we write the music but can we face it? Synthetic viruses

10-29-2003   A scientist funded by the US government has deliberately created an extremely deadly form of mousepox, a relative of the smallpox virus, through genetic engineering.  The new virus kills all mice even if they have been given antiviral drugs as well as a vaccine that would normally protect them.  The work has not stopped there. The cowpox virus, which infects a range of animals including humans, has been genetically altered in a similar way.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4318-us-develops-lethal-new-viruses/#ixzz6L9NZfiAb

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1-6-2006  "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.   https://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=11720

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3-10-2013  Although bioweapons have been used in war for many centuries, a recent surge in genetic understanding, as well as a rapid growth in computational power, has allowed genetic engineering to play a larger role in the development of new bioweapons. In the bioweapon industry, genetic engineering can be used to manipulate genes to create new pathogenic characteristics aimed at enhancing the efficacy of the weapon through increased survivability, infectivity, virulence, and drug resistance (2). While the positive societal implications of improved biotechnology are apparent, the “black biology” of bioweapon development may be “one of the gravest threats we will face” (2). https://sites.dartmouth.edu/dujs/2013/03/10/genetically-engineered-bioweapons-a-new-breed-of-weapons-for-modern-warfare/

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7-1-2014  A controversial scientist who carried out provocative research on making influenza viruses more infectious has completed his most dangerous experiment to date by deliberately creating a pandemic strain of flu that can evade the human immune system.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has genetically manipulated the 2009 strain of pandemic flu in order for it to “escape” the control of the immune system’s neutralising antibodies, effectively making the human population defenceless against its reemergence. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/exclusive-controversial-us-scientist-creates-deadly-new-flu-strain-for-pandemic-research-9577088.html

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12-6-2018   Possible future pandemics may not depend on the chance meeting of different animal species and chance mutations, but may be deliberately designed instead. New tools from the field of synthetic biology could endow scientists with the frightening ability to design and manufacture maximally dangerous pathogens, leapfrogging natural selection.  https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/12/6/18127430/superbugs-biotech-pathogens-biorisk-pandemic

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5-22-2019    "What we've learned how to do is reprogram that immune system to attack itself," says Paul Garofolo, the company's CEO.  "We load the viruses up with CRISPR constructs, which essentially work like little Pac-Men.  They go into a target bacteria cell, and they chew up the DNA of that target.  It makes them much more potent killers."  https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/22/723582726/scientists-modify-viruses-with-crispr-to-create-new-weapon-against-superbugs

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