Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at the Quadram Institute have been making important contributions to the global effort to overcome the virus.

Our researchers are developing ways of detecting, following and preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

One of our main activities has been as part of COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium. Led by the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, this national effort brings together NHS organisations, the four Public Health Agencies of the UK, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and more than 12 academic institutions, one of which is Quadram Institute Bioscience (QIB), providing sequencing and analysis capacity.

In the first six months of the consortium, QIB sequenced over 2,000 samples from patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. Our results are providing valuable insights into the spread of the virus.

QIB research teams are also pioneering new experimental methods that will allow us to undertake rapid virus detection to improve population testing and surveillance of virus in the environment.

Our technology development is also exploring new methods to test therapeutic tools and offering potential new routes for vaccine delivery.

BBC reporter Richard Westcott spoke to Dr Justin O’Grady and Dr Alex Trotter about their work sequencing coronavirus genomes as part of the COVID-19 Genomics UK consortium.