DID WE LEARN NOTHING? NIH Funds Wuhan-Style Bat Lab at Colorado State University
Four years after a global pandemic upended daily life—one that a growing body of evidence-based reporting suggests originated from a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China—it would be reasonable to expect hard lessons to have been learned by federal agencies and public health authorities.
That expectation appears misplaced.
Colorado State University (CSU) is moving forward with plans for a large, taxpayer-funded “Bat Resource Center,” a project financed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The same federal agency that previously funded high-risk research tied to Wuhan is now backing a facility that will import, breed, and experiment on exotic bat species using dangerous pathogens.
CSU has promoted the facility as a “critical resource” for studying how bats can carry viruses such as Ebola, Nipah, and SARS-CoV-2 without becoming ill. But documents obtained by the watchdog group White Coat Waste Project (WCW) reveal that the center is far more than a wildlife shelter. It is a high-containment vivarium designed to house large bat colonies—animals widely identified as reservoirs for coronaviruses.
According to WCW, NIH recently provided CSU with an additional $2.3 million to continue the project. Through a Colorado Open Records Act request, the group obtained internal photos, videos, and records detailing virus-hunting experiments already underway. Those records show researchers infecting bats with highly contagious pathogens including Zika, rabies, Nipah, and multiple coronavirus strains. Bats that survived infections were subsequently euthanized.
The documents also describe genetic modification of coronaviruses, with three new strains created and used to infect 162 bats. Other experiments included starvation protocols intended to place bats under “nutritional stress” so researchers could observe changes to immune response.
Local residents have reason to be alarmed. CSU has a documented history of laboratory safety lapses.
One incident report describes a researcher being bitten while transferring a bat to a biosafety cabinet. Despite wearing double gloves and a leather glove, the bat reportedly broke the skin. The bat had previously been vaccinated against MERS-CoV and later exposed to a human strain of the virus.
Another incident involved a mouse infected with the HN878 strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. During a tail vein injection, pressure built up in the syringe and sprayed infectious material onto the researcher’s face.
Additional reports document:
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A mouse infected with Mycobacterium abscessus biting a researcher during oral dosing
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A researcher puncturing their own thumb while collecting blood from a mouse infected with genetically modified tuberculosis
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Repeated failures to wear required personal protective equipment despite posted safety rules
The project received approval from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an NIH division that has long funded controversial animal research. Adding to concerns is CSU’s past partnership with EcoHealth Alliance, the organization led by Peter Daszak that became central to the Wuhan gain-of-function controversy. While CSU says it has suspended its EcoHealth subcontract, critics argue the association remains troubling.
SHOCKING: Wuhan-style bat lab is being built in Colorado
“The exact same people who were behind the gain-of-function disaster in Wuhan … are setting up a bat lab here on US soil with funding from Dr. Fauci.”
White Coat Waste first exposed this “disaster right out of Dr.… pic.twitter.com/847nN5tgFZ
— White Coat Waste (@WhiteCoatWaste) January 15, 2026
The full proposal sought roughly $13 million in funding.
Republican lawmakers have sharply criticized the project. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) have both condemned NIH for continuing to fund what they describe as dangerous, wasteful, and unnecessary research. In letters to NIH leadership, they called for an immediate halt to the funding and demanded greater accountability.
An interview with Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy at the White Coat Waste Project, is available below.
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