Finally a Hearing About Gain of Function

It took two years for the US federal government to investigate the highly controversial research

Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

On Wednesday, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) led the first congressional hearing on gain-of-function research as part of his ongoing efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the hearing, testimony was taken from three well established scientists in the biological field.

Richard H. Ebright, PhD Laboratory Director, Waksman Institute of Microbiology Rutgers University

Steven Quay, MD, PhD Chief Executive Officer Atossa Therapeutics, Inc.

Kevin M. Esvelt, PhD Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences MIT Media Lab

Here is the testimony and it is a great first step titled “Revisiting Gain-of-Function Research: What the Pandemic Taught Us and Where Do We Go From Here,” which was held by the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight.

Introductions of the scientists and introductory testimony are in the first part.

Questions about the ranking members of the Subcommittee are in the second part.