A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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I think the key for me was when one of us pointed out that "if the RBD was natural, then the whole thing is natural." Also we were arguing all sides of this from the get go - the whole o-linked glycan thing which was discussed on theconf call was pointing to natural although I do agree with K that it's as likely as not that that's a common regulatory mechanism for FCS rather than immune evasive - still think that it could possibly have some role there though too -the FCS is a major epitope in other class I fusion proteins in SARS-CoV-2 it isn't AFAIK which is strange.
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And if it is used as a regulatory system there is no way a human designer would know how to do that
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Yeah, but notice our discussion of "passage". The Pangolin RBD _disproves_ that, but we didn't catch that until later- we use the RBD to say "not engineering" but we didn't yet use it to say "not passage". That only came after peer review
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And by disproving - I mean, it disproves that the specific RBD mutations seen in SC2 arose via culture passage, but,of course, it doesn't directly disprove passage itself.
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2022-01-27 14:09
Kristian G. Andersen
Thinking of sending this to Fox - because somebody's gotta at least get it on the record... Thoughts? ```Dear Timothy, No, I do not believe that origin theories were obscured or suppressed, although the question has become heavily politicized by lab leak proponents. I can categorically say that for the research I have been involved with, such allegations, including those recently made in a Fox New Special Report, are false. Our scientific investigations -published in scientific journals - have only been driven by scientific enquiry. Any suggestions to the contrary are false. The events you describe date back to the Trump White House, and it is public knowledge that the question of origin was taken up by the White House Office and Science Technology Policy, immediately following early discussions:https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2020/02/national-academies-provide-rapid-response-to-white-house-on-coronavirus-data-needs#As was the case in early 2020, available evidence point strongly towards a natural emergence of SARS-CoV-2, ashas been the case for other pandemics. Best, Kristian```
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Fauci and Collins made zero edits to out papers - the CREID Grant was written, reviewed and scored prior to the Feb 1 conf call.
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No harm in doing so but it will have zero impact I think.
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@Kristian Andersen Yeah - I agree with that. Will leave DQ's timeline as it is.
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A few edits. I agree - unlikely to have impact, but need it on the record - and I can't see how it would cause additional harm (which would be the reason to _not_ email them back). ```Dear Timothy,No, I do not believe that origin theories were obscured or suppressed, although the question has become heavilypoliticized by lab leak proponents. I can categorically say that for the research I have been involved with, such allegations, including those recently made in a Fox New Special Report, are false. E.g., your report suggested that Drs. Collins and Fauci made edits to our paper - that is false. Your report also suggested we received a grant as a"quid pro quo" - that is also false (and shows a complete lack of understanding of how NIH grants are funded). Further, the grant in question was written, scored, reviewed, and ranked for funding in 2019 - prior to the pandemic. Our scientific investigations - published in peer-reviewed scientific journals - have only been driven by scientificenquiry. Any suggestions to the contrary are false. The events you describe date back to the Trump (not Biden) White House, and it is public knowledge that the question of origin was taken up by the White House Office and Science Technology Policy, immediately following early discussions:https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2020/02/national-academies-provide-rapid-response-to-white-house-on-coronavirus-data-needs#As was the case in early 2020, available evidence point strongly towards a natural emergence of SARS-CoV-2, ashas been the case for other pandemics. We are continuing our research and have several additional scientific studies forthcoming.Best, Kristian```