The Gates Foundation awarded $9.5 million to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and principal investigator Yoshihiro Kawaoka for research aimed at modifying H5N1 viruses. The goal of the project is to alter the viruses to preferentially recognize human-type receptors and transmit efficiently in mammals.

The grant from the Gates Foundation was also allocated to a collaborative project between Yoshihiro Kawaoka and Ron Fouchier. Fouchier, who previously modified H5N1 to become airborne transmissible in ferrets at the Erasmus Medical Center, worked alongside Kawaoka to provide the two additional mutations necessary in Egyptian H5N1 viruses to create variants with the mammalian “transmissibility features” identified in Kawaoka’s study.

This project has raised alarm among experts and the public alike. Critics argue that the research funded by the Gates Foundation involves activities that could be likened to bioterrorism. By providing detailed blueprints on how to create more transmissible and potentially deadly variants of H5N1, the research could be misused by bad actors to develop biological weapons.

https://theleadingreport.com/the-gates-foundation-gave-9-5-million-to-uw-madison-in-research-grants-aimed-at-modifying-h5n1-viruses/?