Sunday, May 3, 2020

University of Texas' Galveston National Laboratory has links with the Wuhan P4 lab

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                 / KUCINTA SETIA

Image : Galveston National Laboratory of University of Texas Medical Branch. Wikipedia

The University of Texas system in the United States is under investigation by the US Department of Education for its partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. The US Department of Education has sent a letter requesting the university system management to provide correspondence of its Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) with the P4 laboratory of WIV. At present, the relevant US agencies are investigating the source of SARS-CoV-2 the virus responsible for covid, and the P4 laboratory of WIV is the most suspected.

According to a report in The Washington Examiner, the US Department of Education letter to the University of Texas system on 24 April 2020 pointed out that there are clues that the Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) under the university system and the official P4 laboratory of WIV have contact correspondence. So the university is required to disclose its relationship with WIV and its researcher Shi Zhengli (Shi Zhengli), and show the relevant documents such as the contract signed by the two parties and gifts.

Public information shows that the University of Texas system is composed of 15 higher education institutions, including 9 universities and 6 medical centres.

According to GNL's official web-site, it is a critically important laboratory in the global battle against infectious diseases such as chikungunya and zika. It is located in the campus of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and operates under the umbrella of UTMB's Institute for Human Infections and Immunity. Funding for the P4 laboratory and operations at GNL is by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Its top priority is research to develop diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines "to combat the most dangerous diseases in the world".

UTMB highlights on GNL's web-site that its World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses has the SARS-CoV-2 sample available for distribution to the research community in 2020.

The Washington Examiner's report pointed out that Shi Zhengli has been studying bat coronavirus, and this time the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 sweeping the world is highly similar to a known bat coronavirus sample owned by the institute, and the location of the laboratory in Wuhan is exactly the source of SARS-CoV-2, according to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on 3 May 2020.

It is understood that the GNL once published an article in the journal Science in November 2018 with the laboratory of WIV. Issues such as safety training, operation and maintenance, biological containment, short-term or long-term personnel exchanges, and successful implementation of relevant measures in the new facility in Wuhan are covered. That article made it clear that the laboratories in Wuhan and Texas have signed formal cooperation documents, but there is no consensus on details such as research funds and experimental sample delivery.

According to The Washington Examiner, US State Department cables in 2018 warned about biosecurity and management problems at the Wuhan P4 laboratory of WIV. The U.S. intelligence community is currently investigating  whether SARS-CoV-2 originated in a wet market or through an accidental release from the lab.


The US Department of Education noted that from 2014 through 2019, the University of Texas “reported approximately twenty-four contracts with various Chinese state-owned universities and ten contracts with Huawei Technologies, all purportedly worth a reported total of $12,987,896.” It is not clear, however, whether UT has in fact reported all gifts from or contracts with or relating to the P4 laboratory of WIV, and/or all other foreign sources, including agents and instrumentalities of the government of the People's Republic of China.
To verify the university's compliance with US law, the US Department of Education asked it to hand over within 30 days a tranche of China-related records from 2012 through the present, including copies of each donation agreement and contract reached by the University of Texas with the Wuhan lab or the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Education Department also asked for a complete list identifying anyone at the university who had been involved “in any capacity” with the Wuhan lab and asked the university to provide the contact information of those people.
Various agencies involved in the above-mentioned issues have not responded to requests for comment from the media.


Refs :
He Yating, Ming Xuan (ed.), University of Texas under investigations for links to Wuhan Insititute of Viology and Huawei, New Tang Dynasty Television, https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/05/03/a102837854.html.

GNL | Galveston National Laboratory, https://www.utmb.edu/gnl.

Jerry Dunleavy, Education Department Investigates University of Texas ties to Wuhan lab, The Washington Examiner, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/education-department-investigates-university-of-texas-ties-to-wuhan-lab

U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo : SARS-CoV-2 comes from the Wuhan P4 laboratory, https://staygate.blogspot.com/2020/05/us-secretary-of-state-pompeo-sars-cov-2.html

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