Monday, December 17, 2012

We had an “international consultation” on the problem of gain of function research on H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) (see above discussions). The meeting took over two days from December 17 to December 18 and was conducted at the Natcher Auditorium at the National Institutes of Health. This is a continuing issue and a source of great discussion about what experiments should or should not be funded by the National Institutes of Health on this topic. I gave the opening keynote which everyone felt very clearly defined the issues. We will now finalize the draft of “Framework” for addressing the issue of what grants and contracts we should or should not fund that relate to a gain of function regarding respiratory transmissibility in mammals of the HPAI H5N1 influenza. I am trying to get myself out of this argument which has consumed a considerable amount of my time over the past 14 months.