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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today that a “funding pause” on gain-of-function (GOF) studies involving influenza, SERS and MERS viruses has been lifted.
The halt on federal funding for GOF experiments involving the three viruses was initiated in October 2014 after a series of laboratory biosafety incidents occurred at U.S. government research facilities.
The incidents “caused the federal government to re-assess the risk/benefit calculus underpinning funding decisions for a certain subset of gain-of-function research involving agents that pose a significant risk to public health,” the NIH wrote at the time of the funding pause.
GOF research involves conducting experiments with potential pandemic pathogens (PPPs). This type of research is crucial to ensuring global health and security, but also poses serious risks if mishandled or mutated. To be considered a potential pandemic pathogen, the pathogen...