Filipino scientists help confirm nCoV cases
by Hanah TabiosFilipino scientists from the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) are lending a hand to health officials in confirming cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) in the country.
PGC is a genomics-focused multidisciplinary research unit of the University of the Philippines System (UP System) located at the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City.
“With the use of Next Generation DNA/RNA Sequencing equipment (NGS) available at the Philippine Genome Center in the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus, the team of the DNA Sequencing Core Facility (DSCF) is ready to assist the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the Department of Health (DOH) in confirming suspected cases of 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the country,” the PGC said.
Molecular biologist Dr. Cynthia Saloma, Executive Director of the PGC, said the research facility has tools and cutting-edge equipment that would aid Philippine health officials in coming up with measures against the ongoing global health emergency.
“[PGC] has also trained DNA sequencing staff and scientists to help validate the presence of 2019-nCoV in the country by sequencing the whole viral genome from samples collected from patients,” she said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III had earlier announced that Japan provided its RNA primer which will help the country identify positive cases of the 2019 nCoV, scrapping the need to send samples to RITM’s Australian counterpart in Melbourne, Australia.
“The method for whole genome sequencing using NGS does not use primers and can be used to identify unknown organisms in a sample mixture by using bioinformatics or computational tools. For those with positive results using the RT-PCR kits, PGC can also sequence the amplified DNA through the traditional capillary sequencing method,” it added.
PCG’s Core Facility for Bioinformatics has already allotted computational resources to perform viral metagenomics.
“We also have a bioinformatics analysis pipeline in place based on similar analysis services we have done for the local science community,” facility head Dr. Jan Michael said.
PGC established the DNA Sequencing Core Facility in 2012. One of the reasons why it was constructed was the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) outbreak in 2003 where the need to perform DNA sequencing locally arose.
On Thursday, the DOH confirmed the country’s first case of the 2019 nCoV involving a 38-year-old Chinese tourist from Wuhan, China.
As of press time, the number of persons under investigation (PUIs) in the country has reached 31.