Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted) — page 97

DC.Scheduling@LexitasLegal.com MS. SALAZAR: But that was part -- DR. BARIC: Yeah, that was part of it, but the Michigan group also had a vaccine vector where we would put in viral antigens to try to immunize the bats. MS. SALAZAR: And I think that there was, in the actual proposal, there was discussion about going to caves in Michigan. So to me that sounds like we might have been doing this in the United States as opposed to China. DR. BARIC: 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. MS. SALAZAR: So what they would be spraying in the caves would not be the gain-of-function? DR. BARIC: No. MS. SALAZAR: Okay. Why is that? DR. BARIC: So gain-of-function, you're talking about a live virus. MS. SALAZAR: What would they be spraying? DR. BARIC: 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. MS. SALAZAR: Why are they trying to do these two