Boston University is defending its research of testing a created COVID strain on mice, as the college emphasized that the university “fulfilled all required regulatory obligations and protocols.”
The pushback from BU comes in the wake of a report that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was not aware of the specific research — which involved researchers combining the omicron variant spike protein with the original virus, testing the created strain on mice.
The scientists in BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories found that all mice infected with only the BA.1 omicron variant had mild cases and survived, while the combined omicron spike protein with the original COVID-19 virus strain inflicted severe disease with an 80% mortality rate.
When mice were infected with just the original, ancestral virus strain, 100% of the mice died.
BU reiterated on Tuesday that the research was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Biosafety Committee, which consists of scientists and local community members. The Boston Public Health Commission also approved the research.
“We fulfilled all required regulatory obligations and protocols,” BU added in a statement. “Following NIAID’s guidelines and protocols, we did not have an obligation to disclose this research for two reasons.
“The experiments reported in this manuscript were carried out with funds from Boston University. NIAID funding was acknowledged because it was used to help develop the tools and platforms that were used in this research; they did not fund this research directly,” the university added. “NIH funding was also acknowledged for a shared instrumentation grant that helped support the pathology studies. We believe that funding streams for tools do not require an obligation to report.”
The university is “in continued conversation with NIAID leadership and program officers,” BU said.
STAT News had reported that the BU researchers had not given NIAID a heads-up about the specific experiments involving a hybrid COVID strain.
NIAID did not immediately respond to comment on Tuesday.
BU continues to stress that the research was not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the original virus from 2020 or make it more dangerous.
“If at any point there was evidence that the research was gaining function, under both NIAID and our own protocols we would immediately stop and report,” BU said. “All research at Boston University, whether funded by NIAID or not, follows this same protocol.”
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