collins’s behest, the biosecurity board also convened several public meetings regarding gain-of-function research policy. This obscure interagency process created the two changes that gave NIH officials greater discretion to fund gain-of-function research projects.

Source: Washington Post August 26, 2021 13:01 UTC