The Institute of Applied Genomics joins the regional network. Director Morgante: we study the onset of mutations
UDINE. From the same material taken through swabs that reveal coronavirus infection or not, researchers at the Institute of Applied Genomics identify the variants of the virus. In the laboratories of the Science and Technology Park named after Luigi Danieli, for more than a month 25 researchers have been sequencing Sars-CoV2 on behalf of the Higher Institute of Health (Iss), the Veneto region and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano. In days, Friuli Venezia Giulia will also join.
The news is given by the deputy governor with responsibility for Health, Riccardo Riccardi: “The Region, together with its health companies – he writes in a note -, will enter into a collaboration agreement with the Institute of applied genomics for sequencing and analysis bio-informatics of Sars-Cov2 genomes ».
The Udine laboratory will work alongside Area Science Park in identifying variants under the scientific direction of Professor Michele Morgante, professor of Genetics at the University of Udine. «It is – continues Riccardi – an opportunity that must absolutely be seized to raise scientific knowledge on the epidemic. It is an opportunity that will have repercussions for the benefit of our regional community ».
The agreement announced by Riccardi recognizes the activity carried out for some time by the center of excellence in genomics. “We will be the operational arm of Professor Lanfranco D’Agaro, the regional manager of the network set up by the ISS” explains Morgante, recalling that his colleague D’Agaro is the one who decides which samples to sequence from those that the laboratories of the health authorities transmit every week at the Science Park Area.
The Iga, in fact, carries out part of its genomic research activities in collaboration with the technological platform of Genomics and Epigenomics of the Area Science Park: “It is an agreement – assures Morgante – that we want to continue in the future too”. At the moment in Friuli Venezia Giulia the percentage of the English variant detected on the sequenced samples stands at 63 percent.
The week before it was 28 percent. The increase justifies the growth of the Sars-CoV2 contagion which has brought Friuli Venezia Giulia into the red zone.
“We are doing surveillance to study the onset and spread of new variants, we are already doing it for the Higher Institute of Health, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and the Veneto region” explains the scientific director of the Iga in pointing out that on the basis of these data, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano decides the coloring of the areas. Having mainly followed the trend in Bolzano, Morgante is able to say that in that area the English variant is now dominant, so much so that it no longer makes much sense to follow it. In the case of Bolzano – continues the professor – we are recording the appearance of sporadic cases of the South African variant ».
The variants of Sars-Cov2 under observation are English, Brazilian and South African and recently Thai has also been added. They pose a problem because in some cases they are more contagious and resistant to the vaccine.
Based on the monitoring carried out so far, the Higher Institute of Health confirms that the English variant has a 37 percent higher transmissibility than the unmodified strains of the virus and can cause greater hospitalization of people experiencing Covid-19. Always the ISS makes it known that the vaccines seem to be fully effective on the English variant, while for the South African and Brazilian ones there could be a decrease. In this context, the surveillance of IGA scholars becomes fundamental: by knowing if and where the variants develop, the Regions can act accordingly in the fight against the pandemic.
“From the point of view of the sequencing of the virus, the work is modest especially when compared with what we have done so far”. When Morgante expresses this concept he refers to the sequencing of human DNA and adds: «The genome of a virus is one hundred thousandth of the human genome and therefore, from the point of view of the quantity of the sequence, the work is less». Following the various collaborations in progress, however, in the Udine laboratory, on average, from 200 to 300 sequences arrive: «Fortunately – continues Morgante – we are used to treating many samples».
In the Iga laboratory, everything is ready to start sequencing the viral genome even on samples taken in the region. The only open problem is the vaccination of the staff employed for sequencing: “I am a university student and therefore I am vaccinated – Morgante explains – but my collaborators are not and if they become infected we risk having to stop work”. The scientific director has already sent the request to the Region and is awaiting a response.
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