ayjchan

6 ms·

1.
by ayjchan 3y ago
In that April slack conversation, the lead author expressed strong, persistent concern about a lab cultured virus that had adapted and become pandemic-ready through that process. Lab culturing = lab manipulation. Authors have taken their na
2.
by ayjchan 3y ago
Also, in the accompanying press release from Scripps, Kristian Andersen says: “These two features of the virus, the mutations in the RBD portion of the spike protein and its distinct backbone, rules out laboratory manipulation as a potentia
3.
by ayjchan 3y ago
The lead author of Proximal Origin wrote this in slack on April 17, a month after the letter had been published in Nature Medicine: "Okay, so about the current news. Is there any reason to believe that they might be onto something, or
4.
by ayjchan 4y ago
Re: weakening of their claim, not only did Worobey et al. have to remove these instances of unscientific language, but they also had to insert a new study limitations section and this clarification in their article: “However, the observatio
5.
by ayjchan 4y ago
By the time the case definition requirement for a link to the market was removed (Jan 18, 2020), nearly 200 cases had been confirmed. This is not including the number of cases that were suspected/clinically diagnosed. The 174 cases wit
6.
by ayjchan 4y ago
This is stated most explicitly in the China-WHO joint report (page 42): https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-con... "In the first days of the epidemic in Wuhan, cases were identified
7.
by ayjchan 4y ago
Yes, there is much more evidence. My medium blog also cites the Chinese CDC in early 2020 and the China-WHO joint report, both of which corroborate the fact that case definitions used in Dec 2019 to mid-Jan 2020 required a link to the marke
8.
by ayjchan 4y ago
Thanks for the feedback. On the unlinked cases - if you read my medium post, it explains that even the cases with no connections to the market had been identified with ascertainment bias. Local investigators had searched hospitals and the n
9.
by ayjchan 4y ago
Here is my evaluation of a recent Science Magazine publication, "The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic".
10.
Peer review reduces strength of claims of a wildlife market origin of Covid(ayjchan.medium.com)
24 points by ayjchan 4y ago|18 comments
11.
by ayjchan 4y ago
I'm still an early career scientist so I do not have a way to contact Bill Gates.
12.
by ayjchan 4y ago
We cover this quite extensively in our book. I also have a manuscript that will soon be in peer review describing the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 and other known viruses. None of the publicly disclosed viruses could have plausibly been
13.
by ayjchan 4y ago
Hi, My perspective is that, if the pandemic started due to the virus hunting program which was a very international collaboration (US, China, several European, African, Asian, Middle Eastern countries), then it's not really a China-sp
14.
by ayjchan 4y ago
Hi Jamal, Yes, there is quite a bit of evidence (photos and interviews of the scientists) showing that the virus hunters in Wuhan did not always wear appropriate protective equipment while hunting for potential pandemic viruses in remote ar
15.
by ayjchan 4y ago
Hi, Thank you for the support! :) 1. The deletion of published data is thankfully not something that commonly happens, but it is not against the rules of the NCBI database. Scientists who deposit their data into the database have the right
16.
by ayjchan 4y ago
The vast majority of virologists are not working on gain-of-function research or with potential pandemic pathogens, but this type of research has some very influential backers who control significant sources of funding in virology and infec
17.
by ayjchan 4y ago
This is Alina Chan, one of the co-authors of Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19. I’m going to answer some of the questions that have come up in the comments. 1. Are Chan and Ridley selling a book? Yes, the updated paperback comes
18.
by ayjchan 5y ago
Evolution experiments in the lab mimic natural evolution. The ratio of functional vs silent mutations has also been used to characterize the evolution of viruses under natural selection.
19.
by ayjchan 5y ago
This is Alina Chan, one of the co-authors of Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19. In defense of a natural origin of Omicron, this study describes the remarkable evolution of SARS-CoV-2 during convalescent plasma treatment of an imm
20.
by ayjchan 5y ago
Hi Scott, This is Alina Chan, one of the authors of the book. Thank you very much for your thorough review of our book :) On the Laos connection, I made a thread on Twitter to lay out the latest findings about virus samples being sent direc