--- type: Person title: Kristian G. Andersen description: "Professor, Scripps Research" tags: - person - scripps organization: scripps document_count: 11737 first_seen: "2020-01-31T19:39:00" last_seen: "2023-06-28T20:44:44" aliases: - Andersen - kandersen - kga1978@gmail.com - Kristian Andersen - Kristian G. Andersen sources: - { id: baric_ti, resource: /sources/baric-ti.md, title: Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), author: "process:senate-hsgac-release", last_modified: 2026-07-23 } - { id: fauci_diary, resource: /sources/fauci-diary.md, title: Tony's Diary Package, author: "process:senate-hsgac-release", last_modified: 2026-07-24 } - { id: fauci_intel, resource: /sources/fauci-intel.md, title: Fauci Intelligence Community Release, author: "process:senate-hsgac-release", last_modified: 2026-06-11 } - { id: slack_pm, resource: /sources/slack-pm.md, title: Slack / Private Message Drop, author: "process:senate-hsgac-release" } generated: { by: randpaul-corpus-pipeline/1.0, at: "2026-08-01T12:42:27Z" } status: stable --- Professor, Scripps Research # Activity - **Documents:** 11737 (sent/authored 3556, received 8181) - **Active:** 2020-01-31 to 2023-06-28 - **Organization:** [scripps](/organizations/scripps.md) - **Appears as:** `Andersen`, `kandersen`, `kga1978@gmail.com`, `Kristian Andersen`, `Kristian G. Andersen` # Correspondents | Person | Messages | First | Last | |---|---:|---|---| | [Robert F. Garry](/people/robert-f-garry.md) | 6849 | 2020-04-30 | 2023-06-28 | | [Edward C. Holmes](/people/edward-c-holmes.md) | 6542 | 2020-04-30 | 2023-06-28 | | [Andrew Rambaut](/people/andrew-rambaut.md) | 5454 | 2020-04-30 | 2023-06-28 | | [Anthony S. Fauci](/people/anthony-s-fauci.md) | 1 | 2020-01-31 | 2020-01-31 | | [Francis S. Collins](/people/francis-s-collins.md) | 1 | 2021-06-20 | 2021-06-20 | | [Jeremy Farrar](/people/jeremy-farrar.md) | 1 | 2020-07-28 | 2020-07-28 | | Uslackbot | 1 | 2021-05-14 | 2021-05-14 | # Topics * [Intelligence community assessments](/topics/intelligence-community.md) - 376 documents * [Natural origin / zoonotic spillover](/topics/natural-origin.md) - 374 documents * [Lab-leak / accidental release hypothesis](/topics/lab-leak-origin.md) - 275 documents * [Furin cleavage site and molecular features](/topics/molecular-features.md) - 271 documents * [Wuhan Institute of Virology collaboration](/topics/wiv-collaboration.md) - 253 documents * [Vaccines](/topics/vaccines.md) - 236 documents * [Proximal Origin paper](/topics/proximal-origin.md) - 114 documents * [FOIA, records and transparency](/topics/foia-transparency.md) - 67 documents * [China relations and data access](/topics/china-relations.md) - 61 documents * [WHO and international investigation](/topics/who-international.md) - 55 documents # Statement timeline What this person is recorded saying, in date order, quoted verbatim with page citations. * **2020-05-01** ([proximal_origin](/topics/proximal-origin.md), questions): "Should we just go ahead and retract our paper?" [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-01** ([natural_origin](/topics/natural-origin.md), asserts): "Which, I don't know, in combination with wet markets and the like might increase the risk of an outbreak from a bat coronaviruses.We need an actual razor in Occam's razor." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-01** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "I also had a pretty heated discussion with him on one of the WH committee calls where I mentioned that the RBD would probably lead to high affinity binding and the furin site being active." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-02** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "Speaking of furin - Bob, your old buddy is on the Virological again and it's a pretty nice theory for how the furin site was acquired in bats - just need to add a little extra divergence and there you have…" [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-03** ([ecohealth_funding](/topics/ecohealth-funding.md), asserts): "This cracked me up - from CBS 60 minutes: _"We have been working with Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, and looking at his effort to identify viral threats in the wild." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-03** ([ecohealth_funding](/topics/ecohealth-funding.md), questions): "Given the recent announcement of their cut in funding, we're looking to speak with someone inthe scientific community *who has used EcoHealth Alliance's data and sequences from samples in their own work* and can speak to the importance of this type of field…" [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-12** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "The furin site is clearly active in tissue culture." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-12** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "Typically SARS-like CoVs are cultured in the presence of trypsin (to allow for cleavage of S1/S2), but if trypsin isn't added, there's a *huge* selection pressure for gaining a furin site." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-12** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "The example from bovine CoVs (post #6 on the thread on virological) is exactly a 12bp insertion seen in tissue culture creating a furin cleavage site.3." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-12** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "They're not furin sites, but there seems to be some affinity specifically for12bp insertions (in T/C) - and of course, the furin cleavage site is exactly 12bp." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-14** ([intelligence_community](/topics/intelligence-community.md), asserts): "We did, however, get a clear signal for bullshit".I should say though - SARS-CoV-2 RNA _does not_ always remain in nasal secretions - especially in severe cases.We have multiple examples of patients hospitalized with (confirmed) COVID where the tests are…" [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-18** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "When it comes to the selection argument, what is still most telling to be is the RBD." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-18** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "SARS-CoV-2 is already'perfect' for binding, so it doesn't need to - BUT that 'perfect' RBD is found in a pangolin CoV, so clearly it already exists in nature - no further adaptation needed it seems." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-25** ([proximal_origin](/topics/proximal-origin.md), asserts): "AndersenI read with interest your paper titled, The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2, in which you conclude this is a natural, zoonotic-sourced infection." [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-25** ([wiv_collaboration](/topics/wiv-collaboration.md), asserts): "If you use a map of Wuhan and overlay the first four hospitals that saw cases with a map of the Metro system, you see that the hospitals straddle Line 2, which runs approximately east to west, carries 1,000,000 people a day, and isthe Metro line with stops…" [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-25** ([proximal_origin](/topics/proximal-origin.md), questions): "Iam not sure why this obvious correlation was not at least pointed out in your paper and then addressed with acogent argument.I look forward to hearing your thoughts.Regards, Steve Steven _MD, PhD" [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-28** ([intelligence_community](/topics/intelligence-community.md), questions): "On to better papers, this is pretty interesting - especially cats: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/368/6494/1016.full.pdf Cat-like intermediate host?" [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-28** ([natural_origin](/topics/natural-origin.md), questions): "I'm not sure where he has this from "The novel coronavirus had existed long before", but other than that, seems plausible - I don't really think we have any good reason to believe that all of this started in the seafood market(it could very likely just have…" [^slack_pm] * **2020-05-29** ([intelligence_community](/topics/intelligence-community.md), asserts): "Haven't had time to read this yet, but not quite understanding why I'm not seeing Eddie's name on this... https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/28/sciadv.abb9153" [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-03** ([intelligence_community](/topics/intelligence-community.md), asserts): "And yes, there were (short) delays no doubt - but they were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things (my main issue here is that especially in the US is that people can't uncouple the two - i.e.(1) the delay and (2) the consequences from that delay." [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-06** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "As to how beneficial the furin site is inhumans, I thought this one was reasonably interesting (although I don't believe we have seen this in our sequences- we'll dig deeper):https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.03.129585v1Between the flu and…" [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-06** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "That'd explain the lack of positive selection in the spike (which really is *highly* unusual IMO) and also the acquisition of the furin site - it clearly seems like some sort of heavy passaging must have been required to gain that site." [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-06** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), questions): "Is it possible that the furin site is advantageous during high passage scenarios (transmission) but maybe not so much within host?" [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-06** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), questions): "In that scenario, maybe the furin cleavage site is maintained during exponentially increasing outbreaks (like we have observed up until about a month ago), but might be lost during more low-transmission periods?" [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-06** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), questions): "To see ifthere's a link to transmissions, if we look at viruses sequenced in low-transmission places (or during low-transmission times) vs viruses sequenced in high-transmission places (or times), is there an association with the former showing more evidence…" [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-07** ([intelligence_community](/topics/intelligence-community.md), asserts): "We KNOW we can't predict these kind of outcomes with _*any*_ certainty so we shouldn't even try - especially not when it comes to something this important." [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-08** ([intelligence_community](/topics/intelligence-community.md), asserts): "One thing is to report basedon tweets (which is wrong), another is doing it when the person isn't a subject-matter expert - I find that really problematic, especially for something this important." [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-08** ([intelligence_community](/topics/intelligence-community.md), asserts): "_"Clearly, there was some level of social disruption taking place well before what was previously identified as the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic."_ Whatever that was, it wasn't COVID - we know this very specifically from the genetic data." [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-11** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), questions): "While I knew about the furin site insertion experiments, I did know realize this (that the insertion in SARS2 is exactly where they inserted it experimentally in SARS):https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1266805310313967617?s=20" [^slack_pm] * **2020-06-11** ([molecular_features](/topics/molecular-features.md), asserts): "The furin site in SARS2 is exactly the same as it is in some of the HKU1 sequences." [^slack_pm] # Sources [^baric_ti]: [baric_ti](/sources/baric-ti.md) [^fauci_diary]: [fauci_diary](/sources/fauci-diary.md) [^fauci_intel]: [fauci_intel](/sources/fauci-intel.md) [^slack_pm]: [slack_pm](/sources/slack-pm.md)