Research News
Is COVID-19 Still a Pandemic?
The Brink asked three Boston University researchers—a virologist, an epidemiologist, and an emergency room physician—to explain the shifting status of COVID, how to decide when a virus has gone from a pandemic to endemic, how much people should protect themselves and others, and why language matters. More
Novel compound protects against infection by virus that causes COVID-19, preliminary studies show.
Compounds that obstruct the “landing gear” of a range of harmful viruses can successfully protect against infection by the virus that causes COVID-19 finds a new study from NEIDL researchers and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. More
BU Researchers Join $100 Million Effort to Fight Future Deadly Pathogens
Original article from The Brink by Andrew Thurston. February 17, 2023 Scientists from NEIDL and medical and dental schools part of Howard Hughes Medical Institute push to get ahead of pandemics like COVID-19 The next pandemic could already be lurking somewhere, and scientists want to make sure the world is ready when it springs. More
Lab-leak fears are putting virologists under scrutiny
Original article from the Washington Post by Joel Achenbach. January 18, 2023 BOSTON — The experiment probed a coronavirus mystery: Why is the omicron variant apparently less deadly than the original Wuhan strain? The researchers at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories (the NEIDL, pronounced like “the needle”) created a new... More
Coronavirus ‘chimera’ made in lab shows what makes omicron seemingly less deadly
Original article from the Washington Post by Joel Achenbach. January 11, 2023 A controversial coronavirus experiment at Boston University has identified a mutation in the omicron variant that might help explain why it doesn't appear to be as likely to sicken or kill as the original strain that emerged in China. The finding... More
NEIDL Researchers Discover New SARS-CoV-2 Weak Spot—Which Could Inspire Improved Vaccines
Original article from The Brink by The Brink Staff. January 11, 2023 Nature publishes BU-led COVID study that made international headlines; scientists find viral protein called NSP6, not just spike, responsible for making Omicron less dangerous than past variants After three years of infections, lockdowns, and vaccinations, we know a lot about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19—but... More
BU Responds to NIH Funding Clarification Request after False Stories about NEIDL’s COVID Work
Original article from The Brink by The Brink Staff. November 4, 2022 Confirms University did fund headline-making study and that researchers will update paper citations Boston University has responded to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) request for more information about how researchers cited funding in a COVID-19 study paper that sparked international... More
Fact Check-Boston University hybrid COVID virus kills 80% of mice, not people
Original article from Reuters by Reuters Fact Check. October 25, 2022 Social media users have claimed that researchers at Boston University created a new strain of COVID-19 (Omi-S) that can kill 80% of people it infects. While the researchers said in a preprint study that they created a virus combining the spike protein of... More
Lab Manipulations of Covid Virus Fall Under Murky Government Rules
Original article from the New York Times by Carl Zimmer and Benjamin Mueller. October 22, 2022 Mouse experiments at Boston University have spotlighted an ambiguous U.S. policy for research on potentially dangerous pathogens. Scientists at Boston University came under fire this week for an experiment in which they tinkered with the Covid virus. Breathless headlines claimed they had... More
Which COVID studies pose a biohazard? Lack of clarity hampers research
Original article from Nature by Ewen Callaway and Max Kozlov. October 21, 2022 Controversy surrounding a study that involved modifying the SARS-CoV-2 virus has prompted researchers to call for better guidance from funders. When researchers at Boston University (BU) in Massachusetts inserted a gene from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 into a... More