Researcher credits gain of function research for treatments, calls for combating spillover virus pandemic risk at Senate hearing

Associate Dean of the Tulane University School of Medicine Robert Garry says in prepared testimony at a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on the likely origins of a coronavirus that led to global pandemic that gain-of-function research is important for developing crucial medical treatments like Tamiflu and HPV vaccines, and is necessary for understanding how novel viruses infect humans and developing appropriate treatments for future pandemic-causing viruses, while also noting the potential for pandemic viruses to emerge from commercial animal farming industries and wildlife trade, drawing parallels between SARS outbreaks and the current threat of bird flu to the US cattle industry.