id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-286950-j7m69833	Imperiale, Michael J.	The Silver Lining in Gain-of-Function Experiments with Pathogens of Pandemic Potential	2018-08-28		.txt	text/plain	5005	217	46	Half a decade after the contentious "gain-of-function" (GOF) debate of 2012 that followed experimentation showing that highly pathogenic avian influenza virus could become mammalian transmissible, it is possible to reflect on the arguments for and against this type of research. Confronted with a public outcry combined with a serious scientific debate on the benefits and risks of GOF-type experiments, in 2014 the NIH, which has administrative responsibility for the NSABB, imposed a moratorium on US-funded GOF experiments with "pathogens of pandemic potential (PPP)," those being influenza virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SARS-CoV), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus (MERS-CoV). A number of critics have argued that the risk of inadvertently creating a global pandemic through accidental release of an engineered, human-transmissible pathogen with high virulence and case fatality rate vastly outweighs any benefits that might be obtained from such research [e.g., 34 ].	./cache/cord-286950-j7m69833.txt	./txt/cord-286950-j7m69833.txt