This post was published by Jon Fleetwood. Support him by subscribing at Substack and following at Instagram / X / Facebook.
A new Vaccine journal study published earlier this month reveals that scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York have engineered a synthetic chimeric bird flu virus by splicing genetic segments from multiple influenza strains—avian, human, and laboratory-adapted—into a single live construct grown in chicken eggs.
The risky work was done in the name of “vaccine development,” exposing how, time and again, vaccine production serves as a legal and moral shield for the same dual-use genetic manipulation routinely used to create potential bioweapons.
The project was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is led by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.
The bird flu experiment raises national security concerns, given that Congress, the White House, the Department of Energy, the FBI, the CIA, and Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) have confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic was likely the result of lab-engineered pathogen manipulation.
Countries all over the world are quietly performing dangerous gain-of-function-like bioweapons experiments on bird flu pathogens while simultaneously developing bird flu countermeasures like vaccines and antivirals, raising conflict-of-interest worries.
The new lab-made bird flu virus, named cH15/3HK14N2HK14, was assembled through reverse genetics, a technique that builds a fully functional virus from cloned DNA.
The team was led by Dr. Florian Krammer and Dr. Eduard Puente-Massaguer, both of Mount Sinai’s Department of Microbiology, with collaborators from Duke University and the University of Vienna.
According to the paper:
“Viruses were generated by reverse genetics.”
The construct combines three separate viral lineages:
- H15 head: from A/shearwater/West Australia/2576/1979 (H15N9), an avian seabird flu.
- H3 stalk and N2 neuraminidase: from A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2), a human seasonal flu strain.
- Internal genes: from A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (H1N1), a long-used lab strain that serves as the genetic backbone for research.
Per the study:
“For the group 1 cH8/1Cal09N1Cal09 virus, the H8 head domain was derived from the HA of A/mallard/Sweden/24/2002 (H8N4) and the HA stalk domain and the NA from A/California/04/2009 (H1N1). For the group 2 cH15/3HK14N2HK14 virus, the H15 head domain was derived from the HA of A/shearwater/West Australia/2576/1979 (H15N9), while the HA stalk domain and NA belong to A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2). The internal genes of both viruses were derived from A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (H1N1).”
In plain terms, Mount Sinai scientists merged three different influenza viruses—bird, human, and laboratory—into a single hybrid.
Serial Passaging Caused Genetic Mutation
The researchers then passaged the chimeric virus nine times in embryonated chicken eggs, allowing it to adapt and mutate.
They report that:
“Two different mutations were detected in the HA coding sequence at moderate proportions (53–65 %) … variations in the frequency of different polymorphisms were also detected in the HA, NA, and PB2 coding sequences along with changes in the non-coding regions (NCR) of the PB1 and PB2 gene segments.”
In other words, the hybrid virus mutated across key genetic regions associated with host adaptation and replication efficiency—hallmarks of gain-of-function evolution.
Chemical Treatment & Residual Surfactant
To inactivate and split the virus, Mount Sinai’s team exposed it to beta-propiolactone (?PL or BPL)—a known carcinogenic and mutagenic agent—and Triton X-100, a detergent recognized for environmental toxicity and endocrine disruption.
Even after processing, researchers kept residual Triton X-100 between 0.02% and 0.08% to “improve stability,” meaning trace levels of the chemical remained in the finished vaccine material.
Animal Testing & Resistance to Inactivation
Mount Sinai’s team injected mice with 5 micrograms of hemagglutinin (HA) derived from the chimeric viruses, confirming a strong immune response—proof that the lab-created material remained biologically and antigenically active.
Even more concerning, the paper reveals that the cH15/3HK14N2HK14 virus required higher concentrations of BPL to fully neutralize than other influenza strains.
The authors note that 0.025% BPL failed to inactivate the virus within 24 hours, forcing them to double the concentration to 0.05% to achieve total inactivation.
Per the study:
“The demonstration of absence of virus replication after ?PL inactivation is a requirement by regulatory agencies. To optimize this, a 24 h virus inactivation kinetics study was conducted for both cH8/ 1Cal09N1Cal09 and cH15/3HK14N2HK14 viruses at 4 ?C. The absence of HA titer after two sequential rounds of egg injection with neat sample was considered as an indication of complete virus inactivation. For the cH8/ 1Cal09N1Cal09 virus, 0.025 % (v/v) ?PL resulted in complete viral inactivation after 24 h incubation. Treatment with 0.025 % (v/v) ?PL was not enough to inactivate the cH15/3HK14N2HK14 virus within 24 h, so the concentration of ?PL was increased to 0.05 % (v/v). In these conditions, complete virus inactivation was demonstrated.”
This means the Mount Sinai chimera Franken-virus demonstrated greater resistance to chemical inactivation, a red flag in vaccine manufacturing and biosafety settings where even small lapses could lead to accidental exposure.
U.S. Taxpayer Funding & Big Pharma Conflicts of Interest
The project was funded through the NIH’s Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVIC) contract 75N93019C00051 (here, here), totaling $151 million.
The CIVICs program, launched in September 2019, is involved in more than 125 preclinical, clinical, and manufacturing studies related to influenza vaccines as of 2025.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), led by Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger and part of NIH, provided $51 million in first-year funding for the program.
Mount Sinai disclosed that it has filed patents on these chimeric influenza viruses, listing Krammer and Puente-Massaguer as inventors, and that Krammer personally consults for Merck, Pfizer, GSK, Sanofi, CureVac, and Seqirus, among others.
In effect, the same laboratory designing and manipulating these synthetic viruses also profits from their commercial vaccine applications.
Context: Global Bird Flu Engineering Boom
The revelation comes amid a wave of government-funded bird flu research around the world.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently declared avian influenza a “permanent emergency,” ensuring uninterrupted funding even during government shutdowns.
At the same time, foreign institutions—from Kazakhstan and South Korea, to Switzerland, to the U.K. and China—have engaged in similarly risky gain-of-function avian flu experiments combining multiple virus lineages.
Mount Sinai’s work confirms that such chimeric bird flu construction is also happening in New York City, under NIH contract funding and academic oversight.
Bottom Line
The new Vaccine paper makes clear:
- A man-made bird flu chimera was constructed in New York City,
- Mutated through repeated egg passaging,
- Chemically treated with carcinogenic and toxic compounds,
- And patented for future commercialization.
While branded as vaccine research, these experiments demonstrate dual-use biotechnology—capable of both “protection” and potential catastrophic misuse—occurring inside U.S. borders.
Given the grave national security implications and the proven global track record of lab-origin pandemics, there must be an immediate, permanent moratorium on all pathogen-enhancement and chimeric virus experiments—no matter how they’re labeled, licensed, or justified.
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