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Medicine United States

WSU Will Lead $125 Million Global Project To Find, Analyze Animal Viruses (geekwire.com) 34

Posted by BeauHD from the preventing-the-next-pandemic dept.
Washington State University this week launched a new $125 million program to collect and analyze animal viruses with the aim of preventing the next pandemic. GeekWire reports: The program is funded with an award from the U.S. Agency for International Development and includes researchers at the University of Washington and the Seattle-based nonprofit PATH. The project will partner with up to 12 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to build up lab capacity for surveillance of animal viruses that have the potential to "spillover" into humans and cause disease. The project will survey wildlife and domesticated animals for three families of viruses -- coronaviruses, filoviruses (which includes Ebola), and paramyxoviruses (which are in the same family as the measles and Nipah viruses). Researchers will not be working in the lab with the live viruses and will kill them as part of the collection process.

The team aims to collect more than 800,000 samples in the five years of the project, called Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens -- Viral Zoonoses, or DEEP VZN. The project is expected to yield 8,000 to 12,000 novel, previously unknown, viruses for analysis. The program has parallels with another USAID-funded program, STOP Spillover, which assesses risk factors for animal-to-human disease transmission and implements interventions to stop it. DEEP VZN will select partner sites outside the U.S. based on factors such as commitment to data sharing and whether there are lots of interactions between humans and animals in the region. Other partners for the project include Washington University in St. Louis and the nonprofit FHI 360.
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WSU Will Lead $125 Million Global Project To Find, Analyze Animal Viruses More

WSU Will Lead $125 Million Global Project To Find, Analyze Animal Viruses

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  • Just don't "Coug it" and let the viruses out...

    • Re:Go Cougs! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Dutch Gun ( 899105 ) on Friday October 08, 2021 @02:20AM (#61871471)

      So, for anyone who doesn't know, WSU is in the agricultural (eastern) half of WA state, and has a pretty big animal science program. As such, this isn't too big of a surprise that they'd be involved in a project like this. Sort of weird to hear about it on Slashdot, but I guess the study of animal viruses is stuff that matters these days.

      And before anyone comments on the safety issue (oops, too late)... from TFA:

      The project will emphasize safety. “We will build in the safe handling of samples, that is a huge part of the project,” said Kawula. Researchers will not be working in the lab with the live viruses and will kill them as part of the collection process.

      Also, in other big news, WSU gets their fourth win in the American Society of Animal Sciences Ice Cream Competition. [wsu.edu]

      • So, for anyone who doesn't know, WSU is in the agricultural (eastern) half of WA state, and has a pretty big animal science program.

        Don't forget to mention Cougar Gold cheese!

        I believe most (maybe even all) "State" universities in the US are land grant universities [slashdot.org] and were originally founded with the intention of focussing on agricultural and animal sciences - as well as engineering.

      • A virus is alive for a very small part of alive. It cannot replicate on its own and it can be stored like chemicals in a bottle. So how exactly are they going to kill them?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dargaud ( 518470 )
          It's pretty standard, they use some chemical (alcohol, ether, ...) to break some key molecule of the virus, rendering it unable to duplicate even if inserted into wanted cells. Some vaccines are 'simply' made like this.

          • to break some key molecule of the virus, rendering it unable to duplicate even if inserted into wanted cells.
            That does not really sound plausible, as a virus has on the outside only a shell, and depending on virus type the so called spike proteins. Everything needed for replication, is inside of the virus.
            There might be exceptions, though.

        • So how exactly are they going to kill them?
          I was thinking the same.

  • ok (Score:5, Insightful)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Friday October 08, 2021 @02:06AM (#61871457) Journal

    I think we can all agree they better be careful not to do gain of function experiments on these viruses they collect.

  • I've lived in both areas, and this is still confusing LMAO

    University of Washington (Seattle)
    Washington State University (a few hours outside of Seattle)
    Washington University (of St Louis, half way across the country)

    All three are involved!

    • Washington State University (a few hours outside of Seattle)

      "A few hours" kind of understates it. It's almost 300 miles, across a mountain range and on the opposite side of the state! Not to mention a giant cultural shift away...

      WSU is actually further away from Seattle than either of Oregon's state universities is!

  • All right! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by fredrated ( 639554 ) on Friday October 08, 2021 @03:13AM (#61871547) Journal

    Bringing the next virus at lightening speed!

    • It's going to be a more believable conspiracy next time; given the USA's history covertly fucking with the world, this is probably the worst place to do this research. Maybe they already created COVID and planted it in China back in time so they could kill of Trump supporters to prevent the end of the world?

      You can try to live in ignorant bliss but stay the fuck away from science. We've not nuked the world yet...We've not had a bioweapon outbreak yet.. we have had outbreaks of mass hysteria from weaponized

  • so to prevent the next virus we do exactly what was done ( not proven clame yet) that caused the last one

  • Bad idea (Score:4, Insightful)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Friday October 08, 2021 @06:15AM (#61871857)
    I doubt this'll work well. The research itself is important & necessary but putting it under USAID, a well-known front organisation for the CIA & US State Department, will mean that it'll be treated with suspicion at best & outright hostility in some cases. This kind of thing needs to be done transparently & multilaterally through international cooperation, e.g. via the WHO or a joint project setup between the US CDC, ECDC, CCDC & other national counterparts. The political & economical incentives are strong right now so it could probably work well. Don't let spy agencies undermine it.
  • Make sure you take a long lunch at the local market. LOL!
  • I guess on the surface it sounds good, but after reading about the insane "gain of function" experiments that virus researchers do all the time for giggles, here's how it will likely end up.

    Researcher 1: Wouldn't it be cool if I invented a deer super flu that killed them within 24 to 48 hours of infection?
    Researcher 2: Can you have it also infect them with rabies for a double whammy?
    Researcher 1: Yes I can!
    Researcher 2: Very cool. How could this possibly go wrong? High fives all ar
  • Anybody else read the application to do the same thing funded by the US in bat caves in china to prevent a sars-cov pandemic?

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