The ‘invented persona’ behind a key pandemic database
When Jeremy Kamil started to sequence samples of the rapidly spreading pandemic coronavirus in the spring of 2020, it was clear where he should deposit the genetic data: in
GISAID
, a long-running database for influenza genomes that had established itself as the go-to repository for SARS-CoV-2 as well.
Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University’s (LSU’s) Health Sciences Center Shreveport, says he quickly struck up a friendly relationship with a Steven Meyers, who used a gisaid.org email address. The two often exchanged emails and talked on the phone, sometimes for hours, about the pandemic and data sharing—but also about music, beer, and
Saturday Night Live
. Meyers said he had previously worked at Time Warner and had changed jobs after his boss at that company, Peter Bogner, launched GISAID in 2008. Meyers was born in Germany and living in Santa Monica, California, just like Bogner, whom he would call “our big boss” and “the Big Cheese.”
Over time, things got a little weird, Kamil says. Emails he sent to Meyers were sometimes answered from Bogner’s email account. “I used Peter’s account as writing on my little gadget was too treacherous,” was the explanation Meyers gave in one case. “I did ask though, first 😊.” Sometimes Bogner emailed Kamil about a topic he was discussing with Meyers at that very moment. Kamil offered to come to Santa Monica to meet Meyers on one of his trips to see his parents in Los Angel...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news
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