As scientists buzz about future pioneering bat research — including vaccine development, drug testing and how to guard against future pandemic threats — plans for the bat research lab at CSU have g…
A one-of-a-kind bat research facility is coming to Colorado State University with the potential for groundbreaking discoveries as scientists study how bats respond to viruses — and what that could mean for treating sickness in humans.
The National Institutes of Health awarded CSU $6.7 million toward the 14,000-square-foot facility, slated for completion in 2025 at the university’s Foothills Campus on the west side of Fort Collins.
The space is intended to mimic natural bat habitats, becoming one of few places in the world equipped to breed bat colonies, enabling scientists to have a baseline of knowledge about the animals’ age, health and other information needed to collect accurate data.
“It’s absolutely critical work,” said Tom Monath, a virologist and chief science officer at the pharmaceutical company Crozet and former vector-borne infectious disease director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But as scientists buzz about future pioneering bat research — including vaccine development, drug testing and how to guard against future pandemic threats — plans for the lab have generated controversy in a way that wouldn’t have been seen before the pandemic. Conservative pundits and politicos in Colorado have seized on the bat research facility, with some spreading misinformation and trying to draw parallels to the virology lab in Wuhan, China, at the center of the debate over COVID-19’s origins.
CSU researchers say they’re working to better educate the public about the important work that will be done at the Fort Collins facility and the safety measures that will be in place. Some of the claims made about the lab, the head of the project said, are “beyond ridiculous.”
“We as professionals and scientists have to figure out a way to be as transparent as we possibly can without compromising the safety and security of research,” said Rebecca Moritz, CSU’s biosafety director and president of the American Biological Safety Association International. “Studies show people have a tendency to believe the mis- and disinformation before they believe the truth. How can we figure out how to talk more about this? To talk more about how oversight of research works, to talk more about all the layers of safety and security with it and try and make it part of the common vernaculars.”
Last month, the Libertarian Party of Colorado decried the facility as a “bioweapons lab” in a tweet. (The party’s Twitter account has since been suspended from the social media service. Communications director Jordan Marinovich said Twitter told the state party that the account broke rules against violent speech, but didn’t provide evidence of any violation.)
“Health officials, whether intentionally or not, misled the public on important aspects of the pandemic and the response,” Marinovich wrote in a statement to The Denver Post when asked why the party incorrectly characterized the lab as a bioweapons facility. “Such matters include: the origin of SARS-COV2, the effectiveness of masks, lockdowns, school and business closures, the effectiveness of vaccines and more. This undermines trust in health institutions to conduct this research properly.”
Greg Ebel, a CSU virologist and project leader for the bat research facility, said he has seen misinformation about the facility circulating, but dismissed the claims.
“This isn’t a bat COVID lab,” Ebel said. “It’s not a bioweapons lab. We’re not working with Ebola or Nipah virus or any of these things. I’m not interested in losing my job or going to jail or interested in doing research that’s going to carry home pathogens to my wife or my child. Those kinds of things are beyond ridiculous.”
Sherronna Bishop, former campaign manager for Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, said in January during her web show “America’s Mom” that since the pandemic, nothing concerns people more than hearing that a research lab is going into their backyard.
“Fort Collins is not exactly moving down a conservative path in any way, shape or form, and to go from their transgender ideology to now their bat institution… are people just feeling the disconnect between the elected officials and themselves?” Bishop said during the show.
Former Colorado GOP gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl dedicated a May episode of her “Unleashed with Heidi Ganahl” podcast — titled “Has Colorado Gone Bat (Expletive) Crazy?” — to air her concerns about the facility, centered on what she said were plans to perform “gain-of-function” research there.
Gain-of-function is a type of research in which an organism gains a new function, such as grass being modified to be more tolerant to drought, CSU officials said. In virology, it can involve making a virus more transmissible for research purposes in an effort to better prepare a public health response.
CSU officials insist they do not plan to conduct gain-of-function research on bats that could increase the transmission of a virus or other pathogens to humans.
“My podcast is about informing Coloradans, why wouldn’t I?” Ganahl wrote to The Post when asked why she made the episode. “It’s a very relevant topic after many millions died in the last few years from this pandemic that was likely caused by a lab leak, and many in CO are not aware of this lab or the expansion” of CSU’s existing bat research.
The U.S. intelligence community remains divided over how the COVID-19 pandemic began, with four agencies believing the virus was transferred from animals to humans, and two agencies — the Energy Department and the FBI — contending the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab.
ARTICLE TEXT 1
A one-of-a-kind bat research facility is coming to Colorado State University with the potential for groundbreaking discoveries as scientists study how bats respond to viruses — and what that could mean for treating sickness in humans.
The National Institutes of Health awarded CSU $6.7 million toward the 14,000-square-foot facility, slated for completion in 2025 at the university’s Foothills Campus on the west side of Fort Collins.
The space is intended to mimic natural bat habitats, becoming one of few places in the world equipped to breed bat colonies, enabling scientists to have a baseline of knowledge about the animals’ age, health and other information needed to collect accurate data.
“It’s absolutely critical work,” said Tom Monath, a virologist and chief science officer at the pharmaceutical company Crozet and former vector-borne infectious disease director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But as scientists buzz about future pioneering bat research — including vaccine development, drug testing and how to guard against future pandemic threats — plans for the lab have generated controversy in a way that wouldn’t have been seen before the pandemic. Conservative pundits and politicos in Colorado have seized on the bat research facility, with some spreading misinformation and trying to draw parallels to the virology lab in Wuhan, China, at the center of the debate over COVID-19’s origins.
CSU researchers say they’re working to better educate the public about the important work that will be done at the Fort Collins facility and the safety measures that will be in place. Some of the claims made about the lab, the head of the project said, are “beyond ridiculous.”
“We as professionals and scientists have to figure out a way to be as transparent as we possibly can without compromising the safety and security of research,” said Rebecca Moritz, CSU’s biosafety director and president of the American Biological Safety Association International. “Studies show people have a tendency to believe the mis- and disinformation before they believe the truth. How can we figure out how to talk more about this? To talk more about how oversight of research works, to talk more about all the layers of safety and security with it and try and make it part of the common vernaculars.”
Last month, the Libertarian Party of Colorado decried the facility as a “bioweapons lab” in a tweet. (The party’s Twitter account has since been suspended from the social media service. Communications director Jordan Marinovich said Twitter told the state party that the account broke rules against violent speech, but didn’t provide evidence of any violation.)
“Health officials, whether intentionally or not, misled the public on important aspects of the pandemic and the response,” Marinovich wrote in a statement to The Denver Post when asked why the party incorrectly characterized the lab as a bioweapons facility. “Such matters include: the origin of SARS-COV2, the effectiveness of masks, lockdowns, school and business closures, the effectiveness of vaccines and more. This undermines trust in health institutions to conduct this research properly.”
Greg Ebel, a CSU virologist and project leader for the bat research facility, said he has seen misinformation about the facility circulating, but dismissed the claims.
“This isn’t a bat COVID lab,” Ebel said. “It’s not a bioweapons lab. We’re not working with Ebola or Nipah virus or any of these things. I’m not interested in losing my job or going to jail or interested in doing research that’s going to carry home pathogens to my wife or my child. Those kinds of things are beyond ridiculous.”
Sherronna Bishop, former campaign manager for Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, said in January during her web show “America’s Mom” that since the pandemic, nothing concerns people more than hearing that a research lab is going into their backyard.
“Fort Collins is not exactly moving down a conservative path in any way, shape or form, and to go from their transgender ideology to now their bat institution… are people just feeling the disconnect between the elected officials and themselves?” Bishop said during the show.
Former Colorado GOP gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl dedicated a May episode of her “Unleashed with Heidi Ganahl” podcast — titled “Has Colorado Gone Bat (Expletive) Crazy?” — to air her concerns about the facility, centered on what she said were plans to perform “gain-of-function” research there.
Gain-of-function is a type of research in which an organism gains a new function, such as grass being modified to be more tolerant to drought, CSU officials said. In virology, it can involve making a virus more transmissible for research purposes in an effort to better prepare a public health response.
CSU officials insist they do not plan to conduct gain-of-function research on bats that could increase the transmission of a virus or other pathogens to humans.
“My podcast is about informing Coloradans, why wouldn’t I?” Ganahl wrote to The Post when asked why she made the episode. “It’s a very relevant topic after many millions died in the last few years from this pandemic that was likely caused by a lab leak, and many in CO are not aware of this lab or the expansion” of CSU’s existing bat research.
The U.S. intelligence community remains divided over how the COVID-19 pandemic began, with four agencies believing the virus was transferred from animals to humans, and two agencies — the Energy Department and the FBI — contending the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab.