Scientists at Northumbria University,
Newcastle, have joined a research consortium backed by the UK government to
help fight COVID-19.
The
Government and the UK’s scientific community have backed the UK’s leading
clinicians and scientists to map how COVID-19 spreads and evolves using
whole-genome sequencing.
Through a
£20 million investment, the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) is looking
for breakthroughs that could help the UK respond to this, future pandemics, and
save lives.
The
consortium brings together expert groups across the country to deliver large scale, rapid
sequencing of the cause of the disease. Scientists and clinicians are analysing
the genetic code of the COVID-19 virus circulating in the UK and in doing so,
will give public health agencies, hospitals, regional NHS centres and the
government unique, cutting-edge intelligence to combat the disease.
Led by Professor
Sharon Peacock, Director of the National Infection Service, Public Health
England, and Chair of Public Health and Microbiology at the University of
Cambridge, the group of experts comprises the NHS, Public Health Agencies, Wellcome Sanger Institute and
numerous academic institutions – including Northumbria University.
Work to
rapidly sequence whole genomes of the COVID-19 viruses is already underway at
Northumbria, where a team led by Dr Darren Smith, Associate Professor in Phage
Biology, has deployed NU-OMICS, the University’s state-of-the-art DNA sequencing research facility, to
assist in the national effort to combat the disease.
Dr Smith,
along with Dr Andrew Nelson, Dr Matthew Bashton, Dr Gregory Young and the wider
project team are working in partnership with NHS Trusts to enable Northumbria
to act as a hub for sample surveillance and outbreak monitoring for the North
of England over the next 12 months.
By looking
at the entire genome of the virus in confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients,
scientists and clinicians can begin to understand is the spread of SARS-CoV-2
and monitor changes within its genome on a regional and national scale.
Dr Smith,
Director of NU-OMICS said: “We welcome our addition as the northern England hub
for the COG-UK consortium. The power to understand the spread and genome change
of SARS-CoV-2 over the timeline of the pandemic is extremely important. This
data supports national surveillance but importantly it can be aligned to
research questions being asked by the northern NHS Trusts that we hope will
support the fight against this novel and devastating virus.”
The
consortium network of sequencing centres currently includes Belfast, Birmingham,
Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Northumbria,
Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth and Sheffield.
Professor Sharon
Peacock, Director of the National Infection Service, Public Health England,
said: “This virus is one of the biggest threats our nation
has faced in recent times and crucial to helping us fight it is understanding
how it is spreading. Harnessing innovative genome technologies will help us
tease apart the complex picture of coronavirus spread in the UK, and rapidly
evaluate ways to reduce the impact of this disease on our society.”
The COVID-19
Genomics UK Consortium team at Northumbria University includes: Dr Darren
Smith, Dr Andrew Nelson, Dr Matthew Bashton, Dr Gregory Young, Dr Josh Loh, Dr
John Allan, Dr Mohammed Adnan Tariq (Quadram Institute), Dr Giles Holt
(Newcastle University), Professor Gary Black and Dr Lynn Dover.
Northumbria’s
NU-OMICS DNA sequencing facility delivers a wide range of
genome sequencing projects from Microbiome studies - helping to capture a snap
shot of bacterial, fungal and viral communities in clinical and environmental
studies, through to genome sequencing of bacteria, virus and fungal species. To
find out more and enquire about this service, please visit our NU-OMICS webpage.
