Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $100,000 to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to support research led by Adolfo Garcia-Sastre on developing pluripotent stem cells from bats. These cell lines can be used to study cellular immune responses, and may be very valuable for advancing virology research, including both antiviral development and the assessment of pandemic potential from zoonotic viruses.
This falls within Open Philanthropy’s focus area of scientific research, and specifically within its interest in science supporting biosecurity and pandemic preparedness.