It was October 2014. Prof Holmes, a biologist at the University of Sydney, had come to China to survey hundreds of species of animals, looking for new types of viruses.
The tall, bald Englishman did his best not to draw attention to himself as he snapped a picture of the raccoon dogs, which look like long-legged raccoons but are more closely related to foxes. He then took a few more pictures of other animals in cages of their own. As a vendor began clubbing one of the creatures, Prof Holmes pocketed his phone and slipped away.
Through it all, Prof Holmes has continued to publish a torrent of studies on Covid. Long-time colleagues attribute his steady output through unsteady times to an exceptional knack for building big scientific teams, and a willingness to dive into controversial debates if he thinks they are important. When he was invited to go to the University of Sydney, in 2012, he seized the chance to move closer to Asia, where he feared that the wildlife trade could set off a new pandemic.
“That’s been quite eye opening,” said Dr Andrew Rambaut, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the surveys. “The diversity of viruses that are out there is just enormous.” Last month, Prof Holmes and his colleagues published their first report on the project, based on samples from 408 patients collected in 2016 and 2017. Many were sick with more than one virus, it turned out, and some were also infected with bacteria or fungi. The researchers even saw evidence of a hidden outbreak: Six patients were infected with genetically identical enteroviruses.
Prof Holmes urged his collaborator to find another way to share the genome with the world. “It felt like it had to happen,” Holmes said.That decision was a turning point, according to Professor Jason McLellan, a structural biologist at the University of Texas at Austin who worked on the mRNA technology powering the Moderna vaccine. Only with that genetic sequence could researchers start working on tests, drugs and vaccines.
After the coronavirus genome was sequenced, Prof Holmes was puzzled to see some bits of genetic material that looked like they might have been put there through genetic engineering. Prof Holmes and his colleagues laid out some of these findings in a letter published in March 2020. That same month, he published some of his photos of caged animals at the Huanan market in a commentary he wrote with Dr Zhang, suggesting that it might have been the site of an animal spill over.
The University of Sydney responded on Prof Holmes’ behalf with a statement: “We strongly defend the right of our researchers to collaborate with scientists around the world in line with all relevant Australian laws and government guidelines.” The university noted that Prof Holmes’ research was entirely supported by Australian grants.
Foreign wumao. Well the lab leak still a major suspect of the Wuhan virus pandemic with the absence of animal precursor.