3 ms·
> It's not gain-of-function research unless they successfully make a more dangerous virus? Yes, that's more or less the definition of the term. > Playing with
by chomp 4y ago
> It's not gain-of-function research unless they successfully make a more dangerous virus?
Yes, that's more or less the definition of the term.
> Playing with the definitions of words is a class political tactic!
I definitely get the feeling that there are people that like to twist words to suit their goals.
> This is gain-of-function research.
From where are you sourcing your definition of the term?
This doesn't appear to be gain of function research (from the strict definition of the term) but in this day and age when the virus is ground-zero for politics, it's probably not politically wise to do research on it along these lines. To this end, where what's politically favorable influences the science we do, I do agree that politics is inevitably corrupting good research.
- peteradio 4y ago> Gain-of-function research is medical research that genetically alters an organism in a way that may enhance the biological functions of gene products. It is not constrained to virulence.
- tsimionescu 4y ago> Yes, that's more or less the definition of the term. You can't characterize a type of research by its results for purposes of evaluating its methods. If we want to say "GOF research should only be carried out in a lab that meets such and such criteria", or "we shouldn't fund GOF research at all", then the definition must be related to what the research may do, since we need to evaluate it before we know it's result.