Regulators kill dangerous gain-of-function research schemes

Gain-of-function research is a dangerous game where scientists deliberately make viruses, or something else, more dangerous so that measures to counter it can be researched.

Many believe COVID-19 came out of exactly that type of work in Wuhan, China.

But now The National institutes of Health has announced it is terminating all funding for grants involving that risky procedure.

And researchers have until the end of June to say whether their grants comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order regulating the experimentation.

A big step forward today for the @NIH. We have issued a guide notice implementing Pres. @realDonaldTrump‘s executive order ending US support for dangerous gain-of-function research. No scientific project is worth the risk of causing a pandemic. pic.twitter.com/nG1H30qW2X

— Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD (@NIHDirector_Jay) June 18, 2025

Excellent news! https://t.co/UXuM730Z2h

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 19, 2025

A report from the Washington Examiner noted scientists got notice this week about the end of such funding.

“Gain-of-function research has been hotly debated since the mid-2010s, when the scientific community became increasingly concerned about the potential for genetically manipulated viruses to start an epidemic or pandemic via a lab accident,” the Examiner reported. “In layman’s terms, gain-of-function refers to the manipulation of a pathogen to make it more transmissible or give it the capacity to infect its host in new ways.”

It was revealed after the COVID-19 pandemic circled the globe and killed millions that the NIH had funded research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, where COVID-19 erupted.

“Trump’s May executive order provides a technical definition for ‘dangerous gain-of-function research’ as any research activity altering a pathogen or toxin that ‘could result in significant societal consequences,’” the report noted.

His order permanently prohibits such research in nations designated by the director of National Intelligence as “countries of concern,” such as China.

The plan revealed this week is that NIH funding for such projects, in appropriate locations, will resume when an oversight procedure proposed by Trump takes effect.

The report explained, “Stopping federal funding of gain-of-function research has been a priority of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Paul has introduced legislation multiple times to codify an independent oversight agency to review potentially risky research projects before they receive federal funding from any department funding biomedical projects, not just the NIH.”