Third-Generation Sequencing (TGS) technology offers an exciting breakthrough opportunity for virology researchers. However, TGS faces technical challenges including a relatively high base calling error rate that is hard to distinguish from the high mutation rate of viruses. This project will develop novel tools for TGS by taking advantages of existing development focusing on base calling […]
Rare genetic diseases are individually rare but collectively quite common, affecting approximately 3 million Canadians. Unlike common diseases, genetic causes for rare diseases must often be hypothesized from plausibility criteria and identified through progressive exclusion of candidate variants in a single case or a small number of heterogeneous cases. Few integrated software systems exist to
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global medical and economic crisis. Laboratory testing capacity has played pivotal role in our national response to this emergency. The shift from targeted, clinically oriented testing to widespread high-throughput community testing may dramatically increase the need for affordable COVID19 tests. Although many new assays are coming online, most of
Enabling widespread COVID-19 testing via high throughput proteomics detection Read More »
Working in concert with Alberta Health Services Public Health Officers, leading clinicians and Alberta Public Laboratories, the team will recruit the Alberta Childhood COVID-19 Cohort (ABCCC), consisting of all children under the age of 18 who undergo testing for the SARS-COV2 virus. Specifically, the project will: 1) assess the role of children’s immune response as
Mutations are common and expected in coronaviruses genomes. Scientists can take advantage of these mutations to track the spread of the viruses in the community, providing vital public health information on the movement and potential sources of disease. To improve on the speed in generating this genetic information, this team will rapidly generate genetic sequences
Genomics-enhanced rapid COVID-19 pandemic response Read More »
Since 2007, over 1200 residents of Indigenous communities in the Northwest Territories (NWT) and Yukon (YT) have participated in research to learn more about Helicobacter pylori infection. A working group formed that included Indigenous community members, their healthcare providers, territorial health authorities, and academic researchers demonstrated that the community concerns were well founded. They estimated
Campylobacteriosis, an acute intestinal illness and most commonly reported bacterial foodborne infection in Alberta, is caused by Campylobacter jejuni (Cj) through the consumption of contaminated chicken. Decades of research suggest that human infections are a result of a small proportion of high-risk Cj strains in the Canadian chicken supply chain and that these pathogenic strains
Animal resilience directly affects the profitability of livestock production. The goal of this project was to develop tools and methods for selection of pigs that are resilient in the face of multiple natural infections. Analysis of detailed physiology, genomics, and health data of pigs will be analyzed using machine learning technologies. This will allow the
A previous study identified an association between DRGA, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on chromosome 7, and a substantial improvement in fetal viability following PRRSV infection of pregnant dams. This region includes a gene associated with metabolism of a hormone-linked to growth and other processes. Levels of this hormone decrease in fetal and maternal serum
Disease is a major problem in animal production, resulting in reduced performance and animal welfare with rising treatment costs. Genetic selection of pigs that are more resistant and resilient to infection by pathogens is recognized as a promising tool to reduce the impact of disease. The goal of this project is to develop an experimental
https://dev.genomealberta.ca/project/investigating-infectiousness-of-pigs-selected-for-multi-factorial-resilience-or-increased-resistance-to-porcine-reproductive-and-respiratory-syndrome-prrs/
