---
type: Glossary
title: "Acronyms, institutional shorthand and strain names"
description: "131 abbreviations used across the released records, plus 2 virus and strain names."
tags:
  - glossary
  - reference
term_count: 133
acronym_count: 131
strain_count: 2
generated: { by: randpaul-corpus-pipeline/1.0, at: "2026-08-01T12:42:27Z" }
status: stable
---

Abbreviations used across the released records. Definitions marked *harvested* were extracted from the documents themselves, where a term is spelled out immediately before its abbreviation; those marked *seed* are supplied because the records use them without ever defining them.

| Acronym | Expansion | Occurrences | Source |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `NIH` | [National Institutes of Health](/organizations/nih.md) | 5272 | seed |
| `NIAID` | [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases](/organizations/niaid.md) | 2505 | seed |
| `SARS` | severe acute respiratory syndrome | 1248 | seed |
| `BMGF` | [Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation](/organizations/gates-foundation.md) | 921 | seed |
| `CDC` | [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](/organizations/cdc.md) | 906 | seed |
| `HHS` | [Department of Health and Human Services](/organizations/hhs.md) | 680 | seed |
| `WHO` | [World Health Organization](/organizations/who.md) | 676 | seed |
| `WIV` | [Wuhan Institute of Virology](/organizations/wiv.md) | 509 | seed |
| `FDA` | [Food and Drug Administration](/organizations/fda.md) | 435 | seed |
| `FIC` | Fogarty International Center | 283 | harvested |
| `NSC` | [National Security Council](/organizations/nsc.md) | 248 | seed |
| `USG` | United States Government | 247 | harvested |
| `VRC` | Vaccine Research Center | 238 | harvested |
| `MTA` | material transfer agreement | 223 | seed |
| `ACE2` | angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 | 217 | seed |
| `NAS` | National Academies of Sciences | 206 | harvested |
| `RBD` | receptor binding domain | 204 | seed |
| `FCS` | furin cleavage site | 174 | seed |
| `MERS` | Middle East respiratory syndrome | 166 | seed |
| `FBI` | Federal Bureau of Investigations | 145 | harvested |
| `USAID` | United States Agency for International Development | 136 | harvested |
| `OGC` | [Office of the General Counsel](/organizations/nih.md) | 133 | seed |
| `P3CO` | Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight | 130 | seed |
| `DHHS` | Department of Health and Human Services | 128 | harvested |
| `DURC` | dual use research of concern | 124 | seed |
| `OR` | olfactory receptor subunit Develop olfactory receptor | 115 | harvested |
| `GOF` | [gain-of-function](/organizations/niaid.md) | 107 | seed |
| `BARDA` | Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority | 99 | harvested |
| `EUA` | Emergency Use Authorization | 90 | harvested |
| `FNIH` | Foundation for the National Institutes of Health | 90 | harvested |
| `FOIA` | Freedom of Information Act | 87 | seed |
| `IC` | intelligence community | 85 | seed |
| `RSA` | Response Spectrum Assay | 81 | harvested |
| `NCI` | National Cancer Institute | 73 | harvested |
| `BSL` | biosafety level | 70 | seed |
| `CIA` | Central Intelligence Agency | 68 | harvested |
| `ICER` | International Center for Excellence in Research | 64 | harvested |
| `MSC` | Mali Service Center | 63 | harvested |
| `PPE` | Personal Protective Equipment | 62 | harvested |
| `CEPI` | Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations | 60 | harvested |
| `RML` | [Rocky Mountain Laboratories](/organizations/rml.md) | 56 | seed |
| `ODNI` | [Office of the Director of National Intelligence](/organizations/odni.md) | 44 | seed |
| `ACD` | Advisory Committee to the Director | 37 | harvested |
| `MRTC` | Malaria Research and Training Center | 37 | harvested |
| `USMS` | United States Marshals Service | 37 | harvested |
| `CHD` | Children's Health Defense | 34 | harvested |
| `NCBI` | National Center for Biotechnology Information | 30 | harvested |
| `DEFUSE` | Defusing the Threat of Bat-borne Coronaviruses | 29 | seed |
| `BTCP` | Biological Threat Characterization Program | 28 | harvested |
| `HVTN` | HIV Vaccine Trials Network | 28 | harvested |
| `JFK` | John F Kennedy International Airport | 27 | harvested |
| `MRC` | Medical Research Council | 26 | harvested |
| `WRAIR` | Walter Reed Army Institute of Research | 26 | harvested |
| `AAAS` | American Association for the Advancement of Science | 24 | harvested |
| `UCSF` | University of California-San Francisco | 24 | harvested |
| `CBP` | [U.S. Customs and Border Protection](/organizations/cbp.md) | 22 | seed |
| `DSMB` | Data and Safety Monitoring Board | 22 | harvested |
| `PEDV` | Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus | 19 | harvested |
| `MOH` | Ministry of Health | 18 | harvested |
| `DOD` | Department of Defense | 16 | harvested |
| `CNMC` | Children's National Medical Center | 15 | harvested |
| `DRC` | Democratic Republic of Congo | 15 | harvested |
| `USDA` | United States Department of Agriculture | 15 | harvested |
| `FHCRC` | Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | 14 | harvested |
| `BMS` | Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | 13 | harvested |
| `CBC` | Canadian Broadcasting Company | 13 | harvested |
| `CAVD` | Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery | 11 | harvested |
| `EHA` | [EcoHealth Alliance](/organizations/ecohealth.md) | 11 | seed |
| `GWU` | George Washington University | 11 | harvested |
| `JHU` | Johns Hopkins University | 11 | harvested |
| `PMI` | President's Malaria Initiative | 11 | harvested |
| `CID` | Center for Infectious Disease Research | 10 | harvested |
| `HSGAC` | [Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee](/organizations/senate-hsgac.md) | 10 | seed |
| `NPI` | non-pharmaceutical intervention | 10 | seed |
| `ADDF` | Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation | 9 | harvested |
| `BSEG` | Biological Sciences Experts Group | 9 | seed |
| `GH` | Global Health | 9 | harvested |
| `NEAC` | NIH Ethics Advisory Committee | 9 | harvested |
| `NYU` | New York University School of Medicine | 9 | harvested |
| `NMRC` | Naval Medical Research Center | 8 | harvested |
| `START` | Strategic Timing of Anti-Retroviral Treatment | 8 | harvested |
| `WAD` | World AIDS Day | 8 | harvested |
| `CAS` | Chinese Academy of Sciences | 7 | harvested |
| `CP` | caved to pressure from Trump to issue EUA for Convalescent Plasma | 7 | harvested |
| `EC` | European Commission | 7 | harvested |
| `ICMR` | Indian Council of Medical Research | 7 | harvested |
| `INA` | Immigration and Nationality Act | 7 | harvested |
| `IRF` | Integrated Research Facility | 7 | harvested |
| `NLM` | National Library of Medicine | 7 | harvested |
| `UA` | UNITED AIRLINES | 7 | harvested |
| `CECI` | Centralized Envelope Comparative Immunogenicity Phase I Study | 6 | harvested |
| `CI` | Confidential Informants | 6 | harvested |
| `EVI` | European Vaccine Initiative | 6 | harvested |
| `IMC` | International Medical Corps | 6 | harvested |
| `SI` | Strategic Investment | 6 | harvested |
| `UCT` | University of Cape Town | 6 | harvested |
| `AIER` | American Institute for Economic Research | 5 | harvested |
| `AVRS` | AIDS Vaccine Research Subcommittee | 5 | harvested |
| `CFS` | chronic fatigue syndrome | 5 | harvested |
| `CJD` | Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease | 5 | harvested |
| `GLP` | Good Laboratory Practice | 5 | harvested |
| `HHMI` | Howard Hughes Medical Institute | 5 | harvested |
| `IRP` | Intramural research Program | 5 | harvested |
| `BIDMC` | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center | 4 | harvested |
| `BMJ` | British Medical Journal | 4 | harvested |
| `DNI` | [Director of National Intelligence](/organizations/odni.md) | 4 | seed |
| `IMPAACT` | International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group | 4 | harvested |
| `NDA` | non-disclosure agreement | 4 | seed |
| `ADARC` | Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center | 3 | harvested |
| `ALC` | Agency Location Code | 3 | harvested |
| `CAVIMC` | Comprehensive Antibody Vaccine Immune Monitoring Consortium | 3 | harvested |
| `CHOP` | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia | 3 | harvested |
| `CIRM` | California Institute for Regenerative Medicine | 3 | harvested |
| `GIS` | Geographic Information System | 3 | harvested |
| `GPEI` | Global Polio Eradication Initiative | 3 | harvested |
| `SAGO` | [Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens](/organizations/who.md) | 3 | seed |
| `BWH` | Brigham and Women's Hospital | 2 | harvested |
| `CFU` | colony-forming unit | 2 | harvested |
| `CIHR` | Canadian Institutes of Health Research | 2 | harvested |
| `CWRU` | Case Western Reserve University | 2 | harvested |
| `IDRI` | Infectious Disease Research Institute | 2 | harvested |
| `JHM` | Johns Hopkins Medicine | 2 | harvested |
| `MSU` | Montana State University | 2 | harvested |
| `NPHIL` | National Public Health Institute of Liberia | 2 | harvested |
| `OBA` | Office of Biotechnology Activities | 2 | harvested |
| `OLA` | oligonucleotide ligation assay | 2 | harvested |
| `PAI` | Polio Antiviral Initiative | 2 | harvested |
| `SMRB` | Science Management Review Board | 2 | harvested |
| `UBC` | University of British Columbia | 2 | harvested |
| `UCSD` | University of California-San Diego | 2 | harvested |
| `EPPP` | enhanced potential pandemic pathogen | 0 | seed |

# Competing expansions

Where the records spell the same abbreviation out more than one way, every observed form is kept.

* `NIH` — also: NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, National Institute of Health
* `SARS` — also: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
* `BMGF` — also: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
* `RBD` — also: receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 The receptor binding domain
* `PPE` — also: Personal protective equipment
* `RML` — also: Rocky Mountain Laboratory
* `WRAIR` — also: Walter Reed Army Institute of Reseach
* `PEDV` — also: Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus
* `UCT` — also: University of Cape Town Lung Institute

# Virus and strain names

Not abbreviations: bare identifiers the records never define, listed because the correspondence argues in them. Read the note before treating any of these as a virus — the records use real isolates, mistranscriptions and jokes in the same register.

* `RaTG13` — bat SARS-related coronavirus, sampled from a Rhinolophus affinis bat at Tongguan town, Mojiang county, Yunnan, in 2013 (331 occurrences in the corpus)
  The closest known relative of SARS-CoV-2 in these records, and the reference point for most of the origins argument in them: "~96% identical overall to SARS-CoV-2, its spike diverges in the RBD" (Proximal Origin draft, fauci_intel p.45). The name follows the convention Holmes spells out in the chats — host species, then location, then sample year — so Ra = Rhinolophus affinis, TG = Tongguan, 13 = 2013; the 2015 sample from the same site is RaTG15, a different virus. Two traps in the text: the Baric interview transcribes it once as a bare "RaTG" (baric_ti p.136), corrected by the errata sheet at p.142 — "Strike 'RaTG' and insert 'RaTG13'" — and one Slack quotation of a conspiracy claim hyphenates it as "RaTG-13". Neither spelling is a distinct virus.
* `RaTG18` — not a virus — an in-joke about a flask in a press photograph (2 occurrences in the corpus)
  Both occurrences are the same 2020-10-26 exchange in the private Slack, after a newspaper profile photographed Edward Holmes in a lab: Andersen asks "does that flask say RaTG18?", and Holmes replies "I really should have written RaTG18 on one of those flasks. Damn. Next time." It is a joke at the expense of readers hunting for lab-leak evidence in photographs. No record in this corpus treats RaTG18 as an isolate, and it appears in no sequence, alignment or tree here.