Biosafety Now

12/19/2024

December 19, 2017 - the National Institutes of Health lifts the funding pause on the provision of new or continuation funding for gain-of-function research projects.

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Notice Announcing the Removal of the Funding Pause for Gain-of-Function Research Projects NOT-OD-17-071. NIH

12/10/2024

December 10, 1997 - Elizabeth Griffin, an employee of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory University, died of complications from the herpes B virus she contracted while moving a rhesus monkey from his cage 6 weeks earlier.

Griffin

11/25/2024

November 25, 1969 - President Richard Nixon declares that the United States unilaterally renounces the first use of lethal or incapacitating chemical weapons and unconditionally renounces all methods of biological warfare.

The nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union was a prominent feature of the Cold War. A lesser known but equally dangerous element of the superpower competition involved

11/09/2024

Check out a recent two-part conversation between Biosafety Now co-founder Bryce Nickels and fellow leadership team member Neil Harrison (Professor at Columbia University), where they critically examine the evidence supporting the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic began at the Huanan Seafood Market in early December 2019.

Part 1 - https://sciencefromthefringe.substack.com/p/insights-from-an-undisclosed-location

Part 2 - https://sciencefromthefringe.substack.com/p/insights-from-an-undisclosed-location-38e

11/03/2024

Earlier this week, Biosafety Now leadership team members Jay Bhattacharya and Dr. Laura Kahn discussed Laura's new book "One Health and the Politics of COVID-19," which delves into why SARS-CoV-2 is likely the result of a research-related spillover.

recorded October 29, 2024

10/24/2024

Congratulations to Biosafety Now board member Dr Jay Bhattacharya for receiving the American Academy of Science & Letters Robert J. Zimmer Medal for Intellectual Freedom at a ceremony last night in Washington DC.

The Academy’s Robert J. Zimmer Medal for Intellectual Freedom, named for the late President of the University of Chicago and a stalwart defender of academic freedom, is presented annually to a public thinker who displays extraordinary courage in the exercise of intellectual freedom.

Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement The Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement is the Academy’s premier recognition of excellence in scholarship. This prestigious annual prize, open to scholars across diverse fields and disciplines, honors those whose work has ma...

10/23/2024

"Parallels" -- a new essay by Simon Wain-Hobson

“This isn’t how good scientific debate happens – it happens when people can talk honestly and without fear.”

"On reading," by Simon Wain-Hobson, is a weekly discussion of scientific papers and news articles around gain of function research in virology.

10/22/2024

In this video, Biosafety Now leadership team members Jay Bhattacharya and Bryce Nickels also discuss Francis Collins' support for dangerous gain-of-function research, which likely contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as his role in covering up the virus's probable lab origins.

In the second episode of Can I Respond to That Please?, Jay Bhattacharya and Bryce Nickels discuss efforts to restore civility in scientific discourse and re...

10/19/2024

"Chilly New York times"

a new essay by Simon Wain-Hobson that critiques the article "Lab Leak Fight Casts Chill Over Virology Research" by Benjamin Mueller and Sheryl Gay Stolberg (New York Times; October 16, 2023)

"On reading," by Simon Wain-Hobson, is a weekly discussion of scientific papers and news articles around gain of function research in virology.

10/17/2024

October 17, 2014 - The White House halts federal funding for gain-of-function studies that alter a pathogen to make it more transmissible or deadly and request researchers doing ongoing work in this area agree to a voluntary moratorium.
https://tinyurl.com/yzdrh994

No grants for flu, SARS, or MERS while government pursues 1-year risk analysis

10/17/2024

Andrew Noymer, UC Irvine Professor and Biosafety Now Leadership Team member, delivered powerful remarks at Stanford's Pandemic Policy Conference on October 4.
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"My PhD advisor, David Freedman, one of his last words before he died was, 'keep after the rascals.' And, for those who staunchly defend COVID as being a zoonotic disease...we will never stop pursuing the truth until we know where COVID comes from"

10/16/2024

LA Times Columnist Michael Hiltzik Continues His Efforts to Destroy Scientific Progress

"The Stanford conference brought together people with strong disagreements dating back to the early days of the pandemic. While many of the panel discussions were intense, all were conducted respectfully.....the conference was a positive step toward repairing fractured relationships within the scientific community."

The preponderance of evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 most likely entered humans through a research-related incident. I have been a vocal critic of researchers suspected of contributing to the pandemic and those who have continued to mislead the public by publishing unsound and fraudulent papers claimin...