India, Sri Lanka to scale up the genome surveillance for SARS-CoV-2

NEW DELHI: A consortium of researchers from India and Sri Lanka will work to scale up the genome surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in the two countries with a network of satellite MicroLabs in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

The evolution of new and more transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2, their faster spread and impact on the effectiveness of the approved diagnostic tests and vaccines against COVID-19, has been a big concern. These variants also pose a risk to the success of the global pandemic response efforts. 

Funding for the researchers' consortium led by CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), India, and the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka is being provided by the Wellcome Trust. 

Researchers from India and Sri Lanka will leverage the funding to strengthen the genomic surveillance and epidemiology capacity in the two countries by setting up an integrated, scalable hub-and-spoke model of distributed clusters of sequencing.

MicroLabs set up in tier 2 and tier 3 cities will be supported by the existing MegaLabs. 

"This model will reduce the time from getting a positive test to sequence, as well as time from sequence to public data deposit. Such an outcome, in turn, will enable researchers to use the data for improving diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics and help relevant authorities to frame appropriate health policy decisions on time," said the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. 

The research consortium will also establish technical coordination with WHO-SEARO's regional reference lab for genomic sequencing to streamline the terms of engagement and ensure overall synchronization. In addition, standardized lab skills and training curriculum would be designed to help build the capacity of researchers and partners in both countries.

"I estimate that we can shave three weeks off current timelines by establishing large, high-throughput sequencing hubs, alongside smaller, distributed 'spokes' that perform rapid but low-throughput sequencing, and by improving logistics for integrating results from samples with clinical data," wrote Dr Anurag Agrawal, Director, CSIR-IGIB in the Nature journal.