Gain-of-function (GOF) studies, or research that improves the ability of a pathogen to cause disease, help define the fundamental nature of human-pathogen interactions, thereby enabling assessment of the pandemic potential of emerging infectious agents, informing public health and preparedness efforts, and furthering medical countermeasure development.

Gain-of-function studies may entail biosafety and biosecurity risks; therefore, the risks and benefits of gain-of function research must be evaluated, both in the context of recent U.S. biosafety incidents and to keep pace with new technological developments, in order to determine which types of studies should go forward and under what conditions

https://www.phe.gov/s3/dualuse/Pages/GainOfFunction.aspx

President Donald Trump’s legal counsel, Rudy Giuliani, in a recent chat on “The Cats Roundtable” on New York AM 970 radio, suggested a good U.S. attorney general move about now would be to investigate key members of the past Barack Obama administration on the Wuhan, China, laboratory, to see what they knew and when they knew it.

And then he mentioned Dr. Anthony Fauci specifically.

And then he accused the prior Team Obama of sending $3.7 million to the lab in 2014 — at a time when that same Team Obama had banned the funding of any lab that was involved in virus experimentation.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/27/anthony-fauci-should-explain-37-million-wuhan-labo/

PREDICT

PREDICT, a project of USAID’s Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) program, was initiated in 2009 to strengthen global capacity for detection of viruses with pandemic potential that can move between animals and people. PREDICT has made significant contributions to strengthening global surveillance and laboratory diagnostic capabilities for both known and newly discovered viruses within several important virus groups, such as filoviruses (including ebolaviruses), influenza viruses, paramyxoviruses, and coronaviruses.

PREDICT activities supported emerging pandemic threats preparedness and the Global Health Security Agenda, primarily in Africa and Asia. A decade later, more than 30 countries around the world have stronger systems to safely detect, identify, prevent and respond to viral threats. PREDICT initiated One Health Surveillance, a transdisciplinary collaborative approach to understanding infectious disease risk at the animal-human interface. The PREDICT-trained workforce, including zoonotic disease specialists and laboratory scientists at more than 60 national, university and partner laboratories, is one of the best response resources to assist with safe and secure detection and response to COVID-19 and other emerging biological threats.

On April 1, 2020, PREDICT was granted a 6-month extension to assist with COVID-19 response efforts, and is providing technical and logistical support to our implementing partners around the world.

https://ohi.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/programs-projects/predict-project

Chimera (mythology)

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The Chimera on a red-figure Apulian plate, c. 350–340 BC (Musée du Louvre)

The Chimera (/kɪˈmɪərə/ or /kaɪˈmɪərə/, also Chimaera (Chimæra); Greek: Χίμαιρα, Chímaira “she-goat”), according to Greek mythology,^[1] was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of more than one animal. It is usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat protruding from its back, and a tail that might end with a snake‘s head.^[2] It was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(mythology)