• Question: Have you been helping with corona virus?

    Asked by anon-256843 on 17 Jun 2020.
    • Photo: Alena Pance

      Alena Pance answered on 17 Jun 2020:

      Hi Janmarco, I put myself forward for every local call for researchers with the necessary skills to either work on the virus or help with the testing. However, because my mum who is ill lives with me, I have been put on the reserve list as a precaution to protect her. So the short answer is for the time being I am not involved but if it becomes safer or there is the need for more help I hope I will be called.

    • Photo: Laura Durrant

      Laura Durrant answered on 18 Jun 2020: last edited 18 Jun 2020 10:54 am

      Hi Janamarco 🙂 Yes, I work for the Wellcome Sanger Institute and we are currently running a project to sequence the Covid-19 genome! We have been collecting, isolating and analysing DNA from patient samples from across the nation in order to understand the nature of the virus, including how it infects us, how it spreads and how it evolves. Plus, we could use the DNA sequencing data to design vaccines and treatments! Here is a link you can follow if you would like to know more: https://www.cogconsortium.uk/

    • Photo: Eleanor Williams

      Eleanor Williams answered on 19 Jun 2020:

      Hi Janamarco, I’ve been helping with the efforts of my local university to make proteins from the virus to use in antibody diagnostic kits.
      There are two ways to detect if someone has had covid-19 – the first is to see if any of the virus RNA (genetic matierial) is present in their blood/saliva but this only works while the person is still ill. The second is to see if they’ve got any antibodies in their blood that stick to covid-19 – if they do then they must have had the disease at some point – this is a good way of seeing if someone had the disease a while ago but has recovered so you can’t use the first test because there’s no longer any Virus in their system to detect.
      The protein i’ve been helping to make is used as the ‘bait’ for the antibodies in the patient samples to stick to – if the patient has had the disease their antibodies will stick to the bait protein and that can be detected.

      It’s important to make sure this protein is very pure though so that’s what I’ve been focusing on in the lab.

    • Photo: Rachel Tanner

      Rachel Tanner answered on 22 Jun 2020:

      Hi Janamarco, I’m helping with the COVID-19 vaccine trials at Oxford – if you’re interested in reading more then you could visit this site:

      https://covid19vaccinetrial.co.uk/home

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