Researchers at Boston University have created a hybrid version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in-lab to study the cause of the Omicron variant’s increased ability to evade immunity. But the study, which gained approval from BU and Boston’s Public Health Commission, drew international attention after it was picked up in The Daily Mail in an articlethat claimed researchers had “created a new deadly COVID strain.” The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which partially funded the study, said it was unaware of the scope of the research until the Mail story broke. A NIAID director, Emily Erbelding, said the group’s progress reports never indicated they were going to be enhancing a pathogen of pandemic potential. She told STAT News that she “wish that they would have” disclosed that, and NIAID will be asking the school to explain. “First, this research is not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the Washington state SARS-CoV-2 virus strain or make it more dangerous,” Boston University wrote in a statement, refuting the Mail’s claims. “In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous.”
