In a surprise addition to the programme, Professor Sucharit Bhakdi, former chair of the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the University of Mainz, chose the UK Column 20th Anniversary On Location audience to present a hypothesis he had not shared publicly before.
Professor Bhakdi begins with his life and career, from his childhood in Bern, Cairo and Bangkok, his medical training in Bonn, to his research at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology. He describes how the corona years led him to Gustave Le Bon's work on crowd psychology and to question decades of his own teaching on vaccination.
He mentions books he has co-authored, including a German-language title with Karina Reiss and Klaus Köhnlein, and a forthcoming English edition of a compendium written with former Pfizer toxicologist Helmut Sterz, to be published by Skyhorse.
Professor Bhakdi argues that lipid nanoparticles and the foreign proteins produced after mRNA injection damage small blood vessels and activate the complement system. He suggests this kills oligodendrocytes, the cells that produce the brain's myelin sheaths. Because oligodendrocytes carry unusually few complement-inhibiting proteins, he proposes that this could set off a self-sustaining cycle of demyelination resulting in degenerative diseases such as Alzheimers, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinsons.
He closes by discussing curcumin as a possible complement inhibitor. He cites early anecdotal reports from a Norwegian doctor and from friends he is supporting.
Professor Bhakdi presents this explicitly as an untested hypothesis and invites scientists to try to disprove it.