A team of researchers from St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), has embarked on a project to analyse coronavirus genomes from infected individuals.
The exercise will enhance the capacity to identify different lineages of the virus and monitor mutations in order to track the virus’ spread, distinguish between local and newly imported cases, and to better understand the virus and our immune system’s response to it.
“The important thing,” says project lead Christine Carrington, a Professor of Molecular Genetics and Virology at The UWI St Augustine’s Faculty of Medical Sciences, “is that whole genome sequencing of the virus can provide epidemiological insights that can inform public health responses. The Nanopore sequencing technology we are using is very rapid. The data is available in real-time, so the insights gained are actionable.”
Titled COVID-19: Infectious disease Molecular Epidemiology for Pathogen Control and Tracking (COVID-19: IMPACT), the project involves extracting and sequencing genomes of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) from patient samples.
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Published on 21 Dec, 2020
Our 7 faculties and 12 professional schools offer more than 200 programmes to some 18,000 graduate, undergraduate and continuing studies students.
The UWI, Mona ranks first in Jamaica among accredited tertiary-level programmes. In 2012, the University was again one of Jamaica’s Top 100 Employers.
