Media Releases
» Go to news mainMedia Opportunity: Dalhousie University scientist tracking SARS‑CoV‑2 variants through genome sequencing ‑‑ a critical piece of the pandemic puzzle and key to detecting the virus’s transmission, evolution and spread
Scientists around the world are closely monitoring the emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in a bid to better track and understand the impact of new mutations on the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is being done through genome sequencing, a method that gives the precise genetic fingerprint of the virus that infected a person or animal. By comparing the fingerprint to the genomes of other SARS-CoV-2 viruses, researchers can investigate how quickly the virus is spreading, where a specific outbreak most likely originated, and how the virus changes over time -- data that can inform public health interventions, such as travel restrictions and changes to screening policies to control outbreaks at hospitals or long-term care facilities.
With many variants spreading internationally, sequencing is of critical importance because it can determine how and where the virus has changed, the impacts of those changes and whether vaccines need updating.
Finlay Maguire, a data scientist at Dalhousie University and the Faculty of Computer Science’s Donald Hill Family Fellow, is playing a key role in this both nationally via the Canadian COVID Genomics Network (CanCOGeN) and Ontario's COVID-19 Genomics Rapid Response Coalition (ONCoV), and internationally via the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation-funded Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology (PHA4GE).
Dr. Maguire developed one of the main workflows being used by the National Microbiology Lab to analyze these genomes, is actively analyzing mutations in a large subset of Ontario genomes as they are sequenced and created a continually updated evolutionary analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in Canada. Along with colleagues, he has also developed standards for how metadata should be collected and organized, which are being used in national SARS-CoV-2 sequencing efforts in Canada, Australia, the U.S. and South Africa.
Dr. Maguire is available to discuss how the rapid sharing of SARS-CoV-2 data has allowed scientists to monitor how the virus evolves worldwide essentially in real-time, which has not been possible before on this scale.
- 30 -
Media contact:
Alison Auld
Senior Research Reporter
Dalhousie University
Cell: 902-220-0491
Email: Alison.auld@dal.ca
Recent News
- Two Expert Interview Opportunities on Dalhousie’s Computational Social Science Symposium and the Impacts of AI on Society, Culture and Research
- Media release: Canadian researchers discover scorching cloud of gas between clusters of galaxies that is five times hotter than current models predict, highlighting gaps in our models of galaxy cluster formation
- Media opportunity: Making friends with guilt: Dalhousie University author argues the painful emotion can be harnessed for good and should be embraced
- Media opportunity: Dalhousie University researchers discover seasonal shifts in vitamin abundance in the ocean and hints that climate change could reduce the nutrition levels of the seafood we eat
- Media release: Canadian researchers capture rare video of killer whales and dolphins working together to forage salmon, suggesting the two species have forged a co‑operative relationship
- Global Aid Cuts Put Millions at Risk: Dr. Robert Huish Available for Expert Commentary
- Media opportunity: Dalhousie University research tracks drop in fatal opioid overdoses in Nova Scotia early in pandemic, followed by steady increase in deaths linked to illicit drugs
- Media release: Dalhousie University launches new institute to drive digital agriculture in Atlantic Canada