Controversy surrounding a study that involved modifying SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, has prompted researchers to call for better guidance from funders
When researchers at Boston University in Massachusetts inserted a gene from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 into a strain of the virus from the beginning of the pandemic, they were trying to understand why Omicron causes mild disease.
“Some guidance is really needed,” says Pei-Yong Shi, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, whose team is seeking permission from the NIH to study whether SARS-CoV-2 can develop resistance to antiviral drugs the group is developing. The work had been approved by a BU biosafety committee, as well as a Boston city public-health board, and was conducted in a biocontainment facility deemed safe for work with SARS-CoV-2. But it is unclear whether the BU study has run afoul of any rules governing risky pathogen research.
In a statement, the NIH said that it did not fund the specific experiments reported in the preprint, and it is looking into whether the research still fell under its oversight. Ho’s lab, which also receives NIH funding, has been one of the world leaders in studying SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic. Ho says it wasn’t always clear what research was subject to review and what wasn’t, and he found himself frequently checking in with officials.