Editing Boston University (section)

==== COVID-19 research and gain-of-function controversy ====
In October 2022, Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories conducted research in a Biosafety Level 3 lab that modified the original strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 with the spike proteins of the Omicron variant.<ref name="Branswell 2022">{{Cite web |last=Branswell |first=Helen |date=October 18, 2022 |title=Boston University researchers' testing of lab-made version of Covid virus draws government scrutiny |url=https://www.statnews.com/2022/10/17/boston-university-researchers-testing-of-lab-made-version-of-covid-virus-draws-government-scrutiny/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020162508/https://www.statnews.com/2022/10/17/boston-university-researchers-testing-of-lab-made-version-of-covid-virus-draws-government-scrutiny/ |archive-date=October 20, 2022 |access-date=October 20, 2022 |website=STAT |language=en-US}}</ref> This resulted in a virus that was more lethal to lab mice than the Omicron variant itself, but less lethal than the original strain.<ref name="Branswell 2022" /> Some medical authorities criticized the research as dangerous "[[Gain-of-function research|gain of function]]" research, but others argued that it did not ''technically'' count as gain of function research because the modified virus happened not to be quite as lethal as the original strain.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gain of Function? Not So Fast. |url=https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/gain-function-not-so-fast |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020154818/https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/gain-function-not-so-fast |archive-date=October 20, 2022 |access-date=October 20, 2022 |website=www.science.org |language=en}}</ref> Marc Lipsitch of Harvard, however, argued "these are unquestionably gain-of-function experiments. As many have noted, this is a very broad term encompassing many harmless and some potentially dangerous experiments. GOF is a scientific technique, not an epithet."<ref>{{Cite tweet |number=1582574061062098946 |user=mlipsitch |title=First, these are unquestionably gain-of-function experiments... |language=en}}</ref> While the BU researchers gained internal research and Boston government approvals for the research, they failed to notify the US Government's [[National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases]] that was a funder of the lab.<ref name="Branswell 2022" />