Environmental genomic surveillance as a tool to detect and quantify SARS-CoV-2 variants in Brazil

• Grant number: 21/05316-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2021
• End date: July 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Emmanuel Dias-Neto
• Grantee: Emmanuel Dias-Neto
• Host Institution: A C Camargo Cancer Center. Fundação Antonio Prudente (FAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: André Guilherme da Costa Martins ; Diana Noronha Nunes ; Dirce Maria Carraro ; Eurico de Arruda Neto ; Gilmar Patrocínio Thim ; Giovana Tardin Torrezan ; Helder Takashi Imoto Nakaya ; Israel Tojal da Silva ; Jeevan Giddaluru ; Marcos de Carvalho Borges ; Mauro César Cafundó de Morais ; Priscila Correia Fernandes ; Thais Fernanda Bartelli
• Associated scholarship(s): 21/13674-6 - Environmental genomic monitoring for detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 variants in Brazil, BP.TT

Abstract

We do not know which variants of SARS-CoV-2 occur today in Brazil, an even worse situation in the different regions of the country. The little that is known is due to the study of patients with classic or suspected symptoms for COVID-19, whose material follows to determine the viral variant after diagnosis, which in the best scenario is determined several days after the onset of symptoms. In this way, this project seeks to assist in accelerating the discovery and determination of variants of greater local importance. The rationale is that determining variants found in environmental samples may be able to anticipate samples that will have greater clinical relevance in the near future. Likewise, we do not know whether current viral variants will remain with relevant frequencies after vaccination, whether some will grow in prevalence after massive vaccination, or whether new variants will emerge after vaccination, scenarios that may indicate some level of resistance to immunization. In the same way, we will have a faster method that can detect the entry of variants on the rise in other countries of the world. This is a pilot project, involving six cities, half in the State of Paraná and half in the State of São Paulo. In these cities, we will evaluate samples of the hospital and non-hospital environments. If successful and informative, we will apply to expand the project to the whole country. Only environmental collections will be obtained, with no collections from individuals. The data will be analyzed quickly and disseminated to the competent health authorities. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VALIERIS, RENAN; DRUMMOND, RODRIGO D.; DEFELICIBUS, ALEXANDRE; DIAS-NETO, EMMANUEL; ROSALES, RAFAEL A.; DA SILVA, ISRAEL TOJAL. A mixture model for determining SARS-Cov-2 variant composition in pooled samples. Bioinformatics, v. 38, n. 7, p. 7-pg., 2022-02-01. (21/05316-2)