University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center Helping Map SARS-CoV-2 Transmission
Scientists at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center are part of a national viral genomics consortium to better map SARS-CoV-2 transmission via whole genome sequencing of the virus that causes COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing for Public Health Emergency Response, Epidemiology and Surveillance (SPHERES) consortium led by the CDC kicked off in May 2020. Dr. Daryl Domman, PhD an Assistant Professor in the Center for Global Heath in the Department of Internal Medicine and Dr. Darrell L. Dinwiddie, PhD an Assistant Professor in the Division of Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics are leading the efforts for the states of New Mexico and Wyoming. They have established partnerships with the New Mexico Department of Health and the Wyoming Public Health Lab to sequence positive cases from those states are also working to join with other public health labs in the Mountain West region.
The SPHERES consortium is an ambitious effort to coordinate SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing nationally. It aims to organize and combine the expertise, technology, and resources dozens of smaller, individual efforts into a single, distributed network of laboratories, institutions and corporations. Currently, 40 state and local public health departments, several large clinical laboratories, and over two dozen collaborating institutions across the federal government, academia, and the private sector are part of the SPHERES consortium.
Drs. Domman and Dinwiddie have already sequenced and analyzed nearly 400 genomes from Wyoming and New Mexico. Their early efforts have been able to identify numerous, distinct introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into each state and track the early transmissions of the virus that led to local community spread. Their research is leading to a better understanding of how the virus is spreading, both nationally and in their local communities. “Continued genomic and epigenomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 is critical,” says Darrell Dinwiddie, “as it can be used to determine the number of virus strains, how the virus is introduced into new regions, the number of introductions of the virus, if there is community spread of virus, if outbreaks are linked, and how the virus is evolving.”
Source:
Dr. Richard Larson, MD, PhD
Executive Vice Chancellor
Vice Chancellor for Research
UNM Health Sciences