Presentations at the first International Conference on Microbial Biotechnology in Construction Materials and Geotechnical Engineering
November 20, 2020Circling Sustainability and Responsibility: Exploring Synergies between the Circular Economy, Synthetic Biology and Responsible Research and Innovation
February 12, 2021
Analysis from scientists at numerous universities across the UK has been published in Science, documenting the first wave of Covid-19 in the UK. A team at the HBBE, led by Dr Darren Smith, has been working with the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium in sequencing the virus genome and gathering data.
Abstract
The UK’s COVID-19 epidemic during early 2020 was one of world’s largest and unusually well represented by virus genomic sampling. Here we reveal the fine-scale genetic lineage structure of this epidemic through analysis of 50,887 SARS-CoV-2 genomes, including 26,181 from the UK sampled throughout the country’s first wave of infection. Using large-scale phylogenetic analyses, combined with epidemiological and travel data, we quantify the size, spatio-temporal origins and persistence of genetically-distinct UK transmission lineages. Rapid fluctuations in virus importation rates resulted in >1000 lineages; those introduced prior to national lockdown tended to be larger and more dispersed. Lineage importation and regional lineage diversity declined after lockdown, while lineage elimination was size-dependent. We discuss the implications of our genetic perspective on transmission dynamics for COVID-19 epidemiology and control.
The full publication can be found here: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/01/07/science.abf2946
