The non-denial denial. The denial that confirms gain of unction was funded -- only it wasn't bad gain of function is their story.
The entire point of gain-of-function experiments is to make viruses easier to catch, harder for immune systems to stop, and more destructive.
On gain of function.
"To characterize spillover risk of SARS-CoV quasispecies (QS) the Wuhan Instituter of Virology team (WIV) wil test bat fecal, oral, and blood samples for SARSr-CoVs by PCR. We will collect viral load data from fresh fecal pellets. SARS-CoV spike proteins will be sequenced, viral recombination events identified, and isolates used to identify strains that can replicate in human cells. The Univ. N. Carolina (UNC) team will reverse-engineer spike proteins of a large Sample of high- and low-risk viruses for further characterization, This will effectively freeze the QS we analyze at t=0. These QS0 strain viral spike glycoproteins will be synthesized and those binding to human cell receptor ACE2 wil be inserted into SARS.CoV backbones (non-DURC, non-GoF), and inoculated into humanized mice to assess capacity o cause SARS-like disease, efficacy of monoclonal therapies, the inhibitor of G-57348 or vaccines against SARS-Cov8-12.
So they're claiming no gain of function, but it sure smells like gain of function. Since they are experimenting to find spike proteins which bind to ACE2, and putting them into regular SARS backbones to find out which ones cause disease and which ones are resistant to ameliorative measures.
My take is their out is "we didn't know for SURE they were going to add infectivity and resist treatment, so you can't call it GAIN of function".
Their ostensible purpose is to map evolutionary likelihood of natural evolutionary jumps from bats to humans.
But it sure is "one turn of the screwdriver away" from actual weaponizing, given that two Nobel Prize winning virologists have said the coof virus is bioengineered...
Crimes against humanity.