7-26-2017 Lentiviral vectors are virus particles that can be used as a vaccine to stimulate the immune system to fight against specific pathogens. The vectors are derived from HIV, rendered non-pathogenic, and then engineered to carry genetic material into the body's immune cells; the genes program the cells to fight specific pathogens. New research from the laboratory of David Baltimore, president emeritus and the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology, shows that additional materials acquired during the vector's formation—namely, proteins and human genomic DNA—play an important role in activating the immune system. Understanding how lentiviral vectors interact with the immune system is critical to improving vaccines so as to maximize the immune response, and to understanding infectious processes occurring in natural pathogens. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-07-genetically-viruses-effective-vaccines.html
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2-3-20 Viruses mutate all the time, but most changes are synonymous or “silent”, having little effect on the way the virus behaves. Others, known as nonsynonymous substitutions, can alter biological traits, allowing them to adapt to different environments.
Two nonsynonymous changes took place in the viral strains isolated from the family, according to a new study by Professor Cui Jie and colleagues at the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai—in the paper published in the journal National Science Review on January 29. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3048772/striking-coronavirus-mutations-found-within-one-family-cluster
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A genetically modified virus is a virus that has been altered or generated using biotechnology methods and remains capable of infection. Genetic modification involves the directed insertion, deletion, artificial synthesis or change of nucleotide bases in viral genomes.
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11-17-2016 The genetically engineered virus as the cause of humanity’s downfall, although equally ironic, is perhaps scarier than the prospect of nuclear war because it is more of an unknown. What is it? As the name implies, it is a virus that has been created or modified at a genetic level. Scientists have started to toy with these viruses to treat other human illnesses, such as cancer. For example, researchers in a lab could create a virus that targets and kills cancer cells, curing patients without chemotherapy. But there are possible applications for just about any condition, including alcoholism. Smithsonian Magazine reported that a genetically engineered virus could reduce the urge to drink by introducing a certain gene into neurons that control behavior of an addicted brain, and then manipulating them into encouraging or discouraging the problem behavior….
…some experts have been warning us about the dangers of these genetically modified viruses and the risk of an infectious outbreak for at least a decade. One article in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health targets viruses whose DNA has been modified as well as vaccines that use genetically engineered viruses. They “possess significant unpredictability and a number of inherent harmful potential hazards,” even to people who are not the patient and to other species, the article says. And when the engineered viruses in vaccines reproduce with their naturally occurring counterparts, they may “possess totally unpredictable characteristics with regard to host preferences and disease-causing potentials.”
Aside from engineered viruses possibly creating offspring in our bodies in unpredictable ways that ultimately make them stronger and impervious to our current medical treatments, one way these modified or engineered viruses could start infecting us and spread like wildfire could be a containment issue in a laboratory setting, which is not unheard of — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had a scare a few years ago when employees were at risk of exposure to anthrax.
The genetically engineered viruses that could start an outbreak in a lab that spreads to the rest of humanity are already out there. In a Wisconsin lab, Gizmodo has reported, one scientist created a strain of the feared H1N1 flu, commonly referred to as “swine flu” several years ago, that “can completely escape the human immune system” and its antibodies — making us all “unable to resist an outbreak.” https://www.medicaldaily.com/genetically-engineered-virus-dangers-why-does-stephen-hawking-think-it-will-404595
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10-5-2001 Experts fear that the genetic revolution, which helped map the Human Genome, may provide terrorists with far more deadly weapons, that could bring about diseases that would be even more difficult to treat than anthrax or smallpox.
"Advances in genomics have greatly increased the possibilities of mixing and matching traits from different microorganisms," says Dr. Ketan Desai, bioterrorism expert and author of Germs of War.
This mixing and matching, also known as recombinant technology, can be used, for example, to take a gene that makes a deadly toxin from one strain of bacteria and introduce it into other bacterial strains.
Dangerous pathogens or infectious agents can be made more deadly, and relatively benign agents can become major public health problems….
"In my opinion, this is not fanciful and there is good reason for concern," says Dr. David Yandell, Director of the Vermont Comprehensive Cancer Center. The expertise and technology to create lethal new strains of viruses and bacteria are available at almost any university in the United States and abroad. "I don't think that the public realizes fully that this is not rocket science," says Yandell. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117204&page=1
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(2) Articles in Nature journal (2015): Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research
(3) Wuhan biolab experts worked in USA (Univ. North Carolina) & Canada
(Winnipeg) and brought that research home to Wuhan
(4/5) Wuhan Lab ( Prof. Zhengli Shi and Xingyi Ge ) did the genetic engineering for Ralph Baric at University of North Carolina
(6) The spike glycoprotein of 2019-nCoV contains a cleavage absent in CoV - showing that it was engineered rather than evolved
(7) Asians show a similar ACE2 expression to other races; virus will affect all races
(9) Professor Shi Zhengli is deputy-director of the P4 lab at Wuhan Institute of Virology https://www.gazetawarszawska.com/index.php/pugnae/4558-wuhan-biolab
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Ralph Baric’s research specializes in coronaviruses and emerging infections like Zika virus. In a recent interview he discusses whether the world is prepared for the next superbug outbreak....Most of the research in the Baric Lab uses coronaviruses as models to study the genetics of RNA virus transcription, replication, persistence and cross-species transmission. Dr. Baric also has used alphavirus vaccine vectors to develop novel candidate vaccines. https://sph.unc.edu/adv_profile/ralph-s-baric-phd/
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by Y Yang - 2015 - Cited by 51 - Related articles
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by Y Wan - 2020 - Cited by 34
Jan 29, 2020 - Yushun Wan 1,*, Jian Shang 1,*, Rachel Graham 2, Ralph S. Baric 2, Fang ... Zheng-Li Shi PZ, Xing-Lou Yang, Xian-Guang Wang, Ben Hu, Lei ...
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