The genome of the fungus that helps mountain pine beetles infect and kill lodgepole pines has been decoded in a University of British Columbia study.
Also known as blue stain fungus for the stain it leaves in the wood of infected trees, Grosmannia…
At about 4 a.m. this morning, scientists at the BC Cancer Agency’s Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre completed the first publicly available draft sequence for a coronavirus implicated in SARS. “This is a huge step forward in the fight to control the spread of SARS,” says Dr. Caroline Astell, projects leader at the Genome Sciences Centre. Since receiving 1 millionth of a gram of purified viral genetic material from Dr. Frank Plummer at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, relayed by the BC Centre for Disease Control, scientists at the Genome Sciences Centre have worked around the clock to complete the sequence, using both molecular techniques and state-of-the-art laboratory automation.