It's called gain-of-function research. And they apparently succeeded in mak ing a real doozy.
The Obama administration halted funding for the research deemed too dangero us in 2014.
"Nevertheless, in 2014, under pressure from the Obama administration, the N ational of Institutes of Health instituted a moratorium on the work, suspen ding 21 studies."
Then the geniuses in the Trump administration, ignoring top scientific advi ce as usual, resumed funding for the research in 2017:
"Three years later, though?in December 2017?the NIH ended t he moratorium and the second phase of the NIAID project, which included the gain-of-function research, began."
Coincidence? Only a fool would believe the SARS-Cov-2 was a natural occurre nce.