Stanford University — H5N1 Testing Scale-up

[Scientific Research] Open Philanthropy recommended a gift of $100,000 to Stanford University to support increased testing for Avian Influenza A (H5N1) in human clinical samples from areas in California’s Central Valley, near sources of potentially infected cow herds. Professor Ben Pinsky will lead the work. H5N1 continues to spread on farms, namely in poultry and dairy cattle. A recent paper in Science shows that a single point mutation can switch the receptor binding from birds to humans, suggesting that transmission to humans may be more likely than previously thought. This falls within our focus area of scientific research.