Kristian G. Andersen

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 / Private Message Drop, p.7 · original PDF · in context

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 research"_Hah - what data exactly?

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.7 · original PDF · in context

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 repeatedly negative- so I'm not 100% sure he's actually faking it, but knowing it's Fair, well...

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.27 · original PDF · in context

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 / Private Message Drop, p.37 · original PDF · in context

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 closest to both the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the original wet market that was considered an early source for the infection.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.37 · original PDF · in context

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 / Private Message Drop, p.37 · original PDF · in context

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 been a super spreading event).

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.45 · original PDF · in context

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 eLife papers, how about a hypothesis where the virus might have been introduced into (denselypacked) farmed animals and then maybe bouncing back and forth between the animals and humans for a (little) while.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.58 · original PDF · in context

_"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 / Private Message Drop, p.63 · original PDF · in context

Our paper was pretty strong insaying "there's no way", but I have less confidence in that statement at this stage.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.69 · original PDF · in context

We describe this in the paper and say that this work is performed "all of the world", but that isn't true - it has exclusively been going on at WIV.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.71 · original PDF · in context

Binding isn't everything though, so I wouldn't conclude it's "not as evolved" as previously thought -the binding is still very very strong (but.... so is the pangolin CoV, of course!).

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.81 · original PDF · in context

@Andrew Rambaut, great analysis in the COG report: https://www.cogconsortium.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2 5th-June-2020-Report-COVID-19-Genomics-UK-COG-UK-Consortium.pdf Question about this part: "As reported in a preliminary analysis of D614G (See COG-UK report #6), a significant association was observed between the age of patients and the probability of the virus carrying D614G, with decreasing odds of carrying the G variant as age increases.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.93 · original PDF · in context

However, the basis for this association remains unclear and may also result from sampling bias." Are you guys able to isolate the effect of time here?

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.93 · original PDF · in context

I'm super worried this is going to be Trump's next political trick - he would have _no_ hesitation pushing a vaccine through where we have very little or no data on population-wide safety

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.105 · original PDF · in context

"This virus doesn't lurk unobserved" - as is, definitely true - but I _do_ wonder if a pre-furin site virus could.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.109 · original PDF · in context

If Jeremy could mention that the meeting was confidential and the information classified (I believe it was a secure line?) that would be helpful.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.118 · original PDF · in context

There are no other explanations for how RB could have obtained this information, except for a breach of the peer review process - we have not shared any of the peer review details put forward by RB.The libelous accusations put forward by RB includes confidential details about private meetings held via secure lines involving senior US and UK officials/scientists on a topic that is highly sensitive.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.119 · original PDF · in context

Whether correct or not, pretty interesting though - especially given the pretty strong political line that this is due toreturn travelers (could be - but I'm also not sure about that...).

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.135 · original PDF · in context

I love their discussion of the furin site - "This furin cleavage site, *which is poly or multibasic by definition since itscomposed of multiple basic amino acids*".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.139 · original PDF · in context

Disappointing to see Helen write about the EgoHealth grant, as opposed to writing about how great it is that NIAIDwill be supporting these centers with an $82 million commitment... https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/27/nih-awards-grant-to-ecohealth-alliance-months-after-uproar-over-political-interference/

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.148 · original PDF · in context

Yeah, very true - actually, maybe we should file a FOIA... :wink:

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.150 · original PDF · in context

"the Guangdong pangolin viruses have been sequenced multiple times by multiple groups.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.179 · original PDF · in context

Plus there are Pangolins from Guangxi that have been sequenced" Yup, I know this - hence I have no concerns about the data.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.179 · original PDF · in context

Good thread summarizing some of the findings: https://twitter.com/influenzal/status/1311959153166954498?s=20[and of course - I want to know if they virus lacking the furin site can actually pick it up after repeated passage inculture on e.g., human lung cells... :wink: ]

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.206 · original PDF · in context

When you combine it with this part (from the paper): "we found that bat SARSr-CoV RBDs showed a higher binding affinityto human ACE2 than to R. sinicus ACE2s but did not display obvious differences among the R. sinicus ACE2s" -well, you'll always have a disaster in the waiting....

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.212 · original PDF · in context

I especially love the alternative to their declaration "lockdown [...] measures in place until a vaccine is available".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.213 · original PDF · in context

Eddie, it's your paper... :wink: https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)30251-8/fulltext I assume this is the same Weijun Chen who's the submitter of the data and is from BGI.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.242 · original PDF · in context

One thing "Steve" considers a potential hypothesis here is a "vaccine challenge trial" - which isn't totally idiotic.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.243 · original PDF · in context

For SARS we actually got to see some of those mutations because we captured the intermediate host - would be very interesting to see for SARS2 as well, but the mink data is definitely interesting in this regard.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.260 · original PDF · in context

The emergence itself could have been anywhere, but transmission probably got going in Wuhan (but not at the seafood market - that's a SSE)

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.301 · original PDF · in context

Essentially the argument is "we have considered it, and we don't find lab origins plausible" - but without even saying that.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.324 · original PDF · in context

That said, since Jesse has obviously had this data for a while I'm a little surprised he's come out so hard saying that none of the lineage mutations should affect immunity / vaccines and that escape would take years.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.360 · original PDF · in context

I absolutely hope not though - it's apretty scary thought and I have no idea how driving vaccines into a raging pandemic will change that landscape.> Pooh - love it :wink:.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.371 · original PDF · in context

I'm not so sure immune selection isn't showing an appreciable selection pressure - "phase change" might be a little too strong, however, I think it could already be one of the most selective forces.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.374 · original PDF · in context

If we start seeing reinfections (or vaccine failures) in Manaus / Israel driven by escape, then we might have torethink our entire vaccination strategy.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.378 · original PDF · in context

If we follow this crackpot theory a little bit, knowing that animals that received the OxAZN vaccine were not protected against infection (at all - vaccinated animals had as much virus as unvaccinated animals in the upper airways after challenge).

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.400 · original PDF · in context

Sure, the fact that WIV was/isdoing work on SARS-like CoVs elevates that prior probability (but a lot), but it still gets it nowhere near the "50/50"scenario Jesse is talking about.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.410 · original PDF · in context

Yeah, we'll have to wait and see - maybe SC2 only has a narrow window for escaping (some level of) immunity, but I'm not convinced that's the case - we only need to look to all the ccCoVs.I warned Alina about her "well adapted to human" comments, making it clear that compared to SARS, yes, that might look to be the case, but there's a whole world of viruses out there where what we're seeing (dN/dS) in SC2 isnothing special.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.416 · original PDF · in context

I think most of us have been pushing the "vaccines are not going to be a silver bullet" message for a while - I wonderif people will listen now...

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.418 · original PDF · in context

I have not read it yet - but he asked reasonable questions... https://www.cnet.com/features/the-hunt-for-covid-19s-origin-and-the-lab-leak-theory/

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.428 · original PDF · in context

Yeah, very interesting - seems like that the "RaTG13 lost the pango RBD" might actually turn out true.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.450 · original PDF · in context

How people can look at this data and conclude that "it'll be totally fine for vaccines - all good news", I simply don't understand.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.456 · original PDF · in context

One thing they miss - that mismatch in the key RBD residue where CamboBat has "P" and the PangoCoV and SC2 have "F" (and SC1 / RmYN02 have "L") the "pre"-SARS CoVs from e.g., civets ALSO have "P".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.456 · original PDF · in context

Are these the (not really) "official" names you guys came up with?

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.474 · original PDF · in context

The only viable version of the "lab escape" hypothesis that's left, is the one we mention in PO1 - that somebody had the virus at the WIV and popped it into tissue culture.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.490 · original PDF · in context

I hear the Pziser vaccine is pretty bad :wink:.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.526 · original PDF · in context

519 is "H" in SC2, but N in almost all other sequences - the only other deviation is K in the P378 pangolin, although that is a pretty bad sequence, so might not be real.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.536 · original PDF · in context

If this is the one with, especially, eek, then that's interesting - a lot of standing immunity in large parts ofNYC.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.545 · original PDF · in context

Dear Fox, I suggest Steve looks up "Gain of Function" in a dictionary as a start.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.547 · original PDF · in context

That's indeed pretty naive thinking - plus, the RBD can be found across multiple different viruses by now, so clearly this isn't "selecting for human transmissibility".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.568 · original PDF · in context

Sure sign of engineering had we found a futon cleavage site! :100:

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.570 · original PDF · in context

"Central to being a good scientist is keeping an open mind when evidence is sparse, and as a "virus expert" who has followed this topic closely: it's clear in any objective assessment that both natural origins and accidental lab leak are plausible." Well, look at the fucking data first.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.603 · original PDF · in context

If they could credibly show that three people at WIV got sick and needed to go to the hospital in November, then that would absolutely be troubling.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.613 · original PDF · in context

I gotta say - if the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 really _did_ require a bat and a pangolin mating, then I would be firmly in the lab leak camp too...

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.618 · original PDF · in context

I learned today that Scripps Research has a 1/3% royaltystream to the COVID-19 vaccines because we hold the patent on the "2P" mutation used to stabilize the spike protein - used in all the leading vaccines...$40m so far this year.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.618 · original PDF · in context

"her laboratory used recombinant viruses to test whether bat CoVs could use ACE2 to bind but used bat spike protein on *a bat-CoV backbone*, not human SARS" Which backbone?

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.655 · original PDF · in context

It received ACE2 mice in 2016 and *started recombinant experiments with WIV +SHC014* in 2018 but did not finish them owing to the COVID outbreak" This might all just be bad writing, but there's a lot of wiggle room in these statements.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.655 · original PDF · in context

A lot of the conspiracy theories mention the "GOF Research" at WIV and how they made these scary recombinant viruses - but that work was in DeepThroat's lab, not at WIV - so maybe that's what they're pushing against.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.655 · original PDF · in context

There is somuch focus on "WE MUST GO IN TO FULLY INVESTIGATE WIV!", while the more important study is acollaborative endeavor, focusing on the more likely scenarios._I don't think the likes of Jesse understand this.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.667 · original PDF · in context

And it's not just scientists at the WIV that would have to be lying - it's a whooooole lot of other people too.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.667 · original PDF · in context

Had itreally been a lab leak, I seriously doubt they would have been able to cover this up - if they did, great job, yougraduated spook school.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.667 · original PDF · in context

"The priority should be to "follow the animals", starting at the Huanan market" - :100:, can't stress this enough.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.669 · original PDF · in context

In fact, it'd be great if this was a lab accident - that way our ready-to-go grants on bioterrorism would be a shoo-inwith the NIH.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.672 · original PDF · in context

Here's what we got: "Rubio, the vice chairman of the committee, said an accidental lab escape was "plausible" and pointed to some reasons why he thought so, including that "researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology have demonstrated from their publication record that they were skilled at techniques in which they genetically modified bat coronaviruses," as well as that viruses such as SARS have escaped from Chinese labs in the past and that U.S.diplomats warned about subpar biosafety standards at the Wuhan lab in 2018".So to your point Bob, nothing.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.704 · original PDF · in context

@Andrew Rambaut - do you have any insights about vaccine "breakthroughs" from your data?

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.707 · original PDF · in context

I was on a call with folks from the White House oversight committee this morning talking about all of this stuff - they're still pretty focused on lab escapes, but definitely see the need for "follow the animals".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.731 · original PDF · in context

Once scientists have the resources to identify and track viruses with the gravest pandemic potential, a consortium of countries led by the U.S.should fund Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials around the world to test new vaccines against them."_https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/how-pandemic-proof-world/618682/

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.732 · original PDF · in context

And look at the title "Classified study found COVID-19 _could_ have originated in Chinese lab".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.745 · original PDF · in context

"Not racists, however, the Chinese scientists, authorities, and public health officials are lying"

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.769 · original PDF · in context

Thoughts on this? ```This is on background - the letter doesn't add anything and the title is literally "Investigate the origins ofCOVID-19", which I think we can all agree on and is already being done.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.771 · original PDF · in context

This seems to bethe main (only?) one: https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698.VERY clearly not GOF as defined here (they don't do serial passage, they don't create the chimeric viruses to be"better pathogens", they're not SARS, MERS, or flu, etc., etc. - and the chimeric viruses actually bind worse tohuman receptors than wildtype):https://www.phe.gov/s3/dualuse/documents/gain-of-function.pdfhttps://www.phe.gov/s3/dualuse/documents/p3co.pdfIt's total BS.Just FYI since this might come up in random conversation...

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.781 · original PDF · in context

We are well aware of the upcoming letter and I was somewhat amused to see that one of your signatories include a person who vehemently attacked me when I suggested we needed to take a potential lab leak seriously back in February, 2020 - the reason why the _"Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats"_ that David and I sit on was established.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.785 · original PDF · in context

We are aware of the upcoming letter and I was amused to see that one of your signatories is a person who vehemently attacked me when I suggested we needed to take a potential lab leak seriously back in February, 2020 - the reason why the "Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats" that David and I sit on was established.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.786 · original PDF · in context

Making naive demands for investigations and data that are clearly outside the scope, mandate, or capabilities of the WHO - instead of putting our full support behind joint missions already in progress - will make it harder to uncoverexactly how SARS-CoV-2 emerged.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.786 · original PDF · in context

"And missing the opportunity to stop the next one by focusing blame on a postdoc in WIV" Yes - as Shi said _The continued pressure on scientists who are working to understand the risk of coronavirus emergence actually weakens our ability to prevent the next zoonosis._

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.803 · original PDF · in context

This is good - because if we can kill the "Wuhan isn't so special", it'll help turn over a lot of people.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.817 · original PDF · in context

He's such an idiot - no matter what eDim says, this is "unequivocally" *not* gain of function.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.821 · original PDF · in context

Shi's name on them showing that work he considers dangerous had been done in level BSL-2 labs, which he considers highly porous to leaks, not just in 2016, but in 2020." Is the daft?

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.825 · original PDF · in context

Would be great to specifically get a sense of whether October -November are "special" when it comes to bats moving around, getting into new territories, etc.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.829 · original PDF · in context

Also, Eddie - any insights on how "special" Wuhan may be?

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.829 · original PDF · in context

It's highly unlikely that a lab escape - of all places -would be associated with two different markets.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.833 · original PDF · in context

Actually, the questions about bats and "how special is Wuhan" may be very good questions for the EgoHealth crew -I expect they might have some insights, so maybe ask?

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.836 · original PDF · in context

"There are all sorts of reasons to worry about possible lab origins, and it's critical to get to the bottom of this," Fordcontinued, adding that "one very particular claim made by AVC purporting to 'prove' WIV origin by 'statisticalanalysis' turned out to be junk science and evaporated when subjected to scrutiny by their own scientific panel," referring to a Jan. 7 panel of experts the AVC had arranged to review its findings." Poor Quay :wink:

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.876 · original PDF · in context

... and one additional thing to that point that Joel brought up earlier today - if WIV really had three people who endedup in the hospital with COVID, a TON of people would have had to have gotten infected before that wouldstatistically be plausible given hospitalization rates.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.884 · original PDF · in context

It's not "we need to consider a lab leak" - I get that and I agree with that.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.886 · original PDF · in context

Do yourself a favor and read it - and then ask yourself this question "Since then, what new data have we gotten to support a lab leak?".https://img-prod.tgcom24.mediaset.it/images/2020/02/16/114720192-5eb8307f-017c-4075-a697-348628da0204.pdf

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.890 · original PDF · in context

After that realization, you have _got_ to ask yourself "did 4991 just escape from WIV".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.896 · original PDF · in context

I don't know what Trevor is on about - the first tweet in that thread is outright false: "We now have mainstream scientific opinions that largely range between "lab leak can be dismissed" and "both zoonosis and lab leak are viable" Eh, no - nobody said we could dismiss anything.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.908 · original PDF · in context

As for our opening paragraph, I was playing around with the "capture-release" vs "lab leak" stuff yesterday, making some FAQs to respond to the stuff around Tony's emails.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.911 · original PDF · in context

What I think is key here - and maybe we could specifically mention it - is that a "lab leak" is insufficient in itself to explain the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.911 · original PDF · in context

Astute people might point out that "finding pandemic viruses before they find us" is _exactly_ what the EcoHealth/WIV program tried to do, however, we then either have to admit that that program was successful beyond belief OR, as we point out in our previous Nature commentary, is hugely unlikely (we can then just reference our paper).

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.912 · original PDF · in context

From the journo Eddie was talking to - "the pangolins WIV was using in CoV studies".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.917 · original PDF · in context

If he can find evidence of pangolins at the Huanan market and link that back to e.g., that wildlife rescue center, holysmokes - I mean, that would be an actual smoking gun.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.917 · original PDF · in context

This defense of Quay's so called "Bayesian Analysis" is kinda hilarious. http://downloads.vanityfair.com/lab-leak-theory/Response_to_Former_Asst_Sec_Ford.pdf?_ga=2.64746348.21312 45650.1622909444-1945384548.1621574023

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.924 · original PDF · in context

Using the recent paper to "lay to rest the natural origin of SARS-CoV-2" because, wait for it, no bats or pangolins were sold.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.932 · original PDF · in context

I think I can see where her article is going - "the lab leak debate was silenced by labeling those believing in it asconspiracy theorists".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.933 · original PDF · in context

This idea that there was some sort of "lab leak suppression campaign" is preposterous and dangerous - I mean, why the FUCK would anybody outside China try to suppress that if we thought it were true?

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.942 · original PDF · in context

This has NOTHING to do with "freedom of information" and everythingto do with targeted harassment.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.981 · original PDF · in context

Couldn't agree with him more - except that I find even the "research associated" scenario to be hugely unlikely.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1011 · original PDF · in context

He should just say "I think they put in the furin site" and be done with it - I'd respect him more if he did that.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1012 · original PDF · in context

I bloody hope not - but just looking at the mutations, I would be _very_ surprised if anupdated vaccine wouldn't be necessary.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1029 · original PDF · in context

If we then add what is sure to be additional immune escape (possibly near-complete), it'd be disastrous.So I'm just going to hope that it's all a fluke and that it actually has a significantly lower R0 than Delta because of that weird RBD and then it won't be able to compete.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1030 · original PDF · in context

If this all came down to "what's the likelihood of a lab leak", then sure, all of this would be very concerning.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1033 · original PDF · in context

However,we have to contend with all the "unlikelihood" that would have to happen _upstream_ and _downstream_ of anactual lab leak for that to explain how SC2 emerged in the human population, plus, of course, actual evidence.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1033 · original PDF · in context

It's a little strange we mention this part though:_"In theory, it is possible that SARS-CoV-2 acquired the observed RBD mutations site during adaptation to passagein cell culture, as has been observed in studies with SARS-CoV5 as well as MERS-CoV"_We mention the Pangolin CoVs in the paper too, so clearly we must just have failed to connect the two - no, the RBD couldn't have been the result of passage.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1057 · original PDF · in context

And just to be clear - when/if Bob and I are subpoenaed they may ask to see all correspondence (emails) relevant tothe paper and we would have no choice but to comply.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1062 · original PDF · in context

Yes, we (especially I, since I'm not a citizen) could plead the5th, but that would be extremely unwise and my institution would very likely not support that - plus, that'd likely turn into a lawsuit, in which case everything would have to be handed over anyway.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1062 · original PDF · in context

Kinda hilarious to read that - she gets every single fact wrong and, of course, the "WHO Mission" was completely unrelated to what Jeremy was talking about back in February.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1064 · original PDF · in context

Our earlier conclusions have only been further strengthened by additional scientific evidence and analyses - and the absence of evidence from the recently completed investigations by the US intelligence community.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1065 · original PDF · in context

For hypotheses that have been "unduly influenced" by "political ramifications" you need look no further than the narrative around the "lab leak" theory or the many conspiracy theories currently being amplified, including the ones suggesting that scientific investigations were "unduly influenced by the political ramifications of the hypothesis".

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1065 · original PDF · in context

All of our conclusions were written in our published and peer-reviewed papers (i.e., inNature Medicine and then updated in Cell late last year).

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1066 · original PDF · in context

All of the emails show the establishment of the hypotheseswe later outlined in the Proximal Origins paper and then the assessment of these based on the available evidence.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1066 · original PDF · in context

Our earlier conclusions have only been further strengthened by additional scientific evidence and analyses - and e.g., the absence of evidence from the recently completed investigations by the USintelligence community.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1068 · original PDF · in context

For hypotheses that have been "unduly influenced" by "political ramifications" you need look no further than the current narrative around the "lab leak" theory or the many conspiracy theories currently being amplified bynon-experts, including the ones suggesting that scientific investigations were "unduly influenced by the political ramifications of the hypothesis".I look forward to reading your article - which I trust will be based on science and not untrue conspiracy theories.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1068 · original PDF · in context

Yeah, this is very "RaTG13-like" and has the RaTG13 RBD, not BANAL-52.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1070 · original PDF · in context

It's actually interesting reading through the old version of the version of Proximal (via the wayback machine - the current version on Virological is the most recent) to compare it to the final version in Nature Medicine.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1079 · original PDF · in context

It's pretty clear that we still considered the "passage" (hypothesis 3) quite plausible at the time - and we had failed to realize the real importance of the pangolin RBD.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1079 · original PDF · in context

"we had failed to realize the real importance of the pangolin RBD" That bit is pretty key.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1079 · original PDF · in context

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.

Slack / Private Message Drop, p.1080 · original PDF · in context