The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said it is looking into a preprint study that was carried out at Boston University that created a “chimeric” COVID-19 variant that killed 80 percent of lab mice. “The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, did not review nor issue awards…

A National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases official said the agency will further evaluate a controversial Boston University-commissioned preprint study that developed a COVID-19 hybrid that killed “80 percent” of lab mice, saying the team involved didn’t clear the work with the federal agency. Speaking to STAT News, Emily Erbelding, the head of NIAID’s division…

A National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases official said the agency will further evaluate a controversial Boston University-commissioned preprint study that developed a COVID-19 hybrid that killed “80 percent” of lab mice, saying the team involved didn’t clear the work with the federal agency. Speaking to STAT News, Emily Erbelding, the head of NIAID’s division…

Boston University issued a statement Tuesday defending its research of a COVID-19 Omicron strain when they took the variant’s spike protein and attached it to the original COVID-19 strain, leading to a higher mortality rate in a certain species of mice, triggering concern among lawmakers. “The Omicron S-bearing virus robustly escapes vaccine-induced humoral immunity, mainly due…

Researchers with Boston University developed a strain of COVID-19 that killed 80 percent of mice infected with it, according to a pre-print study released last week, prompting concern and condemnation. A team of researchers from Boston and Florida extracted the Omicron variant’s spike protein, which they noted has “an unusually large number of mutations.” The…