Genomic Surveillance
It allows us to identify new variants and helps inform the actions of those charged with responding to an outbreak - Valerie Vancollie
image by: Ted Eytan
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What We Learned About Genetic Sequencing During COVID-19 Could Revolutionize Public Health
You don’t want to be a virus in Dr. David Ho’s lab. Pretty much every day since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Ho and his team have done nothing but find ways to stress SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. His goal: pressure the virus relentlessly enough that it mutates to survive, so drug developers can understand how the virus might respond to new treatments. As a virologist with decades of experience learning about another obstinate virus, HIV, Ho knows just how to apply that mutation-generating stress, whether by starving the virus, bathing it in antibodies that disrupt its ability to infect cells, or bombarding it with enough promising antiviral drug candidates to make it blink.…
Resources
Francis deSouza on the need for a global “Bio Force” to track viruses
Continual genetic monitoring of viruses and mutations can help overcome the covid-19 crisis and prevent the next pandemic.
How the U.K. Became World Leader in Sequencing the Coronavirus Genome
Viral sequencing—producing a kind of bar code for the virus—has in recent months emerged as crucial in the global hunt for versions of the pathogen that are better adapted to infect humans, evade vaccines and possibly to kill.
Scientists can now sequence an entire genome overnight
In the sphere of public health, one of the first big breakthroughs enabled by faster genomic sequencing came in 2014, when a team at the Broad Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard began sequencing samples of the Ebola virus from infected victims during an outbreak in Africa. The work showed that, by contrasting genetic codes, hidden pathways of transmission could be identified and interrupted, with the potential for slowing (or even stopping) the spread of infection. It was one of the first real-world uses of what has come to be called genetic surveillance.
Variant Hunters Race to Find New Strains Where Testing Lags
In countries without much sequencing, new versions of the Covid virus can go unnoticed. Scientists across Africa are collaborating to track them down.
Genomic Analysis of Viral Outbreaks
Genomic analysis is a powerful tool for understanding viral disease outbreaks. Sequencing of viral samples is now easier and cheaper than ever before and can supplement epidemiological methods by providing nucleotide-level resolution of outbreak-causing pathogens.
Genomic surveillance: What it is and why we need more of it to track coronavirus variants and help end the COVID-19 pandemic
“You can’t fix what you don’t measure” is a maxim in the business world. And it holds true in the world of public health as well.
Global genomic surveillance strategy - WHO
Genomic surveillance is transforming public health action by providing a deeper understanding of pathogens, their evolution and circulation. Used with clinical, epidemiological and other multi-source data, genomic data for pathogens with pandemic and epidemic potential inform risk assessments and can support development of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostic assays, and decisions on public health social measures.
How Genetic Mapping Is Allowing Scientists To Track The Spread Of Coronavirus
Scientists are using genetic sequences of the coronavirus to learn where and how it is spreading. The approach relies on technology that didn't exist just a few years ago.
How Science Beat the Virus
The next time a pathogen emerges, scientists hope to slot its genetic material into proven platforms, and move the resulting vaccines through the same speedy pipelines that were developed during the pandemic.
Towards a genomics-informed, real-time, global pathogen surveillance system
Next-generation sequencing, particularly the use of portable genomic sequencers, offers an intriguing solution to the diagnosis and surveillance problems
What is Genomic Surveillance?
Genomic surveillance involves sequencing the genetic material of pathogens and identifying changes linked to the origins or characteristics of a disease.
What We Learned About Genetic Sequencing During COVID-19 Could Revolutionize Public Health
One of the most powerful ways of fighting a pandemic caused by a never-before-seen virus is by decoding the microbial culprit’s genome.
GISAID
The GISAID Initiative was established to champion (and enhance) rapid sequence data sharing for seasonal and pandemic influenza preparedness - a global public health imperative.
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