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.

President Donald Trump is continuing to promote the unsupported “lab leak” COVID-19 theory, using it now to rationalize a new executive order designed to prohibit federal funding of certain research ...

In the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order on gain-of-function research, questions linger on exactly how the order will be implemented and about its potential impacts on the study of ...

The White House budget calls for slashing $17 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), citing the agency's failure to properly monitor risky gain-of-function research it funded ...

(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 ...