mSphere (Apr 2023)
Virology under the Microscope—a Call for Rational Discourse
- Felicia Goodrum,
- Anice C. Lowen,
- Seema Lakdawala,
- James Alwine,
- Arturo Casadevall,
- Michael J. Imperiale,
- Walter Atwood,
- Daphne Avgousti,
- Joel Baines,
- Bruce Banfield,
- Lawrence Banks,
- Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh,
- Deepta Bhattacharya,
- Daniel Blanco-Melo,
- David Bloom,
- Adrianus Boon,
- Steeve Boulant,
- Curtis Brandt,
- Andrew Broadbent,
- Christopher Brooke,
- Craig Cameron,
- Samuel Campos,
- Patrizia Caposio,
- Gary Chan,
- Anna Cliffe,
- John Coffin,
- Kathleen Collins,
- Blossom Damania,
- Matthew Daugherty,
- Kari Debbink,
- James DeCaprio,
- Terence Dermody,
- Jimmy Dikeakos,
- Daniel DiMaio,
- Rhoel Dinglasan,
- W. Paul Duprex,
- Rebecca Dutch,
- Nels Elde,
- Michael Emerman,
- Lynn Enquist,
- Bentley Fane,
- Ana Fernandez-Sesma,
- Michelle Flenniken,
- Lori Frappier,
- Matthew Frieman,
- Klaus Frueh,
- Michaela Gack,
- Marta Gaglia,
- Tom Gallagher,
- Denise Galloway,
- Adolfo García-Sastre,
- Adam Geballe,
- Britt Glaunsinger,
- Stephen Goff,
- Alexander Greninger,
- Meaghan Hancock,
- Eva Harris,
- Nicholas Heaton,
- Mark Heise,
- Ekaterina Heldwein,
- Brenda Hogue,
- Stacy Horner,
- Edward Hutchinson,
- Joseph Hyser,
- William Jackson,
- Robert Kalejta,
- Jeremy Kamil,
- Stephanie Karst,
- Frank Kirchhoff,
- David Knipe,
- Timothy Kowalik,
- Michael Lagunoff,
- Laimonis Laimins,
- Ryan Langlois,
- Adam Lauring,
- Benhur Lee,
- David Leib,
- Shan-Lu Liu,
- Richard Longnecker,
- Carolina Lopez,
- Micah Luftig,
- Jennifer Lund,
- Balaji Manicassamy,
- Grant McFadden,
- Michael McIntosh,
- Andrew Mehle,
- W. Allen Miller,
- Ian Mohr,
- Cary Moody,
- Nathaniel Moorman,
- Anne Moscona,
- Bryan Mounce,
- Joshua Munger,
- Karl Münger,
- Eain Murphy,
- Mojgan Naghavi,
- Jay Nelson,
- Christopher Neufeldt,
- Janko Nikolich,
- Christine O'Connor,
- Akira Ono,
- Walter Orenstein,
- David Ornelles,
- Jing-hsiung Ou,
- John Parker,
- Colin Parrish,
- Andrew Pekosz,
- Philip Pellett,
- Julie Pfeiffer,
- Richard Plemper,
- Stephen Polyak,
- John Purdy,
- Dohun Pyeon,
- Miguel Quinones-Mateu,
- Rolf Renne,
- Charles Rice,
- John Schoggins,
- Richard Roller,
- Charles Russell,
- Rozanne Sandri-Goldin,
- Martin Sapp,
- Luis Schang,
- Scott Schmid,
- Stacey Schultz-Cherry,
- Bert Semler,
- Thomas Shenk,
- Guido Silvestri,
- Viviana Simon,
- Gregory Smith,
- Jason Smith,
- Katherine Spindler,
- Megan Stanifer,
- Kanta Subbarao,
- Wesley Sundquist,
- Mehul Suthar,
- Troy Sutton,
- Andrew Tai,
- Vera Tarakanova,
- Benjamin tenOever,
- Scott Tibbetts,
- Stephen Tompkins,
- Zsolt Toth,
- Koenraad van Doorslaer,
- Marco Vignuzzi,
- Nicholas Wallace,
- Derek Walsh,
- Michael Weekes,
- Jason Weinberg,
- Matthew Weitzman,
- Sandra Weller,
- Sean Whelan,
- Elizabeth White,
- Bryan Williams,
- Christiane Wobus,
- Scott Wong,
- Andrew Yurochko
Affiliations
- Felicia Goodrum
- Department of Immunobiology, BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Anice C. Lowen
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Seema Lakdawala
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- James Alwine
- Department of Immunobiology, BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Arturo Casadevall
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Michael J. Imperiale
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Walter Atwood
- Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
- Daphne Avgousti
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Joel Baines
- Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
- Bruce Banfield
- Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
- Lawrence Banks
- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Trieste, Italy
- Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Deepta Bhattacharya
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Daniel Blanco-Melo
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
- David Bloom
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Adrianus Boon
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
- Steeve Boulant
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Curtis Brandt
- University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Andrew Broadbent
- University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
- Christopher Brooke
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
- Craig Cameron
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- Samuel Campos
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Patrizia Caposio
- Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, Oregon, USA
- Gary Chan
- SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA
- Anna Cliffe
- University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
- John Coffin
- Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Kathleen Collins
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Blossom Damania
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- Matthew Daugherty
- University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
- Kari Debbink
- Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- James DeCaprio
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Terence Dermody
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- Jimmy Dikeakos
- Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
- Daniel DiMaio
- Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Rhoel Dinglasan
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- W. Paul Duprex
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- Rebecca Dutch
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
- Nels Elde
- University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
- Michael Emerman
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Lynn Enquist
- Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
- Bentley Fane
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Ana Fernandez-Sesma
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
- Michelle Flenniken
- Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
- Lori Frappier
- University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Matthew Frieman
- University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
- Klaus Frueh
- Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, Oregon, USA
- Michaela Gack
- Florida Research and Innovation Center, Port Saint Lucie, Florida, USA
- Marta Gaglia
- University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Tom Gallagher
- Loyola University, Maywood, Illinois, USA
- Denise Galloway
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Adolfo García-Sastre
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
- Adam Geballe
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Britt Glaunsinger
- University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
- Stephen Goff
- Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
- Alexander Greninger
- University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Meaghan Hancock
- Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, Oregon, USA
- Eva Harris
- University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
- Nicholas Heaton
- Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Mark Heise
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- Ekaterina Heldwein
- Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Brenda Hogue
- Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Stacy Horner
- Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Edward Hutchinson
- MRC-University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Joseph Hyser
- Baylor University, Houston, Texas, USA
- William Jackson
- Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Robert Kalejta
- Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Jeremy Kamil
- Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
- Stephanie Karst
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Frank Kirchhoff
- Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
- David Knipe
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Timothy Kowalik
- University of Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
- Michael Lagunoff
- University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Laimonis Laimins
- Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Ryan Langlois
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Adam Lauring
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Benhur Lee
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
- David Leib
- Dartmouth College, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA
- Shan-Lu Liu
- The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
- Richard Longnecker
- Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Carolina Lopez
- Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Micah Luftig
- Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Jennifer Lund
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Balaji Manicassamy
- University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
- Grant McFadden
- Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
- Michael McIntosh
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Andrew Mehle
- University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- W. Allen Miller
- Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
- Ian Mohr
- New York University, New York, New York, USA
- Cary Moody
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- Nathaniel Moorman
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- Anne Moscona
- Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
- Bryan Mounce
- Loyola University, Maywood, Illinois, USA
- Joshua Munger
- University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
- Karl Münger
- Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Eain Murphy
- SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA
- Mojgan Naghavi
- Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Jay Nelson
- Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, Oregon, USA
- Christopher Neufeldt
- Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Janko Nikolich
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Christine O'Connor
- Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Akira Ono
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Walter Orenstein
- Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- David Ornelles
- Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
- Jing-hsiung Ou
- University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
- John Parker
- Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
- Colin Parrish
- Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
- Andrew Pekosz
- Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Philip Pellett
- Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA
- Julie Pfeiffer
- University of Texas, Dallas, Texas, USA
- Richard Plemper
- Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Stephen Polyak
- University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- John Purdy
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Dohun Pyeon
- Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
- Miguel Quinones-Mateu
- Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
- Rolf Renne
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Charles Rice
- The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, USA
- John Schoggins
- University of Texas, Dallas, Texas, USA
- Richard Roller
- University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
- Charles Russell
- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- Rozanne Sandri-Goldin
- University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
- Martin Sapp
- Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
- Luis Schang
- Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
- Scott Schmid
- University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
- Stacey Schultz-Cherry
- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- Bert Semler
- University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
- Thomas Shenk
- Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
- Guido Silvestri
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
- Viviana Simon
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
- Gregory Smith
- Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Jason Smith
- University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Katherine Spindler
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Megan Stanifer
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Kanta Subbarao
- The Peter Doherty Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Wesley Sundquist
- University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
- Mehul Suthar
- Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Troy Sutton
- The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
- Andrew Tai
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Vera Tarakanova
- Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
- Benjamin tenOever
- New York University, New York, New York, USA
- Scott Tibbetts
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Stephen Tompkins
- University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
- Zsolt Toth
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Koenraad van Doorslaer
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Marco Vignuzzi
- A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs, Singapore
- Nicholas Wallace
- Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
- Derek Walsh
- Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Michael Weekes
- University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Jason Weinberg
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Matthew Weitzman
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Sandra Weller
- University of Connecticut, Farmington, Connecticut, USA
- Sean Whelan
- Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Elizabeth White
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Bryan Williams
- Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Christiane Wobus
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Scott Wong
- Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, Oregon, USA
- Andrew Yurochko
- Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1128/msphere.00034-23
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 8,
no. 2
Abstract
ABSTRACT Viruses have brought humanity many challenges: respiratory infection, cancer, neurological impairment and immunosuppression to name a few. Virology research over the last 60+ years has responded to reduce this disease burden with vaccines and antivirals. Despite this long history, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented attention to the field of virology. Some of this attention is focused on concern about the safe conduct of research with human pathogens. A small but vocal group of individuals has seized upon these concerns – conflating legitimate questions about safely conducting virus-related research with uncertainties over the origins of SARS-CoV-2. The result has fueled public confusion and, in many instances, ill-informed condemnation of virology. With this article, we seek to promote a return to rational discourse. We explain the use of gain-of-function approaches in science, discuss the possible origins of SARS-CoV-2 and outline current regulatory structures that provide oversight for virological research in the United States. By offering our expertise, we – a broad group of working virologists – seek to aid policy makers in navigating these controversial issues. Balanced, evidence-based discourse is essential to addressing public concern while maintaining and expanding much-needed research in virology.
Keywords
