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Discussion: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Wuhan has been working with bats and coronavirus for many years - DNA manipulations, cloning....

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  • Kathy
    replied
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdYDL_RK--w

    Peter Daszak on December 9, 2019 (28:17): we went to Southern China and did surveillance of bats across Southern China and we have now found after six, seven years of doing this over 100 new SARS-related coronaviruses, very close to SARS. Some of them get into human cells in the lab, some of them can cause SARS disease in humanized mice models and are untreatable with therapeutic monoclonals, and you cannot vaccinate against them.

    Anyone of those can become pandemic. You can manipulate them in the lab pretty easily (30:00) is just the spike protein who drives a lot of what happens with the coronavirus zoonotic risk. You can get the sequence, you can build the protein. We worked with Ralph Baric at UNC who did this, insert into a backbone of another virus and do some work in the lab. So, you can get more predictive when you find a sequence. If you are going to develop a vaccine for SARS people are going to use pandemic SARS, but let’s try to insert some of these others and get a better vaccine.

    If you want to know more on Racaniello (who did the interview), please have a look here:

    Commentary

    Moving beyond metagenomics to find the next pandemic virus

    Vincent Racaniello

    PNAS March 15, 2016 113 (11) 2812-2814; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601512113

    Leave a comment:


  • bertrand789
    replied
    prior:
    If what follows is a criticism of scientists, I am in no way against science, when its management is up to the subjects treated. At this stage, what seems important is to analyze the management problems that have allowed this situation which should not happen again for this agent or others. For a European, we are facing an American-Chinese disaster. A disaster, linked to the handling, in terms of management, of a desirable concept: ONE HEALTH, in a wrongful way and or worse (some are in prison).

    Synergistic China – US Ecological Research is Essential for Global Emerging Infectious Disease Preparedness



    It seems to me more and more a situation of co-responsibility, unique and completely original. The politicians, at the highest level, when the dossier was presented to them took many decisions, but never had the co-discourse allowing them to recreate confidence.

    The intentions were good, on both sides, the means implemented, impressive. The means implemented shock the actors on the ground in many places, because they never have and will never have the means of what has been done. Those interested in history know that the implementation of a concept of this importance cannot be done without accident. These are just human actions. Those who know a little bit about national laws know that the adaptations of national laws to implement this type of concept are enormous and will take many years ...

    An accountant could write that the result, and therefore the political, image, human and financial costs are worth the investment and mistakes, and therefore inconceivable for many humans. The communication costs incurred to control the image, in fact, will only increase the costs ... And the more the file is informed, the worse it will be.

    If I thought that the ONE HEALTH concept could be the solution, as it is, most certainly the cause, it seems important to me that the neutral analysis of management problems be produced by the two actors. As it cannot be imposed on either, it is to be hoped that they will become aware that controlling costs, all costs, of this crisis is an absolute necessity at this stage.

    Those who imagine they can empower one or the other dream. On the other hand, if these two actors do not do the right thing, so that errors on both sides are admitted, formalized and made public and that decisions of better control, which can only be national, are taken and implemented and will remain so, the future will be bleak, in particular for the scientists who are going to come out of this crisis, with an image so bad that the funding will take a hell of a mess ...

    It was due to good intentions on both sides, but with serious management errors, the most serious attack of the ONE HEALTH concept, when it is desirable ...

    This message is written because the end of crisis investigation will be, given the commitments, in particular from China. As waiting, only increases costs, all the costs, nothing can be done to reduce the production time of what is going to be ...


    pr?alable :
    si ce qui va suivre est une critique de scientifiques, je ne suis aucunement contre la science, quand son management est ? la hauteur des sujets trait?s.


    A ce stade, ce qui semble important c'est d'analyser les troubles de management qui ont permis cette situation qui ne doit pas se reproduire pour cet agent ou d'autres. Pour un europ?en, nous sommes face ? un d?sastre am?ricano-chinois. Un d?sastre, li? au maniement , en terme de management, d'un concept souhaitable : ONE HEALTH , d'une mani?re fautive et ou pire ( certains sont en prison ) .
    Synergistic China–US Ecological Research is Essential for Global Emerging Infectious Disease Preparedness



    Cela me semble de plus en plus une situation de co-responsabilit?, unique et tout ? fait originale. Les politiques, au plus haut niveau, quand le dossier leur a ?t? pr?sent? ont pris de nombreuses d?cisions, mais sans jamais avoir le co-discours permettant de r?cr?er la confiance.

    Les intentions ?taient bonnes, des deux cot?s, les moyens mis en œuvre, impressionnant. Les moyens mis en œuvre choquent les acteurs de terrain de bien des lieux,car ils n'ont et n'aurons jamais les moyens de ce qui a ?t? fait . Ceux qui s'int?ressent ? l'histoire savent que la mise en œuvre de concept de cette importance, cela ne peut se faire sans accident. Ce ne sont que des actions humaines. Ceux qui connaissent un peu les droits nationaux savent que les adaptations des droits nationaux pour mettre en oeuvre ce type de concept sont ?normes et demanderons bien des ann?es...

    Un comptable pourrait ?crire que le r?sultat, donc les co?ts politiques, d'image, humains et financiers sont, ? la hauteur, des investissements et des erreurs, donc inconcevable pour bien des humains. Les frais de communication engag?s pour ma?triser l'image, en fait, ne vont qu'augmenter les co?ts... Et plus le dossier sera ?clair?, pire, cela va ?tre.

    Si je pensais que le concept ONE HEALTH pouvait ?tre la solution, comme il est, tr?s certainement la cause, il me semble important que l'analyse neutre des probl?mes de management soit produite par les deux acteurs. Comme cela ne peut ?tre impos? ni ? l'un, ni ? l'autre, il faut esp?rer qu'ils vont prendre conscience que la maitrise des co?ts, de tous les co?ts, de cette crise est une n?cessit? absolue ? ce stade.

    Ceux qui imaginent pouvoir responsabiliser l'un ou l'autre r?vent. En revanche, si ces deux acteurs ne font pas ce qui se doit, pour que les erreurs des deux cot?s soient admises , formalis?es et rendues publiques et que les d?cisions de meilleure ma?trise, qui ne peuvent qu'?tre nationale, sont prise et en œuvre et vont le rester, l'avenir va ?tre sombre, en particulier pour les scientifiques qui vont sortir de cette crise, avec une image tellement mauvaise que les financements vont prendre une sacr?e gamelle ...

    C'est suite ? de bonnes intentions, de part et d'autre, mais avec de graves erreurs de management, la plus grave attaque du concept ONE HEALTH , alors qu'il est souhaitable ...

    Ce message est ?crit car l'enqu?te de fin de crise va ?tre, vu les engagements, notamment de la Chine. Comme attendre, ne fait qu'augmenter les co?ts, tous les co?ts, rien ne peut ?tre fait pour r?duire le d?lai de production de ce qui va ?tre ...

    Leave a comment:


  • Pathfinder
    replied
    NEWS FEATURE 04 MAY 2020

    Profile of a killer: the complex biology powering the coronavirus pandemic
    ...
    The origin of SARS-CoV-2 is still an open question (see ‘Family of killers’). The virus shares 96% of its genetic material with a virus found in a bat in a cave in Yunnan, China4 — a convincing argument that it came from bats, say researchers. But there’s a crucial difference. The spike proteins of coronaviruses have a unit called a receptor-binding domain, which is central to their success in entering human cells. The SARS-CoV-2 binding domain is particularly efficient, and it differs in important ways from that of the Yunnan bat virus, which seems not to infect people5.
    ...
    Power spikes

    SARS-CoV-2 is uniquely equipped for forcing entry into cells. Both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 bind with ACE2, but the receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 is a particularly snug fit. It is 10–20 times more likely to bind ACE2 than is SARS-CoV9. Wendtner says that SARS-CoV-2 is so good at infecting the upper respiratory tract that there might even be a second receptor that the virus could use to launch its attack.

    Even more troubling is the fact that SARS-COV-2 seems to make use of the enzyme furin from the host to cleave the viral spike protein. This is worrying, researchers say, because furin is abundant in the respiratory tract and found throughout the body. It is used by other formidable viruses, including HIV, influenza, dengue and Ebola to enter cells. By contrast, the cleavage molecules used by SARS-CoV are much less common and not as effective.

    The simulations driving the world’s response to COVID-19

    Scientists think that the involvement of furin could explain why SARS-CoV-2 is so good at jumping from cell to cell, person to person and possibly animal to human. Robert Garry, a virologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, estimates that it gives SARS-CoV-2 a 100–1,000 times greater chance than SARS-CoV of getting deep into the lungs. “When I saw SARS-CoV-2 had that cleavage site, I did not sleep very well that night,” he says.

    The mystery is where the genetic instructions for this particular cleavage site came from. Although the virus probably gained them through recombination, this particular set-up has never been found in any other coronavirus in any species. Pinning down its origin might be the last piece in the puzzle that will determine which animal was the stepping stone that allowed the virus to reach humans.

    ...

    Leave a comment:


  • Pathfinder
    replied
    EXPERT REACTION: Did COVID-19 come from a lab in Wuhan?

    Publicly released: Fri 17 Apr 2020 at 1130 AEST | 1330 NZST
    ...
    Nikolai Petrovsky is a Professor in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University. He is also Research Director, Vaxine Pty Ltd

    "An extremely important but still unanswered question is what was the source of COVID-19 virus. While COVID-19 has close similarities to SARS and other bat viruses no natural virus matching to COVID-19 has been found in nature despite an intensive search to find its origins. This raises the very legitimate question of whether the COVID-19 virus might be the result of human intervention.

    Certainly, our and other analyses of the genomic sequence of the virus do not reveal any artificial gene inserts that would be the hallmark of a gene jockey, genetic engineers who manipulate or even create viruses by splicing in artificial inserts into their genome. These are generally easily recognisable and hence clear signatures of human intervention in the creation of a virus. The fact that these artificial inserts are not present has been interpreted by some to mean this virus is not the result of human manipulation.

    However, this logic is incorrect as there are other ways in which humans can manipulate viruses and that is caused by natural selection. What do I mean? All viruses and bacteria mutate and adapt to their environment over time, with selection of the fittest individuals for survival in that particular environment.

    Take a bat coronavirus that is not infectious to humans, and force its selection by culturing it with cells that express human ACE2 receptor, such cells having been created many years ago to culture SARS coronaviruses and you can force the bat virus to adapt to infect human cells via mutations in its spike protein, which would have the effect of increasing the strength of its binding to human ACE2, and inevitably reducing the strength of its binding to bat ACE2.

    Viruses in prolonged culture will also develop other random mutations that do not affect its function. The result of these experiments is a virus that is highly virulent in humans but is sufficiently different that it no longer resembles the original bat virus. Because the mutations are acquired randomly by selection there is no signature of a human gene jockey, but this is clearly a virus still created by human intervention.

    My group in collaboration with other Australian researchers have been using a modelling approach to study the possible evolutionary origins of COVID-19 by modelling interactions between its spike protein and a broad variety of ACE2 receptors from many animals and humans.

    This work which we will publish on a prepress server next week shows that the strength of binding of COVID-19 to human ACE2 far exceeds the predicted strength of its binding to the ACE2 of any of the other species. This points to the virus having been selected for its high binding to human ACE2. In the absence of evidence of historic human infections with this virus, which could result in such selection, this either is a remarkable coincidence or a sign of human intervention.

    This, plus the fact that no corresponding virus has been found to exist in nature, leads to the possibility that COVID-19 is a human-created virus. It is therefore entirely plausible that the virus was created in the biosecurity facility in Wuhan by selection on cells expressing human ACE2, a laboratory that was known to be cultivating exotic bat coronaviruses at the time. Is so the cultured virus could have escaped the facility either through accidental infection of a staff member who then visited the fish market several blocks away and there infected others, or by inappropriate disposal of waste from the facility that either infected humans outside the facility directly or via a susceptible vector such as a stray cat that then frequented the market and resulted in transmission there to humans.

    Whilst the facts cannot be known at this time, the nature of this event and its proximity to a high-risk biosecurity facility at the epicentre of the outbreak demands a full and independent international enquiry to ascertain whether a virus of this kind of COVID-19 was being cultured in the facility and might have been accidentally released."

    Last updated: 17 Apr 2020 12:14pm
    ...
    EXPERT REACTION: Did COVID-19 come from a lab in Wuhan? Speculation that the virus that causes COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab has been given some weight, as the Trump Administration has announced an investigation into the matter. Secretary of State Mike Pence has been quoted saying



    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Download:(license)

    COVID-19 e-print

    Important: e-prints posted on arXiv are not peer-reviewed by arXiv; they should not be relied upon without context to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information without consulting multiple experts in the field.

    [Submitted on 13 May 2020]

    In silico comparison of spike protein-ACE2 binding affinities across species; significance for the possible origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus

    Sakshi Piplani, Puneet Kumar Singh, David A. Winkler, Nikolai Petrovsky
    The devastating impact of the COVID19 pandemic caused by SARS coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2) has raised important questions on the origins of this virus, the mechanisms of any zoonotic transfer from exotic animals to humans, whether companion animals or those used for commercial purposes can act as reservoirs for infection, and the reasons for the large variations in susceptibilities across animal species. Traditional lab-based methods will ultimately answer many of these questions but take considerable time. In silico modeling methods provide the opportunity to rapidly generate information on newly emerged pathogens to aid countermeasure development and also to predict potential future behaviors. We used a structural homology modeling approach to characterize the SARSCoV2 spike protein and predict its binding strength to the human ACE2 receptor. We then explored the possible transmission path by which SARSCoV2 might have crossed to humans by constructing models of ACE2 receptors of relevant species, and calculating the binding energy of SARSCoV2 spike protein to each. Notably, SARSCoV2 spike protein had the highest overall binding energy for human ACE2, greater than all the other tested species including bat, the postulated source of the virus. This indicates that SARSCoV2 is a highly adapted human pathogen. Of the species studied, the next highest binding affinity after human was pangolin, which is most likely explained by a process of convergent evolution. Binding of SARSCoV2 for dog and cat ACE2 was similar to affinity for bat ACE2, all being lower than for human ACE2, and is consistent with only occasional observations of infections of these domestic animals. Overall, the data indicates that SARSCoV2 is uniquely adapted to infect humans, raising questions as to whether it arose in nature by a rare chance event or whether its origins lie elsewhere.

    ...
    The devastating impact of the COVID19 pandemic caused by SARS coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2) has raised important questions on the origins of this virus, the mechanisms of any zoonotic transfer from exotic animals to humans, whether companion animals or those used for commercial purposes can act as reservoirs for infection, and the reasons for the large variations in susceptibilities across animal species. Traditional lab-based methods will ultimately answer many of these questions but take considerable time. In silico modeling methods provide the opportunity to rapidly generate information on newly emerged pathogens to aid countermeasure development and also to predict potential future behaviors. We used a structural homology modeling approach to characterize the SARSCoV2 spike protein and predict its binding strength to the human ACE2 receptor. We then explored the possible transmission path by which SARSCoV2 might have crossed to humans by constructing models of ACE2 receptors of relevant species, and calculating the binding energy of SARSCoV2 spike protein to each. Notably, SARSCoV2 spike protein had the highest overall binding energy for human ACE2, greater than all the other tested species including bat, the postulated source of the virus. This indicates that SARSCoV2 is a highly adapted human pathogen. Of the species studied, the next highest binding affinity after human was pangolin, which is most likely explained by a process of convergent evolution. Binding of SARSCoV2 for dog and cat ACE2 was similar to affinity for bat ACE2, all being lower than for human ACE2, and is consistent with only occasional observations of infections of these domestic animals. Overall, the data indicates that SARSCoV2 is uniquely adapted to infect humans, raising questions as to whether it arose in nature by a rare chance event or whether its origins lie elsewhere.

    Leave a comment:


  • bertrand789
    replied
    Le coronavirus sort-il d’un laboratoire ? Episode 1 : la th?se du virus artificiel

    Leave a comment:


  • bertrand789
    replied
    Merci Kathy,
    il y a trop de personnes qui pensent que les citoyens, ?lecteurs, ne savent pas lire. En me plongeant dans les dossiers march?s humides, j'ai ?t?, bien souvent outr? par le regard des touristes et ou des "scientifiques" touristes, qui s'imaginent aller au zoo ou pire. Je n'ai plus l'?ge de supporter ceux qui ne savent pas respecter les autres cultures.
    un exemple:
    http://amgar.blog.processalimentaire...endu-en-chine/
    Mais, le respect de l'autre, c'est plus simple quand l'autre a du respect pour la Vie.

    Vu tes capacit?s av?r?es, si tu te plonges dans le su et le fait, tu peut comprendre, que je souhaitais lors de la fermeture d'un march? humide, qu'il soit produit un vrai document. Je dis cela, car je sais qu'il existe en Chine des humains femme et homme, ? la fois , comp?tent et honn?te qui veulent prot?ger la Vie ...

    Ils vont avoir quand le droit de s'exprimer ?
    Je dis cela car la fermeture sans explication, c'est vraiment juste digne de tr?s petites t?tes...

    Thank you Kathy,
    there are too many people who think that citizens, voters, cannot read. By immersing myself in the wet markets, I was often outraged by the gaze of tourists and or "scientists" tourists, who imagine going to the zoo or worse. I am no longer old enough to bear those who do not know how to respect other cultures.

    an example:
    http: //amgar.blog.processalimentaire...endu-en-chine/

    But, respect for the other is easier when the other has respect for Life.
    Considering your proven capacities, if you immerse yourself in the knowledge and the fact, you can understand, that I wished during the closing of a wet market, that a real document be produced. I say this, because I know that there are human beings in both women and men, both competent and honest, who want to protect Life ...

    When will they have the right to speak?

    I say that because the closure without explanation, it's really just worthy of very small heads ...

    Leave a comment:


  • Kathy
    replied
    The collaboration between Shi and Daszak started long time ago, at the time of the first SARS:

    https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/12/06-0401_article
    Wang L, Shi Z, Zhang S, Field HE, Daszak P, Eaton BT. Review of Bats and SARS. Emerg Infect Dis. 2006;12(12):1834-1840. https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1212.060401
    Review of Bats and SARS

    Animal Origin of SARS Coronaviruses Susceptible Animals in Markets and Laboratories Role of Masked Palm Civets SARS-like Coronaviruses in Bats

    Abstract
    Bats have been identified as a natural reservoir for an increasing number of emerging zoonotic viruses, including henipaviruses and variants of rabies viruses. Recently, we and another group independently identified several horseshoe bat species (genus Rhinolophus) as the reservoir host for a large number of viruses that have a close genetic relationship with the coronavirus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Our current research focused on the identification of the reservoir species for the progenitor virus of the SARS coronaviruses responsible for outbreaks during 2002–2003 and 2003–2004. In addition to SARS-like coronaviruses, many other novel bat coronaviruses, which belong to groups 1 and 2 of the 3 existing coronavirus groups, have been detected by PCR. The discovery of bat SARS-like coronaviruses and the great genetic diversity of coronaviruses in bats have shed new light on the origin and transmission of SARS coronaviruses.

    And a more recent paper show how close was the collaboration between USA and China on the topic.

    Smiley Evans, T., Shi, Z., Boots, M. et al. Synergistic China–US Ecological Research is Essential for Global Emerging Infectious Disease Preparedness. EcoHealth 17, 160–173 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-020-01471-2

    Abstract

    The risk of a zoonotic pandemic disease threatens hundreds of millions of people. Emerging infectious diseases also threaten livestock and wildlife populations around the world and can lead to devastating economic damages. China and the USA—due to their unparalleled resources, widespread engagement in activities driving emerging infectious diseases and national as well as geopolitical imperatives to contribute to global health security—play an essential role in our understanding of pandemic threats. Critical to efforts to mitigate risk is building upon existing investments in global capacity to develop training and research focused on the ecological factors driving infectious disease spillover from animals to humans. International cooperation, particularly between China and the USA, is essential to fully engage the resources and scientific strengths necessary to add this ecological emphasis to the pandemic preparedness strategy. Here, we review the world’s current state of emerging infectious disease preparedness, the ecological and evolutionary knowledge needed to anticipate disease emergence, the roles that China and the USA currently play as sources and solutions to mitigating risk, and the next steps needed to better protect the global community from zoonotic disease.

    But for sure other countries were involved in the project as well.

    Leave a comment:


  • Pathfinder
    replied
    Originally posted by Pathfinder View Post
    What is China covering up about the coronavirus?: Devine

    ...
    Substantial alterations to the WIV database on the evening of Dec. 30, the day before the World Health Organization was alerted to the outbreak of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, are just another indication that the Chinese Communist Party is hiding something when it comes to the origins of COVID-19.
    ...
    For instance, the title of the ?database was changed that night from “Wildlife-borne viral pathogen database” to “Bat and rodent-borne viral pathogen database.”

    Wild animalwas replaced with “bat and rodent” or “bat and rat” at least 10 times in the database...

    Keywords that might facilitate searches potentially connecting the database with the outbreak also were deleted.Wild animal samples,” “viral pathogen data,” “emerging infectious diseases” and “cross-species infection” were keywords associated with the original version.

    On Dec. 30 they were replaced with “bat,” “rodent” and “virus.”

    “It looks like a rushed, inconsistent effort to disassociate the project from the outbreak by ?rebranding it,” says the British open-source intelligence analyst who found the alterations.
    ...
    https://nypost.com/2020/05/06/what-i...avirus-devine/
    THE CONTROVERSIAL EXPERIMENTS AND WUHAN LAB SUSPECTED OF STARTING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
    ...
    In 2015, the Wuhan lab performed a gain of function experiment using cut-and-paste genetic engineering, in which scientists take a natural virus and directly make substitutions in its RNA coding to make it more transmissible. They took a piece of the original SARS virus and inserted a snippet from a SARS-like bat coronavirus, resulting in a virus that is capable of infecting human cells. A natural virus altered with these methods would be easily flagged in a genetic analysis, like a contemporary addition to an old Victorian house.

    A virus produced with animal passage methods would be much harder to spot. These viruses are not directly manipulated. When the virus passes from one animal to the next, it undergoes something similar to what would happen in the wild during the course of its evolution. A wild coronavirus passed through 10 ferrets would be difficult to identify as having been engineered or manipulated.

    There is no published record of animal-passage work on coronaviruses in the Wuhan Institute. The lab got its first BSL-4 lab in 2018, which is now considered a requirement for this kind of work (though some work proceeds in BSL-3-enhanced labs). It's possible that researchers started animal passage work in the BSL-4 lab but didn't finish it in time to publish before the current pandemic, when China tightened up on publications. It's possible that the work was done in secret. It's possible that it never happened at all. But some scientists think it's unlikely that an expensive BSL-4 lab would not be doing animal-passage research, which by 2018 was not unusual.
    ...
    Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist at UC Davis, says that the preponderance of evidence, while not definitive, suggests that the virus came from nature, not a lab. "There's no hint there that there's something unnatural, that is, genetically engineered or manipulated," he says. But "there is some wiggle room" in the findings that admits the possibility that the virus was concocted in a lab via animal passage. "Passaging is hard to test for. Escape from a lab is hard to test for," he says. "If [Wuhan researchers] collected something from the field and they were doing some experiments in the lab with it, and some person got infected and then it spread from there, that would be really hard to distinguish from it having spread in the field directly."
    ...
    https://www.newsweek.com/controversi...ndemic-1500503

    Leave a comment:


  • Emily
    commented on 's reply
    I think you have the smoking gun here, Pathfinder. Good work!

  • Emily
    commented on 's reply
    Page 4 #11. Guess the previous 'politcal climate' was a free-for-all.

  • sharon sanders
    replied
    Originally posted by sharon sanders View Post
    The problem is that the China government has its hands into a lot of research now. Follow the money I say.

    Even Harvard is affected:



    FBI arrests Harvard chemist; two others charged in Chinese research cases

    Jan. 28, 2020 at 4:55 p.m. EST

    The FBI has arrested the chair of Harvard University’s chemistry department, accusing him of lying about his work for a Chinese university, and charged two others who worked in the Boston area with aiding China’s efforts to steal scientific research, officials announced Tuesday.

    “All of the individuals charged today were either directly or indirectly working for the Chinese government at our country’s expense,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph Bonavolonta. U.S. officials said the activity they uncovered is part of an ambitious, years-long effort by the Chinese government to steal intellectual property and technology to better compete in the global marketplace.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...e99_story.html

    and more....please remember these persons have not been convicted. These are arrests only:

    Received 5 million USD in federal grants -

    A University of Arkansas professor was arrested for wire fraud.

    According to Charlie Robbins, spokesperson for the Western District of Arkansas Attorney’s Office, Simon Ang was arrested on a federal criminal complaint for one count of wire fraud.

    The complaint charges that Ang had close ties with the Chinese government and Chinese companies, and failed to disclose those ties when required to do so in order to receive grant money from NASA. These materially false representations to NASA and the University of Arkansas resulted in numerous wires to be sent and received that facilitated Ang’s scheme to defraud.

    https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/uni...-fraud-charge/

    ---------------------------


    Received 3.6 million USD in federal grants -

    A Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine professor and former Cleveland Clinic employee was arrested Wednesday over his alleged ties to China.

    The Justice Department announced that Qing Wang was arrested at his Shaker Heights, Ohio home as part of a joint operation conducted by the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Inspector-General. Wang was charged with wire fraud related to more than $3.6 million in grant funding that Wang and his research team at the Cleveland Clinic had received from the National Institutes of Health.

    "Wang deliberately failed to disclose his Chinese grants and foreign positions and even engaged in a pervasive pattern of fraud to avoid criminal culpability.”


    According to the criminal complaint, Wang failed to disclose affiliations with Chinese universities. He also allegedly failed to disclose that he had received grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China for a nearly identical research project. He held the title Dean of the College of Life Sciences and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

    A Case Western Reserve University professor has been arrested over his alleged ties to China.



    It is standard practice for researchers to disclose financial interests/conflicts. This way the casual observer can judge the researchers work product taking into consideration any financial incentives they might have.

    Leave a comment:


  • Sally Furniss
    commented on 's reply
    The Australian first reported on New Zealand's inclusion on the list. It was later confirmed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on The AM Show on Monday morning.

    "We are part of a sensible call just from us to learn what we can from Covid-19," Ardern said.

    We're not interested in blame, we're not interested in any kind of witch-hunt, we're just interested in learning."

    Asked directly about the exclusion of China from the call's text, Ardern said she was "not involved in the drafting."

  • sharon sanders
    replied
    Yup....a tribunal....



    Coalition of 62 countries back Australia's push for coronavirus pandemic probe



    Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Source: AAP

    India, Japan, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Indonesia, Russia, and all 27 EU member states will back Australia's push for a probe into the coronavirus pandemic.

    UPDATED 37 MINS AGO

    Australia has received international backing for an independent coronavirus inquiry as trade tensions with China come under heavy strain.

    More than 60 countries including Russia, Indonesia, India, Japan, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and all 27 European Union member states have co-sponsored the motion.


    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/coalitio...pandemic-probe

    Leave a comment:


  • bertrand789
    replied
    Evaluating Risks of Paramyxovirus and Coronavirus Emergence in China
    Doctor of Philosophy





    Leave a comment:


  • Pathfinder
    replied
    'Coronavirus did NOT come from animals in Wuhan market': Landmark study suggests it was taken into the area by someone already infected - as Beijing thwarts efforts to establish source of Covid-19

    ...
    By IAN BIRRELL FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

    PUBLISHED: 17:00 EDT, 16 May 2020 | UPDATED: 19:27 EDT, 16 May 2020
    ...
    The new research is clear in its finding. ‘The publicly available genetic data does not point to cross-species transmission of the virus at the market,’ said Alina Chan, a molecular biologist, and Shing Zhan, an evolutionary biologist. Their paper insists all routes for ‘zoonotic’ (animal to human) transmission – in this case from bats – must be examined. It says: ‘The possibility that a non-genetically engineered precursor could have adapted to humans while being studied in a laboratory should be considered.’
    ...
    Specialist biologists suggest the virus was taken into Wuhan's seafood market by a human. The news comes as Beijing thwarts global efforts to establish the source of the virus.


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    SARS-CoV-2 is well adapted for humans. What does this mean for re-emergence?

    View ORCID ProfileShing Hei Zhan, View ORCID ProfileBenjamin E. Deverman, View ORCID ProfileYujia Alina Chan
    doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.01.073262
    This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].

    https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....073262v1.full

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