{"id":1204,"date":"2020-03-23T12:45:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T12:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=1204"},"modified":"2020-03-23T12:46:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T12:46:26","slug":"covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
by\u00a0Ian Le Guillou<\/h5>\n

Advances in gene sequencing have allowed scientists to trace and monitor the COVID-19 pandemic faster than any previous outbreak. However, gaps in our knowledge of how coronaviruses work has made it difficult to understand what makes the new coronavirus special.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

When the new coronavirus (formally known as SARS-CoV-2) was identified in China in January, scientists around the world were ready to respond. The virus\u2019s entire genetic makeup, or genome, was published\u00a0online<\/a>\u00a0within days. By comparison, during the SARS coronavirus outbreak in 2003, this took almost three months, after the disease was\u00a0originally blamed on chlamydia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Advances in the technology have brought down the cost of gene sequencing significantly and the machines are now small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. This has made it easier for a large number of samples to be sequenced around the world.<\/p>\n

\u2018You can see from the sequences how the virus spreads, the speed at which it’s spreading and estimate the number of people that are infected. As we get more and more sequences, the more and more accurate the numbers are,\u2019 said Professor Anne-Mieke Vandamme from KU Leuven, Belgium.<\/p>\n

Next-generation sequencing, or NGS, can generate enormous amounts of data, and the challenge becomes finding ways to analyse it properly.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Prof. Vandamme led a project called\u00a0VIROGENESIS\u00a0<\/a>to develop new tools to help analyse and interpret the data that comes from sequencing, particularly for laboratories that were not used to dealing with sophisticated genetic analysis.<\/p>\n

\u2018When we were doing the project, there were only mainly research labs that had NGS. Now everyone has NGS,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

One of the tools developed, called\u00a0Genome Detective<\/a>, can take the raw data from the sequencing machine, filter out results from non-viruses, piece together the genome and use that to identify the virus. It does not rely on any prior guesses or hypotheses, so it can even identify viruses that have not been seen before. This was used to confirm the first case of COVID-19 in Belgium, identifying it as a SARS-related coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u2018You can see from the sequences how the virus spreads, the speed at which it’s spreading and estimate the number of people that are infected.\u2019<\/p>\n

Professor Anne-Mieke Vandamme, KU Leuven, Belgium<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Online sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n

The power of gene sequencing comes from comparing the results across different cases. Prof. Vandamme says that it has been \u2018fantastic\u2019 to see the level of collaboration internationally: \u2018There is a lot more online sharing of data and sequences … compared to the past because we have a lot more online sharing tools available.\u2019<\/p>\n

One of these tools is\u00a0NextStrain<\/a>, an online resource that uses genome data to monitor the evolution of disease-causing organisms such as viruses in real time. It has tracked several outbreaks including Zika, Ebola and Dengue and has even been used to inform World Health Organization policy on seasonal flu.<\/p>\n

Research papers typically take months to be published \u2013 an aeon in the current race to tackle the pandemic. The need to share information quickly has encouraged greater sharing of \u2018preprints\u2019, drafts of papers that have not yet been through peer review.<\/p>\n

\u2018The push towards open science, open data and preprinting has really changed the way we experience the scientific discourse in this outbreak compared to previous ones,\u2019 said Professor Richard Neher, from the University of Basel, Switzerland, who leads the NextStrain project.<\/p>\n

NextStrain already has over 700 genomes of the new coronavirus, which it can use to trace the outbreak by detecting new mutations in the virus. The mutations do not necessarily affect how the virus behaves, but they can act as a genetic signature to link cases that are related. Like tracing your ancestry through a DNA test, a virus sequenced in Madrid, for instance, could have mutations that suggest it originated from an outbreak in Italy.<\/p>\n

\u2018In the current pandemic, it gives us a lower bound on how often the virus has been introduced to a specific location,\u2019 Prof. Neher said.<\/p>\n

NextStrain publishes a weekly situation report that analyses these trends. The team was able to estimate that the\u00a0outbreak in Iran<\/a>\u00a0may have been introduced by a single person, whereas at least four different introductions were responsible for the outbreak in the UK, as of 13 March.<\/p>\n

\u2018(Sequencing cases) will become even more important because as we start cracking down on (the pandemic), which we hopefully will achieve, it will tell us how many transmission chains are still circulating and whether the virus is being transported from one region to another,\u2019 said Prof. Neher.<\/p>\n

He believes that, as the virus continues to spread, it will accumulate more genetic diversity and it will give us more information on how the virus is being transmitted.<\/p>\n

Genetic blueprint<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the genetic blueprint of the new coronavirus being readily available, it still does not tell us very much about how it differs from other coronaviruses. Much of what we know has come from seeing how it has spread through the population. It is now clear how different it is to previous coronavirus outbreaks, such as SARS and MERS.<\/p>\n

\u2018They were certainly much less easy to transmit, and also had a very different presentation in that only a few people were asymptomatic. One of the many challenges that we are facing here is that people that have only very mild symptoms have been substantial in transmitting this virus,’ said Prof. Neher.<\/p>\n

\u2018That is much harder to control because you have to convince somebody who is basically healthy to distance themselves from others.\u2019<\/p>\n

Yet, it is not clear why that is the case. The traits of the virus, such as its infectiousness and severity, are driven by its proteins that are responsible for invading our cells and replicating the viral genome.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sequencing a genome these days is pretty fast, but for proteins it\u2019s different,\u2019 said Dr Charlotte Uetrecht, from the Heinrich Pette Institute, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology, Germany. She studies coronavirus proteins through a project called\u00a0SPOCkS MS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018My lab is producing the proteins (of the new coronavirus) right now. So we want to see whether they behave the same (as other coronaviruses). We usually need to produce the proteins and purify them to a certain extent so we can look at them. So it’s a lot more laborious than sequencing.\u2019<\/p>\n

Even small changes to the viral proteins can significantly influence how they interact with each other. Dr Uetrecht studies these fleeting associations, which are crucial for the virus to replicate.<\/p>\n

\u2018We know a bit about how that looks, but we don’t really understand which of the proteins need to associate for a new genome to be produced,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

Although understanding these processes could provide new targets for antiviral drugs, Dr Uetrecht says that historically there has been little interest in studying coronaviruses as they have had little relative impact until now.<\/p>\n

The case numbers were low for SARS and MERS and\u00a0interest fell after the outbreaks, she says. ‘The common-cold-causing coronaviruses were not (considered) dangerous.’<\/p>\n

\u2018There was not much research into coronaviruses at all, until SARS. I know a few people who have been working on coronaviruses since the ’90s, and they were not very well regarded \u2013 they had a hard time getting funding. It was considered a boring, irrelevant virus.<\/p>\n

\u2018Now, it is very interesting again.\u2019<\/p>\n

The research in this article\u00a0is supported\u00a0by the EU. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Ian Le Guillou Advances in gene sequencing have allowed scientists to trace and monitor the COVID-19 pandemic faster than any previous outbreak. However, gaps in our knowledge of how coronaviruses work has made it difficult to understand what makes the new coronavirus special. When the new coronavirus (formally known as SARS-CoV-2) was identified in China … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":1205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\nCovid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by\u00a0Ian Le Guillou Advances in gene sequencing have allowed scientists to trace and monitor the COVID-19 pandemic faster than any previous outbreak. However, gaps in our knowledge of how coronaviruses work has made it difficult to understand what makes the new coronavirus special. When the new coronavirus (formally known as SARS-CoV-2) was identified in China ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Horizon Magazine Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/horizon.magazine.eu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-23T12:45:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-23T12:46:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/transmissions_map.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1456\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"681\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Horizon Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/HorizonMagEU\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Horizon Magazine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679\"},\"headline\":\"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-23T12:45:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-23T12:46:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1252,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/transmissions_map.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/\",\"name\":\"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research - Horizon Magazine Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/transmissions_map.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-23T12:45:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-23T12:46:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/transmissions_map.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/transmissions_map.jpg\",\"width\":1456,\"height\":681,\"caption\":\"Online tools such as NextStrain are helping to track the spread of coronavirus in real time.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1204\\\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/\",\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine Blog\",\"description\":\"The EU Research & Innovation Magazine\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/eu-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/eu-logo.jpg\",\"width\":601,\"height\":283,\"caption\":\"Horizon Magazine Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679\",\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Horizon Magazine\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/horizon.magazine.eu\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/HorizonMagEU\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/author\\\/horizonmagazine\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research - Horizon Magazine Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research","og_description":"by\u00a0Ian Le Guillou Advances in gene sequencing have allowed scientists to trace and monitor the COVID-19 pandemic faster than any previous outbreak. However, gaps in our knowledge of how coronaviruses work has made it difficult to understand what makes the new coronavirus special. When the new coronavirus (formally known as SARS-CoV-2) was identified in China ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/","og_site_name":"Horizon Magazine Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/horizon.magazine.eu","article_published_time":"2020-03-23T12:45:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-03-23T12:46:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1456,"height":681,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/transmissions_map.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Horizon Magazine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/HorizonMagEU","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Horizon Magazine","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/"},"author":{"name":"Horizon Magazine","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/person\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679"},"headline":"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research","datePublished":"2020-03-23T12:45:59+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-23T12:46:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/"},"wordCount":1252,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/transmissions_map.jpg","articleSection":["Health"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/","name":"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research - Horizon Magazine Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/transmissions_map.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-23T12:45:59+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-23T12:46:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/transmissions_map.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/transmissions_map.jpg","width":1456,"height":681,"caption":"Online tools such as NextStrain are helping to track the spread of coronavirus in real time."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1204\/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-to-faster-than-ever-outbreak-research\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/","name":"Horizon Magazine Blog","description":"The EU Research & Innovation Magazine","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#organization","name":"Horizon Magazine Blog","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/04\/eu-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/04\/eu-logo.jpg","width":601,"height":283,"caption":"Horizon Magazine Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/person\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679","name":"Horizon Magazine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Horizon Magazine"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/horizon.magazine.eu","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/HorizonMagEU"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/author\/horizonmagazine\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/transmissions_map.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtNKV-jq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1603,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1603\/qa-why-history-suggests-covid-19-is-here-to-stay\/","url_meta":{"origin":1204,"position":0},"title":"Q&A: Why history suggests Covid-19 is here to stay","author":"Anthony King","date":"January 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A mysterious\u00a0flu-like illness that caused loss of taste and smell in the late 19th century\u00a0was probably caused by a coronavirus that still causes the \u2018common cold\u2019 in people today, according to Professor Marc Van Ranst at KU Leuven in Belgium, an expert on coronaviruses. He says that the foothold of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/01\/photo-1584631838679-3737b5a77c71.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/01\/photo-1584631838679-3737b5a77c71.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/01\/photo-1584631838679-3737b5a77c71.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/01\/photo-1584631838679-3737b5a77c71.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/01\/photo-1584631838679-3737b5a77c71.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1197,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1197\/covid-19-social-distancing-will-help-health-authorities-deal-with-coronavirus-says-epidemiologist\/","url_meta":{"origin":1204,"position":1},"title":"Covid-19: Social distancing will help health authorities deal with coronavirus, says epidemiologist","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"March 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0Richard Gray Social distancing policies, such as cancelling high-density gatherings, discouraging handshakes and asking people to increase their distance from each other will delay a coronavirus pandemic and help health authorities plan resources, according to epidemiologist Dr Vittoria Colizza who is modelling the spread of Covid-19 and the effectiveness of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"There are still many unanswered questions about SARS-CoV-2, such as whether children are affected. Image credit - NIAID Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML)\/Public domain","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/SARS-CoV-2_sm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/SARS-CoV-2_sm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/SARS-CoV-2_sm.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/SARS-CoV-2_sm.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/SARS-CoV-2_sm.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1294,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1294\/alpacas-and-antibodies-how-scientists-hope-to-stop-coronavirus-in-its-tracks\/","url_meta":{"origin":1204,"position":2},"title":"Alpacas and antibodies: How scientists hope to stop coronavirus in its tracks","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"May 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Efforts to design a safe vaccine for Covid-19 are moving forward at full throttle, yet experts agree that it\u2019s likely to be a year, at least,\u00a0before an immunisation is ready. Meanwhile, scientists around Europe are exploring ingenious ways \u2013 including with the help of alpacas \u2013 to use the latest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stockholm-based researchers with the CoroNAb project are investigating the coronavirus antibodies produced by alpacas including Tyson, the small one pictured here, for potential use in human therapies. Image credit - Preclinics, Potsdam","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/Tyson.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/Tyson.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/Tyson.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/Tyson.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/Tyson.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/Tyson.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1230,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1230\/studying-animal-coronavirus-defences-is-opening-route-to-human-treatments\/","url_meta":{"origin":1204,"position":3},"title":"Studying animal coronavirus defences is opening route to human treatments","author":"Aisling Irwin","date":"April 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A team that has spent the last five years developing a pipeline of technologies that can churn out a remedy for almost any newly emerging virus may have treatments ready for safety trials on Covid-19 patients by the end of the year.\u00a0 The 20-strong private-public collaboration has been pooling and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scientists hope a new pipeline will be able to churn out remedies for any newly emerging virus. Image credit - Unsplash\/ Maksym Kaharlytskyi, licenced under CC0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Unsplash-coronavirus_sm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Unsplash-coronavirus_sm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Unsplash-coronavirus_sm.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Unsplash-coronavirus_sm.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1675,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1675\/the-new-antibody-that-may-be-able-to-stay-one-step-ahead-of-coronavirus-mutations\/","url_meta":{"origin":1204,"position":4},"title":"The new antibody that may be able to stay \u2018one step ahead\u2019 of coronavirus mutations","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"March 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A new antibody that can mount a double attack on the Sars-CoV-2 virus by binding to two different sites on the spike protein is starting human trials, leading to hopes of an antibody therapy that can maintain its effectiveness even against new variants of coronavirus. A virus is constantly mutating.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/03\/louis-reed-pwcKF7L4-no-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/03\/louis-reed-pwcKF7L4-no-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/03\/louis-reed-pwcKF7L4-no-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/03\/louis-reed-pwcKF7L4-no-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/03\/louis-reed-pwcKF7L4-no-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/03\/louis-reed-pwcKF7L4-no-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1254,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1254\/i-dont-see-any-other-way-out-diagnostic-testing-and-smartphone-contact-tracing-to-beat-pandemic\/","url_meta":{"origin":1204,"position":5},"title":"\u2018I don\u2019t see any other way out\u2019: Diagnostic testing and smartphone contact tracing to beat pandemic","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"April 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0Vittoria D\u2019Alessio What makes the Covid-19 pandemic so difficult to contain? Silent transmission by asymptomatic patients is partly responsible, but research emerging from Germany suggests the SARS-CoV-2 virus has developed a second impressive strategy for ensuring its success: the ability to establish two separate communities within a host \u2013 the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Researchers have found two different virus populations in the throat and lungs of coronavirus patients, a whole new type of virus behaviour. Image credit - pixnio.com\/Darko Stojanovic, licenced under CC0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Pixnio-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Pixnio-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Pixnio-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/04\/Pixnio-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}