Gain-of-function experiments can help researchers get ahead of viruses naturally gaining the ability to infect people in the wild. But they're also used for many other areas of study within biology.

The term “gain of function” is often taken to refer to research with viruses that puts society at risk of an infectious disease outbreak for questionable gain. Some research on emerging viruses can ...

Section 1. Purpose. Dangerous gain-of-function research on biological agents and pathogens has the potential to significantly endanger the lives of American citizens. If left unrestricted, its effects ...

On May 5, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the seemingly benign title, “Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research.” A more accurate title would have been, ...

In a party-line vote last evening, the U.S. Senate confirmed Stanford professor and medical researcher Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The confirmation of ...

President Trump issued an executive order Monday restricting federal funding for research that involves a controversial field of scientific study known as "gain-of-function" research. The research, ...

Biosafety hawks were initially optimistic that the incoming second Trump administration would at last place binding constraints on so-called "dangerous gain-of-function" research, in which pathogens ...

A fiery exchange between Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, during a congressional hearing on Tuesday is bringing attention once again to a type of ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) The term “gain of function” is often taken to refer to research with viruses that puts ...