COVID-19 Records

Transcript segment

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.97 · baric_ti:utt:00853

Page text: p.97 · original PDF

Date
2026-04-10 09:00 (day precision)
Type
transcript segment · interview
recipient
Christina Salazar, Harry Kazenoff, David T. Lambeth III, William Henderson, Clark Ervin, Jake Greenberg
speaker
Ralph S. Baric
Topics
Gain-of-function research
So gain-of-function, you're talking about a live virus.

In context

A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.

  1. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric open
    If they were doing it in Michigan, what they were doing were pilot experiments to see if the approach, especially the double-stranded RNA approach, reduced virus titers for North American strains. And there's no sarbecoviruses in North America at this time.
  2. 2026-04-10 09:00 Christina Salazar open
    So what they would be spraying in the caves would not be the gain-of-function?
  3. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric open
    No.
  4. 2026-04-10 09:00 Christina Salazar open
    Okay. Why is that?
  5. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric
    So gain-of-function, you're talking about a live virus.
  6. 2026-04-10 09:00 Christina Salazar open
    What would they be spraying?
  7. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric open
    They're spraying a small, double-stranded RNA molecule that induces host innate immune responses. That's host defense molecules that prevent virus infection, or limit virus replication.
  8. 2026-04-10 09:00 Christina Salazar open
    Why are they trying to do these two DC.Scheduling@LexitasLegal.com different tasks? So they're doing something to gain function and they're doing something to spread --
  9. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric open
    No. So you're confounding experiments. The first aim, again, is to sort of walk through this process of what makes a threat virus, how do you identify it, and how do you then try to counter that threat approach.

Full conversation →